Psychological Criticism In A Rose For Emily By William Faulkner

“A Rose for Emily” is a short story written by William Faulkner about a psychotic woman by the name of Emily Grierson. Emily appears to be greatly separated from the reality of life and proves to be depressed and lonely due to past life circumstances. After the death of her father and the series of unfortunate events she experiences throughout her life, Emily deals with her pain by residing in a world filled with sorrow and depression. Unfortunately, not being able to overcome her life circumstances, Emily becomes a murderer long in the making. Psychological criticism and formalism can be applied to this short story as Faulkner reveals the mystery behind Emily Grierson. Looking first at psychological criticism, Freud’s idea of the unconscious mind can be applied to better understand Emily’s character. Freud states that the conscious mind is not always aware of the unconscious mind; therefore, many times a person will have difficulties disguising between reality and what they think reality is at that moment. Readers see this clearly modeled with Emily Grierson. After the passing of …show more content…
Formalism can first be applied by looking at the structure of the short story. “A Rose for Emily” is unique because it is not written in chronological order. The readers are told in the first sentence that the destiny of Emily Grierson is death. Faulkner uses this structure to draw a suspicious, gloomy emotion from the reader. The opening to this story can also be termed as foreshadowing. Another use of foreshadowing is when the townspeople talk of the putrid smell coming from Emily’s house. They ignore this smell and blame it on rodents. However, if the story were read from back to front, readers would know this smell is a result of the dead body rotting in Emily’s house. Through the use of these literary devices, Faulkner is able to draw more closely to the reader’s