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Tools and Techniques for Character Interpretation

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TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR CHARACTER INTERPRETATION A HANDBOOK OF PSYCHOLOGY FOR ACTORS, WRITERS, AND DIRECTORS By Robert Blumenfeld Limelight Editions Table of Contents Foreword by Alice Spivak I xi Preface I xv About This Book and How to Use It Acknowledgments I xix PART ONE ACTING AND PSYCHOLOGY: CHARACTER ANALYSIS FROM FREUD ONWARD | i Introduction I 3 The Actor's Art and Psychology: Theoretical and Practical Considerations 1. SIGMUND FREUD, FATHER OF PSYCHOANALYSIS I 13 Prologue: The Study of Hysteria and the Beginnings of Psychoanalysis, 13; The Foundations, I: How the Mind Works, 16; The Foundations, II: The Stages of Psychosexual Development, the Oedipus Complex, and the Nature of Sexuality, 23; About Neurosis and Disturbances in Mental Functioning, 29; Eros and Thanatos: The Life Instinct and the Death Instinct, 34; Questions and Considerations: The Practical Application of Freudian Ideas to Character Interpretation, 35; Free Association: An Exercise for Actors, Writers, and Directors, 68 CONTENTS 2. MOTHERS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS: ANNA FREUD, SIGMUND'S "ANTIGONE"; HELENE DEUTSCH, "FREUD'S DARLING"; KAREN HORNEY AND THE NEUROTIC PERSONALITY I 71 Anna Freud, Sigmund's "Antigone", 71; Helene Deutsch, "Freud's Darling": The Psychology of the Feminine and Freudian Theory, 80; Karen Horney on Feminine Psychology and on Neuroses, 84 3. MELANIE KLEIN AND OBJECT-RELATIONS THEORY IN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES | 89 Klein's Psychoanalytic Theories and the Beginnings of the Object-Relations School, 89; The Development of Object-Relations Theory, Attachment Theory, and Self- Psychology 96 4. THE REBELLIOUS CROWN PRINCE: CARL GUSTAV JUNG AND ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY | HI Prologue: The Conflict Between Jung and Freud, m; The Major Concepts of Analytical Psychology, 114; Questions and Considerations: The Practical Applications of Jung's Ideas on Character and Character Typology, 117 5. Two OUTSTANDING PIONEERS: GEORG GRODDECK AND The Book of the It, ALFRED ADLER AND INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY | 123 Georg Groddecks Insights into Transference and Ambivalence: Deepening Characterization, 123; Alfred Adler's Ideas on Birth Order and the Inferiority Complex, 128 6. WILHELM REICH AND CHARACTER ANALYSIS | 135 The Emotional Plague, 137; Character Armoring, 138; Questions and Considerations: The Practical Application of Reichian Ideas to Character Interpretation, 141; Body/ Character Armoring: An Actor's Exercise in Awareness, 149 7. EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY: THE THEORIES OF WILLIAM JAMES, LUDWIG BINSWANGER, HARRY STACK SULLIVAN, JEAN-PAUL SARTRE, AND OTHER PIONEERS | 151 William James on the Nature of Habits, 151; An American School of Psychiatry: Harry Stack Sullivan's Interpersonal Relations, 153; Ludwig Binswanger and Existential Psychology; Viktor FrankI and Logotherapy; Sartre and the Look in the Eye of the Other, 160; Facing the Opposite: An Existentialist Exercise from Gestalt Therapy, 168; Brief Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (BPP) and the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) Method, 169; An Exercise: Using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT), 171 8. PSYCHOLOGICAL TERMS AND TOPICS | 175 Vlll CONTENTS ? PART TWO INTERPRETING CHARACTERS: THE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY | 221 Introduction I 223 PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS IN PLAYS AND FILMS 9. SHAKESPEARE'S TIMELESS PSYCHOLOGICAL THEMES | 229 A Psychopathic Personality: Shakespeare's Richard the Third, 229; The Merchant of Venice: The Psychology of Prejudice, 233; Some Characters in Othello: Paranoia and Wounded Love, 240; A Classic Freudian Interpretation: Ernest Jones's Hamlet and Oedipus, 244; Other Approaches to Hamlet, 248 10. SHERIDAN, STRINDBERG, AND IBSEN: THE DEVELOPMENT OF FEMINISM | 253 Mrs. Malaprop and Sir Anthony Absolute in Sheridan's The Rivals: Two Narcissistic Egotists, 253; August Strindberg's Miss Julie, 255; Feminism and Ibsen's A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler, 256 11. ANTON CHEKHOV | 265 Chekhov's Philosophy; The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, and Other Plays, 265; On the Harmfulness of Tobacco, 269; Three Sisters, 271; Uncle Vanya, 275 12. THE ARTISTIC TEMPERAMENT: Six MODERN PLAYS | 283 Introduction: The Psychology of the Artist, 283; Martin Moran's The Tricky Part, 287; Oscar Wilde, Lord Alfred Douglas, and The Marquis of Queensberry in Moises Kaufmans Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 289; Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Rudolph Besier's The Barretts ofWimpole Street, 297; Emily Dickinson in William Luce's The Belle ofAmherst, 300; A. E. Housman in Tom Stoppard s The Invention of Love, 302; Rimbaud and Verlaine in Christopher Hampton's Total Eclipse, 304 Selected Bibliography I 309 Acting and Theater, 309; Plays and Playwrights, 310; Psychology and Psychoanalysis, 311; Literary Works, Literary Biographies, and Criticism, 317 List of Films and Television Series I 319 List of Plays I 323 About the Author I 327.
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