The Deep Context of Melancholy - Essay Example

The Deep Context of Melancholy The concepts of the different aspects of life and their respective causation are most often discussed and divulged by various fields of studies. The state of melancholia is commonly found in various literary works where highlight of the drama is focused on this low point of emotion. While most of the people in the world relate to the feeling of melancholy, considering it as a natural cycle in life, the deep context of this state is deeper than just the feeling of lowliness. Melancholia is differentiated with other feelings that somehow relates to its state and divulged with its causations and effects. Three remarkable works that relates the state of melancholia, sharing similar frameworks are Sigmund Freud’s “Mourning and Melancholia”, Julia Kristeva’s “On the Melancholic Imaginary” and Dorothea Lansky’s “When it is a Black life”. Sigmund Freud, in his article “Mourning and Melancholia”, throws some light on the nature of melancholia by comparing it with mourning. His work is a psychological approach into apprehending the deeper context of the two interrelated human phenomenon. Mourning and melancholia are both human emotions that exhibit similar outward symptoms. However, the causation and the long term effects of these human tendencies differ in the deeper level. While the human experience of mourning and melancholia portrays similar outward symptoms, they are different with diverse directions of consequences. He points out that the fruits, features and the underlying causes of the two conditions are more or less the same. Some common features include painful dejection, cessation of interest in the outside world, loss of the ability to love, and inability to perform activities. However, while the lowering of the self-regarding feelings is a feature of melancholia, it is not present in mourning (Freud 243). Furthermore, while the condition of mourning includes the patient’s consciousness of losing someone, the state of melancholia is withdrawn from the object-loss concept (Freud 244). Therefore, in melancholia, it is difficult to understand what is absorbing the patient while the reason is apparent in mourning. The state of mourning is characterized with a patient that finds the world despicable, whereas in melancholia, the patient finds his own self worthless. Freud claims that the self-reproaches made by a melancholic person are reproaches against his loved object, which have been taken on to his own ego. It happens because when a person loses a loved-object, the free libido does not get displaced on to another object. Instead, it creates an identification of the ego with the lost object. Thus, the object-loss becomes ego-loss. Another important point is that the causes leading to melancholia can lead to mania as well because after getting over the suffering caused by object-loss, the ego is eager for new object-cathexes. Admittedly, most of the time, the author depends on his own medical observations as the proof or depends on his own previous studies. That means one can only see this article as a purely theoretical work with very little evidence available for support. The differences pointed out by Freud about mourning and melancholia points that there is a deeper problem attached to the state of melancholia since the impact lasts into the level of ego and self-worthiness. The time frame for which the patient can let go of the melancholia is dependent on the choices of every individual. Mourning provides an easier context to battle due to the consciousness of the patient on the object of loss and that causation holds a definite time frame. In agreement with Freud’s framework of the state of melancholia, Julia Kristeva in her article, “On the Melancholic Imaginary” looks into the presence of melancholy in art and tries to explain the relation between melancholy and symbolism. Kristeva is an eminent psychoanalyst, philosopher, sociologist and feminist. Kristeva admits that melancholy contains aggressiveness against the lost object where the mourner exhibits ambivalence towards the lost object. The moods, especially sadness, are the ultimate reactions to the traumas, and can act as the precondition for the imaginary and the symbolic (Kristeva 8). To illustrate, the author analyzes Nerval’s work “Black Sun” to show how the artist’s melancholy results in the name “Black Sun” and describes how the sorrow makes the artist represent death as the ultimate site of desire. In other words, it is observed that the symbolism exhibited in the work shows an effort to flee the sorrow. In the works of Dostoevsky, the author sees a rebellion that derives pleasure from “non-submission to the word” and the “sensual pleasure of suicide” (Kristeva 13). Evidently, there is an interrelation of melancholia with mania. Furthermore, the idea of suffering can cause an exultation of mood, resulting in an incommensurable jubilation. Likewise, terrorism appears another way of reaching this jubilation. In totality, the work heavily depends on the concepts of Freud in describing what melancholy is and how human responds with melancholy. However, after reaching ‘identification’, the author develops her own theoretical framework depending heavily on Nerval and Dostoevsky for evidence to support her claims. There are similarities in the concept of melancholia between Kristeva and Freud. In fact, most of the Kristeva’s perception about the state of melancholia echoes what Freud has already laid down bringing all other evidence that suggests the truthfulness of Freud’s concepts. The notion of melancholy presented by Freud is also supported by Dorothea Lasky’s poem “When it is a Black Life’. The poem supports what the two articles already revealed. First, it reveals melancholy and sadness throughout. It reads, “And it will be loneliness until the end/Which will be more or less lonely” (8-9). In addition, the poet reveals, “And I am constantly misunderstood” (18). Evidently, these points accord with the claims of Freud regarding the features of melancholia. Moreover, one can see that this melancholy is leading to the desire for death, as opined by Kristeva. The revelation of melancholy through symbolism was analyzed by Kristeva and other works of people like Dostoevsky. They believe that melancholy is the symbolic expression of desire for self-destruction or jubilation of suffering in art. Supporting this view, the last two lines of the poem goes, “Are the vermin underneath the earth/Who are waiting for me to come join them” (39-40). Evidently, the poet is expressing her desire to die because of the melancholia. One can see that all the three works analyzed links to one another in a considerable manner. Primarily, the three works deal with the same issue, that is, melancholia. In the first work, Freud conceptualizes how melancholia is different from mourning and how melancholia results in displacement and identification. In addition, the scholar reveals how melancholia results in a dislike for self and how this melancholia can take the form of mania, as after getting over the suffering caused by object-loss, the ego is eager for new object-cathexes. Further extending this framework, Kristeva looks into the aspect of how the lost-object promotes dislike for a person’s own ego expressing it in a subliminal way through symbolism and imagery instead of more aggressive ways. To support this view, the scholar relied on the works of Nerval and Dostoevsky. Lastly, the poem by Lasky supports the previous views about melancholy. The poem works as evidence to the claims made by both previous scholars. It reveals features of melancholy throughout and shows how this melancholy reveals itself in art and how it expresses itself as a desire to destroy oneself through death or suicide. Works Cited Freud, Sigmund. “Mourning and Melancholia”. Standard Edition. (1917). Kristeva, Julia. “On the Melancholic Imaginary”. New Formations. (1987). No. 3. PDF. Lasky, Dorothea. “When It is a Black Life”. Wavebooks. (2010). Read More