A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of The Bridges of Madison County

Abstract

The Bridges of Madison County describes a romantic love story in 1960s .Robert Kincaid, a National Geographic photographer, came to take pictures for the bridges in Madison County where he got to know Francesca and finally fall in love with her. Francesca is a married woman lived there. Facing the belated love and family responsibilities, Francesca choose the latter after fierce inner struggle. Robert respects her decisions and makes a promise that never to bother her life. Perfect love of four days brings mutual lovesickness for their whole rest life.

The central concept of Psychoanalytic theory is unconsciousness. Desires and conflicts that don’t conform to social norms. In Psychoanalytic theory, Freud believes the personality structure consists of id, ego and superego. Defense mechanism is a kind of mechanism of self-defense function. Most of the time, there are always contradictions and conflicts between id and superego, also between id and reality, and people will feel pain and anxious. During which id can mediate and balance the conflicts in an unconscious way, making superego’s supervision accepted, and id’s desires met to a certain degree . Thus it relieves anxiety and removes pains. 

Key words: love; responsibility; Psychoanalytic theory; unconsciousness;

           

Contents

1. Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Analysis of Francesca’s and Robert’ id------------------------------------------

2.1 Francisco’s id------------------------------------------------------------------

2.2 Robert’s id---------------------------------------------------------------------

3. The Conflicts Between Id and Reality-------------------------------------------

3.1 The conflicts between Francesca’s id and the routine married life------

3.2 The conflicts between Robert’s id and the social reality-----------------

4. The Defense Mechanism of Francesca’s and Robert’s Ego-------=----------

4.1 The defence mechanism of Francesca’s ego-------------------------------

4.2 The defense mechanism of Robert’s ego----------------------------------

5. Analysis of Francesca’s and Robert’s Superego-------------------------------

5.1 Francesca’s superego--------------------------------------------------------

5.2 Robert’s superego------------------------------------------------------------

6. Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------