3. Freud

4. Freud

5. How was Aladdin’s subconscious
represented through Freudian
archetypes throughout the story?

6. Journeys
Journey to parts of personality that he has not yet faced-
Journey to self discovery
Faraway Place Manhole
Home  Palace Unknown
Land Kingdom

8. Id - Isolation
 ID can surface in isolation
 “They were poor and lived form hand to
mouth, though Aladdin did what he could to
earn some pennies, by picking banana’s in a
faraway place”.
 His ID got him to jump down the manhole;
impulsive, for a trivial item, a silver coin

9. Id
 “A terrified Aladdin left in pitch darkness, wondering
what the wizard would do next”
 Darkness = Id is in control
 Proceeds to steeling the lamp for himself, as well as
the ring the wizard dropped

10. Superego
 “I want to go home! – In a flash he was back in his
own home, though the door was tightly shut.”
 Return home from isolation is the disappearance
of the ID

11. Ego
 Never returns ring of lamp
 “Why did you leave me at another’s service for so long?”
 This shows that Aladdin claimed to be his rightful owner
 Rationalizes; lamp isn’t the wizards, why can’t he keep it,
wizard is bad man, therefore it’s okay to keep his ring.

12. Yonic Symbol

13. Relevance
 “Aladdin grew into a tall
handsome young man and his
mother felt that he ought to find
himself a wife, sooner or later”
 The ring just fell into his palm,
like his wife, Halima
 “Slipping the ring on his finger,
he twisted it round and round”
 Needs to save his beloved wife
 You can tell the ring is never as
important as the lamp…

14. Psychoanalytical Critic
 Looks carefully at images to uncover latent content
 Latent content: hidden, symbolic meaning
Lamp? Or Phallic
Symbol

15. Phallic

16. Relevance
 “Once upon a time…a widow had an only son whose
name was Aladdin”
 Lost father at young age – Phallic = Male figure
 Aladdin missing dominant male figure in life
 “From that day on, the widow and her son had
everything they could wish for: food, clothes and a fine
home, for the genie of the lamp granted them everything
they asked him”
 Reason Aladdin is so dependent?

17. More Phallic…
 “He picked up the lamp, rubbed it harder than ever and
told the genie what he required”
 Subconscious need or want for a father, thinking one
would provide everything he needed
 Lamp provided him food, clothes, a fine home, and his wife,
Halima

18. Feminism

19. How is the characters’
portrayal in the story of
Aladdin a reflection of a
patriarchal society and
to what effect?

20. Halima

21.  The Princess is the only main female character in the story.
 Represented as obedient, emotional, and timid (Example: “She
clutched Aladdin in fear.”)
 Both fit the gender stereotypes (Example: "Can we return to our
own kingdom?" the princess asked timidly)
 Accepts the idea of being married after meeting Aladdin
 Women didn’t get to exercise their power during this time period
(based her decision of who she married off of what the dad felt)

22.  Uses her sexuality to her
advantage
 Seen as a commodity
 Damsel in Distress
(Example: “In a second he
whisked away all Aladdin's
possessions and magically
sent the palace and the
princess to an unknown
land.”)
 Reader would think Halima
is dependent (relies on
Aladdin or father)

23. Mother of Aladdin
 Nurturing Mother
 Wants Aladdin to have a good life
First wish is to have food for her and Aladdin (“Example:
Bring us… bring…" His mother not having yet begun to
cook the dinner, went on to say: "… a lovely big meal.”
 Believed Aladdin could end up with Halima (Example:
Aladdin told his mother and she quickly said: "I'll ask the
Sultan for his daughter's hand. He'll never be able to
refuse. Wait and see!")
 Didn’t fit the gender stereotype (The male usually
would be the one to approach the Sultan, assumes the
male role)

24. Aladdin/Father

25.  Primary responsibility for the welfare and authority over their
families
 Masculine Dominance
 Working for family
 Taking care of mother
 Represented as active, dominating, adventurous and rational
 Plays the role of keeping the princess safe/save her

26.  Hero
 Reader would think of the reader as a noble and caring
guy for helping out both his mother and the princess
 Decision-makers and hold positions of power and
prestige, and have the power to define reality and
common situations.
 Primary responsibility for the welfare and authority over
their families

27. Marxist

28. Marxism
How can the division
between the proletariat
and the bourgeoisie be
seen in the short story
“Aladdin” and how does
this affect the story?

29. “They were very poor and
lived from hand to mouth”
 Meaning just enough to survive.
 Material circumstances become very
clear.
 A definite higher class seen in the royal
family and the sultan.(Bourgeoisie)
 A lower class seen in Aladdin and his
mother.(Proleteriat)

30. Bourgeoisie
Proletariat

31. Interpellation
 The bourgeoisie is royalty and Aladdin is
working class it is impossible for him to
become bourgeoisie.
 For Aladdin to become bourgeoisie he
would have to marry Halima.

32. Commodification
 “Every slave must bring a box of precious
stones”
 These stones have no real value or usefulness
to the sultan but have the power to impress
him as they are a sign of wealth.
 The sign value of these stones separates the
sultan as a bourgeoisie.

33. How does it affect our
story?
 Surplus value ( paid for the exchange
value not the use value of his labour)
 He wanted more for his work. Wanted
the silver penny
 “From that day on, the widow and her
son had everything they could wish for:
food, clothes and a fine home”

34. Revolt?
 The Marxist theory
says that the
proletariat will revolt.
 Instead of revolting
and creating equal
classes he assumes
the role of
bourgeoisie.

35. Carl Jung

36. In what way could this story be
considered an archetypal “quest”
story?

37. Quest
 Involves a search for a magical item that
will return abundance to a desolate
state. The need to perform a nearly
impossible task.
 Aladdin needs to find the lamp again
to restore his normal life
 Nearly impossible task: Find where his
wife is hidden, poison the wizard and
find the lamp

38. Hero
 A journey where the hero
must retrieve a powerful
artefact or battle with
superhuman creatures to save
someone else.
 The hero pursues the quest
 Aladdin saved his wife and
brought the wealth back to
his family
 Powerful Artifact: The lamp
 Superhuman creatures: The
wizard

39. How do the
mythological symbols in
Aladdin affect the story?

40.  Based on folktales in Persia; where they teach
lessons about greed, envy or pride
 Silver coin: aura of magic and divinity
 Trees: growth and inexhaustible life
 Gold: indestructibility
 Trees, gold and jewels predict Aladdin’s future

41.  Jewels and jems: wealth
 Trees, gold and jewels predict Aladdin’s future
 Three: deals with magic and advantages
 Supernatural powers: vices or virtues, good or
evil
 Aladdin = virtue and good
 Wizard = vices and evil

42. Ring: wholeness

43. Seasons
 Spring: Aladdin overcame poverty, atmosphere
of youth and sexual bliss upon marrying Halima
 Winter: once the wizard took the lamp and
Aladdin must come up with an idea to save him
and his wife, chaos was brought to the kingdom

44. Thank you!