FREUD AND THE IMAGE OF MAN
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Auden have recognized with much sensitivity, there was a deep
current of romanticism in Freud-a sense of the role of impulse, of
the drama of life, of the power of symbolism, of ways of knowing
that were more poetic than rational in spirit, of the poet's cultural
alienation. It was perhaps this romantic's sense of drama that led
to his gullibility about parental seduction and to his generous sus–
ceptibility to the fallacy of the dramatic instance.
Freud also embodies two traditions almost as antithetical as
romanticism .and nineteenth-century scientism. He was profoundly a
Jew, not in a doctrinal sense but in his conception of morality, in his
love of the skeptical play of reason, in his distrust of illusion, in the
form of his prophetic talent, even in his conception of mature
eroticism. His prophetic talent was antithetic to a Utopianism either
of innocence or of social control. Nor did it lead to a counsel of re–
nunciation. Free oneself of illusion, of neurotic infantilism, and "the
soft voice of intellect" would prevail. Wisdom for Freud was neither
doctrine nor formula, but the achievement of maturity. T he patient
who is cured is the one who is now free enough of neurosis to decide
intelligently about his own destiny.
As
for his conception of mature
love, it has always seemed to me that its blend of tenderness and
sensuality combined the uxorious imagery of the Chassidic tradition
and the sensual quality of the Song of Songs. And might it not have
been Freud rather than a commentator of the Haftorahs who said,
"In children it was taught, God gives humanity a chance to make
good its mistakes." For the modern trend of permissiveness toward
children is surely a feature of the Freudian legacy.
But for all the Hebraic quality, Freud is also in the classical
tradition-combining the Stoics and the great Greek dramatists. For
Freud as for the Stoics, there is no possibility of man disobeying the
laws of nature. And yet, it is in this lawfulness that for him the
human drama inheres. His love for Greek drama and his use of it
in
his formulation are patent. The sense of the human tragedy, the
inevitable working out of the human plight-these are the hallmarks
of Freud's case histories. When Freud, the tragic dramatist, becomes
a therapist, it is not to intervene as a directive authority. The thera–
pist enters the drama of the patient's life, makes possible a play
within a play, the transference, and when the patient has "worked
through" and understood the drama, he has achieved the wisdom
necessary for freedom. Again, like the Stoics, it is in the recognition
