Understanding the Overpowering Mother in Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Hildesheim, language: English, abstract: This paper focuses on a psychological explanation of the characters' behavior in 'The Birds' by Alfred Hitchcock based on Freud's understanding of the Oedipus complex. The paper reflects the general idea of Freud's understanding of the Oedipus complex, discussing the reasons for children's attachment to their opposite sex parent by examining the unconscious events taking place in childhood. After that, Freud's theory is used for the explanation of the three main characters' behavior. For this, the actions of and the interactions among Mitch, Lydia and Melanie are considered more precisely. The findings of the analysis are summarized in the final conclusion of the term paper, which additionally offers further analysis possibilities.