The beginning of psychoanalytic theory is rooted in the works of neurologist Sigmund Freud. Freud believed identity to be the result of the combined processes of the conscious, unconscious, and preconscious mind. In his initial psychoanalytical theory, the actions of the conscious mind are influenced by the preconscious and unconscious. The preconscious mind contains repressed childhood memories and thoughts that must be uncovered to analyze the effects on people's lives. The unconscious mind is concerned with instincts such as sexual drive and aggressive drive that can be affected by conscious and preconscious factors such as social values and individual upbringing.
In the 1960s, French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan used Freud’s theories of the mind to further expand on the role of the unconscious in developing identity. Unlike Freud, who saw the processes of the unconscious governed by instinctual drives, Lacan believed the unconscious was affected by the feeling of absence. As critic David H. Richter explains, “The sense of absence can take the form of mere lack (in the French, "manqué") or need ("besoin"), which force the psyche to make demands; or it can take the higher form of desire ("desir").” This sense of absence is manifested in how individuals perceive reality, with desire creating an increased sense of self-consciousness. Unlike Freud’s original psychoanalytic model that attempted to analyze the mind from a biological perspective, Lacan used semiotics, or the study of symbols, to illustrate how the human mind perceives reality.
Unlike psychoanalytic theory, which looks at the formation of individual identity, feminist theory looks at the creation of group identity based on gender. Critic Jonathan Culler describes feminist theory as the “theoretical critique of heterosexual matrix that organizes identities and cultures in terms of opposition between man and woman.” In addition, feminist theory takes a more practical approach in encouraging a female identity outside of the constructs of male identity and encouraging women’s rights. In feminist literary theory, the works of theorists such as Kate Millett and Mary Ellman focus on the portrayal of women literary characters by male authors and the effects of a patriarchal society on how women portray and view the world.
For many feminist theorists, Freud’s initial ideas of the mind presented a sexist interpretation of identity. However, with the works of Lacan, some feminist theories began to embrace psychoanalysis as a means of realizing how women view the world. As Culler explains, feminist theorists such as Jacqueline Rose, Mary Jacobs and Kaja Silverman used psychoanalysis, “with its understanding of the complications of internalizing norms” to “comprehend and reconceive the predicament of women.”