A phenomenological interpretation of consciousness and psychoanalytic illustration of unconscious motives in Stephen King’s Misery and Pet Sematary

Abstract

Stephen King’s novels Misery and Pet Sematary reflect upon human psychology that has been important to the demonstration of conscious and unconscious activities. In other words, Hegel’s phenomenology of consciousness and its processes are justified with the actions of the protagonists of the stories, Paul Sheldon and Dr. Louis Creed. At the same time, their unconscious processes are traced to justify the way in which unknown ideas penetrate into consciousness, known as preconscious thoughts. The concept of the unconscious as examined by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan have supported Hegel’s model of consciousness. So, this paper derives the connection between classical psychoanalysis and phenomenology to popular horror fiction and delves into a realistic aspect of the human psychology in the fictional plot and setting of the selected texts.