d to think that the parents unconsciously knew of their daughter’s psychological games. Her mother appreciated the new lack of competition, and her father was enraged as if he knew she was doing this out of revenge. While the girl was herself modest and did not partake in sexual activities, her object choice was women who were the complete opposite. She had plenty of chances to physically be with girls of her own age and closer to her own nature, but she rejected them time after time. The new condition of her love was that the women had to be coquettes. The more she learned of her ladies exploits with men which earned her a living, the more compassion she felt, and the stronger her urge to try to save them was. The explanation she gave for her suicide attempt was plausible, and no doubt made up a portion of her motives, but Freud dug deeper into the plausible reasons and found that there was much more to it. She said that she tried to kill herself because upon learning of the girl’s father’s disapproval, the lady (who already acted coldly towards the girl) had said that she didn’t want to see her again. Freud added two more motives: that of (self) punishment-fulfillment, and wish fulfillment. As a wish-fulfillment she was reacting to her wish to fall by fault of her father. Originally this was to be done by impregnation, but now it was through suicide due to his disapproval and the subsequent loss of the lady. The lady’s agreeing with her father backed up Freud’s deeper interpretation of the situation. The girl had developed an unconscious death wish towards one or both of her parents, and like many suicidal people had turned this death wish inward. This was the second part of his theory: the (self) punishment-fulfillment.Though many in the class rejected most of Freud’s theories in this case-study, upon closer analysis of it I found myself agreeing with almost everything he said...
