Recently in our psychology class we read an article on Erik H. Erikson, it was titled Identity’s Architect written by Lawrence J. Friedman. This was an article about how Freud ,with his wife Joan’s help, created his theory about the developmental stages of humans. In the article I was draw to the part it said Joan Erikson, “emphasized that Shakespeare was richer than Freud on developmental matters because he had moved beyond the early years in his cast of characters” (Friedman 217). I found it interesting that Shakespeare would be thought of as someone that was an influential person in the field of psychology because I have only ever thought of him as Shakespeare the writer and famous poet. This viewpoint is fascinating and after looking at the speech by Jaques in As You Like It famously referred to as “All the world’s a stage”. In this speech Jaques states “one man in his time plays many parts” (Shakespeare Act 2 scene 7) This shows that the identity of a man, is not concrete in the eyes of Shakespeare it is always changing and evolving. Throughout the speech the seven ages of men are listed and it is pretty much a break down of all the stages that men will go through in their lives until they are, “sans everything” (Shakespeare Act 2 Scene 7). After reading this speech it is clear that Shakespeare had some revolutionary ideas about development that were ahead of his time. I think it is interesting that Shakespeare actually did have such wonderful insight about the development patterns of people, and that he was an inspiration and reference for such a famous couple in psychology like Joan and Erik Erikson. I also wanted to add that in the original draft I made of the blog I forgot to add Joan Erikson at the end, which was actually a focus of the article that she did a lot of work with Erikson and helped him with all ideas yet doesn’t seem to get much credit. This mistake I made just emphasizes that she really does not get enough credit. To read the speech and get and see the connections click here: http://nfs.sparknotes.com/asyoulikeit/page_98.html

Works cited:

Friedman, Lawrence J., Idenity’s Architect, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999. Print.

"No Fear Shakespeare: As You Like It: Act 2, Scene 7, Page 7." No Fear Shakespeare: Shakespeare's plays plus a modern translation you can understand. N.p., n.d. Web. 18, Sept. 2013.