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The first half of this little brochure consists of a brief account of psycho-analysis
and its applications in the field of literature, the second of a psycho-analysis of the character of Lady Macbeth. The author is at considerable pains to shew that the figure of Lady Macbeth represents a type of hysteria, and that her somnambulic activities signified mental dissociation, not sleep proper. Sadger's work on Somnambulism is not mentioned. The diagnosis of Lady Macbeth's mental state culminates in the conclusion that her sexual energies, thwarted by her barrenness, were transformed into ambition, and that this came into conflict with 'repressed cowardice'. Cowardice, like any other form of fear, may be inhibited, but it is not a primary content of the unconscious, so that one can hardly speak of it as repressed in the psycho-analytic sense: it is, of course, a reaction to some deeper content of the unconscious. The whole study is very slight, but readably written. It is a pity that the author was not able to refer to the profound analyses of the same character published by Freud and Jekels.