with the opposite feelings of repulsion and distress.

I know of
only one attempt in medico-psychological literature, a fertile but
not exhaustive paper by Jentsch (1906). But I must confess that I
THE UNCANNY have not made a very thorough examination of the literature,
Sigmund Freud especially the foreign literature, relating to this present modest
contribution of mine, for reasons which, as may easily be
I guessed, lie in the times in which we live; so that my paper is
It is only rarely that a psycho-analyst feels impelled to presented to the reader without any claim to priority.
investigate the subject of aesthetics, even when aesthetics is
understood to mean not merely the theory of beauty but the In his study of the 'uncanny'; Jentsch quite rightly lays stress on
theory of the qualities of feeling. He works in other strata of the obstacle presented by the fact that people vary so very
mental life and has little to do with the subdued emotional greatly in their sensitivity to this quality of feeling. The writer of
impulses which, inhibited in their aims and dependent on a the present contribution, indeed, must himself plead guilty to a
host of concurrent factors, usually furnish the material for the special obtuseness in the matter, where extreme delicacy of
study of aesthetics. But it does occasionally happen that he has perception would be more in place. It is long since he has
to interest himself in some particular province of that subject; experienced or heard of anything which has given him an
and this province usually proves to be a rather remote one, and uncanny impression, and he must start by translating himself
one which has been neglected in the specialist literature of into that state of feeling, by awakening in himself the possibility
aesthetics. of experiencing it. Still, such difficulties make themselves
powerfully felt in many other branches of aesthetics; we need
The subject of the 'uncanny' is a province of this kind. It is not on that account despair of finding instances in which tee
undoubtedly related to what is frightening — to what arouses quality in question will be unhesitatingly recognized by most
dread and horror; equally certainly, too, the word is not always people.
used in a clearly definable sense, so that it tends to coincide
with what excites fear in general. Yet we may expect that a Two courses are open to us at the outset. Either we can find out
special core of feeling is present which justifies the use of a what meaning has come to be attached to the word 'uncanny' in
special conceptual term. One is curious to know what this the course of its history; or we can collect all those properties of
common core is which allows us to distinguish as 'uncanny'; persons, things, sense-impressions, experiences and situations
certain things which lie within the field of what is frightening. which arouse in us the feeling of uncanniness, and then infer
the unknown nature of the uncanny from what all these
As good as nothing is to be found upon this subject in examples have in common. I will say at once that both courses
comprehensive treatises on aesthetics, which in general prefer lead to the same result: the uncanny is that class of the
to concern themselves with what is beautiful, attractive and frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long
sublime; that is, with feelings of a positive nature; and with the familiar. How this is possible, in what circumstances the
circumstances and the objects that call them forth, rather than familiar can become uncanny and frightening, I shall show in
Freud, “The Uncanny” -2-

what follows. Let me also add that my investigation was Latin: (K.E. Georges, Deutschlateinisches buch, 1898). An
actually begun by collecting a number of individual cases, and uncanny place: locus suspectus; at an uncanny time of night:
was only later confirmed by an examination of linguistic usage. intempesta nocte.
In this discussion, however, I shall follow the reverse course.
The German word 'unheimlich'is obviously the opposite Greek: (Rost's and Schenkl's Lexikons). Eeros (i.e., strange,
of 'heimlich' ['homely'], 'heimisch' ['native'] the opposite of what foreign).
is familiar; and we are tempted to conclude that what is
'uncanny' is frightening precisely because it is not known and English: (from the dictionaries of Lucas, Bellows, Flumlgel and
familiar. Naturally not everything that is new and unfamiliar is Muret-Sanders). Uncomfortable, uneasy, gloomy, dismal,
frightening, however; the relation is not capable of inversion. uncanny, ghastly; (of a house) haunted; (of a man) a repulsive
We can only say that what is novel can easily become fellow.
frightening but not by any means all. Something has to be
added to what is novel and unfamiliar in order to make it French: (Sachs-Villatte). Inquiétant, sinistre, lugubre, mal à son
uncanny. aise.

On the whole, Jentsch did not get beyond this relation of the Spanish: (Tollhausen, 1889). Sospechoso, de mal aguëro,
uncanny to the novel and unfamiliar. He ascribes the essential lúgubre, siniestro.
factor in the production of the feeling of uncanniness to
intellectual uncertainty; so that the uncanny would always, as it The Italian and Portuguese languages seem to content
were, be something one does not know one's way about in. The themselves with words which we should describe as
better orientated in his environment a person is, the less readily circumlocutions. In Arabic and Hebrew ‘uncanny’ means the
will he get the impression of something uncanny in regard to same as ‘daemonic’, ‘gruesome’.
the objects and events in it.
Let us therefore return to the German language. In Daniel
It is not difficult to see that this definition is incomplete, and we Sanders’s Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (1860, 1, 729), the
will therefore try to proceed beyond the equation 'uncanny' as following entry, which I here reproduce in full, is to be found
'unfamiliar'. We will first turn to other languages. But the under the word ‘heimlich’. I have laid stress on one or two
dictionaries that we consult tell us nothing new, perhaps only passages by italicizing them.
because we ourselves speak a language that is foreign. Indeed,
we get an impression that many languages are without a word Heimlich, adj., subst. Heimlichkeit (pl. Heimlichkeiten):
for this particular shade of what is frightening. I. Also heimelich, heimelig, belonging to the house, not strange,
familiar, tame, intimate, friendly, etc.
I should like to express my indebtedness to Dr. Theodor Reik
for the following excerpts: (a) (Obsolete) belonging to the house or the family, or regarded
as so belonging (cf. Latin familiaris, familiar); Die Heimlichen, the
Freud, “The Uncanny” -3-

members of the household; Der heimliche Rat (Gen. xli, 45; 2 seemed to Ivo again of an evening, when he was at home.’ ‘It
Sam. xxiii, 23; I Chron. xii, 25; Wisd. viii. 4), now more was so heimelig in the house.’ ‘The warm room and
usually Geheimer Rat [Privy Councillor]. the heimeligafternoon.’ ‘When a man feels in his heart that he is
so small and the Lord so great — that is what is truly heimelig.’
(b) Of animals: tame, companionable to man. As opposed to ‘Little by little they grew at ease and heimelig among
wild, e.g., ‘Animals which are neither wild nor heimlich’, etc. themselves.’ ‘FriendlyHeimeligkeit.’ ‘ I shall be nowhere more
‘Wild animals … that are trained to be heimlich and accustomed heimelich than I am here.’ ‘That which comes from afar …
to men.’ ‘If these young creatures are brought up from early assuredly does not live quite heimelig (heimatlich [at
days among men they become quite heimlich, friendly’ etc. — So home], freundnachbarlich [in a neighbourly way]) among the
also: ‘It (the lamb) is so heimlich and eats out of my hand.’ people.’ ‘The cottage where he had once sat so often among his
‘Nevertheless, the stork is a beautiful heimelich bird.’ own people, so heimelig, so happy.’ ‘The sentinel’s horn sounds
so heimelig from the tower, and his voice invites so hospitably.’
( c) Intimate, friendly comfortable; the enjoyment of quiet ‘You go to sleep there so soft and warm, so
content, etc., arousing a sense of agreeable restfulness and wonderfully heim’lig.’ — This form of the word deserves to become
security as in one within the four walls of his house. Is it general in order to protect this perfectly good sense of the word from
still heimlich to you in your country where strangers are felling becoming obsolete through an easy confusion with II [see below]. Cf:
your woods?’ ‘She did not feel too heimlich with him.’ ‘Along a ‘"The Zecks [a family name] are all ‘heimlich’." (in sense II)
high, heimlich, shady path …, beside a purling, gushing and "’Heimlich’? … What do you understand by ‘heimlich’?" "Well, …
babbling woodland brook.’ ‘To destroy the Heimlichkeit of the they are like a buried spring or a dried-up pond. One cannot walk over
home.’ ‘I could not readily find another spot so intimate it without always having the feeling that water might come up there
and heimlich as this.’ ‘We pictured it so comfortable, so nice, so again." "Oh, we call it ‘unheimlich’; you call it ‘heimlich’. Well, what
cosy and heimlich.’ ‘In quietHeimlichkeit, surrounded by close makes you think that there is something secret and untrustworthy
walls.’ ‘A careful housewife, who knows how to make a about this family"?"’ (Gutzkow).
pleasing Heimlichkeit (Häuslichkeit [domesticity]) out of the
smallest means.’ ‘The man who till recently had been so strange 1. (d) Especially in Silesia: gay, cheerful; also of the weather.
to him now seemed to him all the more heimlich.’ ‘The
protestant land-owners do not feel … heimlich among their II. Concealed, kept from sight, so that others do not get to know
catholic inferiors.’ ‘When it grows heimlich and still, and the of or about it, withheld from others. To do something heimlich,
evening quiet alone watches over your cell.’ ‘Quiet, lovely i.e., behind someone’s back; to steal away heimlich;
and heimlich, no place more fitted for the rest.’ ‘He did not feel heimlichmeetings and appointments; to look on
at all heimlich about it.’ — Also, [in compounds] ‘The place was with heimlich pleasure at someone’s discomfiture; to sigh or
so peaceful, so lonely, so shadily-heimlich.’ ‘The in- and weep heimlich; to behave heimlich, as though there was
outflowing waves of the current, dreamy and lullaby-heimlich.’ something to conceal; heimlich love-affair, love,
Cf. in especial Unheimlich [see below]. Among Swabian Swiss sin; heimlich places (which good manners oblige us to conceal) (1
authors in especial, often as a trisyllable: ‘How heimelich it Sam. V. 6. ‘The heimlich chamber’ (privy) (2 Kings x. 27.). Also,
Freud, “The Uncanny” -4-

‘the heimlich chair’. ‘To throw into pits orHeimlichkeiten’. — ‘Led divine, to surround it with a certain Unheimlichkeit.’ —
the steeds heimlich before Laomedon.’ — ‘As Unheimlich is not often used as opposite to meaning II (above).
secretive, heimlich, deceitful and malicious towards cruet
masters … as frank, open, sympathetic and helpful towards a What interests us most in this long extract is to find that among
friend in misfortune.’ ‘You have still to learn what its different shades of meaning the word ‘heimlich’’ exhibits one
is heimlich holiest to me.’ ‘The heimlich art’ (magic). ‘Where which is identical with its opposite, ‘unheirnlich’. What
public ventilation has to stop, there heimlich conspirators and is heimlichthus comes to be unheimlich. (Cf. the quotation from
the loud battle-cry of professed revolutionaries.’ ‘A Gutzkow: ‘We call it "unheimlich"; you call it "heimlich".’) In
holy, heimlich effect.’ ‘I have roots that are most heimlich. I am general we are reminded that the word ‘heimlich’ is not
grown in the deep earth.’ ‘My heimlich pranks.’ ‘If he is not unambiguous, but belongs to two sets of ideas, which, without
given it openly and scrupulously he may seize it heimlich and being contradictory, are yet very different: on the one hand it
unscrupulously.’ ‘He had achromatic telescopes means what is familiar and agreeable, and on the other. what is
constructed heimlich and secretly.’ ‘Henceforth I desire that concealed and kept out of sight. ‘Unheimlich’ is customarily
there should be nothing heimlich any longer between us.’ — To used, we are told, as the contrary only of the first signification
discover, disclose, betray someone’s Hleimlichkeiten; ‘to of’ heimlich’, and not of the second. Sanders tells us nothing
concoct Heimlichkeiten behind my back’. ‘In my time we concerning a possible genetic connection between these two
studied Heimlichkeit.’ ‘The hand of understanding can alone meanings of heimlich. On the other hand, we notice that
undo the powerless spell of the Heimlichkeit (of hidden gold).’ Schelling says something which throws quite a new light on the
‘Say, where is the place of concealment … in what place of concept of the Unheimlich, for which we were certainly not
hidden Heimlichkeit?’ ‘Bees, who make the lock prepared. According to him, everything is unheimlich that ought
of Heimlichkeiten’ (i.e., sealing-wax). "learned in to have remained secret and hidden but has come to light.
strange Heimlichkeiten’ (magic arts). Some of the doubts that have thus arisen are removed if we
consult Grimm’s dictionary. (1877, 4. Part 2, 873 ff.)
For compounds see above, Ic. Note especially the negative ‘un-
‘: eerie, weird, arousing gruesome fear: ‘Seeming We read:
quite unheimlich and ghostly to him.’ ‘The unheimlich, fearful Heimlich; adj. and adv. vernaculus, occultus; MHG, heimelich,
hours of night.’ ‘I had already long since felt an unheimich’, heimlich.
even gruesome feeling.’ ‘Now I am beginning to have (P. 874.) In a slightly different sense: ‘I feel heimlich, well, free
an unheimlich feeling.’ … ‘Feels an unheimlich horror.’ from fear.’ . . .
‘Unheimlich and motionless like a stone image.’ [3] (b) Heimlich is also used of a place free from ghostly
‘The unheimlich mist called hill-fog.’ ‘These pale youths influences … familiar, friendly, intimate.
are unheinrlich and are brewing heaven knows what mischief.’ (P. 875: ß) Familiar, amicable, unreserved.
‘"Unheimlich is the name for everything that ought to have remained From the idea of ‘homelike’, ‘belonging to the house’, the
... secret and hidden but has come to light’ (Schelling).— ‘To veil the further idea is developed of
Freud, “The Uncanny” -5-

something withdrawn from the eyes of strangers, something concealed, opposite, unheimlich. Unheimlich is in some way or other a sub-
secret; and this idea is expanded in many ways … species of heimlich. Let us bear this discovery in mind, though
(P. 876.) ‘On the left bank of the lake there lies a we cannot yet rightly understand it, alongside of Schelling’s
meadow heimlich in the wood.’ (Schiller, Wilhelm Tell, 1. 4.) … definition of the Unheimlich. If we go on to examine individual
Poetic licence, rarely so used in modern speech … Heimlich instances of uncanniness, these hints will become intelligible to
is used in conjunction with a verb expressing the act of us.
concealing: ‘In the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide
me heimlich.’ (Ps. xxvii. 5.) … Heimlich parts of the human
body, pudenda … ‘the men that died not were smitten on II
their heimlich parts.’ (1 Samuel v. 12.) …
a. Officials who give important advice which has to When we proceed to review things, persons, impressions,
be kept secret in matters of state are events and situations which are able to arouse in us a feeling of
called heimlich councillors; the adjective, the uncanny in a particularly forcible and definite form, the first
according to modern usage, has been replaced requirement is obviously to select a suitable example to start on.
bygeheim [secret] ... ‘Pharaoh called Joseph’s Jentsch has taken as a very good instance ‘doubts whether an
name "him to whom secrets are revealed"’ apparently animate being is really alive; or conversely, whether
(heimlich councillor). (Gen. xli. 45.) a lifeless object might not be in fact animate’; and he refers in
this connection to the impression made by waxwork figures,
ingeniously constructed dolls and automata. To these he adds
(P. 878.) 6. Heimlich, as used of knowledge — mystic, allegorical: the uncanny effect of epileptic fits, and of manifestations of
a heimlich meaning, mysticus, divinus, occultus, figuratus. insanity, because these excite in the spectator the impression of
(P. 878.) Heimlich in a different sense, as withdrawn from automatic, mechanical processes at work behind the ’ordinary
knowledge, unconscious … Heimlich also has the meaning of appearance of mental activity. Without entirely accepting this
that which is obscure, inaccessible to knowledge … ‘Do you not author’s view, we will take it as a starting point for our own
see? They do not trust us; they fear the heimlich face of the Duke investigation because in what follows he reminds us of a writer
of Friedland.’ (Schiller, Wallensteins Lager, Scene 2.) who has succeeded in producing uncanny effects better than
9. The notion of something hidden and dangerous, which is expressed anyone else.
in the last paragraph, is still further developed, so that ‘heimlich’
comes to have the meaning usually ascribed to ‘unheimlich’. Thus: ‘At Jentsch writes: 'In telling a story one of the most successful
times I feel like a man who walks in the night and believes in devices for easily creating uncanny effects is to leave the reader
ghosts; every corner is heimlich and full of terrors for him’. in uncertainty whether a particular figure in the story is a
(Klinger, Theater, 3. 298.) human being or an automaton and to do it in such a way that
his attention is not focused directly upon his uncertainty, so that
Thus heimlich is a word the meaning of which develops in the he may not be led to go into the matter and clear it up
direction of ambivalence, until it finally coincides with its immediately. 'I'hat, as we have said, would quickly dissipate the
Freud, “The Uncanny” -6-

peculiar emotional effect of the thing. E. T. A. Hoffmann has in their nest, and their beaks are hooked like owls’ beaks, and
repeatedly employed this psychological artifice with success in they use them to peck up naughty boys’ and girls’ eyes with.’
his fantastic narratives.’ Although little Nathaniel was sensible and old enough not to
credit the figure of the Sand-Man with such gruesome
This observation, undoubtedly a correct one, refers primarily to attributes, yet the dread of him became fixed in his heart. He
the story of The Sand-Man" in Hoffmann’s Nachtstücken, which determined to find out what the Sand-Man looked like; and one
contains the original of Olympia, the doll that appears in the evening, when the Sand-Man was expected again, he hid in his
first act of Offenbach’s opera, Tales of Hoffmann. but I cannot father’s study. He recognized the visitor as the lawyer
think — and I hope most readers of the story will agree with me Coppelius, a repulsive person whom the children were
— that the theme of the doll Olympia, who is to all appearances frightened of when he occasionally came to a meal; and he now
a living being, is by any means the only, or indeed the most identified this Coppelius with the dreaded Sand-Man. As
important, element that must be held responsible for the quite regards the rest of the scene, Hoffmann already leaves us in
unparalleled atmosphere of uncanniness evoked by the story. doubt whether what we are witnessing is tee first delirium of
Nor is this atmosphere heightened by the fact that the author the panic-stricken boy, or a succession of events which are to be
himself treats the episode of Olympia with a faint touch of satire regarded in thc story as being real. His father and the guest are
and uses it to poke fun at the young man’s idealization of his at work at a brazier with glowing flames. The little
mistress. The main theme of the story is, on the contrary, eavesdropper hears Coppelius call out: 'Eyes here! Eyes here!'
something different, something which gives it its name, and and betrays himself by screaming aloud. Coppelius seizes him
which is always re-introduced at critical moments: it is the and is on the point of dropping bits of red-hot coal from the fire
theme of the ‘Sand-Man’ who tears out children’s eyes. into his eyes, and then of throwing them into the brazier, but his
This fantastic tale opens with the childhood recollections of the father begs him off and saves his eyes. After this the boy falls
student Nathaniel. In spite of his present happiness, he cannot into a deep swoon; and a long illness brings his experience to an
banish the memories associated with the mysterious and end. Those who decide in favour of the rationalistic
terrifying death of his beloved father. On certain evenings his interpretation of the Sand-Man will not fail to recognize in the
mother used to send the children to bed early, warning them child’s phantasy the persisting influence of his nurse’s story.
that ‘the Sand-Man was coming’; and, sure enough, Nathaniel The bits of sand that are to be thrown into the child’s eyes turn
would not fail to hear the heavy tread of a visitor, with whom into bits of red-hot coal from the flames; and in both cases they
his father would then be occupied for the evening. When are intended to make his eyes jump out. In the course of another
questioned about the Sand-Man, his mother, it is true, denied visit of the Sand-Man’s, a year later, his father is killed in his
that such a person existed except as a figure of speech; but his study by an explosion. The lawyer Coppelius disappears from
nurse could give him more definite information: ‘He’s a wicked the place without leaving a trace behind.
man who comes when children won’t go to bed, and throws
handfuls of sand in their eyes so that they jump out of their Nathaniel, now a student, believes that he has recognized this
heads all bleeding. Then he puts the eyes in a sack and carries phantom of horror from his childhood in an itinerant optician,
them off to the half-moon to feed his children. They sit up there an Italian called Giuseppe Coppola, who at his university town,
Freud, “The Uncanny” -7-

offers him weather-glasses for sale. When Nathaniel refuses, the the girl into the gulf below. Her brother, brought to her side by
man goes on: ‘Not weather-glasses? not weather-glasses? also her cries, rescues her and hastens down with her to safety. On
got fine eyes, fine eyes!’ The student’s terror is allayed when he the tower above, the madman rushes round, shrieking ‘Ring of
finds that the proffered eyes are only harmless spectacles, and fire, spin about!’ — and we know the origin of the words.
he buys a pocket spy-glass from Coppola. With its aid he looks Among the people who begin to gather below there comes
across into Professor Spalanzani’s house opposite and there forward the figure of the lawyer Coppelius, who has suddenly
spies Spalanzani’s beautiful, but strangely silent and motionless returned. We may suppose that it was his approach, seen
daughter, Olympia. He soon falls in love with her so violently through the spy-glass, which threw Nathaniel into his fit of
that, because of her, he quite forgets the clever and sensible girl madness. As the onlookers prepare to go up and overpower the
to whom he is betrothed. But Olympia is an automaton whose madman, Coppelius laughs and says: ‘Wait a bit; he’ll come
clock-work has been made by Spalanzani, and whose eyes have down of himself.’ Nathaniel suddenly stands still, catches sight
been put in by Coppola, the Sand-Man. The student surprises of Coppelius, and with a wild shriek ‘Yes! "fine eyes — fine
the two Masters quarrelling over their handiwork. The optician eyes"!’ flings himself over the parapet. While he lies on the
carries off the wooden eyeless doll; and the mechanician, paving-stones with a shattered skull the Sand-Man vanishes in
Spalanzani, picks up Olympia’s bleeding eyes from the ground the throng.
and throws them at Nathaniel’s breast, saying that Coppola had
stolen them from the student. Nathaniel succumbs to a fresh This short summary leaves no doubt, I think, that the feeling of
attack of madness, and in his delirium his recollection of his something uncanny is directly attached to the figure of the
father’s death is mingled with this new experience. ‘Hurry up! Sand-Man, that is, to the idea of being robbed of one’s eyes, and
hurry up! ring of fire!’ he cries. ‘Spin about, ring of fire — that Jentsch’s point of an intellectual uncertainty has nothing to
Hurrah! Hurry up, wooden doll! lovely wooden doll, spin about do with the effect. Uncertainty whether an object is living or
— .’ He then falls upon the professor, Olympia’s ‘father’, and inanimate, which admittedly applied to the doll Olympia, is
tries to strangle him. quite irrelevant in connection with this other, more striking
instance of uncanniness. It is true that the writer creates a kind
Rallying from a long and serious illness, Nathaniel seems at last of uncertainty in us in the beginning by not letting us know, no
to have recovered. He intends to marry his betrothed, with doubt purposely, whether he is taking us into the real world or
whom he has become reconciled. One day he and she are into a purely fantastic one of his own creation. He has, of
walking through the city market-place, over which the high course, a right to do either; and if he chooses to stage his action
tower of the Town Hall throws its huge shadow. On the girl’s in a world peopled with spirits, demons and ghosts, as
suggestion, they climb the tower, leaving her brother, who is Shakespeare does in Hamlet, in Macbeth and, in a different sense,
walking with them, down below. From the top, Clara’s in The Tempest and A midsummer-Night’s Dream, we must bow to
attention is drawn to a curious object moving along the street. his decision and treat his setting as though it were real for as
Nathaniel looks at this thing through Coppola’s spy-glass, long as we put ourselves into this hands. But this uncertainty
which he finds in his pocket, and falls into a new attack of disappears in the course of Hoffmann’s story, and we perceive
madness. Shouting ‘Spin about, wooden doll!’ he tries to throw that he intends to make us, too, look through the demon
Freud, “The Uncanny” -8-

optician’s spectacles or spy-glass — perhaps, indeed, that the exist in dreams and myths and phantasies; nor can it dispel the
author in his very own person once peered through such an impression that the threat of being castrated in especial excites a
instrument. For the conclusion of the story makes it quite clear peculiarly violent and obscure emotion, and that this emotion is
that Coppola the optician really is the lawyer Coppelius and what first gives the idea of losing other organs its intense
also, therefore, the Sand-Man. colouring. All further doubts are removed when we learn the
details of their 'castration complex' from the analysis of neurotic
There is no question therefore, of any intellectual uncertainty patients, and realize its immense importance in their mental life.
here: we know now that we are not supposed to be looking on Moreover, I would not recommend any opponent of the
at the products of a madman's imagination, behind which we, psycho-analytic view to select this particular story of the Sand-
with the superiority of rational minds, are able to detect the Man with which to support his argument that anxiety about the
sober truth; and yet this knowledge does not lessen the eyes has nothing to do with the castration complex. For why
impression of uncanniness in the least degree. The theory of does Hoffmann bring the anxiety about eyes into such intimate
intellectual uncertainty is thus incapable of explaining that connection with the father's death? And why does the Sand-
impression. Man always appear as a disturber of love? He separates the
unfortunate Nathaniel from his betrothed and from her brother,
We know from psycho-analytic experience, however, that the his best friend; he destroys the second object of his love,
fear of damaging or losing one's eyes is a terrible one in Olympia, the lovely doll; and he drives him into suicide at the
children. Many adults retain their apprehensiveness in this moment when he has won back his Clara and is about to be
respect, and no physical injury is so much dreaded by them as happily united to her. Elements in the story like these, and
an injury to the eye. We are accustomed to say, too, that we will many others, seem arbitrary and meaningless so long as we
treasure a thing as the apple of our eye. A study of dreams, deny all connection between fears about the eye and castration;
phantasies and myths has taught us that anxiety about one's but they become intelligible as soon as we replace the Sand-Man
eyes, the fear of going blind, is often enough a substitute for the by the dreaded father at whose hands castration is expected.
dread of being castrated. The self-blinding of the mythical
criminal, Oedipus, was simply a mitigated form of the We shall venture, therefore, to refer the uncanny effect of the
punishment of castration — the only punishment that was Sand-Man to the anxiety belonging to the castration complex of
adequate for him by the lex talionis. We may try on rationalistic childhood. But having reached the idea that we can make an
grounds to deny that fears about the eye are derived from the infantile factor such as this responsible for feelings of
fear of castration, and may argue that it is very natural that so uncanniness, we are encouraged to see whether we can apply it
precious an organ as the eye should be guarded by a to other instances of the uncanny. We find in the story of the
proportionate dread. Indeed, we might go further and say that Sand-Man the other theme on which Jentsch lays stress, of a doll
the fear of castration itself contains no other significance and no which appears to be alive. Jentsch believes that a particularly
deeper secret than a justifiable dread of this rational kind. But favourable condition for awakening uncanny feelings is created
this view does not account adequately for the substitutive when there is intellectual uncertainty whether an object is alive
relation between the eye and the male organ which is seen to or not, and when an inanimate object becomes too much like an
Freud, “The Uncanny” -9-

animate one. Now, dolls are of course rather closely connected The imaginative writer has this licence among many others, that
with childhood life. We remember that in their early games he can select his world of representation so that it either
children do not distinguish at all sharply between living and coincides with the realities we are familiar with or departs from
inanimate objects, and that they are especially fond of treating them in what particulars he pleases. We accept his ruling in
their dolls like live people. In fact, I have occasionally heard a every case. In fairy tales, for instance, the world of reality is left
woman patient declare that even at the age of eight she had still behind from the very start, and the animistic system of beliefs is
been convinced that her dolls would be certain to come to life if frankly adopted. Wish-fulfilments, secret powers, omnipotence
she were to look at them in a particular, extremely concentrated, of thoughts, animation of inanimate objects, all the elements so
way. So that here, too, it is not difficult to discover a factor from common in fairy stories, can exert no uncanny influence here;
childhood. But, curiously enough, while the Sand-Man story for, as we have learnt, that feeling cannot arise unless there is a
deals with the arousing of an early childhood fear, the idea of a conflict of judgement as to whether things which have been
‘living doll’ excites no fear at all; children have no fear of their 'surmounted' and are regarded as incredible may not, after all,
dolls coming to life, they may even desire it. The source of be possible; and this problem is eliminated from the outset by
uncanny feelings would not, therefore, be an infantile fear in the postulates of the world of fairy tales. Thus we see that fairy
this case, but rather an infantile wish or even merely an infantile stories, which have furnished us with most of the contradictions
belief. There seems to be a contradiction here; but perhaps it is to our hypothesis of the uncanny, confirm the first part of our
only a complication, which may be helpful to us later on. proposition — that in the realm of fiction many things are not
uncanny which would be so if they happened in real life. In the
...... case of these stories there are other contributory factors, which
we shall briefly touch upon later.
III
The uncanny as it is depicted in literature, in stories and The creative writer can also choose a setting which though less
imaginative productions, merits in truth a separate discussion. imaginary than the world of fairy tales, does yet differ from the
Above all, it is a much more fertile province than the uncanny real world by admitting superior spiritual beings such as
in real life, for it contains the whole of the latter and something daemonic spirits or ghosts of the dead. So long as they remain
more besides, something that cannot be found in real life. The within their setting of poetic reality, such figures lose any
contrast between what has been repressed and what has been uncanniness which they might possess. The souls in
surmounted cannot be transposed on to the uncanny in fiction Dante's Inferno, or the supernatural apparitions in
without profound modification; for the realm of phantasy Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Macbeth or Julius Caesar, may be gloomy
depends for its effect on the fact that its content is not submitted and terrible enough, but they are no more really uncanny than
to reality-testing. The somewhat paradoxical result is that in the Homer’s jovial world of gods. We adapt our judgement to the
first place a great deal that is not uncanny in fiction would be so if it imaginary reality imposed on us by the writer, and regard
happened in real life; and in the second place that there are many more souls, spirits and ghosts as though their existence had the same
means of creating uncanny effects in fiction than there are in real life. validity as our own has in material reality. In this case too we
avoid all trace of the uncanny.
Freud, “The Uncanny” - 10 -

The situation is altered as soon as the writer pretends to move forms of thought that have been surmounted — retains its
in the world of common reality. In this case he accepts as well character not only in experience but in fiction as well, so long as
all the conditions operating to produce uncanny feelings in real the setting is one of material reality; but where it is given an
life; and everything that would have an uncanny effect in reality arbitrary and artificial setting in fiction, it is apt to lose that
has it in his story. But in this case he can even increase his effect character.
and multiply it far beyond what could happen in reality, by
bringing about events which never or very rarely happen in We have clearly not exhausted the possibilities of poetic licence
fact. In doing this he is in a sense betraying us to the and the privileges enjoyed by story-writers in evoking or in
superstitiousness which we have ostensibly surmounted; he excluding an uncanny feeling. In the main we adopt an
deceives us by promising to give us the sober truth, and then unvarying passive attitude towards real experience and are
after all overstepping it. We react to his inventions as we would subject to the influence of our physical environment. But the
have reacted to real experiences; by the time we have seen story-teller has a peculiarly directive power over us; by means of
through his trick it is already too late and the author has the moods he can put us into, he is able to guide the current of
achieved his object. But it must be added that his success is not our emotions, to dam it up in one direction and make it flow in
unalloyed. We retain a feeling of dissatisfaction, a kind of another, and he often obtains a great variety of effects from the
grudge against the attempted deceit. I have noticed this same material. All this is nothing new, and has doubtless long
particularly after reading Schnitzler's Die Weissagung [The since been fully taken into account by students of aesthetics. We
Prophecy] and similar stories which flirt with the supernatural. have drifted into this field of research half involuntarily,
However, the writer has one more means which he can use in through the temptation to explain certain instances which
order to avoid our recalcitrance and at the same time to contradicted our theory of the causes of the uncanny.
improve his chances of success. He can keep us in the dark for a Accordingly we will now return to the examination of a few of
long time about the precise nature of the presuppositions on those instances.
which the world he writes about is based, or he can cunningly
and ingeniously avoid any definite information on the point to We have already asked [p. 246] why it is that the severed hand
the last. Speaking generally, however, we find a confirmation of in the story of the treasure of Rhampsinitus has no uncanny
the second part of our proposition — that fiction presents more effect in the way that the severed hand has in Hauff’s story. The
opportunities for creating uncanny feelings than are possible in question seems to have gained in importance now that we have
real life. recognized that the class of the uncanny which proceeds from
repressed complexes is the more resistant of the two. The
Strictly speaking, all these complications relate only to that class answer is easy. In the Herodotus story our thoughts are
of the uncanny which proceeds from forms of thought that have concentrated much more on the superior cunning of the master-
been surmounted. The class which proceeds from repressed thief than on the feelings of the princess. The princess may very
complexes is more resistant and remains as powerful in fiction well have had an uncanny feeling, indeed she very probably fell
as in real experience, subject to one exception [see p. 252]. The into a swoon; but we have no such sensations, for we put
uncanny belonging to the first class — that proceeding from ourselves in the thief's place, not in hers. In Nestroy's farce, Der
Freud, “The Uncanny” - 11 -

Zerrissene [The Torn Man], another means is used to avoid any

impression of the uncanny in the scene in which the fleeing
man, convinced that he is a murderer, lifts up one trap-door
after another and each time sees what he takes to be the ghost of
his victim rising up out of it. He calls out in despair, 'But I've
only killed one man. Why this ghastly multiplication?' We know
what went before this scene and do not share his error, so what
must be uncanny to him has an irresistibly comic effect on us.
Even a 'real' ghost, as in Oscar Wilde's Canterville Ghost, loses all
power of at least arousing gruesome feelings in us as soon as the
author begins to amuse himself by being ironical about it and
allows liberties to be taken with it. Thus we see how
independent emotional effects can be of the actual subject-
matter in the world of fiction. In fairy stories feelings of fear —
including therefore uncanny feelings — are ruled out
altogether. We understand this, and that is why we ignore any
opportunities we find in them for developing such feelings.
Concerning the factors of silence, solitude and darkness [pp.
246-7], we can only say that they are actually elements in the
production of the infantile anxiety from which the majority of
human beings have never become quite free. This problem has
been discussed from a psycho-analytic point of view elsewhere.
credits: This translation was originally made available for Mark
Taylor's course on the Psychology of Religion
[http://www.williams.edu/go/Religion/courses/Rel301/read
ing/text/uncanny.html]