In “The Sandman” by ETA Hoffmann, Nathanaël composes a letter to the brother of his fiancée, Lothar, recalling the terror of the legendary sandman who stole the eyes of children who wanted him is not going to lie down and feed them to his own children on the moon. From then on in the short story, any mention of the eyes pushes him to remember the terror of the Sandman. In a most terrifying experience, Nathanaël sees Olimpia, the girl he is going to propose to who later turns out to be a robot, lying on the ground with her eyes withdrawn. He becomes hysterical and, in his mad state, is taken to an asylum. The theme of "eyes", which symbolizes narcissism and the struggles some have to cope with stress, is of central importance and, in a more specific sense, Sigmund Freud interprets this theme as the fear of castration. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay The climax of the short story is where Nathanael sees Olimpia, his muse, with her eyes withdrawn, and Coppelius (meaning “eye cavities”). in Italian), the one who tore them off. His childhood nightmares return when he realizes that Olimpia was only a reflection of himself, that he had imposed his soul on her to make her be everything he ever wanted, even if she was not real. Nathanael's struggles with reality and his obsession with "pretty eyes" reveal his narcissistic nature; with this, Hoffmann creates a satire of society. These pretty eyes make him fall in love with his fiancée Clara and in love with Olimpia, a girl he finds perfect and with whom he could have everything he wanted. Hoffmann criticizes the society that people always look for perfection in others when they themselves are not perfect. He criticizes the fashion and beauty industries and society saying we can't have what we have fallen in love with, the beautiful models and the wealthy lifestyles we aspire for. We fall in love with the images we create in our heads and are controlled by the fear of our nightmares. We have lost touch with reality, just like Nathanaël. Freud, on the other hand, relies on a completely different aspect of the story, believing that Olimpia, who seems real but is not really, is not the center of the story. Freud, in his essay “Uncanny,” describes the symbolism of “having one's eyes stolen” as the strangest and most important aspect of the tale. He cites the times when Nathanael is forced to relive the same moments, to retrace the same steps, as being deprived of his sight, which Freud sees as a symbolic fear of castration. The fear of going blind, Freud said, is a substitute for castration. He points to Greek mythology and the blinding of Oedipus, which was a milder form of castration, as evidence. Freud's beliefs always seem exaggerated at first, but he has the literary background to be able to prove any theory he has, and it seems he is right with this one. With at the center of Nathanael's love, the fear of Coppelius, a large and malformed man who has haunted him since his childhood, it seems very possible that Nathanael could have witnessed a castration as a child, perhaps the one who caused the death of his father. , or feared being castrated himself, which caused his trauma and tore the fabric of his mind that kept him in touch with reality. This would help explain why he is capable of falling in love with a robot, or trying to throw Clara off a bridge, or ultimately committing suicide just at the sight of Coppélius, or at the thought of " pretty eyes.” problems.