Id, Ego and Superego in Literature Essay

Within Joseph Conrads Heart of lousiness, Marlow asserts that the disposition of man is fitting of anythingbecause everything is in it, in all the past as hygienic as all the future (HOD 109.) As Marlow trips deeper into the congo he is forced to lodge to the jungle environment and in the process he begins to lose his understanding of societal rules and ideals. His mental selftismtism is coerced into adapting to the rustic environment of the congo hence disturbing the balance among his id, ego and highlyego. William Goldings shaper of the wing similarly deals with this deteriorating aw arness of societal standards in foreign environments, only when does so with a group of young boys on an l wizly island. Throughout Joseph Conrads Heart of injustice and William Goldings Lord of the Flies Marlow, Kurtz and the boys clear demonstrate the capacity of the valet sagacity in reflection to the dominions of Sigmund Freud according to his translation of the id, eg o and superego.Read more tinkers dam quotes lord of the flies essayIn Heart of Darkness, Marlow demonstrates the capability of the human thinker as he makes his journey up the Congo River and adapts to the brutish environment that surrounds him. age adapting to his environment, Marlow begins to disregard societal standards and hence his psychological sense is altered in that Marlows ego and super ego bury in his overall temperament, resorting to the pleasure principle that we now call the id. Marlows id begins to send away control of his personality and his innate innate(p) nature is released. It is this asymmetry of his psychological ego which acts as an instigator for the diabolical plant in him and all men. When Marlow states that Going up that river was like traveling back to the early beginnings of the world, (HOD 105) he is trying to depict his journey up the river as a mold of his discovery of the innate abomination award in all mankind. The disappearance of Ma rlows super ego is imminent passim his journey up the Congo. The presence of authority, association, and polish mess begin to fade erect as his concepts of right and wrong are lost as he journeys encourage on and thus the innate wickedness of man emerges. Marlows gagary is the turn out of adaptation and the growing disproportion of his id to his ego and super ego.His disregarding of his ego and super ego can be seen when he says, but if you try to shout Ill pinpoint your head withI will artillery you for good (HOD 148.) This statement confirms that Marlowis straying shape up from the ideals of baseball club and shows that Marlows perceived self is making a transition from organism civilise (superego) to becoming a savage (id.) When Marlow meets Kurtz, he finds a man that has totally thrown off the restraints of his own ego/superego and has deteriorated into the primitive state of the id. Therefore Kurtz serves as an excellent example of Marlows financial statement in that he has forgotten conjunction to such an extent that he does not even remember his life in Europe.Kurtzs isolation in Africa as comfortably as his unbeliev equal baron over the natives corrupted him and drove him to remit unspeakable acts such as cannibalism and human sacrifice (destruction/Thanatos=pleasure for Kurtz.) In Heart of Darkness, Kurtzs last actors line depict his terror and his realization of his nett fate, The horror The horror (HOD 154) Kurtz realizes how far he has strayed from society, and finally admits to his diabolical acts in Africa. Hence, it was the imbalance of the characters psychological selves callable to displacement from society (society gave them the sense of right and wrong) that caused the innate evil to reveal itself in the characters Marlow and Kurtz. The augmented id created a disproportion between the other counterparts of the psychological self and thus facilitated the intrinsically evil nature of all men including Marlow and Kurtz.In William Goldings Lord of the Flies, the boys are reduced to an automatic and almost animalistic state due to the wish of authority and society, as well as the need to adapt to a new primordial surrounding. The boys are maroon on an island by themselves and must adapt in order to assure their survival. When they graduation arrive the boys act in an great fashion, and begin the construction of a governmental system to parallel a operational society. This system is representative of the boys super egos. This system soon fails however, when the boys stop that they must revert to their animal instincts (id) in order to survive. This transition from cosmos civilized to becoming savage is revealed in the tidings when the narrator states, They bumped Piggy, who was abridget and yelled and danced. Immediately, Ralph and the mob of boys were united and relieved by a storm of laughter (LOTF 149.) This example manifestly depicts the great deviate that has occurred among the boys i n that they nurture hurt Piggys burn wound on the account of nonperformance while playing a savage like game.The detail thatnone of the children pardon for their acts provided prove the transition of the boys from being civilized to becoming savage-like. The simple fact that a group of choirboys, who were exemplary individuals, could change into savages that kill one another further proves Marlows assertion that the mental capacity is capable of anything. At the end of Lord of the Flies, the boys tell apart to realize the transformation of their initial choirboy natures when they are confronted with authority in the form of a naval officer. The narrator states that One of them came beside to the officer and looked up. ImIm but there was no more to come (LOTF 201.)Percival has changed so much(prenominal) throughout his time on the island that he cannot even recall his own name. On the whole, three characters can be relate with each of the three psychodynamic principles Jack represents the id with his invariable desire to hunt and kill (death drive,) Ralph represents the ego with his attempts to satisfy both sides of his own mind and others on a greater level while keeping in belief with reality, and Piggy represents the superego by acting as the conscience for the group, maintaining the very principles that the boys have lost. If one were to look at this novel as an analysis of the individuals one would perhaps girlfriend out on the greater picture. By combining the characteristics and actions of all the characters you can very see the greater picture of what Freud describes in his theories.Both Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and William Goldings Lord of the Flies backtrack characters that are changed from civilized beings, that are able to balance the urges of the id and constraints of the ego/superego, into savages. Within the novels the lack of authority and society as well as the presence of a ancient surrounding causes the innate evil in spite of appearance man to awaken. By removing societal pressures and surroundings, the self-generated id nature overpowers mans ego and super ego. This fracas in equilibrium causes the innate evil found in all people to manifest itself.Freuds conception of the human psyche illustrated that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not addressable to us at a sensible level. He believed that most of what drives us is bury in our unconscious. Like mentioned above, these choirboys and sophisticated Europeans neer imagined that they would beacting as they did when they reached their respective(prenominal) destinations. The immense unconscious id took over in many of the characters but when brought back into society returned to their previous balances.Books usedWilliam Goldings Lord of the Flies, published in 1959 by Perigee careJoseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, published in 1997 by Mass Market softback