Struggle between Freudian Personalities in Joseph Conrads...

Heart of Darkness, is not only an intense tale of pursuit, but also a psychological roller coaster as, through the characters of the story, Joseph Conrad shows us a powerful struggle between the Freudian personalities of id, ego and superego. The main characters of the novel, Marlow and Kurtz are mainly identified with the id and the super-ego type of personalities, and throughout the novel, these characters are placed in intense situations which makes them question their own beliefs and reactions, and ultimately their human personality. Hence, in between the characters, not only is there a battle in the physical sense, but also on the meta-physical level. This leads to a psychological imbalance between the human personalities of both the†¦show more content†¦This part of our mind is responsible for our civilized behavior in the society, and our judgments based on what our parents or our society has taught us to be good or bad. The superego is essential to lead a civilized l ife, but also inhibiting excessive superego can be harmful as it is not good to always hold back your needs or wishes. The id is the ‘forbidden’ component of our psych. It deals with our innermost wants and fantasies. It comprises of all our immediate and ‘non-sensible’ wants, and mostly, one feels anxious or tensed if a person is ruled majorly by his id, and his needs are not met at once. The id is the morally unacceptable part of our mind, and thus, it isn’t the part of our psych that we exhibit in public. In this story, the Europeans, who believe in the White Man’s Burden are initially identified with the superego, as they are known to be the civilized race, whose main goal is to ‘civilize the backward races of the world’. They live in the clutches of stringent societal rules, where their behavior is completely mechanized and controlled by their superego and where even the slight hinting of their inner wishes or wants in public is regarded as preposterously rude. But on complete contrast, the tribal’s from the African jungles are identified majorly with the id, as they are completely immune to having a civil code of conduct, and instead follow thereShow MoreRelated A Freudian Perspective of Marlow in Conrads Heart of Darkness1975 Words   |  8 PagesA Freudian Perspective of Marlow in Heart of Darkness      Ã‚  Ã‚   On the surface, Heart of Darkness is the exploration of the African Congo where the explorers are trying to conquer the natives and make a profit in the ivory business. However, there is much more to the short novel written by Joseph Conrad than just the surface. It is also the exploration of the unconscious where the goal is to conquer the unknown. At the same time when Heart of Darkness was surfacing in the 20th century society,Read MoreVictorian Novel9605 Words   |  39 Pagesfor the middle-class was a mixture of old values and images seen now through the prism of science: psychology, evolution, sociology. â€Å" Spiritual and temporal worlds are darkened by the shadows of change† and the country was something compared to the heart of revolutions, which referred to the English heydays in terms of urban, social and cultural changes. What were the most significant signs of progress? Firstly, it is worth mentioning the importance of the expansion of railways. In a short time it