Freud was a human psychologist who studied behaviours of human beings in relation to the environment. He developed a psychoanalytic theory of personality where he argues personality composes of three elements that work to develop human behaviours, the id, the ego, and the superego. The following paper focuses on two of these elements and their application in the book Civilization and its Discontents. The ego element deals with reality while the superego maintains a person’s moral standards and ideals acquired from the family and the society. The Freud investigated the spiritual phenomenon that connects the ego with the outside world through introducing a sense of oneness and boundlessness (Freud 1). Freud was one of the most creative psychiatric whose teachings play fundamental roles in the functioning of the society today.
The relationship between Dante and Virgil in the poem shows many applications of Freud’s psychodynamics. In the book Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud claimed the element of superego originates from a sense of bad conscience. Virgil could not think positively and always lived a life full of miseries. Freud claimed that civilization cause miseries in life. People like staying civilized in order to avoid sufferings. The element of civilization is viewed by Freud as a way of drawing a line between human beings and the nature. People rarely get civilized because nature does not offer everything they want in life. In addition, presence of law and order restricts humans from performing actions they assume would make them happy and powerful. According o Freud, individual development and civilization occur in parallel stages. The character of Dante in the poem shows how hard it is for human beings to acquire a level of civilization demanded by Freud.
Freud gives explains the reasons why people punish themselves with guilt while responding to basic things. The explanation provided by Freud in his book Civilization and its Discontents drives readers to the ideas of the ego and the superego. According to Freud, the ego takes responsibility of an individual’s behaviour in the real world while the superego keeps watch of any unethical action performed by a person. The relationship between characters of Dante and Virgil as found in Dante’s poem (The Devine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno) demonstrates perfect examples of these two elements. Freud’s theory claimed that civilization led to discontent among civilized societies. Civilization influences a man’s natural instincts as in an effort to control natural impulses towards violent behaviour. The ego element takes control of individual’s actions, ideas, decisions, and logical thoughts irrespective of the manner in which the society takes views certain action as bad or acceptable. The following character of the ego detaches it from the external world leading to a more broad feeling (Freud 3).
Dante character was characterized by a lot of human desires and pleasure in life that he almost forgot the basic life requirements. He could do anything possible to acquire happiness in order to live a comfortable life. Dante represented the ‘oceanic’ feeling shown in Freud’s book that is associated with the ego-feeling. People with such characters as Dante experience hard times in trying to achieve and regulate their behaviours in the future. Civilization involves people adjusting from their mutual relations and making a decision that depends on the individual’s power and the support from the community. Dante was a character who bravely discovered areas where no other human being had reached before. The inferno created a virtual hell and showed Dante how his life would appear if he never repented. Freud claimed that God punishes those who go against His ways by eliminating the element of happiness (Freud 9). Dante realized he would end up in hell making him to repent. It demonstrated an element of ego in action that makes a person differentiate right from evil.
On the other hand, the poem shows that Dante expressed empathy and tried understanding a number of miseries in the Inferno. The character of Dante relates to the superego element of a bad conscience. The superego plays a part in regulating ideas and thoughts of a person. Dante saw three beasts in his illusions that marked the start of dark ages. Lucifer toured him through the depths of hell where he started realizing wrong doings that are not accepted by God. The journey revealed to Dante that the world is full of evils, and every person will be judged according to their actions. Freud’s view on religion sides with the revelations of Dante because he was meant to undergo suffering in order to understand the pains of being sinner. In relation to Freud’s theory, Dante suffered because of his unappealing characters making God angry and start punishing him. In addition, Dante demonstrated no fear of the authority because his thought never gave an indication of any form of internal guilt. Civilization helps in regulating the sense of guilt and promotes a number of relationships between men (Freud 11).
On the other hand, Dante’s Inferno shows an ever-evolving relationship between Dante and Virgil. The mindset of Dante the Poet gets revealed after a looking at the transformation of the relationship when the two visits the hell. Virgil’s character showed a spiritual and a person of high esteem. He was able to change Dante’s spiritual stand. Dante gave Virgil more respect than before after touring the hell; a situation that readers could not imagine would ever happen. Freud’s teaching about the spirit of God relates to the characters of Virgil. Virgil understood that God has the power over evil, and He cannot let his people suffer but would love them to attain eternal life. Moreover, the Dante and Virgil interacted in a manner that both came from different worlds. In his book Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud described a person bearing the ego element as one whose relationship with the outside world is outstanding and promotes psychological development. The relationship between Dante and Virgil proved Freud’s claims that civilization is responsible for miseries experienced by people (Freud 7).
In conclusion, the characters of the poem tried to represent Freud’s concept of ego and super-ego in different situations. The poem seemed exaggerated because some of the situations explained happen only in an ideal world. Freud based his concepts of ego and superego on real-world issues and not assumptions. The poem, however gives lessons to people who ignore certain aspects in life. People should learn from Dante’s character and aim at living a spiritual life like Virgil in order to enjoy better eternal life. Further, Freud’s book on Civilization and Its Discontents proves that the concepts of ego and superego play a major part in deciding behaviours of human beings. Civilization only occurs whenever two or more people agree on a common idea, and eliminate elements of aggression and self-destruction.
Works Cited
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Chrysoma Associates Limited: Electronic
Books Library. 2005. Print. Web October 13, 2014 http://www2.winchester.ac.uk/edStudies/courses/level%20two%20sem%20two/Freud-Civil-Disc.pdf
