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Existentialism In A Clockwork Orange

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Recommended: Sigmund Freud contribution to the field

Sigmund Freud was a popular psychoanalyst who coined the terms id, ego, and superego. These terms can define each human’s basic action as primitive/instinctive (id), socially driven (superego) or the mediation between the two (ego). Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Stanley Kubrick’s interpretation of A Clockwork Orange both show the consequences of living a completely id/superego driven life. While The Metamorphosis shows a businessman, Gregor swap from a superego driven life to an id driven existence, A Clockwork Orange shows the life of a highschool student, Alex who turns from id driven to superego driven. By showing the impact id and superego have on one’s life, both Kafka and Kubrick explain the negatives of having a id/superego driven life and lacking existentialism. Both Kafka and Kubrick’s characters are shown to suffer as a result of being driven by their id/superego completely. In A Clockwork Orange, a teenager named Alex is the leader of a cult that beats and kills innocent citizens of their city. These acts are considered “Ultraviolence” and is id driven. Alex lives the rest of his life in id as he skips school more than he goes, …show more content…

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Stanley Kubrick’s interpretation of A Clockwork Orange both show the consequences of living a completely id/superego driven life. While The Metamorphosis shows a businessman, Gregor swap from a superego driven life to an id driven existence, A Clockwork Orange shows the life of a highschool student, Alex who turns from id driven to superego driven. Sigmund Freud was a popular psychoanalyst who coined the terms id, ego, and superego. Consequently, these terms that can define each human’s basic action as primitive/instinctive, socially driven or the mediation between the two all work together to give a balanced

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