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Id, Ego, And Superego In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

1412 Words6 Pages

Within Edgar Allan Poes' short story The Black Cat, we follow a character who, after an alcohol addiction leads to misfortune, slowly descends into insanity. Within Poes' short story, we see elements of id versus ego and superego, unconscious versus conscious, and the uses of archetypes. First, we will focus on the narrator's constant battle with his id, ego, and superego throughout Poes' short story. Sigmund Freud explains "id" as "id falls to instinct (Freud 10)." The first time we see the narrator's id come into play is when he comes home from drinking alcohol and the cat avoids him then his id begins to take over because his instinct and desire are that the cat, Pluto, will come up to him. However the cat avoids him he then begins to become …show more content…

We truly see the loss of his ego and superego when there is no remorse or guilt shown or talked about when hiding his wife's body. The concept of id, ego, and superego plays a big part in the character build-up of this story for it shows the decline in the narrator's personal well-being and mental health. Freud's conscious and unconscious theory states that "behavior and personality were derived from the constant and unique interaction of conflicting psychological forces that operate at three different levels of awareness: the preconscious, conscious, and unconscious minds. (Cherry 1)". Poe uses all three of the levels within The Black Cat to show the slow descent into losing control of himself. As stated in the previous paragraph the id, ego, and superego correlate closely to the three levels of awareness. First the preconscious, anything that could be brought into the conscious. Second the conscious is anything the brain conceives or pulls from memory. Third, the unconscious, is a holding place for anything that is outside of conscious awareness, a place for thoughts and feelings such as pain and anxiety. According to Freud, the unconscious may slip out in what is called the "Freudian Slip" simply …show more content…

Poe seems to like writing these types of stories and this may come from the fact that Poe had a rough childhood. After the death of his mother, he went to live with a foster family whose mother would die when Poe was 20. After these tragic events, Poe continued to write and would later be kicked out of college for obsessive drinking, just like the narrator of The Black Cat. With Poes' rough childhood and troubles growing up, there is no doubt that this character in The Black Cat was directly influenced by Poes' very own life. Following the narrator throughout the story we can understand that battles with the id, ego, and superego can change the direction of one action. The three different levels of awareness, pre-conscious, conscious, and, unconscious can control what thoughts get through to the conscious and begin to take control of the narrator can play a huge effect on what the character can do. The aspect of archetypes within the story can change the perspective of the viewer and how the story can be read. With all these elements together we begin to conceive a deeper understanding of the phycological meaning of this story. Grief and guilt can result in the mental downfall of a person and their

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