Introduction
According to Snowden, Freud established various concepts to distinguish between the attributes and personal concepts that characterize individuals (Snowden 113). Essentially, this establishment has been reviewed and applied by a considerable number of individuals who have given credit to this renowned father of psychoanalysis.
His arguments lay the basis of technical support for three prevailing and chiefly availing characteristics of a functioning mind under three aspects termed as id, ego and super-ego. Freud described id as a presence of instincts that are largely separated from their succinct collaboration allowing logic analysis before making decisions (Freud 16).
On the other hand, the ego was described as a coordinated and pragmatic individuality without complex analysis and critical evaluation of life aspects and arguments. Lastly, Freud identified the rearmost stage as the super-ego that had decisive evaluation tactics and argumentative justifications determined by moral principles.
In this light, Freud’s ideas and arguments have been used widely to evaluate the characters of individuals in the real world, and the visualized fictions and stories made by people. For instance, the novel titled as the Princess de Cleves can be analyzed through the psychological principles of Freud in order to reveal his conceptual characterization.
In a bid to perform this task, the essay will review the traits of the Princess de Cleves in accordance to these points of view and her personality, motivation, mental struggle and reactions.
Personality
Tentatively, the personality’s trends of Princess de Cleves follow three concise levels of intellectual development described by Freud. At the initial stages, the princess is subjected to matters that she cannot digest and make personal decisions probably because she was in the id level at that tender age (Lyons 34).
Subsequently, her mother helped her in the decision-making processes because she took the guidance to marry the middling suitor referred to as the Prince de Cleves. However, the princess developed some organization within her thinking capacities and identified that her id was pulling her towards some true love.
In fact, the princess was attracted to Duke de Nemours whom she fell in love with but did not betray her husband. In this case, it can be argued that the princess attained some critical organization enabling her to realize she was married to another man.
Therefore, the princess felt in love with the duke but avoided all instances that could make her unfaithful to her husband. This depicts high values of super-ego characters shown through adequate critiques and related moral attributes.
In order to expound about the ethical principles applied by the princess, it is apparent that the immorality is an outrageous and discouraged attribute within the society because people have to marry and avoid the unfaithfulness. In the other instance, the princess is deprived for her perceived unfaithfulness to her husband who died due to this realization.
This makes the princess to blame herself for the actions that she attributed towards wrong choice of the heart. In this regard, the princess develops an outstanding principle against caring for her love of life. Essentially, this decision is outright realistic and seems organized per say.
Probably, the princess would have changed her mind towards remarrying and forgetting the dead husband and her last wishes. These characterized the ego personalities. The actions pleased the id’s perceptions of the mind through avoiding the only person who could bring joy and grief to her life.
The ego has also been depicted from the characters of the princess when avoiding unfaithfulness to her husband where she seeks long life benefits instead of grief. Probably, this was the reason she avoided revealing the relationship with the Duke de Nemours.
Furthermore, the princess could be described as secretive but not a liar because she revealed everything as soon as she was asked by the prince (Lyons 39). Finally, the princess refuses love relationships until she died due to her principles. Therefore, she is seen as a principled woman for carrying such a stigma throughout her life until death.
Motivation
There are several instances inspiring the princess through her life. In the id section, the princess has not made any decision on choosing a husband. Probably, this explains why she agreed to her mother’s directions on choosing a wealthy and recognized husband.
At this level of motivation, the princess has a tendency to accept all forms of endowment to avoid other forms of striving to achieve. Therefore, the princess is not patient enough to wait for the right and loving husband she wishes or loves in her life. Probably, the princess would have got the Duke of Nemours if she had waited a little longer.
In this regard, the hunger drives the princess into accepting a chosen husband for her husband until she realizes that she does not love him. The id deprives the moral principles that would have prevented the young girl from falling in love with another person. Instead, the id motivates her toward other people regardless of the marriage status.
On the other hand, the principles of the ego are core to the development of love feelings and rights to choose a husband. Even though the princess felt bounded to her husband, the reality was that she was definitely in love with another person.
In this regard, her subconscious actions drive the actions towards revealing the hidden love within the id. Other attributes of id promoting motivation were the long living tolerance, the loving reality, ability to think intellectually, and information analysis that advised her actions.
Finally, the super-ego motivates the princess after she was determined as unfaithful. Societal rules of unfaithfulness and implicit understanding of wrong actions bounded her towards these norms.
In this respect, the repercussions displayed by this section include the guilt that motivates the princess to live alone until her death. Essentially, this was the most appropriate way that could not approve the immorality of the princess to the society.
Mental Struggle
The initial decisions of the princess were incoherent and unreliable since they were in the id’s description of Freud (Snowden 45). Who is responsible for the decisions made at this time? Who suffers or gains from these decisions? Primarily, the id is quite unpredictable when it comes to decision making.
There are no concise reasons that the princess can give to explain why she did something. In fact, she does not understand why she had to marry the Prince of Cleves. She wished she had met and married the Duke of Nemours.
The mental struggle continues to hope that this could happen with no promising strategies without encountering the society and the husband. Under the ego, there are instances of regrets and reactions attributed to wrong decisions. These are accompanied by the urge to act against the norms and moral principles as envisaged in the super-ego.
It reaches its utmost when the husband makes the last wish. In this light, she had to act in accordance to the wishes and retain the guilt associated to the husband’s death.
Reaction
The id depicts actions of instinctual drives where the princess acts to fulfill her desires. The desires are fulfilled through attaining another husband and getting another relationship. The cases are characterized by unlimited desires of attributes that are featured by happiness and enjoyment.
However, the ego is much more cautious than the id. She hides the relationship from the husband, avoids the progress of the immorality, and discloses the relationship to the husband eventually. It was expected that the princess would deceive after the prince asked about the relationship.
Conversely, the response was contrary to this expectation since the princess reveals the relationship. Finally, the super-ego was preceded by grief for killing a husband due to her irresponsible actions.
Conclusion
The arguments of Sigmund Freud are far much outstanding in the development of perception and analysis of logistics. Primarily, the human life is based on this ability to perceive, disintegrate, and analyze information in order to make decision and understand issues.
Therefore, Freud has made a contribution that will continue to characterize people’s psychological behaviors. In this respect, various manipulations will be enacted in the education system to teach people in accordance to decision making during this time.
In fact, raising children will have some bases, including protecting the children who have not attained the age of making right decisions. In respect to this aspect, most governments have initiated age-related decision making rights where people below a certain age cannot be held solidly responsible for their actions.
Works Cited
Freud, Sigmund. The ego and the id. Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino, 2010. Print.
Lyons, John. The Princess of Cleves. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. Print.
Snowden, Ruth. Freud the key ideas. New ed. London: Teach Yourself, 2010. Print.