Have you ever done something bizarre, and wondered what your motives were? Has there ever been a time where you’ve done something but your reasons were much deeper than you could understand? This is the result of your unconscious hard at work. The unconscious mind holds the secrets that create our outer personality and drive our actions, the secrets that we cannot harness voluntarily. Psychologist Joseph Campbell describes how the unconscious mind plays a huge role in mythology and culture, two very relatable aspects of life. Though, in order to fully understand a concept or idea without limitations and without bias, we must consider more than one opinion. Studying the theories concerning the unconscious mind not only of Joseph Campbell, but
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His controversial idea of the id, ego and superego that explain the different parts of the mind and how they work are. In my opinion, these three identities define the character of Beowulf. The id describes the selfish, pleasure seeking part of us that is focused on fulfilling needs ("Id Ego Superego | Simply Psychology"). One of the needs of the id that must be fulfilled is aggressiveness. Beowulf satisfies this need by fighting monsters in the sea, which begins as something he had to do to save his life, but later turns into a sort of addiction. The ego is the part of the self that works to please the id while taking reality into consideration and finally, the superego is developed at a young age, composed of morals that create the conscience ("Id Ego Superego | Simply Psychology"). When Beowulf accepts Hrothgar’s request to fight Grendel, this is an example of the ego. He uses Hrothgar’s call as an excuse for him to satisfy his need to fight and be aggressive, considering his real life situations before pleasing himself. Finally, the superego can be seen through Beowulf’s methods of fighting. When he is in battle, he refuses to use weapons because he thinks it is morally correct to fight without them. This is another attempt to explain Beowulf’s unconscious mind, and how he finds pleasure in fighting, though the superego prevents him from fighting brutally and
His controversial idea of the id, ego and superego that explain the different parts of the mind and how they work are. In my opinion, these three identities define the character of Beowulf. The id describes the selfish, pleasure seeking part of us that is focused on fulfilling needs ("Id Ego Superego | Simply Psychology"). One of the needs of the id that must be fulfilled is aggressiveness. Beowulf satisfies this need by fighting monsters in the sea, which begins as something he had to do to save his life, but later turns into a sort of addiction. The ego is the part of the self that works to please the id while taking reality into consideration and finally, the superego is developed at a young age, composed of morals that create the conscience ("Id Ego Superego | Simply Psychology"). When Beowulf accepts Hrothgar’s request to fight Grendel, this is an example of the ego. He uses Hrothgar’s call as an excuse for him to satisfy his need to fight and be aggressive, considering his real life situations before pleasing himself. Finally, the superego can be seen through Beowulf’s methods of fighting. When he is in battle, he refuses to use weapons because he thinks it is morally correct to fight without them. This is another attempt to explain Beowulf’s unconscious mind, and how he finds pleasure in fighting, though the superego prevents him from fighting brutally and