Emma Bovary And Ivan Ilych Evidence Of Psychoanalysis...

Sigmund Freud, the founder of modern day psychology and psychoanalysis, described human consciousness as the combination of three elements, id, ego and superego. The id is what controls our personal desires, the superego controls our ideas about where we fit in society and the ego is in between these two elements balancing their effects to help us make rational decisions. Despite the fact that these theories were developed well after Flaubert wrote Madame Bovary or Tolstoy wrote The Death of Ivan Ilych the main characters of each (Emma and Ivan) both represent people who have become dominated by one aspect of their subconscious. Whereas Emma is dominated by her id, seeking only selfish pleasures in life, Ivan is dominated by his†¦show more content†¦This attitude of Emma is most apparent in a scene towards the end of the novel in which Emma attends a masquerade ball with Leon in Rouen. After the dance they go to a seedy restaurant where Emma has a fainting spell. After recovering, she thought of Berthe, sleeping in the maids room back in Yonville (252). After a loud cart rumbles by, disrupting her train of thought, the next thing she thinks is everything, including herself, seemed unbearable to her. She wished she could fly away like a bird and make herself young again somewhere in the vast purity of space (252). Here, Flaubert juxtaposes the image of Emmas pre-school aged child sleeping with her desire to restart her life and try again. These contrasting images powerfully show Emmas indifference towards her child, and reveal her complete selfishness. While her feelings towards her daughter show how Emma is controlled by her id, she also displays a lack of superego function, as she commonly is unconcerned with the rules of society. At the peak of her relationships with both Rodolphe and Leon, Emma defiantly chooses to not to care if she is seen in public with her lovers. This lack of discretion finally works against her when one day in Rouen, Monsieur Lheureux met her as she was leaving the Hà ´tel de Boulogne on Leons arm. She was frightened, for she was sure he would talk. But he was not foolish enough to do that.