The Id, Ego, and Superego of Antigone
- May 6, 2018
- 5 min read
Antigone, written by Sophocles in 441 B.C.E , is the story of a young woman’s struggle to fulfill her deeply held moral and spiritual code when it is juxtaposed against the law of the land as set by her uncle Creon, the crowned king of Thebes. The play takes place not long after the brothers Eteocles and Polyneices, sons of Oedipus and brothers of Antigone and Ismene, killed each other battling over the right to rule the kingdom of Thebes. Antigone who is deeply disturbed by the decree of the new king, Creon, to only provide a burial to Eteocles and not Polyneices seeks out her sister Ismene in hope she might help her given their brother Polyneices a proper burial. Ismene fearing the repercussions of going against a royal decree declines to take part in the matter. However, Antigone goes thru with her plan and is caught, convicted and sentenced by Creon to death for defying him.
Through some vigorous lobbying by his son Haemon, Antigone’s betrothed, and the prediction of local prophet Teiresias that terrible tragedy will come to him should he not pardon Antigone, Creon decides to free her. Tragically, Creon is too late. Antigone killed herself because she preferred to die a martyr than a prisoner, and Haemon killed himself after seeing the women he loved dead. This was followed by the suicide of Eurydice, mother of Haemon and wife of Creon, after finding out of her son’s death.
Leaving Creon and Ismene as the sole survivor of the family.
In Antigone Psychoanalytic Literary Theory can be used to critically analyze the motivations of the different characters in a work of literature and how these individual motivations when juxtaposed against one another drive the events of the story forward. Psychoanalytic Literary Theory stems from Sigmund Freud's analysis of the human psyche and what role the conscious and unconscious mind play in the motivations and actions of people. Freud described the mind as three distinct parts: id, ego, superego. The id, primarily housed in the unconscious mind, is comprised mostly of the deepest desires of a person, often irrational and almost animal-like in nature with no regard for reason or logic. Conversely, the ego is housed in the conscious mind and is identified as the rational, orderly and intentional actor of people's decisions. Lastly, the superego is often described as the moral center of a person and is said to take room in both the conscious and unconscious mind. The superego is responsible for sorting between the rational and irrational part of the mind, using a person’s moral code as framework for decision making. Using Psychoanalytic Literary Theory to examine the story of Antigone is useful to help the reader identify what motivates the characters and how these motivations propel the story towards the climax and resolution.
Using psychoanalytic criticism, Creon can be identified as being primarily driven by the id. He most clearly embodies the part of an individual that is driven by desire. Creon’s thirst for authority and the desire for obedience is one of the most important aspects of how he is motivated to take the action of sentencing Antigone to death. This desire is one that transcends his social and political aspirations and can be rooted back to his deepest most animalistic view of himself as a man. This is most clearly seen by his proclamation, “I swear I am no man and she the man if she can win this and not pay for it” (Sophocles 1563). In this one quote, Creon not only exposes his tyrannical and misogynistic view of the world, but he also reveals his deepest most primal desires to make his will be done. This is so important to him that he wagers his own manhood as collateral with the conviction that he will not lose. This psychoanalytical examination of Creon helps the reader better understand what drove him to sentence Antigone to death despite multiple objections by those around him, and how his deepest darkest desires contributed to his own undoing.
Unlike Creon, who is a character driven by irrational and base desires, Ismene is the complete opposite when examined through the framework of the Psychoanalytic Literary Theory. Ismene is a character driven by the use of reason and logic to help prolong her own survival. She is the clear representation of the ego in this story. Ismene acknowledges that she as a woman in her society has little to no power. Although she fears divine repercussions for not intervening to ensure her brother Polyneices’ burial, she fears more the immediacy of the repercussions imposed by her uncle, King Creon. This is most prominent in her initial conversation with Antigone where she attempts to deter Antigone from her actions, “You ought to realize we are only women, not meant in nature to fight against men, and that we are ruled, by those who are stronger, to obedience in this and even more painful matters. I do indeed beg those beneath the earth to give me their forgiveness, since force constrains me, that I shall yield in this to the authorities. Extravagant action is not sensible” (Sophocles 1553). Through the rational decision that her immediate survival is far more important, Ismene declines to take part in Antigone’s efforts to bury their deceased brother. Despite Ismene’s role as the ego and her efforts to use the reasoning to persuade her sister to act rationally, Antigone’s deep moral convictions drive her to act out against the decree of her uncle Creon, the king.
Antigone is the superego of this tale. She is driven by her moral convictions over the reasoning of Ismene, the ego, and the desires of Creon, the id. Antigone is a character that sees divine law as superseding the laws of men. She is a character that is driven to action by those deep convictions and fears the divine consequences of not burying her brother Polyneices more than she fears death as a consequence of burying him as set forth by Creon. Antigone sees a law decreed by man that goes against the gods as unjust. She places her duty to the divine above all when she states, “The time in which I must please those that are dead is longer than I must please those of this world. For the I shall lie forever. You, if you like, can cast dishonor on what the gods have honored” (Sophocles 1553). In this story, Antigone is driven by moral duty and serves as the superego to propel the conflict forward. Her actions to bury her brother in opposition of her sister’s, Ismene, rational view that it was best not to challenge Creon lead to a conflict between her deep sense of morality and Creon’s deep desire for authority and obedience. This resulted in her own death and that of her fiancé and his mother, leaving both Creon broken and Ismene alone.
The use of Psychoanalytic Literary Theory to view a piece of literature has a few benefits that help the reader deconstruct a story such as Antigone to better understand it. It allows the reader to analyze what motivates a character, and how those motivations move the story forward, giving additional insight into the creative process. Although using a specific literary theory to examine a piece of literature has its benefits, it comes with the limitation of sectioning you off from other aspects and points of view by which the piece of work can be considered. This is a result of the deconstructive process which limits our ability to have a comprehensive view of the piece, if only for that particular instant in which it is being view through that lens.
Works Cited
Sophocles. “Antigone.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Kelly J. Mary, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017, pp. 1551-1583.
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