Shakespeare s King Lear And The Great Gatsby - 1346 Words

Personal gratification is commonplace in society, but the force to overcome it is not. In both Shakespeare’s King Lear, and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, man’s natural psychological id is displayed by key characters, who are all morally corrupt. King Lear has 2 distinct sides who represent the id and superego, battling over justice in a kingdom centered around a weathered king. In The Great Gatsby, a commonplace working man by the name of Nick Carraway surrounds himself with friends who indulge themselves in luxury, influenced by the psychological id embedded deep within everyone. When observing family dynamics, both King Lear and The Great Gatsby reveal family interactions are driven primarily by the id, which is further supported when considering the presence of oedipal dynamics in both novels. In terms of narrative events, The Great Gatsby’s events are heavily influenced by the id, with little to no superego expressed. In contrast, while the bulk of Ki ng Lear’s storyline is similarly driven by the id, the superego plays a larger role in resisting the id’s unlawful desires, and this is exemplified through the triumph of the superego at the story’s end. The Great Gatsby depicts how life is hopelessly overridden by human’s natural id while King Lear demonstrates how even the smallest source of superego can combat the aggressive nature of the id present in life. In both King Lear and The Great Gatsby, the id is influential in most family interactions. For instance, King