Burble Net - Essays "The Color Freud'"

Burble Net

Home

Writing

Photography

Past Projects

Interact

Artists

The Color Freud

Part I: The Id, the Ego, and the Superego

In order to explain how neuroses formed, Freud developed a dynamic model of the mind (Berry, 57). This dynamic model divides the psyche into three parts: the id, ego, and superego. This is not a physical division, rather a division of desires. The id is concerned with base needs and instincts, the ego with reality and reason, and the superego with morality and guilt.

The id tries to satisfy the pleasure principle, “which can be understood as a demand to take care of needs immediately” (Boeree). It is the subconscious part of the mind with which people are born. “It is a dark, inaccessible area, seething with instinctive urges and its only reality is its own selfish needs” (Berry, 57). Its sole concern is to satiate all innate drives, including hunger and sexual desire; and it will do this through any means (Donadio). The id is concerned only with the immediate needs of the individual, and gives no regard to society. Freud divided the id instincts needs into two categories: sexual instincts and ego instincts. Sexual instincts are man’s libido, his desire to continue the species, whereas ego instincts are the needs of an individual in order to survive (Berry, 65). Neurotic anxiety results from the id’s failure to satiate an instinctual desire (Berry, 59).

In early childhood, a person realizes that he cannot always receive instant gratification. This realization is key to the development of the ego whose purpose it is to control the drives of the id. “The ego is part of the mind which reacts to external reality and which a person thinks of as the ‘self’” (Berry, 57). The conscious mind is part of the ego, though not all of the ego’s functions are conscious. The ego tries to control the id “in order to fit in with society” (Berry, 57). It delays gratification of the id desires while still satisfying them. The ego uses reason to make choices based on the external world. “Reality anxiety occurs when the ego feels overwhelmed by threats from the external environment” (Kardas). Another source of anxiety for the ego is the conflicting demands presented to it by the id and the superego (Boeree). The ego uses defense mechanisms to protect itself from anxiety (Berry, 60).

“The superego develops as the Oedipus conflict begins to be resolved” (Berry, 58). It is in direct opposition to the id as its function is to dictate morality. The superego is concerned with attaining societal righteousness over meeting the needs of the individual. It is the cause of pride and guilt (Donadio). Like the id, it is a mostly subconscious part of the mind. Moral anxiety results from the individual’s inability to achieve moral perfection as desired by the superego. It is this kind of anxiety that leads to “shame and guilt and the fear of punishment” (Boeree).

It is the job of the ego to balance the desires of the id and superego in such a way that anxiety does not become too strong. “Ultimately, for Freud, the human being is in perpetual conflict with itself, torn between one's animal nature and the ideals of one's culture internalized with the values of one's parents” (Robbins). The conflict and anxiety experienced by the id, ego, and superego are Freud’s explanation of how neuroses develop.

top – discuss – essays

Part II: Purple

Colors are often considered symbolic because of their associations with objects in the physical world. Purple is a good example of this. It is symbolic in itself, but it is also symbolic because of the colors that make it: red and blue.

Fire, anger, lust, and violence are all ideas symbolized by red. It is the color of blood and of the heart; it is the color of fire. “Red is the hottest of all colors, and as such, represents all things intense and passionate. Heat and fire, speed and zest, blood and excitement, competition and aggression are all feelings and imagery evoked by the color red” (Parzek).

Blue, the color of the sky and water, two of the natural elements, has often been associated with purity, peace, calm, and tranquility. Because of its link to the natural elements, it is a pure and healing color. In Columbia, it is associated with soap, inferring cleanliness (Kaiser). Blue is considered a cold color; therefore, it is associated with strictness and reason. Blue is “the traditional color of the European Great Goddess and Divine Wisdom . . . from the deities of the Neolithic to the blue robes of the Virgin Mary. [It was] Used by Western ancients to ward off evil. In Color Therapy it is knowledge, health, decisiveness” (Bramble).

Purple is a secondary color, composed of the primary colors red and blue (“Study Art”). Purple can be seen as a fusion of red and blue, as the balance of burning desire and purity. It is the combination of two diametric opposites.