Journal 9: Begging, Hatred, and Lies

I'm not all that familiar with Freud and his ideas, so this could be a little rough.
In sonnet 140, Shakespeare really wants the Dark lady to love him, but she doesn't and he is deeply hurt. I guess his id would be his instinct of seeking to avoid the Dark Lady because she is hurting him. But it is also pleasure seeking, so it encourages him to stay with the Dark Lady to get what he desires. This sexual desire overpowers the one to run away, making the choice to endure pain for the sake of getting what he wants. The superego, as far as I can tell with my limited knowledge, works in opposition to the id and aims to be morally "right." It would probably suggest that he should turn away from the Dark Lady because she is hurting him so much and he shouldn't condone her behavior (running around.) His ego tries to make sense of the id's desires and the superego. In a way, it seeks to find a happy medium. So he stays with the Dark Lady but tells her not to hurt him. He asks her to tell him that she loves him even if it's a lie. "... better it were, though not to love, yet, love, to tell me so." He asks her to keep her eyes on him even if her heart will wander. I get the idea that to satisfy his id's drives and his superego's ideals, his ego causes him to beg for her to be nice and stop messing around.
Sonnet 149 suggests that the Dark Lady has accused Shakespeare of not loving her, thus she hates him. He asks in different ways, "how can you say that I don't love you when I do this for you." Example: "Who hateth thee that I do call my friend?/ On whom frown'st thou that I do fawn upon?" He is saying that he loves her enough hate those who hate her and hate who she hates. Interesting. In terms of Freud, I guess it's kind of the same story. The instinctive, pleasure seeking id wants to stay with the Dark Lady. The realistic, socially aware superego wants to leave because she hates him anyway. And finally the ego tries to make sense of it all and proclaims his love to the Dark Lady in a way that might endear her to him. But the ego continues to be realistic in the couplet knowing that in reality, she will continue to hate him.
The last sonnet for today, 152, seems very upset and sad. Perhaps the better term would be hopeless. Shakespeare says that he has broken a vow to his love by loving the Dark Lady, but the Dark Lady has broken two very important ones. But then, he considers the many vows he has broken to her. He says that all of his swearing and promise making was only so that he could use her. It seems that he is finally admitting that his love for her may have been a lie all along. "And to enlighten thee gave eyes to blindness,/ Or made them swear against the thing they see." To make her look or appear better, Shakespeare blinded himself and swore the opposite of what he saw. It's almost as if his ego has become aware of all that the id has done to get its way. He is admitting that he has let his desires get away from reality.

Different ideas on 152

In reading 152, I was thinking that Shakespeare was feeling guilty about judging her for sleeping around with two people, when he (as a man) had slept with far more partners, but I was also confused by the pain I picked up while reading the sonnet, so I think that your interpretation might be closer to home than my original one was.

I also was largely making things up as I went along when it came to making a Freudian analysis, but I'm, sure class tomorrow will be illuminating on that subject.
-Hilary

Guilt

I think guilt is a very valid point as well. I think I underplayed it a little bit, but I think Shakespeare's guilt plays a heavy roll in this sonnet. Thanks for pointing that out!

-Renee Ward

Hate?

I wonder what, exactly, Will meant by saying that she would hate him. It seems that they have a relationship of some kind, probably with some physical action- did she not want the relationship to continue on that level, or did she not want to take it any deeper? Does the fact that his love is not returned in the way he wishes make Shakespeare feel he is hated?
I had a tough time with the Id, Ego, and Superego too. Apart from guessing that the Id wanted sex, it was hard to figure out what the ego wanted and what the superego wanted. I thought you did a good job on that-- saying that the ego tries to woo her, etc.

Erin Kay Schulz

Wikipedia

The only stuff I know about the Id, ego, and superego came from a Wikipedia page, so it could be totally off. Not to mention Freud was all over the place a lot of the time. I did the best I could. But you're right, when looking at the Freudian analysis, I completely skipped over why on Earth the Dark Lady would be mad at or hate Shakespeare. I can't honestly say I have any new ideas to shed.

-Renee Ward

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