Essay | The Id in "The Turn of the Screw"

Henry James wrote The Turn of the Screw while witnessing the sexual repression and seclusion of true feelings during the Victorian Era. This hypocrite and elitist society followed the belief that a respectable person had the capability of dominating all feelings and "improper" thoughts that could cross the mind. This total denial of affections experienced during the XIX century, causes damage to the Governess's mind and psyche. The psychologist Sigmund Freud studied this complication of the human brain. He believed that the constant rejection of emotions could lead to an instable state of mind.

Freud concluded with his studies that the human brain was divided in three parts: the id, ego and the superego. The first one is the unconscious part of the brain in which all the sexual desires and thoughts are kept. The superego works as a subconscious inspector of the id. Its purpose is to block...
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