The mind is by far one of the most intriguing and unknown parts of the human body, but it has been broken down into three distinguishable parts by Sigmund Freud. He has broken the mind into the id, ego, and superego. These are all parts of the human mind that control each and every action or thought that a person has. The id is the pleasure part, and it controls actions that occur without thought of punishment. The ego controls all actions that occur consciously and with knowledge of the consequences. The superego is the part of the brain that holds a person back from committing an action. Both the action and consequences are thought about before the act is done. These three mental states occur in all people, but especially within Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter. Throughout the story her mindset changes many times. It starts out in the id phase and works its way to the superego and finally retreats back to the ego.
English: Hester Prynne & Pearl before the stocks
Freud's diagrams from 'The Ego and the Id' (1923)
Rosa Hester Prynne 1Hester shows that it is possible for all three parts of the brain to work in close proximity to one another.
The id phase of Hester's actions is one of the most important to the progression of the book. Her actions in this id phase are committed before the book even begins. She is a married woman and she ends up sleeping with the young minister of her town after many years of waiting for her husband to come over to America from England. Hester wanted to wait for him, but she did not really ever love him and she felt she needed to find someone else. This is when she committed her act of adultery. She did not think about the consequences that would come with her actions. The act was...