Sherlock’s Psyche; the Overactive Superego

 (Sherlock Meta by journal-of-impossiblethings)

According to Freud the mind is separated into three parts, the id, the ego and the superego. The id deals with instinct it seeks to find immediate satisfaction. It operates on a pleasure principle where it tries to fulfill every impulse immediately regardless of consequences. The ego is the part of the mind that helps to navigate and find a balance between what the id wants and what is socially acceptable. Freud equates the ego to a horseback rider and the id to the horse, the ego is trying to direct and steer the horse. The Superego is where the values and morals are. It controls id and helps the ego to make moral decisions rather than the most rational. It consists of two components: the conscience and the ideal self. The conscience is able to punish the ego when it gives is to less than acceptable behaviour through guilt. The ideal self is a standard to which you should strive. Accomplishing this can result in feeling proud, but falling short can bring punishment through the form of guilt.

However some people have incredibly harsh superegos that can leave people feeling like they are under a mountain of guilt. In extreme cases, relationships are damaged; acute depression causes difficulties at work. At its worst, suicide or even murder can seem to be the only way to silence the remorseless internal assault. People with overactive superegos tend to try and get rid of the guilt one way or another and in the case of Sherlock we see him externalizing it.

A common occurrence to escape overbearing guilt, shame and self hatred is to project their superego outside themselves and tend to experience their own criticism through others. In The Empty Hearse we see Sherlock doing exactly that, externalizing criticisms and self hatred in the form of John. On the case with Molly, Sherlock hears various criticisms in his head about what he is doing, all in the voice of John.





Now what might we deduce from this?  The voice is John’s, which shows that Sherlock is harbouring guilt related to John. At this point John has basically rejected him and I think Sherlock begins to realize that what he did might not have been good at all. That he, Sherlock Holmes, has made an awful mistake hurting the one he cared about most in the process and the continuingly pressing fear that he will never be able to get John back. I think when looked at it this way series three is Sherlock trying to convince John to forgive him and to take him back. He tries to prove that he won’t ever hurt John again by showing how much he means to him. Whether that is by being the best, best man he can possibly be or sacrificing his possible freedom by killing CAM to keep the woman John now loves safe.  John’s voice in this scene is the manifestation of guilt and self loathing Sherlock has for himself and the terrible thing he has done to the man he loves. We see that Sherlock copes with this by externalizing it into the voice of John. Maybe he feels like he deserves it or that it’s easier to bear this way because it’s one thing thinking that your best friend hates you, thinks your a terrible sadistic sociopath and never wants to see you again, but it’s another thing when your own mind agrees with them.