Ego Identity in The Cloven Viscount

<Tab/>Whenever the Viscount was split in half, his "good side" was separated from his "bad side." In Freudian terms, his id and superego became independent of one another. The "Bad One" seeks only self-gratification, while the "Good One" takes self-sacrificing societal ideals of behavior to an extreme. Intensifying the behaviors of the "Good One" and the "Bad One" even more is that the Viscount no longer has an ego to …

…the release of the Nurse. His psyche becomes once again complete with the id, ego, and superego, and his decisions once again become balanced, fair, and just. Calvino implies that radical extremes, both good and bad, are undesirable. What is desirable is a happy medium that is a compromise between the two extremes. And the ego, as a mediator working for compromise, is a representation of the happy medium and the means to achieve it.