Why did the unconscious part of the brains of the protagonists seems as if it were put get them? Carl Gustav Jung, a psychoanalyst would call it the collective unconscious; it's a universal shared memory in which mankind seems to repress their true emotions without being aware of it. This concept is easier to make sense of when one looks at the character of Captain Gunther Lutz, a former SS Nazi officer. He visits his place of joy, Dachau concentration camp which now is just a monument of unspeakable agony for everyone who had suffered at the hands of Nazis. The terror caused by Nazis was a kind of evil to ever exist on this planet. “Soviet conduct could be deemed less barbaric than that of the Nazis only because it embraced no single enormity to match the holocaust” (Max Hastings). Gunther Lutz is a repulsive character, sadistic villain and a coward it seems when he is tortured by his own latent mind.
On the other hand, in 'Was It a Dream?' by Guy de Maupassant, the narrator feels a supposed reality by his unconscious mind. There is not much context of the narrator's character but it seems he is incredibly mournful for his late wife that he holes up in the cemetery his wife is buried in, he experiences strange realities of the people buried there who reveal their true nature to him. He is shaken beyond comprehension, after all, the dead do not roam so freely among us. The ghosts scratch the deceitful inscription from the tombstone and inscribe the reality. The onlooker realizes something at this point, 'The dead are held in such high esteem that we only remember the good things and we not only forgive their faults but forget them (Deluca Jen). The narrator then finds out his spouse's reality as well. It seems that in a way his unfulfilled latent intellect was aware of her deceit.
In both of the characters their inadvertent intellect is trying to make them realize something. In the case of Captain Gunther Lutz, it is his consciousness and guilt, which he seems unable to experience, as he feels joy and pleasure instead of the shame and humiliation of his heinous crimes, whilst in the exposition of the narrator in 'Was It a Dream?' the character seems spineless in a way that he is unable to stand up for himself the particular reason for this circumstance is that a part of him knows his wife is a cheat but he isn't willing to declare it. The narrator is a weakling too in his own right since his mind knew the trickery but his love for her was considerably greater than his love for his own self. In failing to stand up for himself and his self-respect, he revealed his character. The shame isn't that his spouse tricked him, the pity is that he continued with the facade. Even in the event of her death, his intellect isn't willing to take her adultery in deliberation. The unfaithful wife. The narrator is a cause of pain to his own self. His lack of argumentation is compelling him to squander his time. The narrator is a sadist too as he causes superfluous pain on his persona.
As we look at the two characters to determine the degree of malice and treachery, Captain Gunther Lutz triumphs because there is no humanity in him. He is an evil, corrupt and despicable being. When forced to confront his sins, he chooses the cowardly way out and uses accusations to deflect aggression. He is the epitome of a narcissist. And it's saddening that he too is aware of his villainy but still finds happiness in his beastly manner and persona. Both characters try to justify what they did when their subconscious part knows what they did was wrong. In ‘Was It a Dream?’ the narrator has harmed himself by not facing her, and his mind knows, but he is led by his heart, and through his heart his love appears glorified, which it was not. While Gunther Lutz does not deal with the minutiae of consciousness development.