Psychoanalytical approaches-Subjectivity in criticism and Feminist Criticism

This essay works toward an integration of psychoanalysis and the dissection of the
psychical personality in Crime and punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.I want to show
how some of the psychoanalytical theories applies on this novel.I prefferd talking about
this subect because!in my opinion!there is no greater writer "or shall I call it
therapist#$!like Dostoevsky.%is novel is clearly very pshychological!he treats his
characters as patients but he also involves in conflicts and turns them into his personal
ones.&lso! I'm going to write about the feminist criticism and I'll have as support the
book (oll Flanders by Daniel Defoe.I found these two schools of criticism very
interesting and although they have nothing in common I chose to speak about them in
order to show the big differences.
The novel Crime and punishment starts with )askolnikov!Dostoevsky's hero!who
concieves a plan to murder a pawnborker to whom he is indebted.*ust before to commit
the murder he has a dream+ he sees himself as a young boy watching terrified as a drunk
man beats a horse to death.The dream contains a lot of violence and simpathy for the
horse and a sense of helplessness.Immediately )askolnikov recogni,es the connection
between his plan and his dream.%e has imagined killing the old pawnbroker with an a-e!
as the drunken man did with his horse..o!the hero dreams about a murder and
immediately makes a connection with his plan which is a representative dream/
element.*ust as connections lead from each element of the dream to several dream/thoughts!so as a rule
a single dream/thought is represented by more than one dream element0the dream of association do not
simply converge from the dream/thoughts to the dream/content!they cross and interwave with each other
many times over in the course of their ourney."Contemporary Critical Theories,A )eader/Departament of
1nglish!2.of 3ucharest!from On dreams/4564$. 7robably he has thought about this many times
and throughout the dream he has found the way to kill the old pawnbroker.&s I 8uoted!
there are many stages of the dream in association with thoughts.There has to be a
connection!no matter how thin!but still!something to relate and which further leads to the
dream which in the end leads to the thought that is consider to be the idea which e-isted
in the first place.
This particular scene from the novel is ust a memory of the author and some of his
feelings which he has e-perienced in his life.%e manages to identify with the driver!the
horse!ust as )askolnikov did in his dream and to show the man's capacity for
violence!cruelty along with love and sympathy0the effect of tyrannical authority on the
oppressed and the vicitm's identification with their opressors.(Dostoevsky:The Author As A
Psychoanalyst! Louis Breger,Transaction 7ublishers !9ovember ::! :66;$.
&ctually! this is not Dostoevsky's dream but a series of dreams that creates the novel.The
main dream here is the crime and what follows from it!and many more secondary dreams
which leads to subplots and the other minor characters.<ooking at the novel from this
point of view allows us to interpret these series of dreams as one's person dream.%aving
so many series of dreams in the same analytic session we assume that the dreamer is
working under the same issue!trying out different fantasy solutions to a common
problem.
3akhtin believes that Dostoevsky's ability to assume multiple points of view carried
the novel to its greatest heights.Dostoevsky=creates not voiceless slaves but free people!capable of
standing alonside their creator!capable of not agreeing with him and even of rebelling against him.&nd
the fact that he is moving from one point of view to another is what psychoanalisys
is!seeing oneself in new ways and breaking from unconsciounsly driven
perceptions.)askolnikov e-poses himself in his initial state! then sees his childish part
and become more aware of the fantasies that he is shielding.>e came to the conclusion
that )askolnikov is at the same time an innocent person who has the ability to love and
feel empathy for suffering creatures but at the same time he is also violent and capable of
murder which he commits in the end.
The other school of literary criticism that caught my attention is feminist criticism
which I could relate to one of Defoe's novels! (oll Flanders. %is novel reveals a
protagonist who is strong!intelligent and above all!a very rational female! features which
are masculine characteristics.Defoe tries to show to his readers that women are rational
beings by nature and it is society which leads to irrationality especially at that time0he
creates a heroine who contrast with the female perception of that time.>omen were seen
as se-ual beings since forever and moreover females were seen not as autonomous beings
but as relative to males.
(an can think of himself without a woman..he cannot think of herself without a man.&nd she is
simply what man decrees0=she appears essentially to male as a sen,ual being.For him she is se-/absolute
se-!no less."Contemporary Critical Theories,A eader/Departament of 1nglish!2.of 3ucharest!!imione
De Beauvoir:"rom The !econd !e#$.Therefore!in a world dominated by men where women
were ust a se-ual obect! (oll Flanders arises as someone who makes a difference!a
female who uses men as tools instead of letting herself being used..he is
clever!beautiful!adaptable and with these 8ualities she tries to survive bravely I may
say!because it takes a lot of courage to provide for yourself!as a woman in the 4;
th

century.>omen in the 4;
th
century are well known as the subordinate in society but she
proves contrary when she takes on the profession of thievery.&lso!a woman was
considered a second class citi,en who cannot survive without marriage but (oll proves
again that she can survive without a husband.
This novel is an odd mi-ture of misogynic and feminist elements.The story is narrated
by a headstrong woman but the author is a male who tries to write the novel in favor of a
woman.3ut what intrigues me tremendously is+can Defoe relate to his character as a
woman writer does to hers#%e is a man! therefore he cannot possibly relate with his
character as a woman would do.&nd here I'm concerned with woman as a writer versus
man as a writer.%is fictional novel could mislead anyone if his name didn't appear on it!
mainly because it is well written as a biography but comparing with novels written by
women I could observe a few differences.=the te-t's author is a father!a progenitor!a
procreator!an aesthetic patriarch whose pen is an instrument of generative power like his penis.
"Contemporary Critical Theories!& )eader/Departament of 1nglish!2.of 3ucharest!!andra
$%&il'ert:"rom (Literary Paternity)$.&s I 8uoted and what I have understood from it is the fact
that a man's literary creation comes from his ?generative power'! from his penis!the only
important organ which biologically differentiate a man from a woman.&lso!it is being
said that men are different from women and not ust biologically.It is true!we are different
but there are women who have a strong temper ust like men have!but still!apart from
their bodies!these women still differs from men.&nd in literature this thing is so much
more clear than in any other field.>hen writing!man or woman!we take off our ?I'm a
male@female!I should behave like this'.In literature!every writer involves emotionally
with his art because it's his@hers progeniture and this thing is e-actly what differentiate
a mans work from a womans.& father loves his child differently than a mother does!still
with same intensity!but their emotions can be described differently.3ecause (oll is a
she!Defoe is a bit ironic!misogynist and we can sense that in his writing 8uite often.%e
creates his heroine as a character with humanity and strength but with many
imperfections as well..he finds a way to survive at all costs and even though she is a
virtuous person she is determined for a better living0she gives birth to a lot of children!she
marries five men!becomes a thief and also a prostitute.
Defoe creates her with a lot of imperfections but! in fact he represents her as a
character that was true to human nature and it seems that readers sympathi,ed with her
due to her humanity..till!what he creates it is not a woman!a human that faced a lot of
troubles but a character to represent all problems which society faced at that time.&t the
end of a new turn in (oll's fate she point out her wrongdoing and failings and how she
could avoided them or how she could have improved her circumstances. I believe that is
the big difference and the gap that Defoe cannot cover or hide as a male writer.
3ibliography
)adu!.urdulescu and .tefan!.tefanescu/Contemporary Critical Theories!& )eader!
Departament of 1nglish/ 2niversity of 3ucharest! 7ilot edition! 455;
<ouis! 3reger /Dostoevsky+ The &uthor &s & 7sychoanalyst!Transaction 7ublishers!
:66;