Preview

Dostoevsky and Parricide: a Summary

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
587 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dostoevsky and Parricide: a Summary
* Dostoevsky and Parricide: A Summary *

I summarised our group’s discussion into bullet-points, so that it is much easier to skim-read and understand.

Main points from the essay:

Freud analysed Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karmazou” and categorised into 4 facets:
1) creative artists  least doubtful
2) neurotic  most readily assailable
3) moralist
4) sinner 

- pg 179 para2
Dostoevsky’s complex personality is presented as being 1) quantitative and 2) qualitative
Freud also suggests that: Dostoevsky is a bit neurotic, reason being of his epilepsy
 Epilepsy is a disease of the brain (alien disturbance)
 Epilepsy sufferers are neurotic (disturbance as an expression)
 One characteristic of a neurotic is parricide

OEDIPUS COMPLEX explanation:
- derives from the Greek myth of Oedipus, who unknowingly kills his father, Laius, and marries his mother, Jocasta
- the child feels sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and desires the death of the parent of the same sex
- this complex appears from the age of 3-5.
A common misunderstanding of the Oedipus complex is "hatred for the father and love for the mother" in both sexes.
Freud explains that: the boy desires sexaul activity with the mother.
However, is expected to arouse the father’s anger
The child surmises that the most probable outcome is castration.
The father’s existence is translated to fear.
Doesn’t want to lose his masculinity thus gives up his sexual wishes
 Leads to thoughts about parricide to “put himself instead in his mother’s place and take over her role as object of his father’s love” (Impossible Task)
“Wants to be loved by this father as a woman”
- Freud also held that the unsuccessful resolution of the Oedipus complex could result in neurosis, pedophilia, and homosexuality
- Dostoevsky’s reason for his neurotics & epilepsy  derived from fear of castration.

- pg 191
Dostoevsky’s a gambler  lost a lot of money but

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    In 1880, 19th century writer Fyodor Dostoevsky published one of the most famous novels in world literature called The Brothers Karamazov. Many honor this work as a representation of humanity’s struggles and sins, but Dostoevsky also incorporates what he believed to be the most fundamental issues of his time. His works are formed in the context of a religious consciousness that hold criticisms in direct relation to Russia’s affiliation with the West, as well as the analysis of Orthodox culture. Enlisting the views of Nikolaĭ Berd︠i︡aev and John Moran, this essay will provide a partial moral and historical evaluation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s parable The Grand Inquisitor within his book The Brother’s Karamazov, but will primarily provide an analysis…

    • 1429 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    PSYC 2301 3

    • 4255 Words
    • 27 Pages

    According to Freud's psychosexual stages of development, successful resolution of the Oedipus complex leads to _____…

    • 4255 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Complex Analysis

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Freud’s theory on the Oedipus complex is that it is the childhood desire to sleep with the mother and kill the father. He says that in Sophocles’ play, Oedipus exhibits a stages in which the child desires the mother because of the connection through birth and infancy, and resents (even desires the murder of) the father. According to Freud, boys…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Adade-Yeboah, Ahenkora, and Amankwah (2012), “Tragedy is of action and not character as Aristotle puts it” (p. 10). Therefore, Oedipus’ tragedy deals with his ignorance and not his character. Oedipus is ignorant in the fact that he does not realize he is committing patricide or incest (Adade-Yeboah et al., 2012, p. 11). Oedipus grows up knowing two opposite people that he thought were his parents, which leads to him killing his biological father and marrying his biological mother. Oedipus then goes on to search for his biological father’s killer and soon realizes that it was he himself who committed the atrocious acts toward his family. He came to this realization after it was revealed to him by an oracle. Originally, Oedipus believes that the man he originally kills is only just a shepherd, when in return it is his biological father. According to Greenburg (2012), “Oedipus has been told, and has come to believe, that at the end of his life and in death he will have the power to protect the city that has taken him and buried him” (p. 52). Oedipus maintains the belief that things will always be the way he knew them to be and he would be in charge of the city he knew and loved. He maintains this belief until an oracle reveals his misfortune. At first, Oedipus and his wife (biological mother) refuse to believe that what they were told is true. According to…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Oedipus The King begins with the king and queen of Thebes, Laius and Jocasta. Laius was warned by an oracle that his own son would kill him and that he would marry his mother, Jocasta. Determined to reverse their fate, Laius pierced and bound his newborn sons feet and sent a servant away with him with strict instructions to leave the child to die on the mountain of Cithaeron. However, the servant felt badly for the infant and gave him to a shepherd who then gave the child to Polybus, king of Corinth, a neighboring realm. Polybus then named the child Oedipus (swollen foot) and raised him as his own son. Oedipus was never told that he was adopted, and when an oracle told him that he would murder his father and marry his mother he fled the city believing that the king and queen of Corinth were his parents. In the course of his travels, he met and killed Laius, thinking that the king and his servants were a band of robbers, and thus unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy.…

    • 1515 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Oedipus is born, his parents are told by an oracle that their child will kill his father and marry his mother. To thwart Oedipus’ fate, Laius decides that the child should be killed. As Jocasta leaves him on a mountaintop to die, he is rescued and begins to live a life unraveling the unwanted prophecy. Laius and Jocasta both had eyes to see but they were blind to the knowledge that fate cannot be changed.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles has been considered one of the greatest Greek tragedies. It is a Greek myth that may have been inspired by real events and people. With that thought in mind this play has indeed, help us get a better understanding of Aristotle's, a philosopher, thoughts of a Tragic Hero and Sigmund Freud's, a psychoanalytic theorist, thoughts on the affects of the same on our lives (especially male children and their psychological development). Both Aristotle and Sigmund Freud also belief that Oedipus was not in control of his actions, but in fact, was acting in a manner that was a part of his fate.…

    • 556 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The story of Oedipus Tyrannus, otherwise known as Oedipus the King or Oedipus Rex, is an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles; it tells the story of Oedipus, the king of Thebes who is plagued by a self-fulfilled prophecy in which he kills his father Laius and marries his own mother, Jocasta. Not only is it widely recognized as Sophocles’ greatest work, the story of Oedipus has lent its name to what is recognized in the psychological realm today as the Oedipus complex, in which a young child feels “complex emotions” relative to that of unconscious sexual desire toward the parent of the opposite sex. Oedipus as a leader, separate from his web of extremely strange familial encounters, is a point of contention. Oedipus’ role…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Oedipus' first encounter with blindness is in the incestuous relationship he has with his mother. Although Oedipus does not realize the nature of his relationship he nor his mother take into account the prophecies they have both heard. The gods may not choose to show pity on Oedipus because he deliberately tries to usurp their power by leaving who he believes to be his mother and father. Oedipus is blind to the fact that his mother, his wife, the mother of his children is the fulfillment of the prophecy he hears long ago.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Rough Draft Of Hamlet

    • 3344 Words
    • 10 Pages

    vengeance upon the man who did away with his father and has taken his father’s place with his…

    • 3344 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ghosts of Svidrigailov

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The first meeting between Svidrigailov and Raskolnikov was made of a peculiar conversation about the existence of ghosts. The opening moments of their conversation demonstrated how they are unnervingly alike. Raskolnikov tells Svidrigailov out front that “You should go to a doctor” (Dostoevsky, 289), due to his presumption that Svidrigailov is a mad man. Irony is at play here since Raskolnikov is currently ill himself and suspected of being on the verge of madness due his exhibited deranged behavior. Raskolnikov’s deranged behavior is detectable though his violent mood swings and unstableness of his thought process. Svidrigailov himself also exhibits similar deranged behavior that Raskolnikov demonstrates by overlap of his thoughts such as talking about a voyage one minute, forgetting about it the next. This peculiar conversation regarding existence of ghosts demonstrates an acute alikeness between the deranged behavior that the two men who are both murders in disguise.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Unraveling of Sanity

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This Written Assignment will delve into the mind of Raskolnikov and show how Raskolnikov’s guilt causes his mental instability. Raskolnikov’s guilt also causes his other physical symptoms. The way Raskolnikov relieves his guilt is by his confession to the police, after the scene in the Hay Market, in which he kisses the ground.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a time when wealth and power was triumphed over truth and justice, dysfunctionality was a result of immoral practices. In Oedipus Rex, the readers come to see the blind sighted nature of Oedipus which leads him to murdering his biological father with the ultimate goal of marrying his biological mother, Jocasta. As the tragedic play progresses, the readers discover that Apollo has made clear that whoever has murdered Laios must be “killed or exiled.” (Lines…) This leads to a townsperson, Choragos, to introduce Oedipus to Teiresias, who is a holy prophet that has knowledge of all the occurrences in Thebes. Teiresias avoids telling Oedipus the truth of who the murderer is, but Oedipus wants to know the truth. As the…

    • 946 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dream of a Ridiculous Man

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Dostoevsky’s short story “Dream of a Ridiculous man”, describes the difficulties of the main character in finding the meaning of life. He is troubled with the idea that life has no meaning and that science and logic only exist, analogized as the “head” in relation to the meaning of life. The story begins with the character believing that nothing in his life matters. He is set on killing himself until one night changes his perspective on the meaning of life completely. He begins to believe that science and logic are not enough to make people happy. He decides that people need something to believe in order to make living life worthwhile.…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Developmental Profile

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The parent-child relationship affects us more profoundly than any other relationship of our lives. It is the foundation of all of our relationships and the source of our earliest understanding about love, intimacy, trust and security. This relationship can start to build one’s self esteem and self-assurance or it can scar us for life. For this assignment, I chose to analyze parts of two well-known movies as well as a tragedy currently being presented in the media.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays