Discovering Defenses in Disguise
With its abundance of anxiety-filled characters, Crime and Punishment illustrates that criminals are not the only people who have to cope with insecurities. Although Rodion Raskolnikov certainly uses coping mechanisms to help overcome his tormented conscience, many other characters also implement defense techniques to deal with their own problems. These characters struggle with insecurities for a number of different reasons, ranging from uncertainty about the future to concern for their loved ones, from lack of income to heartbreaking rejection. In order to defend themselves from the painful feelings that their insecurities evoke, these characters not only use Freud’s three main coping mechanisms from Civilizations and Its Discontents, but many others as well. At first glance, some of the characters’ behavior may not seem related to their problems directly, but upon closer analysis it becomes apparent that their actions are actually a warped attempt to provide protection. Although Freud correctly identifies three of the main defense techniques that humans implement to deal with insecurity, his concept of coping mechanisms is incomplete because he neglects to mention several other equally viable defenses.
Freud classifies powerful deflections, substitutive satisfactions, and intoxicating substances as the three main defense mechanisms that man uses to cope with insecurities (24). The first technique typically refers to the use of scientific reasoning and labor as ways to either make sense of an issue or drown it out. The second technique comes into play when characters take interest in alternate realities that are either fictional or belong to someone else. The third technique develops when characters numb their feelings with intoxicating substances, either by physically putting a substance into their body or by mental conjuring a substance to cast over their thoughts. These coping techniques appear constantly throughout Crime and Punishment and encompass the majority of the characters’ reactions to their fate and their insecurities.
Raskolnikov uses the first coping mechanism, powerful deflections, the most out of all of the characters. He implements mathematical reasoning to justify murder before he takes action, then uses it once more after he has executed his plan to calm himself. He hears two men in a bar talking about how killing the old pawnbroker women could not be considered a crime because she was a hindrance to humanity. As they put it, “For one life, thousands of lives saved from ruin and collapse. One death and a hundred lives – there’s arithmetic for you!” (Dostoyevsky 63). Raskolnikov agrees with this logic, and uses it to overcome his insecurities about his scheme. By putting his murder in blatantly analytical terms, he feels more secure because reason makes it appear as though his actions are the logical thing to do.
Raskolnikov uses logic in a similar way when he explains his “extraordinary man” theory to Porfiry Petrovich. He says,
“If circumstances prevented the discovery of a Kepler or a Newton from becoming known except through the sacrifice of a man’s life…Newton would have the right, he would even be obliged…to remove these ten men…so he could make his discoveries known to all mankind” (Dostoyevsky 250).
The way Raskolnikov explains it makes it seem like killing people is the scientifically correct thing to do in nature. He then goes on to say that all the lawgivers and architects of mankind are criminals in their own right, simply because they broke a rule of the past to create a new idea or rule (Dostoyevsky 250). Raskolnikov quells his insecurity about being a felon by calling other great men criminals and by bringing the connotation of a criminal into question.
Raskolnikov also uses the other component of powerful deflections, labor, as a way to clear his head of his insecurities later in the novel while he is working at the prison camp in Siberia. Dostoyevsky explains, “The hard work actually pleased him; even though he suffered physically, the work at least earned him several hours of calm sleep” (514). Sometimes mental activity can be so taxing that it is less painful to distract oneself with physical challenges. Work provides structure and tangibility to an otherwise muddled existence. Had Raskolnikov kept working at the university and teaching lessons, maybe he would not have gone crazy because he would have had a specific task or goal with which to keep him occupied.
The characters in Crime and Punishment also try to distract themselves from their insecurities by implementing substitutive satisfactions or alternate realties. Katherine Ivanovna is one of the most frequent users of this technique and uses her fantasies as something to grasp on to when her family is in shambles. She often jabbers about her golden days when she was married to her first husband (413) and rambles about her plans to open “a boarding school for well-born young ladies” with Sonia (369). Katherine Ivanovna continues to twist reality by exalting anyone who hints at offering help. Unfortunately, she can only use this coping technique temporarily because her glorified illustrations always fall short. She “depict[s] the first person that [comes] her way in the best and brightest colors, prais[es] him so much she would make him uneasy…and then suddenly [becomes] disenchanted all at once” (361). Having a fantastical reality to dream about makes her feel more fulfilled because it gives her a diversion; however, it turns out to be an ineffective coping mechanism because reality always shatters her illusions.
Pulcheria Alexandrovna also bends reality as a way to deal with anxiety over her son’s wellbeing. All she wants is for Raskolnikov to have a good life, so she is willing to put her and Dunia’s wellbeing at risk to make it happen. However, Raskolnikov does not want to change his ways no matter how generous his mother is with giving assistance. He barely talks to her, and when they do see each other, he commands her to stay away. When Raskolnikov casually gives away her bottom dollar to a dead man’s wife he hardly knows, Pulcheria is not even disconcerted because all she wants is for him to be happy. As soon as she realizes that Raskolnikov has something majorly wrong in his life, she simply cannot bear it and starts to go mad as a way to cope. “Sometimes after several days or even weeks of morose gloomy silence and mute weeping, the patient would become rather hysterically animated and would all a sudden start talking, and almost never stop, about her son, and her hopes for his future” (Dostoyevsky 511). Pulcheria has to create some type of future for her son, even a fake one, because she simply cannot accept seeing him deteriorate.
Dunia uses a less extreme version of her mother’s mental trick to get her mind off of her fractured reality. Thanks to Raskolnikov’s bipolar behavior, her family’s financial troubles, and her recent falling out with Pyotr Luzhin, her life is in an uncomfortably volatile state. Dunia needs something concrete to latch on to, even if it is only unsupported ambitions that her new husband says he will carry out in the future. Razumikhin promises that he will go back to school and will save up money so they can move to Siberia within five years. “Dunia believe[s] blindly in all of his projects,” (Dostoyevsky 511) because she does not have much a choice. Her current reality is so unsettling that if she accepts it as routine for the rest of her life, she does not have much reason to live. Having faith in the future, or a fantastical reality, makes her feel more secure about her currently convoluted situation.
Several characters throughout the story use alternative realities in a different way to distract themselves from their own crumbling reality; instead of coming up with a warped perception of their own existence, they resolve to live though someone else’s reality. Although the characters’ role in another person’s life may be tangible, they are implementing the alternate reality mechanism nonetheless because they are using other peoples’ issues to eclipse their own. When Raskolnikov helps Dunia to rid herself of the selfish and egotistical Luzhin, he feels a sense of fulfillment. He “rejoice[s] in the chance to cast off his own inner sensations,” (Dostoyevsky 387) which are painful for him to think about. Sonia also feels the need to support Raskolnikov even though she has plenty of her own problems. She single-handedly supports her widowed mother and three siblings by selling her body, yet still makes time to watch over Raskolnikov and monitor his turbulent moods. As Luzhin points out earlier in the novel, females often want to save their loved ones and “bring [them] to reason; revive [them] and recall [them] to more decent goals” (452). This is definitely a prevalent coping mechanism in Crime and Punishment, as almost all of the female characters (and many male characters) sacrifice their wellbeing for their loved ones.
The third coping mechanism that Freud addresses is the use of intoxicating substances to subdue the painful feelings that result from insecurity. Surprisingly, mental substances seem to be used just as frequently, if not more so, than physical drugs in the novel. When people experience high amounts of stress, they produce less happy-making hormones, such as serotonin, and develop a chemical imbalance in their brains (Nauert). Because of the imbalance, they force themselves to stop feeling completely so they do not have to suffer the unusually high amount of negative of emotions. This apathetic state is often hard to maintain when someone is severely tormented because the person must constantly remind herself that they do not care, otherwise the painful affects of the chemical imbalance will take over once more.
Raskolnikov gives himself such a strong dosage of a mentally manufactured intoxicating substance that it makes him physically sick. The only way he survives after first committing the murder is by evading reflection on his actions, which he can only do when he is in an unconscious or cripplingly delirious state. Raskolnikov eventually learns to function in a predominantly conscious condition, but he experiences “days full of apathy” (Dostoyevsky 417) where drowns out all of his insecurities and emotions entirely to keep operating. He does this by clearing his mind or focusing on mundane things.
Svidrigailov also tries to curb his feelings for Dunia with a mental intoxication after she gives him a final rejection. He has such painful emotions that he says his heart is “stifling him” (Dostoyevsky 481). Instead of trying to work through the agony, he says, “Eh, to hell with it! Thoughts again. Got to drop all that. Drop it!” (481). Numbing the mind and the insecurities that live inside of it can be done without a tangible drug, but as Svidrigailov demonstrates, mental intoxication is hard to sustain for long periods of time. He eventually gives up and kills himself because mental intoxication is not enough to fight the insecurities left behind from Dunia’s dismissal.
Like mentally made intoxicating substances, physical drugs also have a strong presence in Crime and Punishment. Several of the characters drink, including Raskolnikov, Marmeladov, Razumikhin, Porfiry, Zamyotov, and the guests at Marmeladov’s memorial dinner. Drunkenness is a common trend around St. Petersburg, and several scenes throughout the novel take place in local taverns. In this story, drinking also happens to be a coping mechanism that is almost solely reserved for men. Although Raskolnikov uses drinking as a coping mechanism more commonly before he commits the murder, he still uses it every now and then to supplement his mental intoxication after he becomes a criminal. For example, after he wakes up from one of his delirious states and convinces everyone watching him to leave, he grabs a full bottle of beer and drinks it “pleasurably in one gulp, as though he were putting out a fire inside him” (Dostoyevsky 123). That fire is the insecurity that burns in his conscience; a feeling that he is trying to rid himself of so he can be an extraordinary man.
Although all of Freud’s coping mechanisms are well represented in Crime and Punishment, they are only the beginning of a long list of defensive techniques that the characters try to use against their insecurities. People react to anxiety in countless ways, so even though Freud’s classifications are broad, they still fail to encompass several mechanisms that the characters employ. Insecurity inhibits the ability to think clearly, so it triggers weird reactions that appear unrelated. Because of this, Freud might not recognize the characters’ reactions as coping mechanisms and would most likely write them off as unrelated behavior. The main defense mechanisms that Freud overlooks include love, the desire for a caring figure, vanity, self-inflicted isolation/hiding, suffering, and suicide. Freud also acknowledges religion but labels it as an unworthy member of the substitutive satisfactions category. The characters, on the other hand, show that religion is a powerful coping mechanism that is often successful and deserves recognition. Anything that is sturdy enough for an unstable person to hold on to can be considered a defense technique.
Love seems like an irrational way to cope with anxiety because it does not necessarily relate to the source of the problem directly; it serves as a form of distraction. In this light, it seems like it has the same effect on insecurity as a substitutive satisfaction might, but because it actually exists, it has a more complicated impact. Returned love, like the love Raskolnikov experiences with Sonia, produces hope and security from knowing that you are important at least to somebody. This means that even if you do not like yourself, you still have a purpose in life because someone cares for you, and you care about him or her. Raskolnikov makes this realization in Siberia when he finally recognizes that what he feels for Sonia is love. Although they are both in rough shape, he feels that things can only get better because of their love. “They were both pale and thin; yet in those pale, sickly faces there already glowed the light of the renewed future, resurrection to a new life. Love resurrected them; the heart of one contained the infinite sources of life for the heart of the other” (Dostoyevsky 521). When love is returned, it is one of the best ways to battle insecurity because it provides confidence to fight off bad feelings.
A similar coping mechanism is the desire for some sort of caring figure. Although this might seem like an extension of love, this mechanism deals more specifically with a craving for comfort and can include relationships with family and friends. While some loving relationships, like Sonia and Raskolnikov’s, do quench this desire, this cannot be said about all romantic relationships. When people have insecurities, it is invaluable to have someone else there to listen to their predicament and provide empathy and advice. Had Raskolnikov not told Sonia about his murder, it is likely that he would have reverted to suicide because he would not have been able to cope with his feelings alone. After he tells her his story, he says, “On my own I couldn’t bear it, and came to dump my burden on somebody else: ‘If you suffer, too, I’ll find it easier’” (Dostoyevsky 395). When he goes back to her later before his public confession, he realizes that “what [he] really want[s] [is] her tears”—for someone to care about him (498). Raskolnikov needs someone to empathize with him, but most of his family and friends will not do because they cannot possibly understand him. Sonia has sinned as well, so she has a more fitting perspective, providing wisdom to help him with his insecurities more effectively.
Sonia also fills the role of a “tender, aching mother” (Dostoyevsky 518) for the criminals who work with Raskolnikov in Siberia. Although she does not go out of her way to befriend them, she is kind enough to smile at them and write their letters. She acts as a liaison between the prisoners and their families in the real world, bringing them packages that their relatives sent. Although she only cares for them in the most basic ways, the prisoners are soothed by her presence. Being in a caring environment helps to alleviate insecurity because it reaffirms the idea that positivity change things for the better.
Vanity, a distorted version of the love and caring coping techniques, is yet another defense mechanism that Freud overlooks. When people are insecure about not being liked, they sometimes try to compensate by swinging too far in the opposite direction. They put on an arrogant façade by talking about how great they are and how inadequate everyone around them is. Luzhin is the biggest practitioner of this defense technique because he makes up for people not liking him by loving himself to an unhealthy degree. He is “morbidly used to admiring himself” and has a “high opinion of his mind and abilities” (Dostoyevsky 293). Instead of stepping back for some self-reevaluation after Dunia rejects him for being a greedy and egotistical brute, he goes to a mirror to stare at himself fondly instead. After getting a good look at himself, he is “fully convinced he could find himself some other bride, and a better one at that” (343). By inflating his self-image, he makes himself feel more secure.
Luuzhin also attempts to mollify his insecurities by talking about people condescendingly in order to gain a sensation of domination. He has twisted daydreams of Dunia “belittl[ing] herself reverently before him, while he enjoy[s] complete and unlimited power over her” (Dostoyevsky 294). However, he is not the only character who gets satisfaction from bashing others. Although Katherine Ivanovna does not exactly have the highest social standing, she still has no problem patronizing her company. When the guests that the landlady summoned show up for her late husband’s memorial dinner, Katherine Ivanovna says, “And just look who she invited—sluts, clowns! Look at the one with the dirty face: kind of a walking snot! And the little Polacks—ha-ha-ha!” (365). By ridiculing other people, she makes herself feel better. Other characters continue the trend. Svidrigailov blames a “dirty Greek” for getting him in debtor’s prison (273), and Raskolnikov laughs at a “fat German” woman for bumping into him (499). This is a very immature coping mechanism, but it is popular throughout the novel nonetheless.
Another mechanism that is widely used to try to cope with insecurity, particularly by Raskolnikov, is self-inflicted isolation. He often wishes that he “were alone and nobody loved [him] and [he] never loved anybody!” (Dostoyevsky 495). Instead of using contact with other people as a way to work through his problems, he prefers to push them out of his life by running in the opposite direction. He tries to isolate himself by going to different remote areas around St. Petersburg but discovers that he cannot escape his thoughts, which seem to become only more prevalent in the quiet. Even after Raskolnikov finally decides to confess, he still does not feel ready to make that sort of interaction with the human race: “To be left alone he would have given everything in the world” (499). He continues to alienate himself from everybody around him when he gets to Siberia and is “silent for days on end” (514). Unfortunately for him, the insecurities bubble back to the surface like they do with the other coping mechanisms that try to suppress anxiety instead of work through it.
Sonia experiences a similar issue with her isolation coping technique. Before Luzhin publicly accuses her for stealing and begins to interrogate her, Sonia thinks “she might somehow be able to avoid trouble by being careful and meek and humble to everybody” (Dostoyevsky 385). Little did she know that you cannot hide from your own insecurities.
Suffering is a coping mechanism that addresses insecurity more directly than most other techniques, which mostly work by distracting or suppressing, but Freud still fails to recognize it. Those who use this technique do not want to hide their problems but want the world to know that they are guilty so they can pay the price and move on. Sonia explains this to Raskolnikov when she is convincing him to confess. She tells him, “By going to suffer, surely you wash away half your crime” (Dostoyevsky 493). Mikolka, the painter, also tries to lessen his sins by arranging suffering and punishment for himself. He ends up confessing to a crime that he did not commit simply because he is overwhelmed by shame and insecurity about other things that he had done (336). His guilty conscience makes him thirst for a penalty to bring some type of balance into his life.
When someone has gone through all of the coping mechanisms that they know of and still have not come to terms with their insecurities, there is a final solution to consider. Suicide is the ultimate coping mechanism because, once it is employed, all of the other defense techniques are ruled out. Several of the characters consider it throughout the novel, whether they say so explicitly or not, and one even goes through with the deed. Raskolnikov contemplates suicide but can never bring himself to do it because other coping mechanisms keep him ticking. It also seems likely that Sonia has considered suicide based on her nonchalant reaction when Raskolnikov raises it as an option (Dostoyevsky 400), but she could never abandon her family, so she also sticks to other techniques. Svidrigailov, on the other hand, works his way through every defense technique he knows but still cannot bear live with his insecurities. When he sees Dunia’s abandoned gun, “he meditate[s]” on the ultimate mechanism and decides that the best way to cope with his problems is to kill himself (474). It is not surprising that Freud does not count this as a coping mechanism because in a sense, it is not coping as much as giving up. However, for the characters in Crime and Punishment, it is an option that they weigh against the rest of their defense techniques.
The final coping technique that several of the characters use in the novel is religion. Unlike the other coping mechanisms, Freud at least considers it, but he does not think it is worthy of being a defense technique because it represses instincts and only appeals to dimwitted people who cannot appreciate art or science. Although Raskolnikov is not the biggest spokesperson for religion throughout most of the book, he never rejects it entirely and still asks for prayer. By the end of the novel, however, he actually shows a preference towards it by asking for the New Testament (Dostoyevsky 522). This just goes to show that a man who is intelligent enough to appreciate science and to be considered a university fellow found religion to be beneficial for him in one way or another. Several other characters find religion to be helpful in coming to terms with harsh reality, and it helps them to face their insecurities more directly than by twisting, suppressing, or running from them.
Even more subtle coping mechanisms hide in the text of Crime and Punishment, just like they do in real life. One of the strongest instincts among humans is the need for survival, so man is usually willing to try any coping mechanisms available if they help to keep him alive and functioning. Insecurities are everywhere, so consequently defense techniques are just as numerous. I often use several coping mechanisms in a day without even realizing that I am doing so. Whenever I eat a piece of chocolate because I am stressed about an exam or ask my mom to send me a picture of my dogs because I am feeling discouraged, I am grasping on to something to help me manage my uncomfortable feelings. Although I know that some defense mechanisms might be more beneficial towards fixing the problem—for example, talking to my RA about a roommate conflict will help resolve anxiety I am experiencing more efficiently than trying to put a Band-Aid over the stress with retail therapy—I am employing coping techniques nonetheless. I think Freud’s flaw is that he oversimplifies how people respond to Civilization and Its Discontents. Society is so convoluted that people do equally bizarre things to survive in it. Crime and Punishment amplifies some of these less traditional coping mechanisms because it is has so many insecure characters trying to navigate through their equally unstable civilization. Maybe if Freud were to take a second look at Dostoyevsky’s novel, he would discover that most of the characters’ strange conduct is actually a form of coping and is just as legitimate an attempt to overcome insecurity as the three defense mechanisms that he previously identified. The coping mechanisms may be in disguise, but they are not a lesser form of defense.
Works Cited
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. New York: New American Library, 2006. Print.
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton and, 1961. Print.
Nauert, Rick. “Depression’s Chemical Imbalance Explained | Psych Central News.” Psych Central.com. N.p., 10 Nov. 2006. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.