Crime and Punishment/Tell-Tale Heart/Picture of Dorian Gray
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1heinous-eli
As stated by Margad in the ideas thread re comparing the first two works: "Both are stories of seemingly remorseless killers who are brought down by their guilty consciences after all. What makes them different?"
Obviously, length plays a role in the development of why each murders. Poe takes the supernatural route and blames the vulture-eye, whilst Dostoevsky's rationale in Crime and Punishment is more down to earth. Yet both murder older people who have some sort of economic power.
As for The Picture of Dorian Gray, I think it's fascinating that, like the protagonist of The Tell-Tale Heart, Dorian is brought down by his own paranoid guilt. Dorian sees his portrait and can't stand it, even though no one else alive knows the truth of it; the protagonist of Poe's tale keeps hearing the heart of his erstwhile employer thumping away long after the old man is dead. Both wouldn't have been discovered if it weren't for the twisted ways in which guilt manifested in their respective psyches.
Obviously, length plays a role in the development of why each murders. Poe takes the supernatural route and blames the vulture-eye, whilst Dostoevsky's rationale in Crime and Punishment is more down to earth. Yet both murder older people who have some sort of economic power.
As for The Picture of Dorian Gray, I think it's fascinating that, like the protagonist of The Tell-Tale Heart, Dorian is brought down by his own paranoid guilt. Dorian sees his portrait and can't stand it, even though no one else alive knows the truth of it; the protagonist of Poe's tale keeps hearing the heart of his erstwhile employer thumping away long after the old man is dead. Both wouldn't have been discovered if it weren't for the twisted ways in which guilt manifested in their respective psyches.
2maggie1944
It strikes me as interesting that the psychological elements which contribute so much to these stories may, in our "modern" era, be explained away with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Post Traumatic Stress Complex. Today if you are hearing things perhaps rather than examine your conscience, go to a shrink.
Do not misunderstand me - I am not anti-mental health counselling. I actually think much pain has been relieved by such; I just thought it was interesting to see how people in previous eras thought about mental processes.
Thanks for your comparison.
Do not misunderstand me - I am not anti-mental health counselling. I actually think much pain has been relieved by such; I just thought it was interesting to see how people in previous eras thought about mental processes.
Thanks for your comparison.
3margad
Heina, I'm so interested in your focus on the motivation for the murders. It's been a long time since I read Tell-Tale Heart, and I had forgotten that part of the story because the beating heart and the killer's mental deterioration was so vividly memorable. Can you say a little more about the vulture-eye?
In a way, the murder of the old woman in Crime and Punishment is, if not supernaturally motivated, as random and poorly thought-out as though it had been. If I am remembering correctly, Raskolnikov kills her (or claims to have killed her) solely to prove the point that her life is valueless and he need feel no remorse about doing so.
The comparison you make between the portrait in Dorian Gray and the thumping heart is so apt. And there's another similarity - both are supernatural, and yet stand for very real psychological processes.
Maggie, your point about our modern reliance on psychological counseling may actually link back to the earlier fiction, especially Dorian Gray and Tell-Tale Heart. Psychotherapy can involve dream work that uses symbolic images in a very similar way to the supernatural images in these stories. Of course, that form of psychotherapy has been emphasized less in recent years.
In a way, the murder of the old woman in Crime and Punishment is, if not supernaturally motivated, as random and poorly thought-out as though it had been. If I am remembering correctly, Raskolnikov kills her (or claims to have killed her) solely to prove the point that her life is valueless and he need feel no remorse about doing so.
The comparison you make between the portrait in Dorian Gray and the thumping heart is so apt. And there's another similarity - both are supernatural, and yet stand for very real psychological processes.
Maggie, your point about our modern reliance on psychological counseling may actually link back to the earlier fiction, especially Dorian Gray and Tell-Tale Heart. Psychotherapy can involve dream work that uses symbolic images in a very similar way to the supernatural images in these stories. Of course, that form of psychotherapy has been emphasized less in recent years.
