A Psychoanalytical View of Crime and Punishment and American Psycho

Homicide always will be an aspect of life, whether it is in the 16th century, 21st century or in the future. At times of extreme stress, people may turn to murder as an outlet of a greater problem they cannot fix or control. Presently, homicide has a greater value in society due to popular culture references through the media such as television, film and writing; society constantly has homicide and murder in the subconscious. In David M. Buss’ findings in The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is Designed to Kill,

According to our findings, 91 percent of men and 84 percent of women have had at least one such vivid fantasy about killing someone...the human mind has developed adaptations for killing—deeply ingrained patterns of thought, often accompanied by internal dialogue, anchored in powerful emotions-that motivate us to murder. (Chapter 1)

Buss’ point is simple: people experience the thought of killing someone and the mind has adapted to do so. In fiction, however, some authors overlook the psychological aspects necessary to commit homicide. Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author of Crime and Punishment, incorporate these psychological aspects necessary to commit homicide in their main characters through each character’s self presentation, motive and thought process.

Self presentation, the way people present themselves to society and their overall façade, is a fundamental characteristic in the psychology of a murderous individual. Not only is this trait physical, it is a necessary component in the way people with homicidal intentions feel they need to present themselves to society. The Science News-Letter, published in 1949, notes to avoid mass murder one must be aware of the following...

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... Psychoanalytic Reading. Pasadena, CA: California Institute of Technology, 1982. Humanities Working Paper, No. 73.

Buss, David M. "Chapter 1." The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind Is Designed to Kill. New York: Penguin, 2005. Print.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. Trans. Sidney Monas. New York: New American Library, 1968. Print.

Ellis, Bret Easton. American Psycho: A Novel. New York: Vintage, 1991. Print.

Fox, James Alan, and Jack Levin. "Multiple Homicide: Patterns of Serial and Mass Murder." Crime and Justice. Vol. 23. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1998. JSTOR. Web. .

Rogers, Martin. "Video Nasties and the Monstrous Bodies of American Psycho." Literature-Film Quarterly 39.3 (2011): 231+. Literature Resource Center. Web. .