Literary Illustrations of Catathymia

Two literary works describing the chronic catathymic process—Feodor Dostoyevsky’s (1886/1955) Crime and Punishment and Yukio Mishima’s (1956) The Temple of the Golden Pavilion—are illustrative. Crime and Punishment is based on an actual case reported in the Russian press at the time. The main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, is preoccupied with the question of why almost every crime is so easily solved, and the clues left behind by the criminal are so quickly discovered. Raskolnikov reasons:

[The answer lies] not so much in the physical impossibility of concealing the crime as in the criminal himself; the criminal himself, at least almost every criminal, is subject at the moment of the crime to a kind of breakdown in his reasoning faculties and of his will power, which are replaced by an amazingly childish carelessness just at the moment when he is most in need of caution and reason. ... If only I succeed in keeping my will and my reasoning faculties unimpaired, all the difficulties will be over. (p. 9)

Raskolnikov subsequently develops an idea to kill an elderly pawnbroker who practices usury, an act considered morally reprehensible at the time. He views the victim as socially useless; therefore, he reasons it would not be unethical to kill her and to use her wealth for higher purposes, such as helping his impoverished sister and mother. The idea to kill the pawnbroker develops into an obsessive rumination that eventually becomes fixed and intractable. Raskolnikov withdraws socially and neglects his schoolwork and his appearance. His appetite decreases, and he spends a great deal of time just lying in bed in an overt state of depression, preoccupied with the possibility of getting away with crime, in general, and with killing the pawnbroker, in particular.

He eventually picks up an axe in the house where he lives, enters the victim’s apartment, and brutally kills her, along with her sister who unexpectedly enters the room. Following the killings, Raskolnikov searches the apartment and takes a few objects and a minimal amount of money; later he throws away what he has taken. He questions his motives and purpose:

If you did this business conscientiously, not like a fool, but if you really had a firm and definite purpose, why is it you have not looked into the purse, why is it you did not even know what you have got? You don’t know why you put yourself through all this trouble, don’t know why you consciously started out on such a vile, base, low business, (p. 104)

Raskolnikov’s belief—that by killing the pawnbroker, he will free society of a useless and harmful being and, at the same time, make a contribution to the general welfare by distributing her wealth—is an obvious rationalization. The crime’s compelling character grows out of his fixed idea, an idea that eventually becomes inaccessible to logic. Once the idea enters his consciousness, it builds until he has to follow through with the act. His throwing away of the money clearly reveals that material gain was not part of the central motivation.

Several motives for the homicide are possible. The most superficial is Raskolnikov’s idea of robbing for personal gain and general welfare, bolstered by his belief that “great men [dare] to cross ethical barriers” (p. 309). A sociological view of the homicide might focus on the social disintegration in Russia at the time, as evidenced by the spread of atheism and of the liberal philosophy espoused by Russian intellectuals.

Freud’s (1916) theory that criminal behavior stems from a sense of guilt can also be used to explain Raskolnikov’s behavior. For instance, Schneck (1966) argues that Raskolnikov exemplifies Freud’s general notion that criminal acts are performed because they are forbidden.

Paradoxical as it may sound, I must maintain that the sense of guilt was present prior to the transgression, that it did not arise from this, but contrary-wise—the transgression from the sense of guilt. These persons we might justifiably describe as criminals from a sense of guilt. (Freud, 1916, p. 42)

Freud believed that guilt stems “from the Oedipus complex, and is a reaction to the two great criminal intentions of killing the father and having sexual relations with the mother” (p. 323). In fact, in his paper “Dostoyevsky and Parricide,” Freud (1928) stated, “It is a fact that large groups of criminals long for punishment. Their superego demands it and so saves itself the necessity for inflicting the punishment itself” (p. 17). Building on Freud’s insights, Florance (1955) offered a somewhat different psychoanalytic interpretation of Raskolnikov. She theorized that the murder was triggered by the offender’s deep-seated sexual problems, specifically incestuous feelings for his mother and sister as well as latent homosexuality. Revitch and Schlesinger (1981) noted that Dostoyevsky may have named his hero Raskolnikov from the Russian word raskol, which means split or schism, as the main character’s behavior was contrary to basic notions of morality and was even detached from his conscious will.

But notwithstanding the theory of the crime, the development of Raskolnikov’s obsessive rumination to kill, followed by a feeling of relief after the act, is typical of the chronic catathymic process. Because the catathymic process is a motivational one that describes and explains the offender’s actions, it can coexist with any theory of crime, as well as any psychiatric diagnosis.

In Yukio Mishima’s (1956) The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, the author—a brilliant but psychologically disturbed person who eventually committed suicide by disemboweling himself—provides a vivid step-by-step description of the chronic catathymic process. Like Dostoyevsky, Mishima created his novel on the basis of actual events. The central character is a young man, Mizoguchi, who is plagued by a strong sense of his own ugliness, plus feelings of social and sexual inadequacy. He becomes obsessed with the beauty of a historic Buddhist temple that has been considered a national treasure for over 500 years. After destroying the structure by setting it on fire, he feels relief, and his long-standing psychological conflicts are resolved.

Mizoguchi’s severe stuttering makes it almost impossible for him to relate to others, especially women, since his anxiety increases with interpersonal contact. He is taunted by his peers and feels unlovable. At the same time, he envies a handsome classmate who is athletic and well liked. On several occasions, Mizoguchi attempts intercourse with prostitutes but finds that he is impotent. One of his masturbatory fantasies involves visualizing a pretty female classmate naked; however, the image quickly dissipates as he immediately envisions himself as an ugly insect. In one incident, Mizoguchi meets up with the attractive young woman, the object of his sexual fantasies. Instead of being friendly, she mocks Mizoguchi; he is crushed when she calls him a stutterer.

Mizoguchi is also plagued by recurrent recollections of maternal sexual infidelity that greatly disturb him. On several occasions, he observed his mother having sex with a visiting uncle. Mizoguchi’s father, who was quite ill, unsuccessfully tried to shield his son from his mother’s sexual conduct. At another point, Mizoguchi mentions to his mother that he might like to enlist in the army, but she teases him and says that if the army takes “stutterers like you” then Japan’s military is finished. He hates his mother for her behavior and wants nothing to do with her.

In contrast to his feelings of self-disgust, Mizoguchi forms a strong obsessional attachment to, and envy of, the well-known temple and its beauty. The obsession with the temple grows. Just like Dostoyevsky’s Raskolnikov, Mishima’s Mizoguchi becomes depressed and withdrawn, neglects his schoolwork, and for a period of time, feels aimless.

During all these hours I did not read any book, nor did I have money to spend on amusements. Sometimes I would talk to Kachewagi, but most of the time I stayed by myself doing nothing. This sort of inactivity was perhaps my own special form of Zen practice, (p. 195)

During these states of depression, Mishima’s central character thinks that he, with all his inadequacies, and the temple, with all its beauty, cannot exist in the same world.

If there was no chance that the Golden Temple would be attacked [by the Americans during World War II], then for the time being I had lost my purpose in living, and the world in which I dwell must fall to pieces, (p. 81)

Mizoguchi then suddenly develops the idea that he has to destroy the temple by setting it on fire.

This notion would suddenly come to life within me, revealed the meaning that had flashed through my mind earlier, and it made me shine brightly inside. I still did not try to think it out deeply, but was barely seized by the notion, as though I had been struck by light. Yet that idea, which until then had never once occurred to me, began to grow in strength inside as soon as it was born. Far from containing the idea, I myself was wrapped in it. And this was the notion that entrapped me. I must set fire to the Golden Temple, (p. 285)

Mizoguchi’s resolve to burn down the temple becomes stronger. He attempts intercourse with several women, but on each occasion, a vision of the Golden Temple appears and makes it impossible for him to sustain an erection. However, once he begins to make definite plans to set fire to the temple, Mizoguchi feels a sense of liberation. He goes to a prostitute and finds that the vision of the temple is no longer present; he is finally able to consummate sexual relations.

Mizoguchi finally sets fire to the temple and watches it burn. “I noticed the pack of cigarettes in my other pocket; I took one out and started smoking. I felt like a man who settles down for a smoke after finishing a job of work. I wanted to live” (p. 285). As he runs away from the fire, burning timbers sound to him like the crackling of people’s joints, an image with strong sexual connotations.

The sexual dynamics in this case are much more pronounced than in the case of Raskolnikov. Freud (1900, 1905, 1914, 1925) commented many times on the traumatic effect of a child witnessing adult intercourse, which he referred to as the primal scene. Freud felt that observing this event is traumatic since it not only elicits overwhelming sexual excitement, but the youngster also may misinterpret the act of sex as an assault on the mother. Arlow (1978) discussed the impact of Mizoguchi witnessing the primal scene as a central motivation for his fire setting, a sort of retaliatory act against his mother. Whether observing the primal scene is the main motivation for Mizoguchi’s behavior is debatable. In fact, just as in the case of Raskolnikov, many levels of motivation may be operative. But, notwithstanding theory, the case graphically illustrates the development of the chronic catathymic process with the three stages of incubation, violent act, and subsequent feeling of relief.