29th Annual Student Research Conference
Antisocial Personality Disorder in Dostoyevsky and Poe
Anastasia Steblina
Dr. Sarah Mohler and Dr. Bob Mielke, Faculty Mentors
While much research is available on Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Edgar Allan Poe, there is no close psychological analysis of Dostoyevsky?s character Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment and Poe?s narrator from ?The Tell Tale Heart.? This research paper sought to identify tendencies and traits of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) in these characters. Three out of seven characteristics that are used by DSM-V must be present consistently for proper diagnosis. The purpose of this research is to identify the characteristics in these characters by performing a close psychological analysis of their actions, desires, and thoughts in order to depict their behavior as traits or tendencies of APD. The result of the analysis showed that Raskolnikov?s inconsistent behavior regarding the seven characteristics demonstrated tendencies of APD, while Poe?s narrator?s consistent behavior demonstrated traits. This revealed Raskolnikov as a mentally disturbed individual and Poe?s narrator as a cold blooded murderer.
Keywords: Antisocial Personality disorder, psychoanalysis, Poe, Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment, The Tell-Tale Heart
Topic(s):Russian
English
Psychology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: -3
Location: VH 1224
Time: 3:00