Trauma and the Overstimulation of the Death-Drive: A Psychoanalysis of Self-Destructive Compulsions in The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick

Nahreen Saleha Shahadat¹

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.10 , Issue.10 , pp.7-14, Oct-2024

Online published on Oct 31, 2024

Copyright © Nahreen Saleha Shahadat . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
The paper aims to link the theory of the death drive by Freud, formally known as thanatos, with traumatic experiences of individuals. In other words, the purpose of the study was to determine whether trauma overstimulates the inherent death drive in individuals in hopes for a better comprehension of the nature of traumatic events and the ways that individuals choose (or are rather compelled to choose) to cope with them. Hence the two characters from the two novels, i.e. Arthur Dimmesdale from Nathaniel Hawthornes’s The Scarlet Letter and Captain Ahab from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, were selected in order to establish a synchronic juxtaposition. Both characters can be seen to be driven by self-destructive compulsions: self-harm in Dimmesdale and delusional grandiose in Ahab. Through a qualitative approach of textual analysis and theoretical scrutiny the paper aimed to first identify whether the two characters exhibit the characteristics of an overstimulated death drive, i.e. the need to reduce tension, masochism, compulsive behaviors that are destructive in nature, narcissism and an overpowering superego, and then whether these attributes originate from their respective traumatic and canonical experiences. It was found that the act of infidelity and his inability to take responsibility was a deeply traumatic experience for Arthur Dimmesdale for which he resorted to self-harm as a defense mechanism. On the other hand, for Captain Ahab the incident of his leg’s amputation by the whale was a triggering and emasculating event that resulted in the fixation and delusional need to seek revenge despite the obvious and inevitable probabilities of self-destruction. Therefore, the paper illustrates how trauma can lead to the overstimulation of the death drive and hence lead to self-endangerment.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Trauma, Death-drive, Thanatos, Dimmesdale, Ahab, Self-destruction, Psychoanalysis

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