ELIZABETH DALTON
603
ment tha t penetra tes, the sadi sti c peni s it self, and the instrument o f
castra ti on . And cas tra ti on is the pena lty fo r all the wi shes exp ressed in
thi s scene.
It
is th e punishment for lookin g a t forbidden thin gs and for
wi shin g to repl ace th e fa ther,
to
compete with him for the mother in an
aggress ive way : but it is also th e price of the wi sh tha t emerges mos t
cl earl y here, the wi sh to avo id th e competiti on with the father and to
submit
to
him in a pass ive " feminine" way. Being loved as a woman
also seems poss ibl e o nl y a t the terribl e price o f loss of the peni s.
All th e events o f the day th a t have a ttracted Myshkin 's attenti on in
a fixed way or evo ked th e sense of a repressed idea stru ggling to
consciousness suggest the emergence of the feared homosexual wi sh
and the penalty for submi ss ion : the signifi can ce of Rogozhin 's eyes and
hi s knife are cl ear; the Sko ptsy, the tenants of Rogozhin 's ho use,
practi ce self- castra ti on ; the Ho lbein painting o f Chri st, hi s bod y so
bruised and so tho ro ughl y dead th a t, as Myshkin says, "tha t picture
mi ght make some peopl e lose th eir faith ," depi cts the terr ibl e fa te of
th e Son who submits to th e Fa ther: " not my will , but thine, be done."
Even th e sto ry o f the peasant who slits hi s fri ends's throa t and stea ls hi s
wa tch as they prepa re for bed togeth er sugges ts the submerged homo–
sexua l wi sh and fea r.
The wi sh and the fea r are peril o usly cl ose
to
rea li za ti on in the
image o f Rogozhin with hi s knife ra ised . At thi s po int the excitement
a ro used by th e des ire to submit sexua ll y
to
the fa ther and by the terror
o f cas tra ti on becomes unbea rabl y inten se and the ego is overwhelmed
in the epil epti c a ttack; the ba rri ers o f th e ego a re bro ken and it is
fl ooded with in stinctua l excitement. The cry, the convul sive move–
ments, and the loss o f con scio usness of th e fi t a re a t once a sort of
exaggera ted representa ti on of and a substitute for the release of o rgasm ,
the logical culmina ti on of thi s symbo li c co itus in whi ch Myshkin is
bo th specta tor and pa rti cipant. The scene ends with Mys hkin falling
down sta irs and strikin g hi s head ; th e fit has saved him from Rogoz–
hin 's knife, but through a famili a r equa ti on by whi ch the head stands
for the peni s, th e fea red injury
to
the genital is representcd symbo li–
call y in th e bloodi ed head. Mo reover, th e head is perh aps puni shed as
the source o f evil impul ses, the representa ti on o f the mind in whi ch th e
who le fantas ti c epi sode has ori g ina ted .
One curious as pect o f thi s sequence is the guilt th a t Myshkin feels
throughout the day whenever he becomes momenta ril y aware of hi s
fear o f Rogozhin:
(Oh , how th e prince was to rtured by th e
hideousn e~s,
the 'degrada–
ti on ' of thi s con victi on , o f 'th a t base forebodin g,' and hoI\' he had
