England, 1919–21

2020 ◽  
pp. 44-58
Author(s):  
Ann Jefferson
Keyword(s):  
Unfair Advantage ◽  
David Copperfield

This chapter introduces England as a part of Natalia Ilyinichna Tcherniak's mental geography through the books “David Copperfield” and “The Prince and the Pauper.” It explains how England acquired a new reality for Natalia with the arrival of the nannies hired by her step-mother Vera Sheremetievskaya to teach English to her half-sister, Lili. It also points how keen Vera was to have Lili learn English in order to redress the unfair advantage that she saw Nathalia had since she already spoke three languages and excelled at school. The chapter recounts Nathalia's time in Oxford, England, which she considered the happiest time of her life. It also mentions Nathalia's abrupt return to Paris when her father, Ilya Evseevich Tcherniak, refused to approve of her plan of continuing her studies in history while giving private French lessons as he did not wish to see his daughter become a bluestocking.

Dickensiana: 'David Copperfield'

1902 ◽  
Vol s9-IX (299) ◽  
pp. 391-391
Author(s):  
W. T.
Keyword(s):  
David Copperfield

Guilty Minds

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne C. Dailey
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Police Interrogation ◽  
Rational Person ◽  
Unfair Advantage ◽  
Rational Decision Making ◽  
Unconscious Guilt

This chapter examines the puzzling question of why an otherwise rational person would voluntarily confess to a crime, knowing full well that the state will punish in return. Even more puzzling is the phenomenon of false confessions, where an individual inexplicably confesses to a crime she did not commit, in some cases believing in her own guilt. Psychoanalysis gives us important insights into these irrational phenomena. The focus in this chapter is on the ways in which certain deceptive and degrading police interrogation tactics may override a suspect’s conscious rational decision-making powers by enlisting unconscious needs, aggressions, and guilt. Three interrogation tactics are of greatest concern: false sympathy, degradation, and trickery. As this chapter shows, false sympathy and degradation exploit deep-seated, unconscious desires for absolution and punishment that undermine the voluntariness of a suspect’s self-incriminating statements. Similarly, police trickery can take unfair advantage of a suspect’s need to rationalize unconscious guilt for a crime he did not commit. By drawing attention to the risks associated with these methods, psychoanalysis ensures that the most egregious practices can be eliminated from our criminal justice system. Psychoanalytic insights into unconscious processes advances the law’s own best ideals of fundamental fairness in the criminal law.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document