The Interpretation Of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld Read Free Book Online

have
taken care of the poor little babies? Couldn't I have made him happy?' She
buried her head in her hands and sobbed. 'I was glad she was dead, Dr Younger.
I was glad. Because now he was free to take me.'
        'Priscilla,' I said, 'I can't see
your face.'
        'I'm sorry.'
        'I mean I can't see your face because
your left hand is covering it.'
        She gasped. It was true: she was
using her left hand to wipe away her tears. The hysterical symptom had disappeared
the instant she regained the memory whose repression caused it. A year has now
passed, and the paralysis never recurred, nor the dyspnea, nor the headaches.
        Reconstructing the story was simple
enough. Priscilla had been in love with Bradley since he first came to call on
Mary. Priscilla was then thirteen. I will shock no one, I hope, by observing
that a thirteen-year-old girl's love for a young man can include sexual
desires, even if not fully understood as such. Priscilla had never admitted to
these desires, or to the jealousy she felt toward her sister as a consequence,
which irresistibly led in the child's mind to the dreadful but opportunistic
thought that, if only Mary were dead, the way would be open for her. All these
feelings Priscilla repressed, even from her own consciousness. This repression
was doubtless the original source of the occasional pains she felt in her left
hand, which probably commenced on the day of the wedding itself, when she first
saw the golden ring slipped onto her sister's finger. Two years later, the
sight of the ring on Mary's hand in the coffin excited the same thoughts, which
very nearly emerged - or perhaps, for a moment, did emerge - into Priscilla's
consciousness. But now, in addition to these forbidden feelings of desire and
jealousy, there was the utterly impermissible satisfaction she took in her
sister's untimely death. The result was a fresh demand for repression,
infinitely stronger than the first.
        The role played by the thank-you
letters is more complex. One can only imagine how Priscilla must have suffered
at the sight of her bare left hand, ungraced by a wedding ring, repeatedly
conjoined with the act of expressing sorrow at her sister's demise. Possibly
this was a contradiction Priscilla could not bear. At the same time, the
laborious writing may have provided a physiological underpinning for what
followed. In any event, her left hand became an offense to her, reminding her
of both her unmarried state and her unacceptable wishes.
        Three objectives therefore became
paramount. First, she must not have such a hand; she must rid herself of a hand
that had no wedding ring where a wedding ring should be. Second, she had to
punish herself for her wish to replace Mary as Bradley's wife. Third, she had to
make the consummation of this wish impossible. Every one of these objectives
was accomplished through her hysterical symptoms; the economy with which the
unconscious mind performs its work is marvelous. Symbolically speaking,
Priscilla rid herself of the offending hand, simultaneously fulfilling her wish
and punishing herself for having it. By making herself an invalid, she also
ensured that she could no longer take care of Bradley's children or otherwise,
as she so tactfully put it, 'make him happy.'
        Priscilla's treatment, from start to
finish, took all of two weeks. After I reassured her that her wishes were
perfectly natural and beyond her control, she not only shed her symptoms but
became fairly radiant. News of the invalid s cure spread through Worcester as
if the Savior had brought sight to one of Isaiah's blind men. The story people
told was this: Priscilla had fallen ill from love, and I had cured her. My
placing a palm on her forehead was imbued with all sorts of quasi-mystic
powers. While this made my reputation and caused my medical practice to thrive,
there were less comfortable consequences too. There came a rush of thirty or
forty would-be pyschoanalytic