Analysis of Raskolnikov's dreams reveals the murder of the old woman to be the defensive acting out of an unconscious sadomasochistic oedipal fantasy. In the murder he identified with the castrating father in order to avoid his anxiety in identifying with the passive, castrated mother, and with the axe he actively attempted to destroy the projected passive-feminine part of himself. The effort failed because, in addition, the woman unconsciously represented his dead father, and the resulting guilt forced him back into a vicious guilt-shame cycle.

Thus, Crime and Punishment, which would seem to explore the theme of matricide, takes its place alongside The Brothers Karamazov as a product of Dostoyevsky's attempt to resolve his own unconscious patricidal conflict.