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A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY ON MICHAEL SWANGO’S

PSYCHOPATH IN JAMES STEWART’S BLIND EYE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By:

DIAN PURNAMASARI

Student Number: 114214038

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2015

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

Dian Purnamasari

Student Number: 114214038

ENGLISH LETTER STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2015


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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Dian Purnamasari

Nomor Mahasiswa : 114214038

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan

Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:



Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan

kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak menyimpan, mengalihkan

dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,

mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media

lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun

memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai

penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya,

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal : 30 June, 2015

Yang menyatakan

(Dian Purnamasari)


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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously

submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to the best of

my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously written by

any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the undergraduate

thesis.

Yogyakarta, June 30, 2015

Dian Purnamasari


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but as it is written,

Things which eye saw not,

and ear heard not,

And which entered not into the heart of man,

Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him.

(1 Corinthians 2: 9)


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I dedicated this thesis to:

Jesus Christ

My beloved family

My lovely friends


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks go to my Lord, Jesus Christ for all blessings to me. Thank Him

for always being beside me to help, to support, and to give me each day to finish

this undergraduate thesis.

Acknowledgements are due to a number of people for their love,

assistance and commentaries in the process of writing this undergraduate thesis.

My deepest gratitude firstly goes to my Advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka,

M.Hum, for his attention, care, patience and kindness in the process of writing this

undergraduate thesis.

I would like to dedicate this undergraduate thesis to my beloved family,

my mother, my father, my sister, and my brother. Thanks for all their support and

pray in the process of writing my undergraduate thesis. Thanks for to be my side

in my time of need. All of you are gifts for me that last forever. I am proud to

have all of them as my family. Thanks for being my reason to fight. They are my

family who build me up. I want to make all of you be proud to have me.

Last but not least, my gratitude goes to my lovely friends, Lenny’s Cell

Group, Disciples Connect Group, Maho Insaf badminton club, OKWS (Ojo Koyo

Wong Susah) group, Sanata Dharma University badminton club, KKN (Kuliah

Kerja Nyata) group, Music ministry, SPBU (Seng Penting Bahagia Uhui) group,

my senior high school friends who turned into my family. All of you are the

family I choose. Thanks for support, encourage, and pray for me in the process of

writing my undergraduate thesis. Thank you for standing by my side when times


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get hard. They can make the good times better and the hard times easier. I am

thankful that all of them in my life.

30 June, 2015

Dian Purnamasari


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................................. ii

APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................................... iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE .............................................................................................. iv

LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ................................ v

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ......................................................................... vi

MOTTO PAGE ........................................................................................................ vii

DEDICATION PAGE .............................................................................................. viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... xi

ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. xiii

ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................................ xiv

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study ............................................................................. 1

B. Problem Formulation .................................................................................. 4

C. Objective of the Study ................................................................................. 4

D. Definition of Terms ..................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies ......................................................................... 6

B. Review of Related Theories ........................................................................ 9

1. Theory of Character and Characterization ............................................ 9

2. Relation Between Literature and Psychology ..................................... 11

3. The Characteristic Of Psychopath ....................................................... 12

4. Theories of Personality by Sigmund Freud ......................................... 15

C. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................. 22


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CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study.................................................................................... 23

B. Approach of the Study .............................................................................. 24

C. Method of the Study .................................................................................. 25

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS

A. The Characteristic of Michael Swango as a Psychopath .......................... 27

B. The Factor that Make Michael Swango become a Psychopath ................ 47

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 48

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 51


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ABSTRACT

DIAN PURNAMASARI. A Psychoanalytical Study on Michael Swango’s

Psychopath in James Stewart’s Blind Eye. Yogyakarta: Department of English

Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015.

Blind Eye is one of James Stewart’s works about a doctor who could be a

serial killer in the form of nonfiction novel. The murderer was a doctor, Michael

Swango, who murdered more than sixty of his patients, tried to poison his friends

in hospital and his lovely girls. He always did it with poison.

This study aims to find out the characteristics of Michael Swango as a

psychopath and the factors that made Michael Swango become a psychopath.

The method of the study is library research. Theory of character and

characterization, relation between literature and psychology, the characteristic of

psychopath, and theories of personality by Sigmund Freud were applied in this

study. The writer applied psychoanalysis criticism since it covered some aspects

that were relevant to answer the problem. In analyzing, the writer tried to identify

the characteristics of Michael Swango as psychopath with theory of character and

characterization, also the characteristics of psychopath. The writer also tried to

identify the factors that made Michael Swango become a psychopath by using

province of the mind, pleasure and the id: inhibition and the ego in theories of

personality by Sigmund Freud.

The results of the study can be formulated as follows. There are six

characteristics of Michael Swango as psychopath. They are antisocial, egoistic,

irritable, dominant, hypocritical, and cruel. The factors that make Michael

Swango become psychopath are the trauma in the past that cannot be eliminated in

hysteria major or dissociation, the trauma with his childhood experience in

obsessive- compulsive neurotic and he failed in the face of the competition in

neurasthenia.


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ABSTRAK

DIAN PURNAMASARI. A Psychoanalytical Study on Michael Swango’s

Psychopath in James Stewart’s Blind Eye. Yogyakarta: Prodi Sastra Inggris ,

Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Blind Eye merupakan salah satu karya James Stewart yang berupa kisah

nyata tentang dokter yang menjadi pembunuh berantai dalam bentuk novel.

Pembunuh dalam novel tersebut adalah dokter yang bernama Michael Swango

yang membunuh lebih dari enam puluh pasienya, mencoba meracuni teman-

temanya di rumah sakit dan pacar kesayanganya. Dia selalu membunuh dengan

racun.

Riset ini bertujuan untuk mencari karakteristik dari Michael Swango

sebagai psikopat dan faktor yang membentuk Michael Swango menjadi psikopat.

Metode yang diterapkan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian

kepustakaan. Teori karakter dan karakterisasi, hubungan antara sastra dan

psikologi, karakteristik psikopat, dan teori kepribadian oleh Sigmund Freud

diterapkan dalam penelitian ini. Dalam analisis, penulis mencoba mengidentifikasi

karakteristik dari Michael Swango sebagai psikopat dengan teori karakter dan

karakteristik, juga menggunakan teori karakteristik psikopat. Penulis juga

mencoba mengidentifikasi faktor yang membentuk Michael Swango menjadi

psikopat dengan menggunakan teori daerah pikiran, kesenangan dan id: hambatan

dan ego dalam teori kepribadian oleh Sigmund Freud.

Hasil penelitian dapat dirumuskan sebagai berikut. Terdapat enam sifat

yang ada dalam diri Michael Swango sebagai seorang psikopat. Sifatnya yaitu

antisosial, egois, cepat marah, dominan, munafik, dan kejam . Faktor yang

membuat Michael Swango menjadi psikopat yaitu trauma pengalaman masa lalu

yang tidak bisa dilupakan dalam hysteria pokok atau disosiasi, trauma pengalaman

masa kanak- kanak dalam obsesif kumpulsif neurosis, dan kalahnya persaingan

dalam neurasthenia


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Literature is creative imagination which expresses the thought, feeling and

idea about life. It talks about love, hatred, happiness, sadness, war, and peace.

Literature is something that reflects society, makes people think about themselves

and their society. It usually allows people to enjoy language and beauty. It is used

to describe anything from creative writing, but the term is most commonly used to

refer of the creative imagination, such as poetries, dramas, and novel. The readers

usually learn about literature and enjoying the atmosphere of it.

One of the creative imaginative works is a novel. “Novels have been

specially crafted and constructed. Any novel, therefore, can be described as a

world specially made in words by an author. Any novel exists in the way it does

because an author has chosen to put it together in that particular way” (Gill,

1995:105). A novel has many fantasies. Novel is interesting because it can make

the reader continue to read it. Novel usually makes the readers surprised in some

way.

There are two kinds of the novel, fiction and non – fiction. Blind Eye is the

non-fiction novel that has a terrifying story about a doctor named Michael

Swango who got away with murder. According to Duke, nonfiction novel is

telling of an event or series of event that have occurred. The non-fiction novel is

about the real event and people, written based on the novel. The nonfiction novel


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presents facts, describes true-life experiences, or discusses ideas. It writes about

something factual, rather than fiction. The story of nonfiction novel cannot be

manipulated by the writer’s imagination. The writer of nonfiction novel has

specific information or ideas to convey the story. This makes the non-fiction genre

rather flexible.

Blind Eye presents the main character that has unusual behavior in the

social, family, career, and the main character’s life. The main character is a doctor

named Michael Swango who murdered more than thirty five patients and gave the

poison to paramedics and his girlfriends. Michael Swango always killed by using

poison. Michael Swango looked calm and acted like he did not kill people.

Michael Swango felt satisfied when he did that. Nobody believed that a doctor

who was young and handsome could be a serial killer. Wherever he practiced, he

looked like an ideal doctor until the discovery of the mysterious death. Strangely,

he always got away with murder. He moved to the hospital in Zimbabwe after no

hospital in America wanted to employ him. There were still many victims in

Zimbabwe. Michael Swango pursued the world of medicine for fifteen years, and

Michael Swango had the strong ambition with the sadistic death.

Most of the novels are designed to focus on history and the individual with

the problems in society. “A character is someone in literary work who has some

sort of identity (it needn’t be a strong one), an identify which is made up by

appearance, conversation, action, name, and (possibly) thoughts going on the

head” (Gill, 1995:127). A character is a person in a literary work. The authors

present the characters in society and show the action of their characters.


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“Characters are what they are like because of the way they’ve been made. The

kind of conversation they have, the things they do, their appearances and so on are

the particular ways in which the author has chosen to characterize his or her

character.” (Gill, 1995:127).

The characteristics of the people in the novel are not always good; there

are characteristics of the people that are bad. The good characteristics are

remembered in terms of the good that they do, their achievement or sacrifice. The

bad characteristics are usually remembered for the terrible things that they do and

make damages to other people and themselves. The behavior of the people

includes all those aspects of human activity which the writer can observe. That is

why literature is considered as one interesting thing to choose in this thesis.

There is not just one factor that influences the characteristics of the people.

The hundreds of different involvements of people’s experience throughout life

will develop the unique personality of the people. Throughout people’s lifespan,

there are many experiences that may compel them to change themselves. There

are hundreds of factors that develop and create what people know as identity.

People are not instinctively born with an attraction to certain things, people are

taught by other people around us.

The writer chooses the factor that shaped the main character and the main

character personality especially in the case of the psychopath in the Blind Eye

because this novel talked about the murder was done by the doctor. The other

reason is because Michael Swango, no one could believe that the handsome young

doctor might be a serial killer. Wherever he is hired in Ohio, Illinois, New York,


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South Dakota, Michael Swango at the first seems the model physician then his

patients begin dying.

B. Problem Formulation

Considering the phenomenon clarified above, the writer proposes two

problem formulations:

1. What are the characteristics of Michael Swango as a psychopath?

2. What are the factors that make Michael Swango becomes a psychopath?

C. Objectives of the Study

The objective of the study is to answer the problem formulation. Based on

two problems, the writer sets two objects to be achieved. First is to describe more

the psychopath characteristic of Micahel Swango by using the theory of character

and characterization, also the theory of psychopath characteristic. Second is to

examine what the factors that make the main character as a psychopath by using

Freud’s Psychoanalysis.

D. Definition of Terms

To avoid the ambiguity, the analysis will provide some definition of

important words used in the analysis. It will help some perception. The writer

wants to give the definition of the psychopath. “Psychopath is a mentally ill

person who behaves violently without feeling guilt” (Krebs, Gordon, Hughes,

2009: 676). It means that psychopath is a person who has psychological brain


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different with a normal people. Psychopath does not care about other people and

does not feel regret like what normal people feel. Psychopath can do the criminal

cases. Psychopath is discovered as murder, rapists, drunks, gamblers, swindlers,

perpetrators of domestic violence and suicides.


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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

In Hario Rustomo and Yan Ardian’s thesis on “Blind Eye: The Analysis of

Main Character of James B Stewart Novel by Using Psychological Perspective”,

they analyzed the psychological perspective of the main character that became

murder because of “inharmonic family”. Michael Swango liked to read murder,

death and criminal stories. Michael Swango did not get loves from his mother and

father. Everyone made him angry, hurt his feeling and did not believe him

anymore for anything. All mocked him about his hobbies that very like murder,

crashed car death and criminal story became obsession. The psychological

problems that the writer analyzes are: (1) what factors that shaped the main

character, (2) what kinds of psychological symptoms that the main character has.

When Michael J. Swango was a child there were many factors that shaped

the character of Swango. Swango grew up in inharmonic family. His father

always did the military roles and always gave punishment whenever he did

some mistakes. Besides, he always saw his mother quarrel with his father

almost every time when his father was at home. His mother very loves

Swango but she could not express it with physical expression like kissing

or hugging. The unusual hobbies appeared in Swango such as he liked to

read the detectives, mystery and murders stories. His mother always

bought them for Swango. When he grew up this hobbies about the death

had become obsession (Rustomo and Ardian, 2012:21).

Michael Swango had narcissism and antisocial symptom. Narcissism

appeared as he was crazy of compliment. It showed when Michael Swango with

proudly told to his paramedics friends that he worked hard with minimum wage, it


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meant that just only hope that all people gave a praise to him. Michael Swango

felt angry when he heard someone comment about his body. The symptom of

narcissism seen when someone criticizes him, he was angry and while some of the

critiques he encounters may seem trivial.

Michael Swango had anti-social personality. Michael Swango in many

cases did not have responsibility on his job, his wife and did not care about the

death of his patients. Michael Swango changed his hobby to become obsession of

death. He was always interested in crash car, murder and the death.

There are the differences and similarities between Hario Rustomo, Yan

Ardian and the writer’s analysis. There are two analyses of Hario Rustomo, Yan

Ardian, and the writer. They analyzed the factor that shaped the main character in

the first point while that analyzed will be discussed in the second point of the

writer’s analyzed. The analysis about the factor is almost similar because they

analyzed about the factor that shaped the main character while the writer analyzed

about the factor that shape Michael Swango as psychopath, but the writer uses the

different theory from the theory that they used. They use Yungson’s theory while

the writer uses Freud’s theory about pleasure and the id, inhibition and the ego,

and province of the mind. They find that the factor that shapes the main character

is the harmonic family. The writer finds the factors that make Michael Swango as

psychopath are the traumatic in the past that cannot be eliminated in hysteria

major or dissociation, the trauma with his childhood experience in obsessive-

compulsive neurotic and he fails in the face of the competition in neurasthenia.

They analyzed about the kinds of psychological symptoms that the main character


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has in the second point while the write analyzed about the characteristic of

psychopath in the first point. It is also different because they use Daviddoff’s

theory about kinds of psychological symptoms while the writer uses Meloy’s

theory about the character of psychopath. They find narcissism and antisocial

personality while the writer finds antisocial, egoistic, irritable, dominant,

hypocritical, and cruel in the personalities of Michael Swango as psychopath. The

writer wants to complement or added more information about what have been

analyzed by Hario Rustomo and Yan Ardian.

In Stella Marissa Yuda Wahu Lemek’s thesis on “The Significant Role of

Life and Death Instinct in Molding Henry Fleming’s Personality as Seen through

His Action in Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage”, she analyzed Henry Fleming’s

utterance. He was the major character in the novel. The discussion in her thesis

based on the objectives of the study which describe the characterization of Henry

Fleming, describe the forms of Fleming’s instinct based on Freud’s

Psychoanalysis theory and find out the significant role of Fleming’s instinct

toward Fleming’s personality.

There is the similarity between the analysis of Lemek and the writer. She

uses Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory to describe the characterization and finds out

the significant role of the major character’s instinct toward his personality.

Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory belongs to psychoanalysis criticism. The writer

also uses Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory to find province of the mind in major

character in Blind Eye through his personality. The writer analyzes the factor that


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makes the characteristic of the main character through pleasure and the id:

inhibition and the ego in the theory of personality by Freud.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

According to M. H Abrams character is

The person presented in dramatic or narrative work, which are interpreted

by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional and emotional

qualities that are expressed in what they say- the dialogue- and by what

they do- the action- (Abrams, 1981: 23)

From the definition, the writer can conclude that the moral and emotional qualities

of the characters can be seen through their speech and action. Abrams mentioned

eight ways in which an author makes the rider aware of personalities and the

character of the people that he writes about in his book. An author does not make

us exclusively of anyone of these methods, but mix them skillfully together. The

rider can carried along by the stream of the narrative, is often unware of the skill

with which the author is revealing the characters and personality piece by piece.

The reader can tend to think of the author’s creation as real people. The writer

thinks that the eight ways are important to discuss here. The reader can understand

about personalities and characters of the people in the book. There are eight ways:

a. Personal description

The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes. The telling and

accurate description can help the reader to know the character


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b. Character as seen as by another

Instead of describing the character directly, the author can describe the

character through the eyes and opinion of another character.

c. Speech

The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons

in the book through what person says. It can be whenever a person speaks,

whenever they are in conversation with another character, whenever they puts

forward an opinion, they are giving the readers some clue to the character.

d. Past life

The author can give the readers a clue to event that have helped to shape a

person’s character by letting the reader learn something about the past life of the

character. It can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s

thoughts, through the conversation or the medium of another person.

e. Conversation of other

The author can give the reader a clue to the character through the

conversation of other people and the things they say about the character. People

talk about the other people and the things that they say can give as a clue to the

character of the person spoken about.

f. Reaction

The author can give the reader a clue to the character by letting the readers

know how the person reacts to various situation and event.

g. Direct comment

The author can describe or comment on the character directly


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h. Thought

The author can give direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about.

The author can tell the readers what different people are thinking.

The reader can understand why the character does the thing and emotional

feeling of the reader can also be involved when they read the story by knowing

about the characterization.

2. The Relation between Literature and Psychology

Literature and psychology are two different, but it is closely related.

Literature is representation of life in the form of language while psychology is

studies about human behavior. According to Wellek and Warren, literature is a

representation of human feeling, experience, and life:

Literature is the reflection of human feeling toward his life. It is closely

related to human experience through which we can learn the image of

human beings that is expressed in the written way. It can also be defined as

the work of arts which represents human life (Wellek and Warren,

1956:94).

According to Atkinson, psychology is the science that studies human’s

behavior and mental process. Psychology is only relation to human.

It is clear that both of them cannot be separated from the life of human

beings. According to Lindaurer, psychology is the studies about the

characteristics. The main object of this study is human being from real life.

Literature is also representation of human feeling and life. Lindauer said that

literature is the best describing human condition in dramatic form. Literary works

can serve as an object of psychoanalysis.


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Abrams said that human beings are presented through the characters,

defined as the persons in a dramatic or narrative work with moral and

dispositional qualities expressed in their speech and action in the literature.

People can find a lot of ideas from psychology and examples of

psychological cases revealed in the work if people do a close examination of

literary works. Literary works become a rich resource for the application of

psychology laws. Kalish said that the good literary works communicate the

characters’ feelings in a life like way and scholars from both fields may benefits

from the connection between psychology and literature:

Writers can use the understanding provided by psychologist to enrich their

stories, and psychologist can gain in their understanding of human

behavior by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good authors (Kalish,

1973:8).

People can conclude that literature and psychology are closely related

because of their mutual concern and object of study. Psychology becomes central

in literature to explain about each character’s minds, desires, and actions. It can

explain the whole work of literature.

3. The Characteristics of a Psychopath

According to Meloy, psychopaths are the abnormalities of the

psychopaths’ brain. Besides of the abnormalities of the psychopaths’ brain, the

genetic, environment, the absence of love, and lack of the emotional appreciation

are also influence the characteristic of psychopaths. “Two traits are essential in a

criminal: boundless egoism and a strong destructive urge. Common to both of

these, and a necessary condition for their expression, is absence of love, lack of an


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emotional appreciation of (human) objects” (Freud, 1928: 178). Stress and the

pressure of life can also change people’s behavior to be brutal, but it cannot be

said of psychopaths if the condition is temporary and has the rational reason.

Psychopaths can be detected when someone was childhood through a variety of

unusual behavior. In criminal cases, psychopaths are discovered as murderers,

rapists, drunks, gamblers, swindlers, perpetrators of domestic violence, and

suicides. Otherwise, psychopaths are discovered as people who are intelligent of

speech, charming, have a tremendous attraction, and fun.

There are six characteristics of psychopath personalities. The first

characteristic is anti-social. Anti-social is the personality when people have not

good relation with other people in the society. They just have a few friends

because they have not good relation with other people. People who have anti-

social personality do not have attention to other people and only thinking about

themselves.

The second characteristic is egoistic. Psychopaths are very brilliant to

show their interest with something that they like and will ignorance with other

things. Some psychopaths look as charismatic people. The behavior of impulsive

psychopaths can be seen from not thinking first with their action that they do.

Psychopaths are generally acting of his willingness, for reasons that they like to

do it. Psychopaths have the big emotion and commit acts of violence to against

others. Psychopaths are enjoying others pain and even laughing with others

misfortune.


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The third characteristic is irritable. People who have lack of self-control

personality in the psychopaths cannot control their emotion and it makes

psychopaths look frigid. Psychopaths have lack of consciences because they do

not have a strong fear and anxiety in their life.

The fourth characteristic is dominant. Psychopaths’ behaviors look terrible

and astonish for the normal people. Psychopaths are looking the emotional as a

form of weakness. They utilize that feeling to enter into the others feeling with

purpose of exploiting them. They have an interest to control other people and do

not want anyone else have different opinions. Psychopaths are treating others

without feeling and also cruel. Psychopaths’ acts are generally involving of

violence act.

The fifth characteristic is hypocritical. The one of the psychopaths’ traits

are the attractive appearance. Psychopaths have the smooth – talking. Psychopaths

look very nice, interesting, and entertaining in their conversation. Psychopaths are

very smart to convince people about the positive things of them. They lie to other

people because they want to manipulate, cheating and lead on other people.

The sixth characteristic is cruel. Psychopaths tend to break the rules and

expectations of society. Psychopaths have no conscience. Psychopaths look their

self as superior people in their own rule.


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4. Theories of Personality by Sigmund Freud

a. Provinces of the Mind

According to Freud, personality is made up of three major systems. They

are the id, ego, and superego. “To Freud, the most primitive part of the mind was

das Es, or the “it”, which is almost always translated into English as id; a second

division was das Ich, or the “I” translated as ego; and a final province was das

Uber-Ich, or the “over-I”, which is rendered into English as superego.” (Feist,

1988: 27). Each of these systems has its own function, properties, components,

operating principles, dynamism and mechanism. The systems interact with the

three levels of mental life so that the ego can go into the various topography levels

and have conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The superego is both

preconscious and unconscious. The id is completely unconscious.

i. Id

The id is completely unconscious. The id has no contact with the reality; it

is not change by the passage of the time or by the experience of the people. The

one of the important function from the id is to get the pleasure. “The id has no

contact with reality, yet it strives constantly to reduce tension by satisfying basic

desires. “Because its sole function is to seek pleasure, we say that the id serves the

pleasure principle” (Feist, 1988:27). In the id, the children’s desire is unchanged

for decades.

The id stands in direct opposition to the superego. The id is illogical and

can satisfying the thoughts that conflicting with one another because the id is


16

unrealistic and pleasure seeking without regard whether it is appropriate or not.

The id cannot distinguish between good and bad things.

These opposing desires are possible because the id has no morality; that is,

it cannot make value judgment or distinguish between good and evil.

However, the id is not immoral, merely amoral. All of the id’s energy is

spent for one purpose- to seek pleasure without regard for what is proper

or just (Feist, 1988: 28).

Essentially, the id is primitive, chaotic, and inaccessible to consciousness,

unchangeable, amoral, illogical, unorganized, and filled with energy received

from basic drives to the pleasure principle.

ii. Ego

The ego is only region of the mind that has contact with reality. The ego

controlled by reality principle which tries to replace the pleasure principle of the

id. The ego can make decisions on the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

The ego is the mediator between the id and superego, trying to ensure that the

needs of both the id and the superego can feel satisfied.

When performing its cognitive and intellectual functions, the ego must

take into consideration the incompatible but equally unrealistic demands of

the id and the superego. In addition to these two tyrants, the ego must

serve a third master- the external world. Thus, the ego constantly tries to

reconcile the blind, irrational, claims of the id and the superego with the

realistic demand of the external world. Finding itself surrounded on three

sides by divergent and hostile forces, the ego reacts in a predictable

manner- it becomes anxious. It then uses repression and other defense

mechanisms to defend itself against this anxiety (Feist, 1988:29)

The ego mediates between the id, superego and external world. The

purpose is to find a balance between primitive drives and reality (the ego devoid

of morality at this level) while satisfying the id and superego. The defense


17

mechanisms of the ego are often used when id behavior conflicts with reality and

either society’s morals, norms, and taboos.

The ego develops any strategies for handling the id’s unrealistic and

unrelenting demands for the pleasure. Sometimes, the ego can control the

powerful and pleasure seeking for the id, but it loses control at the other time.

iii. Superego

The superego includes the individual’s ego ideals, spiritual goals, and the

psychic agency (commonly called conscience) that criticizes and prohibits

people’s drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions. The superego tends to stand in

opposition to the desire of the id because of their conflicting objectives. The

superego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality and

proscription from taboos.

In Freudian psychology, the superego, or above- I, represents the moral

and ideal aspects of personality and is guided by moralistic and idealistic

principles as opposed to the pleasure principle of the id and the realistic

principle of the ego (Feist, 1988:30)

The superego has two subsystems, the conscience and the ego-ideal. The

conscience result from experience with punishment for behavior and tell people

what people should not do. The ego-ideal develops from experience with rewards

for behavior and tell people what we should do.

The superego watches closely over the ego, judging the actions and

intentions. The guilt is the result when the ego acts or intents to act, contrary with

the moral standards of the superego. The superego dominates the personality

through the guilt and inferior feeling. The inferior feeling arise when the ego is


18

unable to meet the superego’s standards of perfection. The guilt is a function of

conscience.

These pictures are show about the relation between id, ego, and superego

according to Feist about province of the mind by Sigmund Freud.

Id Ego Superego

A pleasure seeking person dominated

by the id

A guilt ridden or inferior feeling

person dominated by the superego

A psychologically healthy person

dominated by the ego


19

The first picture, the superego does not grow. The id dominated a weak

ego and a feeble superego. The ego cannot make the balance between the ego and

superego. Consequently, people who dominated by the id nearly constantly strives

for his pleasure regardless of what is possible or proper. The second picture, the

superego dominated the personality at the feeling of guilt or inferiority and a weak

ego. There will be many conflicts because the ego cannot make a balance and

cannot demand the superego and the id. The third picture, the ego dominated by

the id and superego. It is healthy person because the id, ego, and superego operate

in harmony and with a minimum of conflict. The strong ego can demand both the

id and superego. The id can control of both pleasure principle and the moralistic

principle.

According to all of three pictures, the superego is separate with id because

the superego grows of the ego. The superego watches closely over the ego,

supervise of the ego’s decision about actions and intentions. The circle of the ego

is connected with ego and superego because the ego must make the balance

between the id and superego. The ego has no strength of its own, but the ego

borrows energy from the id.

b. Pleasure and the Id: Inhibition and the Ego

According to Feist, “Neurosis is the result of a conflict between the ego

and its id” (Feist, 1998:54). The impulses of the id’s pleasure will increase if the

function of the ego is damaged. People who dominated by the id will become very

id driven because their ego no longer could inhibit basic drives and instincts. “The

underlying theme I the frontal lobe- injured patients is their inability to stay


20

“reality bound” (ego) and their propensity to interpret events much more through

“wishes” (id)” (Feist, 1998:55). It means they created the reality that they wanted

or wished for. Sometimes, neurosis called psychoneurosis and mental disorders.

Neurosis is a mental disorder that occurs only on the part of the personality, so

people who have neurosis can still do activity in daily life. There are six kinds of

neurosis and factors that make them.

i. Anxiety neurotic

Anxiety neurotic is apprehension about an unknown danger. The factor in

anxiety neurotic is something that should have been disclosed but buried.

ii. Hysteria neurotic

Hysteria is a neurotic characterized by emotional reactions that are not

controlled. There are two kinds in hysteria neurotic. First is hysteria minor or the

converse reaction. In minor hysteria, the anxiety is converted into somatosensory,

like paralysis, convulsions, death touch, blind, and deaf. Second is hysteria major

or dissociation reactions. Hysteria of this type can occur when the anxiety so

severe, it can separate the function of personality with one another. The hysteria

neurotic happens because of the traumatic experiences (painful experiences) and

then repressed or suppressed into the unconscious. The traumatic experience

cannot be eliminated, but there are still the traumatic experiences in the

unconscious.

iii. Phobic neurotic

Phobic neurotic is mental disorder with the main symptoms of phobia

which is a great fear with irrational object or situation. Phobic neurosis occurs


21

because the patients have a great fear and shock with particular situation or object.

That experience is pressed into unconsciousness, but the experience cannot be lost

and will appear when there is a similar stimulation.

iv. Obsessive- compulsive neurotic

The obsessive refers to an immediate idea into the mind and the

compulsive refers to the impulse that cannot be detained for not performed even

though those actions are not necessary. The obsessive- compulsive neurotic occurs

when the conflict between the desires be pressed or transferred. It also occurs

when people who have obsessive- compulsive neurotic has a mental and

emotional trauma with childhood experience.

v. Depressive neurotic

The characteristics of depressive neurotic are less or not excited, low self-

esteem, and tend to blame themselves. Depressive neurotic occurs when people

who have depressive neurotic have the negative though and also creates a negative

atmosphere. People who have depressive neurotic understand reality is not what

reality actually is, but how they interpreted. Their interpretation can be wrong and

even contradict with the reality.

vi. Neurasthenia

Neurasthenia occurs when people who have neurasthenia are too long

pressing their feelings, inner conflict, and anxiety. The neurasthenia’s desires are

unobstructed. People who have neurasthenia often fail in the face of the

competition.


22

D. Theoretical Framework

The writer uses the theory of the character and characterization to make it

easier to analyze the main character. The theory can help the writer to analyze the

behavior of the main character and help the writer analyzed the character through

the action, dialog, and the appearance. The writer uses the theory of the relation

between literature and psychology, the characteristic of psychopath and theories

of personality by Sigmund Freud to make easier when the writer described the

psychopath’s personality in the main character. The writer uses the theory of

personality by Sigmund Freud to help the writer analyze the factors that make the

main character becomes psychopath.


23

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

James B Stewart is the author of Heart of a Soldier, the bestselling Blood

Sport, and the blockbuster Den of Thieves. He is a former Page-One editor at the

Wall Street Journal. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for his reporting on the stock

market crash and insider trading. He is regular contributor to Smart Money and

The New York Worker.

Blind Eye is the work analyzed in this topic. The author of Blind Eye was

born in Quincy, Illinois. He lives in New York. He graduated from DePauw

University and Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Bar of New York and

Bloomberg Professor of Business and Economic Journalism at the Columbia

University Graduate School of Journalism. His first wrote about Michael Swango

in the November 24, 1997 of The New York Worker. His 1999 work, Blind Eye

won the 2000 Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category.

Blind Eye was non-fiction novel about a doctor who could be a serial

killer. The murderer is a doctor, Michael Swango, who murdered more than sixty

of his patients, tried to poison his friends in hospital and his lovely girls. He did

not many ways to kill many people but he always did it with poison. He felt

satisfied after doing it. FBI claimed that Michael Swango was responsible for

sixty murders.


24

No one could believe that the handsome young doctor might be a serial

killer. Wherever he was hired, in Ohio, Illinois, New York, and South Dakota, he

at first seemed like the ideal doctor. His patients began dying under suspicious

circumstances. The workers in hospital and the police could not prove it even

though he did murder with poison.

A young and handsome doctor named Michael Swango was convicted of

poisoning five co-workers in Illinois at 1985. Michael Swango was in prison to

five years, but was paroled in 1987 and able to continue killing. Michael Swango

practiced in the hospital of Zimbabwe (Africa) after there were no hospitals in the

United States that would hired him. There were still victims in the hospital of

Zimbabwe, Africa. He has been involved as a doctor during fifteen years.

B. Approach of the study

The writer applies psychoanalysis approach to answer the problem in this

study. Psychoanalysis criticism is used in order to see the main character’s

personality. Psychoanalysis criticism is when people apply the same methods to

people interpretation of work literature. Psychoanalysis criticism is placed in the

conflicts of shaping behavior and personality. The aim of used psychoanalytic

approach is to investigate about the conscious and unconscious decisions.

“Psychoanalysis criticism is a form of literary criticism which uses some of the

technique of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature” (Barry, 1995:96).

The first psychoanalysis criticism was introduced to literary studies in

1920s and 1930s. During the first decades, it focused on exploring the author’s


25

personality and life in order to understand their work, it is known as

psychobiography. The focus changed to character analysis in 1950s. There are

many mind aspect of the character that found in the analyzed of author’s work

which will be done in this paper. Now, psychoanalysis criticism involves the

reader’s mind in the interpretation work.

Psychoanalysis criticism is used in this paper because the subject is about

the characteristic of the person personality which closely related to the field of

psychology. It will be best explained through a psychological point of view.

C. Method of the Study

This writing is a library research. The data of this writing were taken from

Blind Eye by James Stewart. The theories taken from A Glossary of Literary

Terms by Abrams about character and characterization, The Psychology of Human

Behavior by Kalish and Theory of Literature by Wellek and Waren about the

relation between literature and psychology, A Psychoanalytic View of the

Psychopath by Melow about the characteristic of psychopath, Theories of

Personality by Feist about theories of personality by Sigmund Freud. The

approach was taken from Beginning Theory by Peter Barry about psychoanalytic

criticism.

There were several steps that are taken in the research. First, it was reading

the Blind Eye novel carefully to understand the idea of psychopath characteristic

through the story. The writer found the way the psychopath characteristic of the

main character presented in the story from this step.


26

The second step was finding out some references related to the theory of

literature that was needed to help the writer to analyze the elements in the Blind

Eye novel such as theory of characteristic and characterization, relation between

literature and psychology, the characteristics of a psychopath, theories of

personality by Sigmund Freud.

The next was analyzing the character of Michael Swango as psychopath

by using theory characteristic and characterization and the characteristic of

psychopath after read the whole novel. The writer analyzed the factors that make

Michael Swango as a psychopath by using theories of personality by Sigmund

Freud after found out the characteristic of Michael Swango. Finally, the last step

was making a conclusion based on the overall analysis.


27

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter concerns on the discussion on the analysis psychopath

characteristic of Michael Swango and the factor that make Michael Swango as a

psychopath. Based on the problems formulation in the previous chapter, the

discussion on this chapter will be making into two subchapters. The first

subchapter attempts to present the description psychopath characteristic of

Michael Swango. The characteristic of psychopath in Michael Swango is

supported by theory of character and characterization, and the characteristic of a

psychopath. The second subchapter is the analysis on the factor that makes

Michael Swango as a psychopath. The factor that makes Michael Swango

becomes a psychopath is supported by theory of personality by Sigmud Freud.

A. The Characteristics of Michael Swango as a Psychopath

1. Anti-Social

The first characteristic of the psychopaths are anti-social. Anti-social is the

characteristic of the psychopath when people have not good relationship with

other people. They just have a few friends around them. They just think about

themselves, not other people

The book Blind Eye showed that Michael Swango was anti-social. He was

antisocial because he always came alone at midnight and did that assignment with

himself; he never came with his group to dissect the cadaver. He was not opening

up his self with other people. He had not good relationships with other people

around him.


28

Michael Swango was the main character in this book. He had the antisocial

personality as a psychopath. In the first year, students divided into groups and

each student was assigned one part of the cadaver to dissect and present to the rest

of the group. Michael Swango‟s assignment was the tip and buttock region,

including the gluteus muscles. Every student had a key to the anatomy lab and

could come and go on their own time. The lab was busiest in the afternoon.

Michael Swango came to the lab after the mid night alone while other students

came to the lab in the evening.

But Swango never came in during the day or evening, preferring to work

on his dissection after midnight, when the lab was usually deserted. What

Swango gained in privacy from his unorthodox hours he lost in guidance

from faculty and other students (Stewart, 1986: 23).

Michael Swango had a view friends in the university. His friends did not

know about the background of his life. “Swango had few, if any, friends at SIU;

his fellow students later realized they knew almost nothing about his past, his

family, his education, or his military service” (Stewart, 1986: 23).

Michael Swango did not like chatting with other people. He did not

friendly with O‟Hare‟s nephew when he visited from South Dakota. “When

O‟Hare‟s nephew, Duncan, visited from South Africa, she insisted that Swango

come out to meet him. He did so briefly, seemed hostile, and immediately

returned to his room. When the Kerrs, other friends whom she wanted Swango to

meet, came for drinks, Swango refused to greet them” (Stewart, 1986: 262).


29

2. Egoistic

The second characteristic of the psychopaths are egoistic. Egoistic is the

personality of the psychopath when they are enjoying others pain and even

laughing with others misfortune.

Michael Swango also had not empathy to his patients although it was

regarding about the people‟s life when his patients turned blue and need help in

the urgent situation. He was enjoying and even laughing when his patients were

died. He felt no empathy for his victims, so complete was his absorption in his

self. The thrill of killing and getting away with was simply had no deterrent in the

form of empathy of the people around him.

Michael Swango scrawled “DIED” in large capital letters across the

person‟s name when his patient died. Michael Swango liked celebrating the

demise and wanted to call attention to it. “Rosenthal went up to Michael and

asked him why he did such a thing “Don‟t you feel bad that she died?” Michael

gave Rosenthal a blank look, “No,” he replied. “That‟s just what happens”

(Stewart, 1986:33).

Michael Swango was on probation in America Ambulance. He had

responded to an emergency call in Rochester, Illionis, in a small town close to

Springfield. Michael‟s instruction was to administer any emergency treatment

called for and transport him in the ambulance to the nearest hospital but he made

the patient walk to his own car ad told the family to drive him to the hospital

themselves.


30

At 8 A.M on February 6, the nurse, Richie, gave Barrick a bath. Barrick

was alert, talked, cheerful and seemed to be recovering after what happened

before. Richie noticed that the Central Venous Pressure (CVP) was low in the

central line, an intravenous tube supplying medication to the major blood vessels.

She called a doctor to check the line and checked other patients. Few minutes

later, Michael Swango entered to the Barrick‟s room. Michael Swango had drawn

the curtains entirely around Barrick‟s bed. Richie was shocked when she came

back to the Barrick‟s room. Barrick had turned blue and stopped breathing. The

nurse screamed “Code Blue! Code Blue!” then began mouth to mouth

resuscitation, desperately trying to get breath into the patient lungs. The nurse

looked up and saw Dr. Michael coolly watching her from the back of the room,

did nothing to assist her or the patient. “That is so disgusting,” Michael said of the

nurse of her efforts at mouth to mouth resuscitation, his voice tinged with

contempt” (Stewart, 1986:63).

On the afternoon, 20 February, Popko came to visit her daughter who had

undergone intestinal surgery for a deformed bowel. She was sitting close with her

daughter when Michael Swango came and asked her to leave the room to give the

injection to raise her blood pressure. He called Popko to his room after he gave

the injection to his daughter. He was enjoying the pain of the other people because

he had not empathy. “He leaned back and put his feet on the table. “She‟s dead

now,” Michael said of Mary‟s daughter. “You can go look at her” (Stewart,

1986:85).


31

3. Irritable

The third characteristic of the psychopaths are irritable. Irritable is the

personality of psychopath when psychopaths look frigid because they cannot

control their emotion.

Michael Swango could not control his emotion; he was very angry and

said to cleaning woman that he would to blow up at her if she touched his

clippings again. He looked frigid to other people who made him angry and had not

a conscience.

Michael Swango liked to collect many clippings about articles of violent

death. He liked to make articles about violent death when he was a child and now

became an obsession. They did not like when someone saw him when he made the

clipping. He was very angry with a cleaning woman who touched his clippings.

Krzystofczyk and the other paramedics noticed that when Swanggo was on

duty and waiting for an ambulance call, he spent much of his time working

on four or five large scrapbooks. He‟d spread out articles on the table and

carefully paste them into one of the books. One day Krzystofczyk went

over to the table and looked at some of the articles. Many were about fatal

car crashes, and quit a few about poison. He could tell Swango didn‟t like

him sifting through the clipping. Swango told him that while he was living

in Colombus, a cleaning woman had “messed up” the order of the

clippings, and he said he‟d “blown up” at her. Krzyztofczyk took that as a

warning (Stewart 1986: 93).

There were a few complain from the nurse staffs to Michael Swango when

he worked in Africa. They said that Michael Swango was irritable and rude to

them. He was refusing to allow them to accompany him on his roads. “Swango

seemed unduly sensitive about his lab coat; he once flew into a rage after accusing

a nurse of touching it” (Stewart, 1986:230).


32

4. Dominant

The fourth characteristic of the psychopaths are dominant. Dominant is the

personality of the psychopath when they have purpose to exploiting other people.

They are treating others without feeling and also cruel. Psychopaths‟ acts are

generally involving of violence act.

Michael Swango was dominant because he wanted to control the death and

life of the patients. He looked terrible with his action to monopolize the other

people around him. He was treating his patients without feeling and also cruel.

Michael Swango looked terrible and astonish because he felt satisfied

when he killed the patients. He was treating his patients and people around him

without feeling and also cruel. “Why did you kill?” “Well, people controlled me

for 18 years, and then I controlled my own destiny. I controlled other people‟s

lives, whether they lived or die. I had that power to control” (Stewart, 1986:296).

He had the control of the victim‟s life when he works as paramedic and

came to the scene of the accident. “In his work as paramedics, when he came to

the scene of accidents, and fantasies I which he would arrive on the scene of

disasters and have control over the fate of the victims” (Stewart, 1986: 291).

5. Hypocritical

The fifth characteristic of the psychopaths are hypocritical. Hypocritical is

the personality of the psychopath when they have the smooth – talking.

Psychopaths look very nice, interesting, and entertaining in their conversation.

Psychopaths are very smart to convince people about the positive things of


33

themselves. They lie to other people because they want to manipulate, cheating

and lead on other people.

Michael Swango lied constantly to cover up his past in order to get a job

and to get away with something. He was very smart to convince people to make

them believe that he did not guilty. He was a good liar. He was very smart to

make people sure about the positive things on himself. He lied frequently because

he wanted to manipulate the life of other people. He was very adept at exhibiting

counterfeit displays of emotion.

Michael Swango falsified his data when enter into college, although he

had been one of the college‟s top applicant.

On a form he submitted to the college‟s public information office, he

falsely claimed that he had received both a Bronze Star for heroism in

combat, and a Purpple Heart for combat wounds during his relatively brief

tenure as a Marine (Stewart, 1986:26).

Michael Swango did plagiarism when he made three pages when he was in

the college. He just spent ten minutes with the patient to analyze; it was possible

his report was too complete and polished. He manipulated the data on his

research. The lecturer felt strange about his report and she visited the patient to

ask about Michael‟s visit. “Stunned, O‟Connor concluded that the entire three

page report was either a fabrication, a plagiarism from an earlier H and P by

resident, or combination of the two” (Stewart, 1986:49).

Michael Swango denied that he had failed to examine any patients and

denied plagiarizing about the report of H and P when the lecturer called him to the

room. He had no enough time to make the report because he worked as an


34

emergency medical technician. He said that he had no choice as an emergency

medical technician because his father had died earlier that year and he must gave

money to his mother and his two brothers. Psychopath had the smooth talking

with other people. He had the smooth talking about the untruth. In fact, his mother

had a well-paid job as business manager at the Casio Lanes bowling alley and

received a pension as the widow of military and Foreign Service officer and

helped to pay for Michael‟s school. He cannot graduate with his class and he told

to his mother that because of computer mix up, he had in advertently been

dropped from the list of graduates.

Louise who was Michael Swango‟s aunt scanned for Michael Swango‟s

name in the Springfiels State Journal Register before the graduation. There was no

Michael Swango‟s name. She looked over the entire list again to make sure, but

Michael Swango‟s name was also missing. His mother and aunt still went to

Quincy to see Michael Swango graduate. His mother told to Louise that her son

had not graduate with his class after Michael Swango called her when she arrived

at the motel. Michael Swango lied to his mother that he could not graduate

because the problem of the computer. “Just before leaving the motel, about an

hour before the graduation, Michael had told her that because of a computer mix-

up, he had in advertently been dropped from the list of graduates” (Stewart,

1986:54).

Dr. Carey did ask Michael Swango specifically whether he had done

anything to his patient or injection in her that made her turned blue then stopped

breathing and he said no but volunteered a detailed account that differed from his


35

answer to Dr. Freeman the night before. Michael said that he had gone into his

patient room because the patient had told him her feet were cold and asked him to

fetch her slippers. He did so and left immediately without doing anything. He lied

because he wanted to cover up his mistake and avoided the punishment.

Michael Swango denied about killing his patients and poisoning his

friends in the court. He spent weeks to prepare his own statement.

“I am fully aware that I have been found guilty in a court of a law. And

with all due respect to the Court, I wish to state once again that I am

innocent of these charges”. “After graduation from medical school I took

the Hippocratic Oath and I have never nor would I ever violate the sacred

trust of the doctor patient relationship… In no way, shape, or form, under

no conceivable circumstance and I now, or have I ever been, or will I ever

be, a danger to any human being on the face of this earth” (Stewart,

1986:142).

Michael Swango had a girlfriend named Kristin. He had a dinner with

Kristin‟s parents. Her parents asked to the Michael Swango about his life before

he met their daughter. He lied about his life before he met their daughter to her

parents. He covered up about the reality that he never killed his patients, never in

prison, and never dismissed in South Dakota.

The Coopers growing dislike of Swango only hardened as he talked

incessantly, boasting that he had been accepted at two medical residency

programs, and had chosen one in New York. He talked as though he‟d just

gotten out of medical school, hadn‟t been in prison, hadn‟t been dismissed

in South Dakota, and had nothing to look forward to but a bright future

(Stewart, 1986:207).

Michael Swango had a close friend named Lorimer when he moved to

work in Africa as missioner. Lorimer was twenty seven years old; he talked about

his background about his family to Michael Swango. Michael Swango also talked

about his background of his family but he lied about his age to Lorimer. He lied


36

about his age to cover up his past life. “For his part, Swango said he, too, was

twenty seven years old (in reality, he was now forty)” (Stewart, 1986: 228).

Michael Swango needed a lawyer to clear his name from his crime. He

lied that he had been summarily suspended by the provincial minister of health

with unclear reason. He said that he was not guilty about the death of his patients.

“All he knew, he said, was that he was accused of having given some patients

injection that caused “ill effect”, and that he was being unfairly blamed for the

death of a few patients who had died of natural causes” (Stewart, 1986:245).

6. Cruel

The sixth characteristic of the psychopaths are cruel. Cruel is the

personality of psychopath when psychopaths tend to break the rules and

expectations of society. Psychopaths have no conscience. Psychopaths look their

self as superior people in their own rule.

Michael Swango broke the rules around him. He was abusing his role as a

doctor. The patients hoped that they would get recovery from Michael Swango as

a doctor, but preyed on the trust and hopes of sick and helpless people. He had not

conscience because he could torture and killed people around him. He often

fantasizes about violence and disasters. He had exhilaration at his own superiority

and contempt for his victims when he successfully put something over on another.

On February 6, Anne reported to Rhodes for the morning shift, and

assigned to a neurosurgery patient in room 968, the Barrick‟s room. She had been

admitted to the hospital on January 17. She had fallen and hit her head at home ten

days earlier and suffered a cerebral hematoma. On January 31, the nurse named


37

Deborah had given breakfast to her and assessed her condition. At 9:45 A.M,

Michael Swango came to Barrick room. It was not the time to check the patients.

Actually, Michael Swango had time to check her at 6:30 A.M. Michael Swango

ordered Deborah to get out from the room. Twenty minutes later, Barrick was

barely stopping breath and her skin became blue.

Dr Swango had come into Barrick‟s room and told Deborah, “I‟m going to

check on her.” Deborah though this was peculiar, since doctors rounded at

6:30 A.M. and rarely returned unless there was a specific problem. In such

cases, it was the attending physician, not an intern by himself, who would

call on the patient. But Deborah gave the matter little though. She left

Swango alone in the room with Barrick. About twenty minutes later,

Deborah returned to check on Barrick. Swango was gone. Barrick was

now reclining and seemed to be asleep. Barrick was barely breathing. Her

skin was taking on a bluish cast, a sign of imminent death from respiratory

(Stewart, 1986: 61).

There were two patients in room 900, Cooper and Utz. They had the same

room for twelve days. At 9 P.M on February 7, an Ohio State nursing student,

Beery, came in to room 900 and she was shocked to see Michael Swango there.

Cooper had requested more pain medication and asked Utz to hold the call button

down for her because she could not reach it and Michael Swango accepted a

respond to the call. Beery continued to check the other patients and leaved

Michael Swango in the room 900. No more two minutes, Beery heard the

screamed from Utz, she run to the room 900 and shocked she found Cooper was

turning blue and had stopped breathing after Michael Swango gave the injection

to her.

He was standing at Cooper‟s bedside, only about three feet from Beery,

and the student noticed that he was adding something to Cooper‟s

intravenous tube by inserting a syringe. “Her line must have clotted off”

was her only thought; she assumed Swango was clearing a blockage.

Beery stepped outside to enter data on Utz‟s chart. She was running late,


38

and ready to move on to her next patient when, no more than two minutes

later, she heard Utz call out, “Are you all right, Mrs Cooper?” Then Beery

heard a violent rattling of bed rails, followed by Utz‟s screams. She rushed

into the room. Utz cried out, “There‟s something wrong!” Cooper was

turning blue and had stopped breathing (Stewart, 1986: 65).

Michael Swango had often mentioned to the other residents how much he

loved fried chicken, and one night he offered to buy Kentucky Fried Chicken for

the residents. Michael Swango wanted to get separated box with other. Three

hours after they ate that fried chicken, they felt violently ill with fever, nausea,

and vomiting in their masks and stuff, but Michael Swango did not although he

ate friend chicken with them.

Thomas Vara, the senior resident said that would be fine, but suggested,

“Instead of getting separate boxes, why don‟t you get a big bucket for all

of us to eat?” “No, no,” Swango said. “Let‟s keep it separate.” He insisted

on taking everyone‟s chicken and drink order. He returned with the orders

about 5 P.M. “its extra spicy chicken, “Swango told Ed Hashimoto, one of

the residents, as he gave him his food. That was news to Hashimoto. He

knew that Kentucky Fried offered “extra crispy” chicken, but he‟d never

heard of „extra spicy”. Vara, Hashimoto, and a third resident, Douglas

Hess, ate the chicken. About three hours later, all there fell violently ill,

with fever, nausea and vomiting that lasted over a week (Stewart 1986: 85-

86).

The writer can conclude that Michael Swango is psychopath because he is

anti-social, has lack of empathy, has lack of self-control, has great desire to

monopolize, deceiver, and cruel.

B. The Factor that Make Michael Swango become a Psychopath

Id Ego Superego


39

The picture has shown the relationship between id, ego, and superego in

the Michael Swango‟s mind. In the province of Michael Swango‟s mind as

psychopath, the id dominated a weak ego and a feeble superego. Michael Swango

did the amoral things to serve his pleasure like the function of the id. The ego of

Michael Swango‟s mind cannot make the balance of the id‟s demands. His ego

cannot press the irrational demand of the id. Consequently, Michael Swango

nearly constantly strives for his pleasure regardless of what is possible or proper.

In the picture, the superego is separated with id because the superego grows of the

ego. The superego watches closely over the ego supervises of the ego‟s decision

about actions and intentions. The ego is connected with ego and superego because

the ego must make the balance between the id and superego. The ego has no

strength of its own, but the ego borrows energy from the id so the ego is in the

middle between the id and superego.

The function of the ego is to consider between true and false, but Michael

Swango does not think that his acts are true or false when he killed his patients

and gave poison to paramedics. Michael Swango‟s superego is very weak and

does not work properly. He does not feel guilty, depressed, and even

underestimate his error after he killed his patients and gave poison to the

paramedics. The superego has no power against the id to affect the ego.


40

Michael Swango does not feel guilty. He still looked for the job as a doctor

after he went out from the jail because his case about killed his patients and gave

the poison to paramedics. He had a big possibility and opportunity to kill his

patients and give the poison to the paramedics when he got back his job as a

doctor. “The judge was amazed and dismayed that Swango had surface yet again,

en route to still another job as a physician” (Stewart, 1986: 287). He killed his

patients and gave poison to the paramedics again when he got back his job as a

doctor. He had been able to move from one hospital to another to kill his patients

and give the poison to the paramedics.

He did not feel guilty and he felt that his patients deserved the punishment

when he gave the poison to them until the point of death. He did not feel sad, even

felt satisfied and happy when he informed to the family about the death of his

patients. “This deficit may have been most evident in Swago‟s numerous callous

remarks about death, in his delight in being the doctor to inform relatives of the

death of a loved one” (Stewart, 1986:294).

The factor that makes the id more dominant is because neurosis. Neurosis

is the conflicts between the id and ego in people mind. The impulses of the

Michael Swango‟s id pleasure will increase because the function of the ego is

damaged. Michael Swango dominated by the id and very id driven because his

ego no longer can inhibit his basic drives and instincts. There are six kinds of

neurosis and factors that make them, but there are two neuroses and factors that

make Michael Swango become a psychopath. First was because Michael Swango

could not drop the traumatic experience in hysteria major or dissociation


41

reactions. Second was because Michael Swango had mental and emotional

traumas with past experience or his childhood experience in obsessive-

compulsive neurotic. Third was because Micahel Swango failed in the face of the

competition in Neurasthenia.

1. Hysteria major or dissociation reactions

The factor of hysteria major or dissociation reactions is because traumatic

experience cannot be elimited. Michael Swango had traumatic experience about

the critic for other people.

Michael Swango had a big attention to his body. He was fanatical devotion

to fitness. He always did sport in the morning. “When Rosenthal and other

classmate struggled out of bed in the morning after a late night of studying, they

would often see Swango outdoors doing early- morning calisthenics, chanting

Marine cadences” (Stewart, 1986:22). Some people praise him that he had slim,

tall body and he was also handsome boy.

Michael Swango and his girlfriend named Kristine went to the Kristin‟s

parents. Michael Swango nearly went berserk, ranting and pacing rapidly back

and forth in the living room when Sharon Cooper who was Kristin‟s mother said

to him that he put on a few pounds. He shouted, proceeding to denounce her

treatment of him.

They came over to see the Coopers the next day. Al was out, and Sharon

greeted him at the front door. Swango looked as if he‟d gained some

weight, which surprised Sharon, since he‟d always been so determinedly

trim and fit. “You look like you‟ve put on a few pounds,” she said

(Stewart, 1986:203-204).


42

Michael Swango have a big attention to his body, he erupted in rage when

Sharon Cooper commented that he had put on a few pounds. The criticism he

encountered may seem trivial, but he could not brook criticism or challenge of any

kind because he always got praises from other people. He almost invariably

attributes criticism or a challenge to persecution.

2. Obsessive- compulsive neurotic.

The factor of obsessive- compulsive neurotic is because traumatic with

childhood experience. Michael Swango had traumatic with his past experience on

his family when he was a childhood. Michael Swango had not harmonic family.

Michael Swango‟s father named Virgil; he almost had not contact with his

three sons (Bob, Michael, and John) although he met them in the house every day.

“For he had almost no contact with him or his other sons, and had only sporadic

involvement with them a children” (Stewart, 1986:36-37). This condition made

Swango lost the figure of his father.

His father applied the military rule in Swango‟s family. He taught his

children about military lesson. Michael Swango was really afraid when his father

was at home. He gave the physical punishment to Bob although the small mistake.

Everything what his father said or command they had to do it. Bob was the first

child so he was responsible for his younger brother (Michael and John) mistake

liked officer was responsible for the conduct of their mistake in the military.

When the boys were young and the family was living at Fort Benning, he

trained them to march in formation, salute, and execute military

commands. He also enforced a disciplinary code derived from the military

principle that an officer is responsible for the conduct of those he

commands. In the Swango household, this meant that the oldest child was

responsible for his younger brother, so Bob was punished whenever


43

Michael or John misbehaved. Such as the time Bob stole $10 from his

father, or when he referred to an officer named Maloney as Baloney- when

Virgil whipped Bob with a belt. Michael, on the other side, was never

subject to corporal punishment, nor was John, but they saw it (Stewart,

1986: 36:37).

The love of his mother was just given more to Swango than the other sons

but the expression was not in physical expression like kiss or hug. She only gave

something special to Michael Swango such as gave him the music lesson, the

expensive clarinet, and the private school education. It showed that there was not

love of his parents. There was just only physical hardness that showed by his

parents.

Bob and John began to feel left out. Whatever love their mother could

muster for her children seemed to be allocated disproportionately to

Michael. Only he received the music lessons, the expensive clarinet, and

the private school education. But not even Michael received motherly hugs

or kisses. Muriel seemed incapable of expressing any physical affection

(Stewart, 1986:43).

His father always rejected the children‟s request to go picnic. Swango‟s

family just went to their grandfather and grandmother house every summer. He

was barking orders at his children and rejected with his children‟s request to visit

someplace where they passed at their trip. They used unconditioned car, and their

parents were smoking without thought about the children‟s comfort.

Until Virgil left for Vietnam, every summer he loaded the family and their

luggage into a station wagon and they set out for visit to the grandparents.

They boys were lodged in the rear of tear unairconditioned car for what

seemed like unending treks across the sweltering Southern or Plains states.

Their parents sat in the front seat, chain smoking. Virgil ran the

expeditions like military maneuvers, barking orders at the boys, rejecting

pleas to visit tourist attractions along the route or to make brief stops, even

to use a rest room (Stewart, 1986:39:40).


44

Michael Swango who was rejected or ignored by their parents was not to

develop a warm feeling with others. He became less able to having empathy

feelings or needs of others. His attitude did not care about the other people.

His parents were always quarrel, they always quarrel in front of Swango

and his brother. His father was out late almost every day after his career was

winding down, so Muriel and her sons rarely saw Virgil.

One evening Bob, Michael, and John were watching TV and doing their

homework when their father returned. They heard their mother conform

him. “Why are you never home?” she angrily demanded. Some kind of

argument ensued, with shouting that left Muriel in tears. Virgil stormed

out the house. The boys were shocked (Stewart, 1986: 40).

Virgil and Muriel never told to their children about their romance and

courtship when they were young. Bob, Michael, and John almost never saw the

psychical contact between her mother and her father like kiss or hug. They usually

compared their parents with the parents of their friends. “Muriel and Virgil slept

in twin beds and there were no sign of physical affection between them. Not even

the boys ever saw them kiss or trade affectionate hugs” (Stewart, 1986:39).

Michael Swango interested with articles about violent death since he was

childhood. “Michael had a fascination for articles about violent death since

childhood, when he began clipping National Enquirer articles” (Stewart, 1986:

46). Sometimes, his mother helped him to clip articles into the book for him. His

father always did angry and punish his children when they did mistake although

the small mistake. His parents always quarrel in front of their children. Those

conditions shows that Michael Swango grown up where the environment of crime

culture was appreciated. His father also like with disaster, killing, and weapons.


45

He also had scrapbooks of disaster. “Yet his fascination with disasters, with

killing, and with weapons echoed similar interests he perceived in his father, as

when he learned that Virgil also kept scrapbooks of disasters” (Stewart,

1986:291). It made him very interested in crime cases, murder, and everything

about accident. His interest made he had good reasons to do crime.

The residents complained to others doctor that Michael Swango was

“weird”. He did push up to punish himself when he got some critiques to his

performance in the hospital. “Whenever they criticized Swango – as they often

did, because of his incompetence – Swango would immediately drop to the floor

and begin a strenuous set of push-ups. He could do hundreds of them” (Stewart,

1986:59). The residents though his action was not only peculiar but highly

inappropriate for a doctor. Michael Swango persisted although they reprimanded

him. Michael Swango developed a sense that a certain thing must be done without

mistake because the traumatic experience about everything what his father did

about military rule when he was childhood.

3. Neurasthenia

The factor of neurasthenia is because people failed in the face of the

competition. Michael Swango failed in the face of competition with his friends in

the college.

In the first year, the students dissect a cadaver. The students were divided

into groups and each student in the group was assigned one part of the cadaver.

They also presented about their part in front of other group. Michael Swango‟s

assignment was the hip and buttock region, including the gluteus muscles. Every


46

student had keys to the anatomy lab and could come and go on their own time.

The lab was busiest in the afternoon, but Micahel Swango always came after

midnight when the lab deserted. Michael Swango lost in guidance from faculty

and other student because he liked to do his work alone. His friends shocked when

he opened his dissection to do presentation. His dissection was very untidy. His

friends tough that he had done his dissection using a chain rather than a scalpel.

“He had transformed the hip region of the cadaver into unrecognizable mess of

tangled flesh and bone” (Stewart, 1986: 23). Michael Swango could not describe

the region‟s anatomical characteristic using his own work. He made one of the

best known of seventy two members of the class about the cadaver tragedy. Many

students talked and derided about Michael Swango‟s dissection. He was angry

when teased and belittle in medical school because of this case. That experience

has been humiliating for Micahel Swango because he had received almost nothing

but praise and perfect grade.

He cannot graduated with his class because his three entire page about H

& P was a plagiarism from an earlier H & P by other resident or combination

between other resident and Michael Swango. The chief resident of OB/GYN

names O‟Corner felt strange about his report was too complete and polished

because he just spent ten minutes with the patient. Michael Swango‟s failure to

graduate with his friends was so humiliating. He could not bring himself to tell his

mother or show up at the dinner where he would have to face his mother and his

aunt.

Swango would not be allowed to graduate with his class. But either would

he be expelled or asked to withdraw. He would be required to repeat his


47

OB/GYN rotation. He would also be given assignment from some of the

faculty‟s strictest professors in other specialists, all of them aware of the

allegation against him. If he passed these assignments, he would be

allowed to graduate. If not, he would be dismissed. (Stewart, 1986:53).

Michael Swango was assigned to work at the Quincy Notre Dame High

School football game when he worked in ambulance. He was assigned to the

backup ambulance, not in the primary ambulance. “Swango was assigned to the

backup ambulance rather than (as he preferred) to the primary emergency vehicle”

(Stewart, 1986:98). Michael Swango gave poison to paramedics after he was

mocked for not being assigned to the primary ambulance.

Michael Swango assumed that those two incidents was extreme

humiliation to him. He always got awards and honors when he was in elementary

school until the day before those two accidents. He did murder and gave poison to

revenge because of the extreme humiliation.


48

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

Based on the analysis, finally the writer is able to find the answer to the

problem formulated in the first chapter. The writer has managed to answer the

first problem formulation about the psychopath characteristic of Micahel Swango

by applying the theory of character and characterization and also the theory of

psychopath characteristic. The first characteristic of Michael Swango was

antisocial. Michael Swango came alone in the lab when he had an assigned one

part of the cadaver with his group. He came after midnight alone while other

students came in the evening. Michael Swango had a few friends in the college

and his friends did not know about Michael Swango’s background.

The second characteristic of Michael Swango is egoistic. Egoistic showed

when his patients were died; he scrawled “DIED” with the capital letters. Michael

Swango made the patient walk to his own car and told the family to drive him to

the hospital themselves when he was on probation in America Ambulance.

Michael Swango did nothing and just watched when his patients had turned blue

then stopped breathing. Michael Swango called Popko who was the mother of one

of his patient to come into his room and told her that her daughter died without

sadness.

The third characteristic of Michael Swango is irritable. Irritable showed

when he was very angry when a cleaning woman touched his clipping. Michael

Swango was also very angry when the nurse touched his lab coat.


49

The fourth characteristic of Michael Swango is dominant. The

characteristic of great desire to monopolize showed when he had desire to control

the death and life of his patients.

The fifth characteristic of Michael Swango is hypocritical. Hypocritical

showed when entry into the college, he falsified his data. Michael Swango did

plagiarism in his three pages paper. Michael Swango lied about his family when

the lectured asked why he did plagiarism. Michael Swango lied that he did not

gave the injection and killed the patients when other doctor asked him about the

death of one of the patient. Michael Swango lied about his life before met his

girlfriend when the parents of his girlfriend asked about his career and his family

before met their daughter. He lied about his age when his close friend asked about

his age.

The sixth characteristic of Michael Swango is having cruel behave to other

people. Michael Swango killed his patients with the injection. Michael Swango

also gave poison to his friends in the hospital.

The writer answers the second problem formulation about the factors that

make Michael Swango a psychopath by applying the Freudian theory. Michael

Swango’s id is more dominant than his ego and superego. His ego cannot make a

balance between the id and superego. There are three factors that make Michael

Swango becomes a psychopath. First, Michael Swango had a traumatic in the past

experience and he could not be eliminated that experience in hysteria major or

dissociation reactions. Other people gave praise that he had slim, tall body and he

was also handsome boy. Michael Swango nearly went berserk, ranting and pacing


50

rapidly back and forth in the living room when Sharon Cooper who was Kristin’s

mother said to him that he put on a few pounds. He had a big attention about his

body. He assumed that the criticism was a persecution.

Second, Michael Swango had a traumatic in the childhood experience

when he was a child in his family when he was a child in obsessive- compulsive

neurotic. He did not have a harmonic family. His father did not has contact with

his boys even though they met every day in the house. His father used military

rule in his family. He also gave a physical punishment when his children made a

mistake although the small mistake. He always gave punishment to Bob when

Bob, Michael, and John made a mistake because Bob was the first child like

officer was responsible for the conduct in the military. His mother could not

express her physical love to her boys like kiss or hug. His father refused his boys

request to go someplace to recreation. The parents always quarrel in front of the

Swango and the other child. The boys almost never saw their parents had a

physical contact like kiss and hug. Michael Swango interested with articles about

violent death since he was a child because he grown up where the environment of

crime culture was appreciated. He did push up to punish himself when he got

some critiques to his performance in the hospital. He had sense that a certain thing

must be done without mistake because the traumatic experience about everything

what his father did about military rule when he was a child.


51

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