Date
4-29-2026
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Master of Arts in Literature (MA)
Chair
Mark Harris
Keywords
Love, Sacrifice, NPD, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Grandiose Narcissism, Crime and Punishment, Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, New Criticism, Psychoanalysis
Disciplines
English Language and Literature | Psychology
Recommended Citation
Kubala, Natalie Rose, "The Sacrificial vs. the Luzhinian Figure: Comparing Sacrificial Love in Crime and Punishment, Pride and Prejudice, and A Tale of Two Cities" (2026). Masters Theses. 1448.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1448
Abstract
Many works of art and literature exploring the theme of love focus on trying to define what love is; in contrast, this thesis dives deeper into defining what love is not, specifically focusing on the relationship between love and sacrifice. This thesis argues that love is not the same as sacrifice because a true sacrifice requires that love is already present prior to the sacrifice being made. This thesis will compare those who perform true sacrifices to those who perform sacrifices for their own personal gain by exploring grandiose narcissistic characters who perform (or attempt to perform) sacrifices without love as the basis. To explore the relationship between love and sacrifice, this thesis will compare Christ-like figures (called “Sacrificial Figures”) to grandiose narcissists (called “Luzhinian Figures”) in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
