“I’d Strike the Sun If It Insulted Me"

Following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 that ended World War I, the German people were defeated, humiliated, and subjected to severe economic hardships. Revenge for this humiliation, combined with anti-Semitism and a bizarre belief in the superiority of a mythical, white, “Aryan” race, helped motivate a former corporal in the German Army to rise to lead his nation, convinced he was chosen by Providence to do so.

The first volume of Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler’s turgid memoir/political manifesto written (or more accurately, typed) while he was in prison in 1924, was titled Die Abrechnung. Abrechnung translates to revenge or reckoning in English.

Another translation is “settlement of accounts.” In its pages, the future German tyrant refers to the “betrayal” of Germany by internal enemies of the Fatherland. In addition to ranting about imaginary threats posed by Jews, Hitler calls for revenge against Germany’s historic foe and World War I victor, France.

Captain Ahab, a character in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, was consumed by a similarly intense desire for revenge. In response to the “insult” of losing his leg in the jaws of the white whale Moby Dick, Ahab becomes morbidly obsessed with killing the elusive creature. When Starbuck, his first mate, wonders if Ahab’s all-consuming desire for revenge might be blasphemous, Ahab responds: “Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.”

Ahab’s and Hitler’s narcissism is obvious. For example, when Ahab looks at a coin that contains an image of three peaks he says: "There's something ever egotistical in mountain-tops and towers, and all other grand and lofty things; look here, three peaks as proud as Lucifer. The firm tower, that is Ahab; the volcano, that is Ahab; the courageous, the undaunted, and victorious fowl, that, too, is Ahab; all are Ahab; and this round gold is but the image of the rounder globe, which, like a magician's glass, to each and every man in turn but mirrors back his own mysterious self.”

In Mein Kampf, Hiter asserted that he believed he was “acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. . .” And when he wrote: “. . . Fate itself puts forward many for selection, and then ultimately, in the free play of forces, gives victory to the stronger and more competent, entrusting him with the solution of the problem,” he was referring to himself. Only he, Hitler believed, had the exceptional abilities required to make Germany great again after the defeat in the First World War.

In his 1972 article, “Thoughts on Narcissism and Narcissistic Rage,” Heinz Kohut, M.D., refers to a man, who, like Ahab, experiences narcissistic rage. He describes the account as “the greatest rendition of the revenge motif in German literature, a theme which plays an important role in the national destiny of the German nation whose thirst for revenge after the defeat of 1918 came near to destroying all of Western civilization.”

Narcissistic rage, according to Kohut, is the extreme response of a highly narcissistic person to an injury or insult. A psychologically healthy individual can respond and then “move on” following such an insult or injury. A person with strong narcissistic traits cannot. People not subject to such rage know that the source of an insult is separate from themselves. But, Kohut suggested, the highly narcissistic individual perceives the source of the insult “as a flaw in a narcissistically perceived reality.”

This distorted reality includes the belief that he or she is entitled, exceptionally gifted, and immensely important. Challenge this fragile self-image, and you challenge everything that this person believes themselves to be. Faced with such a threat, narcissistic rage may result, in a fight for the survival of the narcissistic person’s identity. Thus, the susceptibility to experiencing this degree of obsessive rage may be linked to the deep insecurities that lie at the core of narcissism itself.

Neither Ahab nor Hitler could “let go” of the insults they felt. They led to all-consuming drives. In the fictional case of Ahab, the obsession led to not only Ahab’s death but to the deaths of all the crew members of the Pequod, the whaling vessel that carried him to his end. And in the non-fictional case of the Nazi tyrant, the drive of narcissistic rage played a major role in decisions and ensuing events that led to the deaths of tens of millions of innocent people.

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One example of narcissistic rage would be persistent attempts to demean or to “put in their place” someone who opposed or criticized a severely narcissistic person. The obsession might even persist after the death of the critic when the critic can no longer oppose or insult the narcissistic individual. When attacks on the sources of insults or slights persist over extended periods, and when they take away time and resources that would otherwise be available for accomplishing more productive tasks—even tasks that would better benefit the narcissistic individual—it is safe to say that such unhealthy behavior is consistent with a troubled narcissistic individual.