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Analysis Of The Movie ' Dostoyevsky 's Crime And Punishment '

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In Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov is torn between the side of him that doesn’t want to feel guilt for the murder he committed and the side of him that wants repentance which is represented by both Svidrigailov and Sonia. As Raskolnikov deals with his guilt, he is caught between wanting to be exactly like Svidrigailov who doesn’t feel anything even though he has committed so many murders, as well as wanting to connect to someone like Sonia who is the angel on his shoulder that wants him to do good and confess his heinous crime. His two sides are constantly battling against one another because when he is with one side he starts to want the other and feels as if he can’t connect with them even though Sonia and …show more content…

Unlike the uberman, Rask doesn’t have the ability to put aside his conscience the way that Svidrigailov can in that sense. As the story goes on, it’s seen that Svidrigailov isn’t like the Napoleon that Rask desperately wants to be because both Rask and Svidrigailov want to feel connected to someone. Rask wants to feel connected with someone who can understand him and would do the same thing that he did by getting rid of a wicked person that will benefit society. Svidrigailov, on the other hand, acts upon his instincts and corrupts the innocent. Svidrigailov is the very essence of evil and teaching Rask to give in to his dark side, to manipulate people, to not believe that what he did was wrong. He’s the little devil on Rask’s shoulder, whispering in his ear that it’s okay to do the evil things Rask has done because if Rask “[believes] it’s wrong to listen behind doors but perfectly all right to crack open old women’s skulls with whatever comes to hand whenever [he feels] like it, [he’d] best take off to America” (461). Svidrigailov is a manifestation of Rask’s darker side that wants to lure Rask over further in the dark side by actually having a representation of the road Rask can go on and could have potentially followed if he didn’t have a conscience that was pulling him over to the other side. Unlike Svidrigailov, Sonia is the angelic figure of the story that is incredibly religious and wants to see Rask

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