Raskolnikov Pride Quotes

Raskolnikov’s room represents the cramped suffocating feelings he has, trapping him within his own thoughts. When the apartment is first introduced in the novel, Raskolnikov “w[akes] up bilious, irritable, and angry, and look[s] with hatred at his little room… with yellow dusty wallpaper coming off the walls everywhere, and with such a low ceiling that a man of any height at all felt creepy in it” (28). The first obvious impact on Raskolnikov’s mental state is the fact that he wakes up angry at his room, showing a direct correlation between his emotions and his home. The second impact on Raskolnikov is shown through the low ceilings of his apartment. The low ceilings of his home force him to feel “creepy,” a word with negative connotations implying something sinister, alluding to Raskolnikov’s murderous intentions. In the same scene in the novel, Raskolnikov was described as having “withdrawn from everyone, like a turtle into its shell, and even the face of the maid who had the task of serving him, and who peeked into his room occasionally, drove him into bile and convulsions” (28). Raskolnikov’s behavior is described with a simile, regarding a turtle hiding in its shell, implying that he is an animalistic and weak natured person who wants to isolate himself. Raskolnikov also has a maid, who takes care of him yet he shuns her as he

In Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov comes from a poor family and went to Petersburg in order to study. After a while Raskolnikov becomes destitute, living miserably. Raskolnikov is prideful, stubborn, and charismatic,which makes him an interesting character. Raskolnikov’s deep pride is one reason for him killing Alyona the old pawnbroker. Yet, Raskolnikov believed that killing Alyona would help humanity and take away evil from society. Such sentiments are spoken by a man he overhears, “"Kill her, take her money and with the help of it devote oneself to the service of humanity and the good of all. What do you think, would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?" With strong intentions on helping others, he is

The room is as shabby as it is small--not a seemingly likely place for posing intellectual questions of great significance. But Dostoevsky is a writer fond of achieving great things with equally great economy. Just as he stretches a two-week period into a hefty novel, Dostoevsky makes a dingy student's apartment more important than a grand palace. Raskolnikov's room becomes a nexus for the story. It is there Raskolnikov cowers, broods and slips into depraved and fitful slumber. Almost all of the major characters in the book pay a visit to the room, and sometimes it even seems as if they are all stuffed into the tiny space at once. Yet the room is more than just a meeting place, more than a central location. It takes on a character of its own, illustrating Raskolnikov's mental turmoil, becoming an image of him to others and perhaps even doing much to induce or at least enforce his degenerate state.

Good thing he is special and extraordinary. He believes that people like Napoleon and Mohammed were extraordinary and they did not have to follow social norms. Additionally, their morals transgressed society because their action were for the good of all. This idea allowed Raskolnikov to think that the murder of Alyona was justified. She was a mean person who beat her half sister Lizaveta. This, his dream about the horse, and overhearing the conversation about killing Alyona cemented the idea in Raskolnikov’s mind that his murder was justified and the best thing for the

The confession of Raskolnikov’s homicide in the end of the novel reveals a point of redemption for him to reintegrate into society. Raskolnikov’s submission to governmental law when he professes to the police “it was I who killed the old pawnbroker widow and her sister Lizaveta,” (Dostoyevsky 505-506) is indicative of how he is overcome with guilt. This testimony comes without force, further stressing how this action is for settling Raskolnikov’s own guilty conscience not anyone else’s.

In chapter 4, after reading the letter, Raskolnikov states that he will never allow the murder to take place. He believes that Dunya, his sister, is sacrificing herself to help him because Mr. Luzhin, her fiancé, is able to support them financially. Suddenly, Raskolnikov sees a drunken prostitute and notices another man approaching the girl. He quickly runs up to the man and tells him to leave, and is joined by a police officer. Out of sympathy, Raskolnikov gives the police officer money to take the girl home, but immediately regrets that decision because he believes that it is a waste of money. In chapter 5, Raskolnikov has a dream where he witnesses a peasant, Mikolka, killing his horse in a cemetery. Raskolnikov is only seven years old in

Raskolnikov struggles with guilt following his killing of Ivanovna; one half of him finds his guilt unjustified and believes that he had a right to kill her, while another half of him feels that he sinned by his killing and therefore must redeem his conscious. Throughout the course of the dream, Mikolka constantly justifies his killing of the mare by stating “[the mare is] my goods,”

In a passage excerpted from the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Raskolnikov fixes his attention on a girl who is staggeringly drunk. While Raskolnikov is watching her, he notices a large man who is also paying special attention to the drunk girl; however, the stranger is clearly intent on taking advantage of the girl. Raskolnikov notifies a police officer of the circumstance in order to protect the girl, and in an instant he changes his mind and decides that he does not care about what happens to the girl, and scoffs at himself for ever getting involved. Dostoevsky uses this event to reveal the two characteristics that Raskolnikov often switches between: being a morally good person who helps others, and a cynic who cares only about himself. Dostoevsky shows Raskolnikov’s complex and quick changing character through the literary devices of tone, diction, and point of view.

Raskolnikov also lacks a "full and clear understanding of his position" and can only long hopelessly for freedom from his impossible predicament. Mikolka assigned the mare her impossible burden, urging his friends into the cart by saying, "Get in, all get in […] she will draw you all. I'll beat her to death" (55). In the same way, Raskolnikov's logical side assigned him the task of murdering the old woman, thinking that he "wanted to become a Napoleon" (383-384). Bearing the guilt and pressure from the law that comes from this crime is too heavy for his emotional side in the same way that bearing the cart full of people and the "stunning blow[s]" (56) is too much for the old horse.

As they were walking, they noticed a drunken man, Mikolka, and a group of drunken friends beating his horse to death for failing to walk while pulling an overloaded cart. This dream foreshadowed the murder of Alyona Ivanova. The horse in the dream symbolized Alyona. The two main characters, young Raskolnikov and Mikolka, symbolized the conflicting halves of Raskolnikov. The young boy represented Raskolnikov’s innocent or caring side. This side shows that Raskolnikov has some heart and does actually have some type of feeling that he doesn’t really want to commit to the murder. On the other hand, Mikolka represents the side that doesn’t have any feelings toward the murder. He just wants to get the job done. Mikolka felt as if the horse was useless to him and that she wasn’t doing any good for society and the people around her. He also felt that society would benefit from the death of the horse. That is how Raskolnikov felt about Alyona. He felt as if the people living in poverty would benefit from her death. He felt this way because after she was dead, her money was going to poverty and that would help them out a lot. He also felt as if Alyona was useless, or a “louse” to society. To him, she was just taking up space; so he got rid of her. In the dream, he “leaps up and flings himself on Mikolka, striking out in a frenzy with his fists” (Dostoevsky 57), fighting against his sinister thoughts.

Literally Raskolnikov lives in an extremely small apartment, while figuratively he isolates himself from society, friends and family through a combination of mental and physical obstacles. Although the novel represents Raskolnikov as a fairly isolated person initially, his isolation only worsens thorough his plotting and execution of the murder of the pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovich. After murdering Alyona in Part I, the punishment for his crime begins in Part II. Raskolnikov states, “‘Surely it isn't beginning already! Surely it isn't my punishment coming upon me? It is!’" as he begins to mentally war with the potential consequence of what he has done (Dostoyevsky 74). This realization of his execution of his interpretation of the Ubermensch as not yielding the intended consequences haunts Raskolnikov. He is sent into fevers and illness as a result of his guilt regarding his crime, which further isolate him into his “cell” as he goes into his mind. Raskolnikov thinks and dreams, with many of his dreams symbolizing the realities of his conscience. Unlike Meursault, Raskolnikov reflects upon himself in his isolation throughout the novel. His conscience weighs heavy with the thoughts of his crime. Raskolnikov believes that “‘the old woman was a mistake perhaps, but she is not what matters! The old woman was only an illness...I was in a hurry to overstep...I didn’t mean to kill a human being’” (Dostoyevsky 217). Raskolnikov ponders his actions through the time of the crime to his sentence in Siberia, eventually realizing that he does not embody the Ubermensch he so desperately wanted to become. Raskolnikov only reaches this level of self reflection after following Christianity, a concept rejected by Meursault that leads to his inability to fully recognize his true

In Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s famous novel, Crime and Punishment, the strong connection between dreams, and the mental state of one of the main characters can be analyzed as the plot unfolds. The protagonist Raskolnikov is a depressed, poverty stricken man, living in a reformist Russia, and has turned to alcoholism and crime. He believes he can solve his problems by stealing from the local pawnshop and murders the owner, and her sister. His dreams represent so much than a simple imagination, and they appear to create a connection between his mental state and his subconscious thoughts; ultimately, Raskolnikov’s dreams portray the true emotions he holds inside as he turns into a psychological mess from guilt. The first dream Raskolnikov has involves animal cruelty and violence.

In his first dream, Raskolnikov attempts to escape his confusing adult life by returning to a time where he felt security, his childhood. Raskolnikov’s dream begins with him as a young boy walking with his father in their home town. As they are walking they notice a peasant named Mikolka and his drunken friends beating a horse to death because he failed to walk while pulling an overloaded cart. After several blows, the peasants finally kill the horse. Extremely upset by the murder, Raskolnikov runs over to the horse and “throws his arms around her dead, bleeding muzzle and kisses it…. Then he suddenly he leaps up and flings himself on Mikolka,

If I could meet Dostoevsky I would ask him what his inspiration for Crime and Punishment was. Sometimes I wonder if the novel was written to give us insight to how Dostoevsky felt about the world. Maybe he is using the character Raskolnikov to portray a part of him who feels alienated from the world, and is torn apart

We know that Raskolnikov Rodion Romanovich, the main character of the novel who cruelly killed the old pawnbroker and her sister, finally, confessed to the murder and was sentenced to nine years of obligatory work in Siberia. New environment and the love of Sonya Semyonovna helped him realize his mistakes and change his beliefs and values. He became more humane, social, and gained peace of mind. Nevertheless, the life of Raskolnikov could have ended “going to America” or, in the other words, committing suicide. He was thinking about killing himself several times: while he was walking on the bridge, after the conversation with Svidrigailov Arkady Ivanovich and Porfiry Petrovich. He knew that this action could release him from internal suffering and agony. However, if he did that, it also would have affected the lives of other people. For example, Kolya, Christian boy who took the blame for the murder he did not commit, could have spent a lot of years in prison. Sonechka could have possible become a prostitute again or followed Raskolnikov’s footsteps and kill herself as