Raskolnikov's Room

As well as the city of St. Petersburg, the small room that Raskolnikov rents serves as a symbol of his guilt. The tight confines of the room represent the unrelenting guilt which has grasped hold of him.

Raskolnikov’s brusque affectation eventually yields to his predilection for salvation and redemption. He ultimately comes to the realization that he is not worthy of being “extraordinary” because of the crippling guilt that followed his murder of the pawnbroker. Raskolnikov reflects upon the implications of his crime on his psyche, “I murdered myself, not her! I crushed myself once for all,

    The confusion in Raskolnikov’s soul is best seen when he tries to help a girl in the street who has been raped and left to the whims of whoever may

In this quote, Raskolnikov wakes up from his illness, and realized that he is really confused about his reality . He has forgotten what we might assume the things that he would rather forget. Raskolnikov wants to see life clearly but everything is so confusing that he can't at that moment. But in this passage, we see that forgetting is actually causing him pain and suffering.

First, let me introduce you to the main character himself otherwise known as the murderer in this story. Raskolnikov is the main protagonist of the novel, making the story in his point of view. He is very alienated from society due to his

Razumikhin is in a similar financial situation as Raskolnikov. Razumikhin foils Raskolnikov in his response to a desperate situation such as struggling poverty. He faced his struggles with a ‘trial and error’ personality. His view stood that “you never reach any truth without making fourteen mistakes and very likely a hundred and fourteen” (Part 3. 1). It was in these positive outlooks that make Raskolnikov realize how intense his isolation was becoming.

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.

When he first enters his house, his family had “been crying” and had “suffered agonies” waiting, yet it changes to a “cry of rapturous joy” once he appears, immediately displaying the stark contrast between his emotional and affectionate family and him (186). His mother and sister clasp him in their arms, yet a “sudden, unbearable thought” prevents him from even “lifting his arms to embrace them (186).” As his family affectionately cries and hugs him, he is so selfishly concerned with his own past actions, he fails to return even the slightest bit of their caring and endearment. In exact contrast to his family “kiss[ing] him, laughing” and “cry[ing],” “he took a step forward, faltered, and fell to the ground (186).” Raskolnikov obsesses so much about his crime and his guilt, that when he tries to take a step forward and accept his family’s love, he falters and faints, showing after his murder of Alyona, he is completely unable to reunite with the pure joy and love that his family

After the murder, his restless conscience tortures him, leading him into madness. Throughout the novel, Dostoevsky describes Raskolnikov as “delirious” and “fanatical,” likening him to a madman. Stemming from his guilt, this condition, remarked upon by his friend Razumihkin, the doctor Zossimov, the inspector Porfiry Petrovich, and others, consumes him and manifests as a physical disease. By portraying him as diseased, Dostoevsky links his murder with corruption – a corruption so great that it infects both his mind and body.

Even when Raskolnikov was asleep he received painful messages of others who were suffering, just as he was. In one particular instance, before the double-murder, Raskolnikov is brought back to the poverty he suffered throughout his childhood. He once again feels a great empathy toward the suffered, but this time

As Raskolnikov’s shame takes over him, his mental health gradually deteriorates, despite his previous belief that he held enough intellectual and emotional

Therefore Amoia notes that, "as the implications of the deed unfold in his conscience, Raskolnikov attempts to jusitfy his actions as a 'rational' crime" (53). Though he understands that he will be able to escape the physical punishement for the crime, he has yet to comprehend the burden that comes with such an unethical action. Even when Porfiry suggests that the criminal who murdered the pawnbroker may run away but, "psychologically he won't escape" (287), Raskolnikov becomes infuriated and accuses Porfiry of trying to scare him. However, Raskolnikov fails to understand the meaning behind Porfiry's words perhaps because he still chooses not to rely on his conscience and confess to the crime.While the superiority complex sets him apart from the society in the beginning, his piercing conscience distances him from people later on in the novel. He refuses to speak to Razumuikhin or to his family. It only before he goes to jail, that he decides to see his mother. Even when he does so, he is relieved that Dunya is not in the room. He later admits to Dunya that he doesn't, "even remember why [I] even went" to meet his mother. His conscience does not allow him to face his loved ones and eventually, he tries to isolate himself from society. While Raskolnikov tries to alienate himself from his own conscience, he is alienating himself from humanity in general.

In one of the first scenes when we first meet Raskolnikov, he has come across a young girl who is drunk. He sees her and immediately wants to help, so he finds a nearby police officer and tells him they must “keep her out of this scoundrel’s hands,” in reference to Svid, who has previously tried to “approach the girl” with suspicious intentions (44, 42). Raskolnikov seemed to

Raskolnikov lives an ordinary life as an ordinary man. He is a good man and has a good heart, but he soon commits a crime that will forever change his life. Raskolnikov is a good man; I believe he is kind, generous, and selfless. Now, how are all of these positive traits found in a murderer? I think was caught in a psychotic moment, his mental state was not all there, and he had a dream, he made a plan, and he committed this terrible crime. A good example of Raskolnikov being a kind hearted person, and selfless is when he sees a young girl at the end of the street, he sees by her a rough looking man staring at her. He starts to get very worried what this man might do to this young girl. He goes down the street to get this young girl, and he pays for a taxi to get her home. This was so generous, and small yet so impactful. Raskolnikov cared about what might happen to this young girl, and did something about it. This showed how selfless Raskolnikov is, and what a kind heart he has. I think this shows Raskolnikov’s true character. From here, he makes some terrible decisions, and is engulfed by guilt, but I believe he is a generous, kindhearted person. In this book, Crime And Punishment, Raskolnikov goes from being an ordinary man with an ordinary life to a murderer, tortured by guilt, haunted by the memory of his crime, and him finding himself again in society after the murders.

During this interactive oral, it was pointed out that the dreams in this novel are very influential to a character’s state of mind and actions. We discussed the graphic dream in which Raskolnikov, as a child, watches a mare as it is beaten to death. This dream is interpreted by Raskolnikov as a cue to murder the old woman. The mare seems to be a parallel to the