The Characteristics Of Raskolyevsky's Duality Vs. Dostoevsky

It shall not be, so long as I am alive, it shall not, it shall not! I won’t accept it!” (Part 1. 4.). Raskolnikov begins to alienate himself from his ex-colleague, Razumikhin, although at points it is Razumikhin who supports Raskolnikov the most. It forces Razumikhin to replace Raskolnikov in situations that should have been left to his authority. In a situation where Raskolnikov should have reassured Dounia and Pulcheria of their safety “he waved his hand weakly to Razumikhin to cut short the flow of warm and incoherent consolations he was addressing to his mother and sister” (Part 3. 1). As Raskolnikov began to slowly move away from any form of comfortable socialization and a growing poverty situation, his stubbornness to contain his pride and dignity eventually builds up to the brutal murder of Alyona.

As Raskolnikov’s internal struggle becomes evident, Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov’s disoriented state to illustrate nihilism’s ineffectiveness as a catalyst for social change. Raskolnikov’s radical philosophy is initially used as justification of his murder, a gambit to escape St. Petersburg’s poverty crisis. By labeling the pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna as a “louse” and being largely apathetic towards any emotional or social repercussions, it is suggested that her death is for the greater good of not only Raskolnikov, but the whole of society; this lack of emotional substance in his logic brands him as a cold-blooded utilitarianist. However, it is a different story after the murder, where even Raskolnikov begins to doubt the legitimacy of his own argument. He realizes that his adrenaline rush prevents him from stealing much of the pawnbroker’s money, and with what he does manage to salvage, it is hidden away, nullifying any constructive benefit he had hoped to provide. Additionally, the murder of the pawnbroker’s innocent sister Lizaveta, whom prior to the even Raskolnikov feels

Being the protagonist in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov is subject to most ridicule and analysis for his moral ambiguity and outlandish views. After reading about his dreadful murder of Alyona and Lizaveta Ivanovna, many come to the conclusion that Raskolnikov is purely evil. His lack of guilt and belief of justification for his crime surely points readers in this direction. Raskolnikov remains convinced that he is superior and that it was his duty to kill such a worthless person. Although some may view this as evilness, others may perceive it as downright ignorant. His atypical way of thinking doesn’t necessarily make him evil, but that is how some comprehend it. At certain points in the story, we see Raskolnikov not as a deranged man, but instead as a compassionate human being. After the murder, we see him carrying out various charitable acts, perhaps as an attempt to atone for his unforgivable crime. For example, we see some good in him when he gives Sonya’s family twenty rubbles after Marmeladov passes on. We also see this when he attempts to rescue a drunk girl from a man by giving her money for a taxi. As much as Raskolnikov expresses that he was justified in his actions, through his mental and physical illnesses it is apparent that he feels some guilt about it. This guilt makes him seem at least a little bit more human. For these reasons, when all is said and done, it is difficult to determine

After murdering Alyona and Lizaveta Ivanovna, Raskolnikov is tormented by the vast sense of guilt he feels. His guilt is most notable when it was pointed out by Zossimov who notes that at the mention of the murders alone seems to visibly affect Raskolnikov. He also almost nearly confesses to the crime multiple times, once in Part II: Chapter VI, to a police inspector. He also seems to faint at the mention of the murders, this occurring a multitude of times, once in Part II: Chapter I and again in Part III: Chapter III. Throughout Part II: Chapters I-VI Raskolnikov suffers delirium, weakness, and anxiety. This entire scenario is proving to take a toll on his mental state and physical well being. It also shows that he is not apart of the “superman echelon” mentioned in his article On Crime. It does show how he lacks the mere self control it takes to prevent himself from being caught. He has an ongoing struggle between wanting avoid suspicion and wanting to confess. This internal conflict causes him to act in an unstable manner, sometimes trying to come off as innocent and other

He is the protagonist, and during the first part of the book murders two women, and what follows are the consequences of his actions and the emotion turmoil that goes hand and hand with that. Throughout the book his philosophy is because he is a great man, he can commit acts above the acts above the law, and receive no consequences. This idea leads to the internal battle throughout the book about if he was justified in killing the pawnbroker and her sister and if he should turn himself in. His best friend is Razumikhin, and they both were once both once students together, although Raskolnikov no longer goes to school. His sister is Dunya and his mother is Pulcheria. Later in the book he falls in love with Sonya, who is the daughter of a man he meets in a bar. The people in his life tend to take care of him.

After Raskolnikov realizes his crimes served no ‘higher purpose’, he is extracted from his delirium at last. “Everything takes on a new physiognomy, and a new meaning to him...his whole soul is metamorphosed and in constant discord with the life around him” (Melchior); consequently, he becomes more accepting of relationships, which he so ardently avoided before. He is quickly enamored with Sonia Marmeladov. After hearing his confession, she “is terrified at his self-abasement…[and] begs him to rise”

Raskolnikov is a poor college student, very intelligent, but very unsociable to amiable characters. That is, unless the character also has a low-life secret or fault for Raskolnikov to feed off of. He might not specifically ever mention that he wants to be in power, but all of Raskolnikov’s actions prove otherwise about how he truly feels.

Until the part where Raskolnikov heard the students and an officer talks about the old woman, his only motive was to kill her for the better of human being—by removing a useless and harmful creature from this earth. However, when he confessed to Sonya he stated that the killing of the old woman was done because “I… I wanted to have the daring” (Ch.4, part 5, 740). Joseph Frank also mentions that there are two oppositions who critics that the changes in the motive is the weakness of the story, and there are those who disagree with that. However, Frank viewed that these two view are wrong because the point of the story is not about the motives; instead, it was about the shift in Raskolnikov explanation of the crime to “discover the truth about the nature of the deed that he committed” (Frank, 7). I also believe that it was indeed the truth. In the beginning, Raskolnikov always mention and makes himself feels better by chanting that his act wasn’t a crime that he committed, but it was an act of justice and tried to be the hero of the society—to become another Napoleon. However, that wasn’t exactly true. And in the end, Raskolnikov finally realizes that there’s no such thing as helping humanity by killing one harmful creature. This road for

Raskolnikov has many intrusive thoughts about murdering the miserable pawnbroker. After a close encounter with his landlady, he thinks, “I want to attempt a thing like that and am frightened by these trifles’” (Dostoevsky 2). This is one of several duplicitous ideas that pass through Raskolnikov's mind. He is contemplating the death of an innocent solely for her money - the obvious motive - but to prove his superiority to society, which he blames for his crippling poverty. Even theoretically, he is a nihilist: a mere consideration of killing requires some moral abandonment.

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s character Raskolnikov is a master at manipulation. In Crime and Punishment after committing a grisly double homicide Raskolnikov deceives many character to avoid suspicion. He uses the actions of other character and his bipolar personality to toy with other characters’ theories about the murder, particularly Porfiry’s who is the head investigator. Raskolnikov mainly uses his one and only friend Razumihin, who knows Porfiry quite well, to beguile Porfiry. Sometime after the murder when suspicions are high Raskolnikov’s mother and sister, Pulcheria and Dounia, come to visit him. Raskolnikov, being the master manipulator he is, uses this to his advantage in order to throw off any that suspect him of the murders. Raskolnikov further uses his family to manipulate others when he discovers that

Raskolnikov's speech to Porfiry, in which he defines what it is to be extraordinary and where he justifies the actions of extraordinary men, is a definition and idea that can be attributed to Dostoevsky. Raskolnikov gives the speech as though he were detached from it; he doesn't realize the implications of what he is saying, he doesn't realize that what he is describing is not him. This speech should have made Raskolnikov reflect; it should have made him question his situation, especially after the murder he commits and his self-identity crisis (extraordinary or ordinary). But Raskolnikov's speech has no such effect; he speaks as though reading a transcript or reciting a memorized poem, as if somebody is talking through him and as if the words had no affect on his conscience. He looks at the ground while speaking, as if frightened of the implications of the theory for his own life, but he never voices this fear, he simply moves on. Why doesn't Raskolnikov ever stop to reflect on his own essay, when it holds the key to his self-identity crisis? Why does he never question the murder he committed, why doesn't he try and discern whether his crime is extraordinary or ordinary? He has not come to terms with his identity or the nature of the crime, yet he never tries to reconcile these identities with "his own" essay. Raskolnikov also ignores the fact that he is acting, out

Raskolnikov’s madness is based on mental suffering. The guilt that torments him after he murders Alyona Ivanovna and Lizaveta cause this suffering. Raskolnikov can be called a nihilist, because he rejects both the law, and the moral principles that come along after killing someone. When he kills Alyona and believing its for the greater good, he has just rejected society’s traditional laws of morality and law. Clearly he has gone mad because killing a bank teller is not for the greater good. He spends a lot of time thinking which puts emphasis on the fact that the murder is constantly on his mind. He rarely showers or has clean cloths, and he lives in a depressing apartment. Raskolnikov spends his time alone suffering and doesn’t even shower. He walks the streets at odd hours wearing an “old student’s overcoat and mumbling loudly.In beginning of the book, Raskolnikov is a student who has just published a paper, but as the book goes on, he slowly isolates himself. Dostoevsky in

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.

Raskolnikov had many struggles within the novel. He is very morally ambiguous, thus making it hard for the reader to understand his true motivation. He changes from a

From the very start of the novel it is established that Raskolnikov views himself as a person who is extraordinary, a "superman," and thereby above the social rules that the rest of humanity conform to. He is pushed by his superiority complex to separate himself from society, which then leads him to murder the pawnbroker under the notion that he is above the law and to try and prove his superiority.