Sunday, September 22, 2013
Raskolnikov's Punishment
My feelings toward Raskolnikov are still unclear. In the second part of Crime and Punishment it is quite obvious that he feels some sort of guilt or remorse for the crimes he has committed. Now that the "crime" part of the title is behind us, we can focus on the "punishment" part. But what exactly is Raskolnikov's punishment? As we all know, from the beginning of the novel, Raskolnikov displays more than one persona. His range of actions and emotions is similar to a "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde" type of character. On the outside, he appears to be in control of his situation, but he is full of turmoil on the inside. Thus far, nobody knows the truth behind his actions, but as he sits in the police station it grows more and more obvious that he is guilty of something. The result of the crime was the complete opposite of what he thought it would be. He thought that, with the completion of the murder, he would feel better about everything, satisfied, more in control, accomplished. But in reality, his carefully composed facade and general feeling of superiority are slowly deteriorating and being replaced with anxiousness, delirium, paranoia, and weakness. Now, the real point of the novel starts to unfold. We get to witness his torturous confliction between wanting to confess and wanting to remain a free man. The internal suffering he is experiencing is, in actuality, his true punishment, but I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of what Dostoevsky has in store for Roskolnikov.
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