What Makes Raskolnikov Tick? Commentary on Part 2 Chapters 5-7 and Part 3 Chapter 1

         It seems like Raskolnikov is driven insane by the fact that he does not have a goal or purpose that he has given himself to accomplish. The entire time after the murder up until now has been filled with Raskolnikov basically wandering around slowly going insane as he does not know what to do with the money. At one point, he was faced with three choices on how to endure the current situation, he could turn himself in and suffer the consequences of his crime once and for all, he could kill himself and end the torture he is under, or he could continue living and just live through the guilt of his actions. Through his actions he is convinced he must turn himself in, even though it seems like this decision was made by his inability to control himself in front of the police leading to him justifying that it would make sense to turn himself in. But after Marmeladov is killed and Raskolnikov has an opening to really help the family left behind by their father’s death, he has a task and he starts to grow sane once more. Now that he feels like he can use his newly acquired power of money, Raskolnikov thinks that he has some personal standing and grows somewhat cocky. This can be seen through him basically playing with the detectives and taunting them that he might be the one who is the murderer. Yet this might also be interpreted as Raskolnikov acting in such a way to see if society could see him as a murderer, to see if they would think that he is able to do this. I am not sure if he is just justifying the fact that he did it or if he is trying to make sure that people do not continue to suspect him as a murderer so that he can become his version of a superhero. As Raskolnikov gains a sense of purpose, his actions become a lot more determined and he becomes much more confident it seems. For example, his confidence towards his hatred with his sister’s new fiancé is coherent enough that it cannot be blamed on his sickness and it could even be said that this acts as just another goal for Raskolnikov to accomplish that pulls him away from insanity. At this point I am not sure if Raskolnikov is pretending to be crazy to draw off the cops, to draw them closer to him, or if he is even playing at all, for all I know this guy is probably crazy.