Term Paper Part 2

Another level that helps affirm the idea and fact that Raskolnikov only does good actions in order to benefit himself is the fact that many of his actions are taken in order to seemingly gain control over whoever he is helping. Many of Raskolnikov’s ideas are based around the theories and admiration of Napoleon, even his paper on ‘Great People’ used napoleon as one of the examples of a ‘great person’ and Raskolnikov openly states multiple times throughout the novel about how he has always looked up to the kinds of Napoleon. Also, some of the times that Raskolnikov helps people, he does so in such a way in which it could be interpreted that he is trying to gain a rise out of the fact that he is effectively in control of that person’s life. For example, when he gives money to the family in need, he seems to openly get a rise out of the fact that he is helping them survive and that he is effectively their only source of money, and their survival and well-being is based entirely on his decision of whether or not he gives them the money. Another thing that Raskolnikov does in order to seemingly prove his Napoleonic desires is the fact that he wants to be able to prove that he is different and therefore better than everybody else because he reaches over many of the societal bounds and expectations placed on people, for example, his willingness to kill to justify his goal, as he specifically stated in his paper. His efforts to help others also seem like an attempt for him to show that he is better than everybody else, because there is a constant theme that certain people are dressed better than him and that there are very clear distinctions in the different levels of society and that it is clear that some people are better in society. There are also multiple points in which he is verbally uncomfortable with the position he is in  in society and how he feels the need to prove he is better than everybody else, which he is able to accomplish through his decisions to help others that he deems to be in need. This is yet another way in which he is only helping others in order to help himself, instead of it being out of his own desire to help others, proving that he is much more selfish than he intentionally portrays himself to be. Yet, there are some other actions for which he cannot justify using the fact that he is trying to help himself where he is, in fact helping others out of the goodness of his heart, and some of those people are the people who eventually bring out his more humane side after he goes to prison and comes out being a changed man in the epilogue of the book.