Joshua Cohen's Reaction to Luisa's Post on Chapter 7 and Chapter 1 Part 2

I agree with the fact that it was kind of a surprise that Raskolnikov had to kill Alyona’s sister, but it makes sense with the rest of the story. If Raskolnikov had just killed Alyona, there doesn’t seem like there would be much guilt that Raskolnikov would feel, but because he had to kill Alyona’s sister, he is feeling a lot guiltier than he would be. Also, I am not so sure that it is really his “evil” side as much as it is his will to survive by whatever means. He only justifies this murder with the fact that he heard someone else complaining about Alyona and he felt that that was enough to justify her murder. The book is definitely changing from the crime stage, where Raskolnikov is thinking about the crime and eventually committing it, to the punishment stage in part two. I feel that now Raskolnikov is finally going to feel all the consequences for his actions, but I am not sure where it is going to come from. I personally feel that Raskolnikov is going to become extremely paranoid or extremely depressed and inflict most of the punishment on himself. I feel like that would be worse because if he got caught and sent to jail, everyone would know that he deserved the punishment. If people do not know why Raskolnikov is being so paranoid or depressed, they will try to help him which would probably cause him more torture because of the knowledge of his guilt that will most likely haunt him. It would also make more sense if the punishment came from within himself because then it would explain why he is so weird and introverted at the beginning of the book. 

My Comment to Alexa's Reaction

I think Alexa makes an extremely on point observation saying that the story resembles Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Raskolnikov truly has this outside composure and then complete insanity on the inside. I agree with her that his punishment will truly lie in his inner conflict of deciding whether to confess or not confess and remain a free man.

Raskolnikov's evil side prevails

Raskolnikov's mysterious plan is finally shown and executed. He had consistently had hatred for Alyona Ivanova, because he had overheard people saying she was an extremely bitter woman who had no purpose, and after hearing it multiple times he decided that it was his own job to be the one to kill her. He always had these thoughts in his head in the previous chapters, but I never knew what the thoughts were about, until it was revealed in this reading and then executed. Not only does he muder Alyona, but his sister as well. He did not intend on killing her too at first, but he killed her in the end because she was a witness to him standing over her dead sister's body and she could not tell anybody what he did, so he killed her too. He killed his witness. This twist to the story was kind of a shocker to me because even though I suspected him of doing something evil, he had moments where he committed such humane actions, such as giving away his money or helping that girl, that I did not think he would just go and kill somebody because he felt it was his duty to eliminate her from the planet. His evil side, so to say, prevails in this case.

My comment on Alexia's reaction

I completely agree with Alexia's reaction to this part of Crime and Punishment, in fact my initial reaction was quite similar. The internal struggle Raskolnikov is going through is a huge aspect of his punishment for what he has done. His fainting spell in the police station demonstrates the evident pressure that he feels to figure out and classify the conflicting desires he has. His inability to do so also shows how difficult the struggle really is for him, which makes me feel slightly bad for him. What he did was clearly wrong, immoral, unconstitutional, and illegal, and I'm not saying I can relate to him, because I can't, but I do sympathize for him. The tension and feelings of alienation from society that he is feeling are important to the development of his character. A person who commits such a crime should undoubtedly feel estranged from the rest of humanity, if he didn't, I would not consider him human. Maybe he'll decide to truly pay for his actions and make the correct decision in dealing with them. Hopefully, Raskolnikov can redeem himself in my eyes at least.

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.

My (Alexia) Comment on Rachael's Post

I find it interesting that you do not find him to be purely evil. The way that he committed the murder makes it hard for me to see him as anything but evil. He killed this woman in such a brutal manner and then killed her sister in an equally brutal manner for being nothing more than a witness. This is dark and twisted in my eyes. The only aspect of this all where I can see how you would not categorize him as entirely evil is due to the fact that he feels remorse. Due to the fact that he feels guilt both physically and emotionally proves what you are saying with the fact that he cannot really be described as evil. Though the murder was committed as if he were wholly evil, I agree that it is challenging to pinpoint him as evil just because it looks more like a crime of opportunity and passion. If he was entirely evil, I don't think he would have felt the remorse at all or as strong as Raskolnikov does in this weeks reading. On the other hand I do not admire Raskolnikov in any way shape or form. I find it difficult to after he committed the murder, but I do think that the author attempted to have the readers sense this conflicting emotions that you feel, though for me it is a little challenging to feel that way.

The Guilt Proves to be Too Much for Raskolnikov

The first part was focused more on the actual crime, but now that it has been committed the second part seems to be more dedicated to his punishment, hence the title Crime and Punishment. I got the answer to the question I proposed in my last blog post and the answer was yes, he is obviously feeling remorse. I use the term obviously because his whole emotional and physical state has changed; he is paranoid, frantic, and growing weak, all because of the guilt he is feeling. In the beginning of Chapter 1 of Part 2, he is frantically searching his clothes to ensure there is no blood and then finding the pawned items. This demonstrates how he is becoming paranoid, which leads him to worry because he almost forgot to hide the pawned items. This paranoia is considered by Raskolnikov to be a the beginning of his punishment, which is interesting because h believes that he will punished through emotional torment and stress rather than physically being punished. He also later when he is called to the police station he faints, and I believe this happens because he is nervous that the police suspect him and also he has a very heavy guilty conscience weighing on him. This causes him to once again have this internal struggle with himself on whether to rid himself of his overbearing guilt by confessing but as a result lose his freedom, or say nothing at all and remain a free man with a guilty conscience. Also at the police station we get a sense that Raskolnikov is now feeling isolated from society. This isolation was not something that is new since before he had this air of haughtiness and he isolated himself from society because he simply thought he was better than everyone else, but now he comes to the realization that he has completely isolated himself saying “…that it was no longer possible for him to address these people in the police station, not only with heartfelt effusion, as he had just done, but in any way at all…” (188)