Raskolnikov Character Analysis

Raskolnikov: A Freudian Psychoanalysis of the “Extraordinary Man” Raskolnikov is the type of character that Freud would have obsessed over: a man with a perceived sense of mental stability but with a realm of repressed desires — all the more reason to explore the unconscious, the uncharted realms of the human psyche. Contrary to Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious, the dreams in Dostoevsky’s novel function as something beyond the characterization of archetypes common to multiple individuals. Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and Punishment, proves to be more concerned with Raskolnikov’s perceptions regarding his crime, and the effects of self-instituted punishment, rather than the punishments inflicted by the institutions or the nature …show more content…
Raskolnikov places himself on a pedestal, equating his power and prominence with Napoleon, someone who he believes is “capable of evolving something new” and has “never hesitated to shed blood” in this pursuit. (Dostoevsky, p. 220). He rationalizes his crime by claiming that he is like Napoleon, one of the extraordinary men who “in virtue of their innate power” are “criminals”. (Dostoevsky, p. 220). However, one of the most vivid and gruesome scenes in the novel, Raskolnikov’s dream involving the slaughter of an innocent mare, demonstrates that Raskolnikov has fallen short of this ideal. In fact, he is merely an ordinary man. In this dream, Raskolnikov plays a duel role as both the innocent boy watching over the murder of this mare and the malicious and drunk man responsible for the horse’s death. This shows that he is a nihilist capable of committing murder, like the man killed the horse in the dream, yet he is also capable of showing