Crime And Punishment Passage Analysis Essay

In a passage excerpted from the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Raskolnikov fixes his attention on a girl who is staggeringly drunk. While Raskolnikov is watching her, he notices a large man, who is also paying special attention to the drunk girl; however, the stranger is clearly intent on taking advantage of the girl. Raskolnikov notifies a police officer of the circumstance in order to protect the girl, and in an instant, he decides that he does not care about what happens to the girls, and scoffs at himself for ever getting involved. Dostoevsky uses this event to reveal the two characteristics that Raskolnikov often switches between: being a morally good person who helps others, and a cynic who cares only about himself. Dostoevsky shows Raskolnikov’s complex and quick changing character through the literary devices of tone, diction, and point of view. Raskolnikov’s hopelessness throughout this passage displays his rapidly changing self, as one side of him scolds the other for being optimistic. Raskolnikov begins with being adamantly protective of the girl, saying “the chief things is [...] to keep her out of this scoundrel’s …show more content…
Words such as “suddenly” and “in an instant” are used in the passage as a guide to when Raskolnikov is switching between his complex characteristics. Between Raskolnikov telling the police officer to watch over the girl, and him telling the same police officer that it’s none of their business, Dostoevsky uses the transition of: “At that moment something seemed to sting Raskolnikov.” The word “sting” implies that this change was sudden and intrusive. If the change in Raskolnikov had overcome him gradually, there would have been thought and reasoning behind it. But because of the words Dostoevsky chooses throughout this passage, it is clear that these two sides are part of Raskolnikov’s