Development of Guilt in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment Ideally, when committing a felony, the criminals main concern is not getting caught. In Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, the poverty-stricken, ill man Raskolnikov proves otherwise; it is not the punishment that provokes fear, it is the guilt and psychological instability that will drive the convict to insanity. Set in the late eighteenth century in St. Petersburg, Russia, Raskolnikov is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to murder his pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanova. After convincing himself that he is a “superman”, a man who is so exceptional that moral law does not apply to him, Raskolnikov murders Alyona and her sister, Elizaveta and spends the rest of the novel facing
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This concept applies psychologically to Raskolnikov. Before murdering the Ivanova’s, Raskolnikov was doubting himself, “can it be, that I shall really take an axe… No, I couldn’t do it!” (58) But, after “crossing the bridge… He was free from that spell” (58) and knew that he could go through with his crime. After doing so, Raskolnikov is faced with accusations and becomes guilty of his actions. He gets into an argument with one of the policemen, Razumikhin, and storms off to a seemingly tranquil bridge with unpleasant thoughts, as mentioned by the policeman “How could I let him go like that? He might drown himself” (163). Raskolnikov then goes to the Voznesensky Bridge to sort out his thoughts, and “he notice[s] a tall woman… [whom] flung herself into the canal” (164), and as he watches the scene and the reactions of bystanders, he rethinks his dilemma. He says to himself “is it really a way out?” and then momentarily after: “God, what dumb things I think about” (165). The climax of this scene occurs when Raskolnikov sees the result of acting on suicidal thoughts. After seeing the foolishness of the woman’s actions, Raskolnikov realizes that suicide will not solve any of his problems and he changes his mind. He uses the bridge to his mental advantage, because when crossing it, his thoughts are neither where they started nor have changed yet. However, when stepping off …show more content…
When Raskolnikov is in the state of dreaming, the scenes displayed in his mind unravel his guilt. He says that “in pathological states dreams are often distinguished by an uncommon vividness and sharpness of focus by an extraordinary conjunction with reality” (52), meaning that his dreams are based off of his life, and they will affect his daily thoughts. Before murdering the sisters, Raskolnikov “dreamed a terrible dream” (52) about his childhood. In this dream, he is distraught watching a man named Mikolka harm a horse. He screams out “what’s wrong with you Mikolka?… it breaks my heart [to see this]” (53-54). This dream signifies the two sides of Raskolnikov: the violent one capable of murder, and the guilty one, upset even before the felony has been committed. Slightly after the crime, Raskolnikov “looses conciseness” (265) and relives the murdering of the sisters. In his limbo state, “he freed the ax and struck the old woman … [then] his heart shrank … he tried to cry out, and woke up” (267). In this dream, Raskolnikov’s several attempts of immorality fail. Due to this failure, he realizes his actions are wrong and he that is not extraordinary enough to commit a crime without it mattering: his guilt finally catches up to
This concept applies psychologically to Raskolnikov. Before murdering the Ivanova’s, Raskolnikov was doubting himself, “can it be, that I shall really take an axe… No, I couldn’t do it!” (58) But, after “crossing the bridge… He was free from that spell” (58) and knew that he could go through with his crime. After doing so, Raskolnikov is faced with accusations and becomes guilty of his actions. He gets into an argument with one of the policemen, Razumikhin, and storms off to a seemingly tranquil bridge with unpleasant thoughts, as mentioned by the policeman “How could I let him go like that? He might drown himself” (163). Raskolnikov then goes to the Voznesensky Bridge to sort out his thoughts, and “he notice[s] a tall woman… [whom] flung herself into the canal” (164), and as he watches the scene and the reactions of bystanders, he rethinks his dilemma. He says to himself “is it really a way out?” and then momentarily after: “God, what dumb things I think about” (165). The climax of this scene occurs when Raskolnikov sees the result of acting on suicidal thoughts. After seeing the foolishness of the woman’s actions, Raskolnikov realizes that suicide will not solve any of his problems and he changes his mind. He uses the bridge to his mental advantage, because when crossing it, his thoughts are neither where they started nor have changed yet. However, when stepping off …show more content…
When Raskolnikov is in the state of dreaming, the scenes displayed in his mind unravel his guilt. He says that “in pathological states dreams are often distinguished by an uncommon vividness and sharpness of focus by an extraordinary conjunction with reality” (52), meaning that his dreams are based off of his life, and they will affect his daily thoughts. Before murdering the sisters, Raskolnikov “dreamed a terrible dream” (52) about his childhood. In this dream, he is distraught watching a man named Mikolka harm a horse. He screams out “what’s wrong with you Mikolka?… it breaks my heart [to see this]” (53-54). This dream signifies the two sides of Raskolnikov: the violent one capable of murder, and the guilty one, upset even before the felony has been committed. Slightly after the crime, Raskolnikov “looses conciseness” (265) and relives the murdering of the sisters. In his limbo state, “he freed the ax and struck the old woman … [then] his heart shrank … he tried to cry out, and woke up” (267). In this dream, Raskolnikov’s several attempts of immorality fail. Due to this failure, he realizes his actions are wrong and he that is not extraordinary enough to commit a crime without it mattering: his guilt finally catches up to