There are two types of people in the world: the ones who like a definitive ending and the ones who leave it up to their imagination. I consider myself to be the type to leave it to my imagination, therefore I found the epilogue unnecessary information that Dostoevsky could have left for the reader to complete. Part VI ended strongly, it captured Raskolnikov’s psychological regret in realistic manner. The epilogue, in a way, watered down the strength of Part VI. All of the developing relationships and conflicts ended in a ‘happy ever after’ epilogue, decreasing the depth of the whole novel. For example, in the epilogue Raskolnikov abruptly collapses at her feet confessing his love for her, although at first she was frightened, “She knew and had no doubt that he loved her beyond everything and that at last the moment had come” (Dostoevsky 448) – to me, that created a juvenile tone and made the book seem less complex. Another example is Raskolnikov’s dream in prison. Although it was interesting, it was not nearly as meaningful as the dream he had in the beginning of the novel. In the dream a virus from Asia plagued Europe and those who were infected “… never had … considered themselves so intellectual and so completely in possession of the truth as these sufferers, never had they considered their decisions, their scientific conclusions, their moral convictions so infallible” (Dostoevsky 446), it was a way of ending Raskolnikov’s feelings of superiority.
