Superman does not Dream
In Part 3 of Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Raskolnikov once again wrestles with his emotions after his murder of Alyona and constant evasion of the police. The police just found a piece of Raskolnikov's writing from about two month before. He describes his belief for the need of some great being to be above the law, in order to make their society more safe. Once reminded of his old writing, Raskolnikov begins to wrestle with himself whether he truly could consider himself the superman. He finally decides he is not the superman he wishes to be, and he tries to diminish Alyona, both in memory and in dream. Without his justification that he had a right to murder Alyona, he tries everything he can do to dehumanize and diminish her. He hopes in that way, he will lessen the severity of his crime, not because of his fear of the police, but rather …show more content…
Under that pretense, he lost all of his justification for the crime he committed. He tries to minimize his crime, by minimizing Alyona herself, yet he only continually devolves and insults himself. As he grows to hate himself more, he begins to hate the things he once held dear. Finally, while acting almost delirious, he goes forward and relives his dream. He walks the street, tails a man, and finds her apartment, doing better this attempt than he had done on the first. He confidently goes out and finds Alyona, but the result is drastically different. Though he tries to kill her, swing after swing of his axe, he fails to even harm her. Her laughter mocks his attempts at murder and his incapability of being the “superman” above the law he so desperately desires to be, or at least become. Her haunting laughter stays with him even after he wakes up, reminding him he is not only insufficient in life, but even in death as
In Part 3 of Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Raskolnikov once again wrestles with his emotions after his murder of Alyona and constant evasion of the police. The police just found a piece of Raskolnikov's writing from about two month before. He describes his belief for the need of some great being to be above the law, in order to make their society more safe. Once reminded of his old writing, Raskolnikov begins to wrestle with himself whether he truly could consider himself the superman. He finally decides he is not the superman he wishes to be, and he tries to diminish Alyona, both in memory and in dream. Without his justification that he had a right to murder Alyona, he tries everything he can do to dehumanize and diminish her. He hopes in that way, he will lessen the severity of his crime, not because of his fear of the police, but rather …show more content…
Under that pretense, he lost all of his justification for the crime he committed. He tries to minimize his crime, by minimizing Alyona herself, yet he only continually devolves and insults himself. As he grows to hate himself more, he begins to hate the things he once held dear. Finally, while acting almost delirious, he goes forward and relives his dream. He walks the street, tails a man, and finds her apartment, doing better this attempt than he had done on the first. He confidently goes out and finds Alyona, but the result is drastically different. Though he tries to kill her, swing after swing of his axe, he fails to even harm her. Her laughter mocks his attempts at murder and his incapability of being the “superman” above the law he so desperately desires to be, or at least become. Her haunting laughter stays with him even after he wakes up, reminding him he is not only insufficient in life, but even in death as