There are multiple theories involved in dream analysis, which apply to each of Raskolnikov 's dreams. The first theory is the evolutionary theory. Evolutionary …show more content…
In his article all men are divided into ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary.’ Ordinary men have to live in submission, have no right to transgress the law, because, don’t you see, they are ordinary. But extraordinary men have a right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way, just because they are extraordinary. That was your idea, if I am not mistaken? (Dostoyevsky 249)
Even though Raskolnikov wants to believe he is an extraordinary man by writing an article, his dreams conflict that idea and reveal his true feelings toward his crime. While in prison, Raskolnikov is convinced that his act of murder was only “an error” and he becomes very ill. In his fourth dream, there is a plague of microscopic bugs. The bugs infest people, making everyone in the world thinking that they are the most intelligent beings in the world. Raskolnikov says:
But never had men considered themselves so intellectual and so completely in possession of the truth as these sufferers, never had they considered their decisions, their scientific conclusions, [and] their moral convictions so infallible. (Dostoyevsky