IndexAnalysis of Raskolnikov's character: complex, tormented and deeply conflictedHis pride and his complicated relationships with SoniaConclusionFyodor Dostoevsky's iconic novel "Crime and Punishment" is set in St. Petersburg , in Tsarist Russia, in 1860. Orthodox Christianity to this day is the country's main religion, with an extremely loyal Christian population. Religion was important for people to have hope in during times of turmoil in a restrictive society; its true meanings meant that the focus was on morality. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, the protagonist of the novel, was raised in the Christian faith. However, a series of events, including poverty and mental illness, lead to his decision to gradually abandon his faith and adopt a nihilistic outlook. Raskolnikov's decline further distances him from everyone around him, as he begins to distance himself from traditional value systems such as family, religion, and society. The ethical expectations imposed on him lead to the decision to kill a pawnbroker based on the utilitarian idea that his death would benefit others. Raskolnikov is surprised to find that after committing murder he believes it is justified for the betterment of humanity; However, it isn't long before he discovers that he too craves redemption for what he has done. From the murder onwards, the novel focuses on Raskolnikov's gradual breakdown and deconstruction of his identity, as well as his alienation from his original morals. The way his guilt is represented by his increasing madness and loss of identity shows his true realization of his actions. The epilogue concludes the book by showing Raskolnikov's transformation into a human. His alienation from society due to the murder ends when he realizes that he is not above the moral law and admits his love for Sonia, resolving Raskolnikov's internal struggle for his superiority and morality. Raskolnikov's Character Analysis: Complex, Tormented, and Deeply Conflicted Raskolnikov is depicted as a complicated character from the beginning of the novel. The very meaning of the name Raskolnikov comes from the Russian word "raskolnik", which means schismatic or divided. He is an extremely proud and contemptuous character, but emotionally divided from humanity. The beginning of the novel outlines the initial ideas of isolation where the use of his so-called excessive reputation masks the setback of his career. He is a person who focuses on reputation, his appearance and the impression on others significant to him. His pride is fueled by his natural good looks: "...exceptionally handsome, above average height, slim, well built, with beautiful dark eyes and dark brown hair." The writer uses his appearance to exaggerate the contrast with his situation. Depicted as a poor former student barely struggling to survive, living in poor conditions, he still appears to be himself in a light of importance and intellect. Fyodor Dostoevsky also portrays Raskolnikov as a man torn between two worlds. In one is his ability to be cold and calculating; if so, he has the arrogance to believe that he has the superiority of a divine position. The other half shows perspectives of kindness and humility, where they are able to recognize “…the boundaries created by the laws of God and men.” This division in his character is significant in causing personal conflict between himself and morality. Struggle to find theway of being what he really is; signs of an internal battle can be recognized from the early stages of Raskolnikov's character development. The idea of ​​masking his struggles in his personal life through appearance and narcissism foreshadows his feeling of duty to kill someone less valuable than himself. His encounter with pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna, a weak woman in her 60s, demonstrates his troubled morality as he shocks himself with the idea of ​​killing for money. However, he is convinced that he is intelligent enough to carry out such a horrible plan; he truly believes he can escape legal punishment by undermining the moral punishment he must suffer. The battle between Raskolnikov's morals begins to take its toll on him to the point that it plays a role in his subconscious. He has the first of 4 dreams about himself as a child while accompanying his father to a requiem service for his grandmother and a visit to his brother's grave. On the way to the church, they encounter a group of drunken peasants led by a man named Mikolka, who calls for his friends to climb into his wagon and be pulled by a skinny old mare. When the horse cannot support the weight of all the men on the wagon, Mikolka and his men beat her to death in front of the young Raskolnikov. He awakens from the dream only after the mare has been killed by whips and crowbars: “The shot fell; the mare staggered, fell backwards, tried to pull, but the bar fell again with a violent blow on her back and she fell to the ground like a log. Behind Mikolka's act of violence is the larger plan to kill the pawnbroker. Despite the differences in the crime, the act of murder is the same for both killers. Dreams convey your most deeply held secrets or hidden hints about inherent dangers. The image of the peasant standing over the mare with an ax foreshadows Raskolnikov's fatal blows. Awake, in shock, Raskolnikov completely changes perspective on Alena, in his mind, for a moment, considers her his innocent victim: "God!" she exclaimed, “but it may be, it may be that I will really take an ax and hit her on the head and split her skull—slide in the hot, sticky blood, break the lock, steal, tremble and hide, all covered in blood. .. with the axe... Sir, can it be?" In the Dream, Dostoevsky uses dreams to portray Raskolnikov's abnormal psychological mind. He sees himself as more than simply the killer. There are four "Raskolnikovs" in this dream: the Mikolka-Raskolnikov who seeks to assert power and ownership over others through the irrational extinction of human life; the mare Raskolnikov who feels helplessly trapped and defeated; the boy Raskolnikov, who compassionately jumps in to try to save a life; and finally his father Raskolnikov, who intervenes to stifle the child's sincere and heroic benevolence. Here the most important Raskolnikov of the quadrille is the boy, who takes responsibility and tries to right a wrong. Raskolnikov struggles to understand how he feels and therefore what he wants; refers to death and mercy. His final realization is that he is walking the Mikolka path and could actually "take an axe" to carry out his plan. The dream, however, is even more of a prescription for his homicidal personality inclination: it admonishes Raskolnikov to confront his own Mikolka-like instincts, to come clean, to "hug your knees," and to accept love. Therefore, even before killing Alyona, Raskolnikov longs for confession deep down. The end of the first part of the novel describes Raskolnikov outside the pawnshop door; despite his decision to killfinally, he is aware of how careful he has to be. As Alyona opens the door slightly, he pushes his way in, fearing that she won't let him in. Panic fuels the fear of mistakes in his plan and he doesn't want to risk losing this precious opportunity. Raskolnikov has repeatedly planned his crime, but his nervousness creates clouded judgment as his carefully obsessive plan becomes a stream of paranoid movements, especially when Alyona is very wary of Raskolnikov's affairs. Wait until she begins to open the promised gift: a cigarette case; while distracting her, he takes the moment to take the ax out of his pocket: “Then [Raskolnikov] struck [Alyona] another and another blow with the blunt side and in the same place. The blood gushed out like from an overturned glass and the body fell back." Raskolnikov repeatedly and brutally hits the old woman and she dies within seconds. From then on the crime becomes less and less "reasoned", and less and less planned. It is confusing, and even the nature of the blows themselves (struck with the blunt end of the ax) indicates that Raskolnikov proceeded with haste and emotion. Furthermore, Raskolnikov's narrative point of view objectifies his victim as "glass"; not only highlighting his full attention to the mechanical movement of the hacking action, but also the senselessness of her death to him at the time as he portrays her as a mere object. Raskolnikov's chosen weapon for the murders also reflects his inner chaos. He considers using a knife but decides he doesn't want to rely on strength or precision to complete the act. The narrator notes that with each of Raskolnikov's decisions: "...the more final they were, the more horrible and absurd they immediately became in his eyes." Raskolnikov also believes that being an ax murderer is ridiculous. It's cumbersome and messy, and yet there's a part of Raskolnikov that believes this is the only option. His disorganization is also reflected in the spontaneous murder of Lizaveta, the pawnbroker's mentally disabled half-sister. She is called "submissive" and described as: "such a sweet, gentle creature, willing to put up with anything, always willing, willing to do anything." Raskolnikov is put in the position of having to kill Lizaveta; despite his insignificance to most of the characters, including himself, his paranoia changes his perspective on her. Suddenly a weak character becomes a threat to a "smart student" and Raskolnikov knows he must be completely invisible as he steals the pawn shop's belongings when fleeing the crime scene. After the murder, Raskolnikov's battle with his conscience becomes very one-sided. Paranoia gets the better of him when he decides to kill Lizaveta too for good measure. At this point he wants to make sure that there is nothing and no one who can take him. Fear is leading him to destruction as his conscience has taken over him. «It's definitely not starting already! Surely it's not my punishment coming upon me? AND!' Raskolnikov is haunted by possible evidence of his crime. The phrase "come upon me" suggests two interpretations of the passage: that the initial stage of Raskolnikov's punishment is meted out by a force of justice (sometimes interpreted as God) and that Raskolnikov is personifying the punishment as a force of justice itself. The wave of guilt and paranoia manifests itself in the disease. In addition to Raskolnikov's fever and sometimes unconsciousness, his mental instability causes him to lose all sense of reason. His pride and complicated relationships with Sonia Dostoevsky show the frenetic nature with which Raskolnikov sees himself, and that his reason is failing himand his uncontrollable mind: “In the darkness of the evening he was brought back to consciousness. God, what screams they were! Never before had he heard such unnatural noises!” Raskolnikov's symptoms of bipolarity and psychosis demonstrate his true instability due to the murder, loss of interest in everyday actions, anxiety and problems with sleep show that he has swallowed his guilt. His pride and narcissism momentarily disappeared and this brought out Raskolnikov's true fear of doing what is wrong in the eyes of "God". Here the true power of religion and morality has overwhelmed him; his attempt to establish the "truth" of his superiority only led to the failure of what he had imagined. During Raskolnikov's mental torture, Zamyotov, an employee of the St. Petersburg Police Department, encounters a still-ill Raskolnikov after stumbling into a tavern. He leads Zamyotov through an almost mocking conversation in which he seems to be on the verge of confessing: “Raskolnikov's eyes flashed; he became terribly pale...A terrible word trembled on his lips, like the hook of that door: one more moment and it would have jumped out; one more moment and he would have let go; just a moment longer and we would have talked!” Raskolnikov reflects on what he is about to say, aware of the risk of blurting out a confession. However, this highlights his desire to free himself from guilt that is impossible to ignore, and it seems crazy to Zamyotov. Dostoevsky also uses anaphora when he repeats the phrase “another moment”. This further highlights how uncontrollable Raskolnikov's need to confess is, either because he feels guilty or simply because he has allowed the constant conversation about the murders to overwhelm him. Reaching the height of his guilt, Raskolnikov finds himself in pure isolation; he knows he's on the brink of madness and, desperate, needs the pressure lifted off his shoulders. Taking the first step towards rebuilding his soul and reuniting with humanity by finally confessing the truth to someone, he decides to visit Sonya, a merciful and suffering prostitute. His choice of confidant highlights his eternal pride; being able to talk to someone who will take pity on him means he can manipulate his image and maintain his reputation. Furthermore, Raskolnikov's underlying love for Sonya signifies the trust he must have in her, his emotions towards her make her somehow worth a reason for confession, despite his battle between what is right and his reputation: "I have to tell him." No, I can't tell him. But I have to do it. But I can't." Meeting her, he attempts to justify his murder to Sonya before admitting it. He argues that, in some circumstances, it is better to kill one person than allow many people to suffer. But Sonya, invoking Christian teachings, says that killing is always wrong, even if killing would save others. He argues that killing cannot make one extraordinary: “Oh hush, hush,” cried Sonia, clasping her hands, “You have turned away from God and God has struck you, he has handed over to the devil!” The moment of revelation is oblique. Raskolnikov does not yet have the fortitude to say the truth out loud about what he has done. But he knows that Sonia implicitly understands the cost of what Raskolnikov has done alive, a part of him is as dead as the two women he killed. In that moment, however, Sonia lives a harrowing life of struggle, working as a prostitute so that her family can eat, but her life is a paradise compared to others. he hell that Raskolnikov created for himself. Dostoevsky explains that no poverty and physical suffering can be compared to the suffering of the soul. True happiness does not come from position.