As the book progresses further and further, the true “punishment” following the crime ensues. Rather than a physical punishment as I had been expecting, Raskolnikov’s punishment has single-handedly been his own mental anguish brought own by his one sense of culpability. Almost appearing schizophrenic at many points with bizarre hallucinations and thoughts, Raskolnikov seems to be plunging further and further into a irreparable state of mental anguish. You can tell, however, that he is still fully capable of feeling normal human emotions after he tries to hide his guilt by burying the goods under a heavy stone. This literal burial is resemblant of a burial of Raskolnikov’s conscience as he seems almost unbelieving that he actually committed the murder of the old pawnbroker and her sister. The character of Razumikhin is turning out to be a foil character of sorts as he exaggerates Raskolnikov’s oddities by his pleasant personality and disposition. Razumikhin, thus far, seems basically to be the perfect citizen. Far different from Raskolnik, Razumikhin is notably willing to help and taking pleasure in living his life. Raskolnikov, on the other hand, alienates himself from the rest of the world more and more as each day passes. Razumikhin’s upbeat personality in such terrible conditions also brought to my mind the fact that it does not seem to have been the circumstances that pushed Raskolnikov to commit the murder. Both poor students, Razumikhin is the mirror image or Rakolnikov reflected onto the side of the path that most people take, that is the path that does not involve the crimes that Raskolnikov has committed thus far in the novel.
Thus far his guilt has served as his only punishment. To my surprise the punishment of guilt is far more severe then I would have expected. I just have not known anyone to take guilt to a level of this kind so its hard for me to imagine this actually happening, but you never know. I think that all his bizarre hallucinations and thoughts at least are not completely random and have nothing to do with his current situation. I think they all show an underlying aspect of his unconscious ideas and what make him up as a character. I think that its a really good way to put it that he tries to “hide his guilt by burying the goods”, however no matter how well you bury it, it will always still be there.
ReplyDeleteI think that Razumikhin could be seen as a foil character in a sense that he is what Raskolnikov could have been. Other then that they are opposites in how they both handled not being students anymore, but their reasons for not being in school are different. Razumikhin and Raskolnikov are both ex students, so I agree its true that it goes past simply circumstance to the reasons why Razumikin is trying to make a decent living and life, why Raskolnikov murdered two women for some money.