Comment on Sofia

Following Sofia’s comment, I found it interesting that the author decided to have two friends come and stay with Raskolnikov. In my opinion, this almost seems to have been included to show the abnormalities present in the young murderer’s behavior. As most would be welcoming of two friends looking to take care of another obviously in a state of mental anguish, Raskolnikov is quite the opposite, as Sofia states. Raskolnikov “hates their presence at his house” showing that he is clearly spiraling down into a dark psychological disorder. As Sofia noted, I noticed how guilty the poor artist seems to appear. I am wondering if perhaps he committed some other petty crime against the old landlady that is creating this sense of guilt as he is obviously not the one to blame for the murder of the woman. I, like Sofia, wonder why nobody has yet to question Raskolnikov as the murderer. I am beginning to think that mostly everybody is not familiar with the Raskolnikov that readers meet in the book. It is insinuated in preliminary parts of the novel that Raskolnikov was not always this individual. He was, at one point, a dedicated and intelligent student. I think that it is likely that people that know Raskolnikov still associate him with this stable college student, but may just fall under the notion that he has been going through a difficult time, a far leap from murder.