I was not surprised when Raskolnikov fulfilled his dark desire to kill Alyona Ivanovna. Something inside him was pressuring his mind that this was the right thing to do, but he did not have the exact answer to the question ‘why’. Like when he helped Marmeladov, or gave the police money to help the disheveled girl on the sidewalk, he continuously goes back and fourth contemplating what he should do. I still do not know if I would consider Raskolnikov to be evil or a killer, and I do not know if as a reader I should be siding with him or not. His unstable attitude I think will lead to extreme guilt or to him blowing his cover.
I still do not think that he is in a cohesive mental state. Something about him made him take that overheard conversation about killing Alyona so seriously. Many people talk of serious or dangerous things hypothetically, but he took it to heart. His mental state caused their words to be more persuasive then intended, and that may also be due to his background. The letter from his mother and the dream of witnessing men beat a dead horse show that the way he is now may not have been a recent switch. However, the mother’s letter shows that she may not realized the full condition of Raskolnikov’s state of mind. His once new and expensive hat that is now worn and torn to pieces tell us that something recently made him snap, and the result was the death of Alyona. I do not think she deserved what happened to her, but its interesting that Raskolniko this she does.
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