Raskolnikov’s guilt is setting into him to where he cannot even function. The book is about crime and punishment obviously, and its interesting that Dostoevsky took Raskolnikov to be the character to convey his ideas. Killers usually are not in a healthy state of mind, and to show that made me contemplate what Raskolnikov punishment “should” be. The overbearing guilt and paranoia of getting caught serves as an intense form of punishment. It was ironic and almost a tease to Raskolnikov for being called into a police station to be punished for debt yet not a murder.
I saw some connections to The Stranger when reading the descriptions of intense heat and just thought it was interesting how the hot setting effects the characters and their actions.
There were some more warning signs in Raskolnikov’s perhaps “true” character when it read, “he too grew suddenly angry and found a certain pleasure in it” (page 97). The dream of beating his landlady, especially a few chapters after the dream of beating the horse is pretty sickening. I am not sure if this is foreshadowing an attempt to kill the landlady. But if it is, I hope that his answers to needing money will not be to kill, because that can become a vicious cycle. It would be worse if he began to feel pleasure in his murders.
There is a big dichotomy between Raskolniov and Razumikhi. Razumikhi is trying to do the right thing and help Raskolniov, but I think the only one that can help him is himself. He won’t be able to get better unless he frees himself of the guilt, or possibly any new desires to kill to make money.
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