Part III: Chapters 1 - 3

These last few chapters seem to have been the most light-hearted portion of the story, thus far. That is probably so, because this part of the piece is dedicated primarily to Raskolnikov’s foil, Razumikhin. His overwhelming affections toward Dunya are portrayed almost as him being naive. Regardless, a shift to focus on a character other than Raskolnikov, who continues to suffer from fainting spells which one can only assume are brought on by his guilt. An important part did occur in this book, however, as Zossimov becomes the first character to label Raskolnikov as mentally ill, which I happen to agree with. Another aspect that seemed to be different in this portion of the novel was how Dunya was portrayed. In the earlier parts of the book, Dunya was made out to be an airhead concerned only about her future based upon Raskolnikov’s reaction to her engagement. In reality, Dunya seems to be quite level-headed making a plot to prove that her fiancé is truly in love with her. This deviation from what Raskolnikov stated earlier in the book further confirms that Raskolnikov is most likely mentally insane as he is incapable of seeing what is going on around him in an accurate fashion. I cannot help but be reminded of my psychology class as I continue this novel. Raskolnikov’s blatant disregard for everyone around him combined with his incessant hallucinations lead me to believe that he may be suffering from schizophrenia. Specifically, Rakolnikov had not seen any of his family members for several years until this point in the book. Unlike a rational person would, Raskolnikov greats them harshly criticizing his sister for getting married without his consent. My pre-mature diagnosis alternates between this and pure narcissism. Raskolnikov seems virtually disgusted with the entire society around him, when it is him, in reality that has committed a crime more heinous that any of them. It is ironic that Rakolnikov expresses such disapproval with those around him despite their continual efforts to help him return to a normal mental state when all of his friends and family have more than enough of a right to disown him for how he is treating him, yet they continue their efforts. I can imagine that Raskolnikov is unconsciously doing this in order to make him self feel less guilty for the murder he has committed. One can tell, however, that Raskolnikov’s emotions are actually starting to break through the wall of consciousness that he has been so zealously trying to conceal. Raskolnikov’s fainting at his sister’s comment about not having killed anyone shows how truly fearful he is for future as it appears only a matter of time before somebody connects his deteriorating mental status and bizarre behavior with the crime.