paragraph 3

A surprising fact about this book is the fact that the “crime” occurs so early in the novel. The rest of the book, Raskolnikov suffering from what he has done, is the “punishment”. The type of punishment that Raskolnikov occurs seems to surprise many as well. More than likely, most authors would have had the character commit the crime, and then the rest of the novel be a depiction of him or her evading the authorities or perhaps their time incarcerated. All of these choices Fyodor Dostoevsky made essentially boil down the same concept that runs the majority of the novel, guilt. After all, almost the entire novel is focused on the effects that guilt has on the character solidifying the idea that Dostoyevsky thought it was a relevant topic. Readers slowly start to see the guilt sink in at first, and then realize a few pages later how far Raskolnikov has truly come. Initially, it is easy to think that he is just losing his mind or even mentally ill, but the idea how or why all of this is happening to him eventually comes across a reader’s mind. The most obvious answer is guilt. All of the scenarios that Raskolnikov initially showed his progression into delusion are related with this guilt. Whenever anybody mentions anything about the crime, he is virtually incapable of remaining calm like one would think he should do. He instantaneously becomes fidgety, uncomfortable, and begins speaking of nonsense. At several points in the story, in fact, Raskolnikov even loses consciousness and falls to the ground. This evokes feelings of pity towards Raskolnikov as it shows that he, under it all, is truthfully just a scared kid plagued with a few very serious mental disorders. Having that image of a scared kid is important in being able to compare Raskolnikov from his life a year earlier. He was described as a young, intelligent man trying to support himself in the big city, but “hopelessly in debt” to his land lady despite tutoring children to bring in extra income aside from his studies. Seeing that a person, and this person, a relatively successful and level-headed young many, can fall this far from reality partially from the role that guilt played in his mind is astonishing. It helps to convey the raw power of the mind and what it can do to harm its host. Despite from being delirious and passing out in several instances, Raskolnikov is notably a much meaner character than he was before the crime. The letter that Raskolnikov receives from his family about his sister’s engagement sets him into pure fury as he berates them out loud. There is no way that news of this kind could provoke this type of reaction from a mentally stable individual, an individual trying to cope with some serious problem in their life; guilt.