Crime And Punishment :: essays research papers

In the novel Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky portrays the main character, Raskolnikov, in a confused and unique fashion. He could have been portrayed as the good guy, hazardous guy, or just your average man on the street, but Raskolnikov is displayed with more than than one persona. "It would have been much easier for Raskolnikov to explain his weekness, but it was more good-natured for him to consider himself a strong man" (Chizhevsky 164). Raskolnikovs conceive of reveals that his genius is complex and double sided. His range of actions and emotions are more of a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde caseful character. On the outside, he appears to be in control of his raging homicidal tendencies, but he is full of turmoil on the deep down. Raskolnikovs fancy presents these different personas Dostoevsky has given him. His reverie also gives the reader a good, inside look into Raskolnikovs interior conflicts (Chizhevky 191). In the beginning of his dream, Raskolnikov is out in the street. He seems to be wandering around aimlessly, with no recollection of what he is supposed to be doing or why he is there. Meanwhile, everyone else in the dream is carrying on like nothing is wrong. Before delving into the significance of this scene, the reader moldiness note how important control is to him. He is an extremely proud man, and needfully to be in control of himself and everything around him at all times (Magill 222). In his view, everything in his life should revolve around him. The beginning of the dream represents the loss of this control in his life. It seems that no matter what he says or does, the world will continue to spin, and the people on it continue to go about their everyday business. He can almost be compared to the unexampled teenage girl that he finds wandering in the street overdue to the fact that any actions that this young girl takes makes no difference on the outside world (Chizhevsky 201). It is as though he has been psychologically se t on by the murders he has committed, but at this point he is bland unaware that he is no longer in control of his situation. No matter how he wants to feel or act, he cannot help his instinctual habits and desires (Mikhailovski 121). For instance, his health starts to fail him and he has this compulsive desire to reveal himself to the authorities and reality by turning himself in.