Raskolnikov’s thrill in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment
“When you are destitute, there is nothing” (10). In Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment a lonely, poverty-stricken peasant named Raskolnikov is faced with pure destitution. Most Russian citizens in the 18th century seemed to be as well. Raskolnikovs’ life was utterly boring; he dropped out of school, was constantly alone, and feared people. He had no excitement in his life whatsoever. Due to his lack of company and excitement in life, Raskolnikov kills his pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanova and her sister, Lizaveta because it gives him a rush. Throughout the novel his thrill is made evident, whether it is before, during, or after he committed the crime. Eventually, his thrill for murder transforms …show more content…
When being questioned about where he was during the slaughter of the sisters, Raskolnikov “shakes from head to toe” (101) because his thrill incarcerates him. Later on, he makes acquaintance with a policeman, Razumikhin, who finds him so intriguing that he wants to introduce him to the chief clerk. As soon as Raskolnikov hears about the clerk he says, “Did I say something when I was delirious?” which confuses Razumikhin, so he responds, “why are you getting so excited?” (120). Raskolnikovs’ thrill of murder is so intense that he goes insane whenever he gets the slightest idea that he is a suspect. His insanity gets so extreme that at a certain point where he is talking to himself, he almost confesses in front of a crowd when he says “’what were you scared of? That I’d be accused? Why were you scared if you felt you were innocent’” (133). Later on he is speaking to a policeman about the pawnbroker and a sudden sensation seizes him, “he broke out in nervous laughter…and in a single flash he remembered…standing behind the door with an ax” (156). His subconscious is so caught up in the act that he never really develops. Raskolnikovs’ body and mind are stuck at the crime scene, and they don’t seem to have any motivation to move …show more content…
It struck him as if he were falling asleep, slowly and then all at once. He did not expect it, nor did he welcome it at first, but when he meets Sonia, his entire life changes. When he first sees her, there is an automatic change. Instead of fearing and loathing her at first sight, as he would do with any other person, he describes her as “modest and attractive” (227). She asks him to join a ceremony the next day, and instead of shying away, his “pale face took flame … a shudder past through him, his eyes lit up” (228) and he promised to try and come. The physical effect she has on him is the same that he gets from doing evil. She makes him lose control of himself. When going on another rampage about his life, he realizes that Sonia “must be the same as [him]” (265), and then he loses consciences from the thrill of his revelation. He has finally found somebody worth his time. At that point, he realizes he loves her, and his thrill for love overrides his thrill for evil. After asking for forgiveness and feeling great about it, he tells Sonia, and “he felt a strange, unexpected sensation” (389), this sensation was love. “He did not know himself how it happened, but something seemed to seize him...[and he realized] he loved her infinitely…love resurrected him” (521) from his evil. After this realization he was no longer raskolnik, no longer split between his desires. Love changed him; it transformed his thrill of evil into thrill of
“When you are destitute, there is nothing” (10). In Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment a lonely, poverty-stricken peasant named Raskolnikov is faced with pure destitution. Most Russian citizens in the 18th century seemed to be as well. Raskolnikovs’ life was utterly boring; he dropped out of school, was constantly alone, and feared people. He had no excitement in his life whatsoever. Due to his lack of company and excitement in life, Raskolnikov kills his pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanova and her sister, Lizaveta because it gives him a rush. Throughout the novel his thrill is made evident, whether it is before, during, or after he committed the crime. Eventually, his thrill for murder transforms …show more content…
When being questioned about where he was during the slaughter of the sisters, Raskolnikov “shakes from head to toe” (101) because his thrill incarcerates him. Later on, he makes acquaintance with a policeman, Razumikhin, who finds him so intriguing that he wants to introduce him to the chief clerk. As soon as Raskolnikov hears about the clerk he says, “Did I say something when I was delirious?” which confuses Razumikhin, so he responds, “why are you getting so excited?” (120). Raskolnikovs’ thrill of murder is so intense that he goes insane whenever he gets the slightest idea that he is a suspect. His insanity gets so extreme that at a certain point where he is talking to himself, he almost confesses in front of a crowd when he says “’what were you scared of? That I’d be accused? Why were you scared if you felt you were innocent’” (133). Later on he is speaking to a policeman about the pawnbroker and a sudden sensation seizes him, “he broke out in nervous laughter…and in a single flash he remembered…standing behind the door with an ax” (156). His subconscious is so caught up in the act that he never really develops. Raskolnikovs’ body and mind are stuck at the crime scene, and they don’t seem to have any motivation to move …show more content…
It struck him as if he were falling asleep, slowly and then all at once. He did not expect it, nor did he welcome it at first, but when he meets Sonia, his entire life changes. When he first sees her, there is an automatic change. Instead of fearing and loathing her at first sight, as he would do with any other person, he describes her as “modest and attractive” (227). She asks him to join a ceremony the next day, and instead of shying away, his “pale face took flame … a shudder past through him, his eyes lit up” (228) and he promised to try and come. The physical effect she has on him is the same that he gets from doing evil. She makes him lose control of himself. When going on another rampage about his life, he realizes that Sonia “must be the same as [him]” (265), and then he loses consciences from the thrill of his revelation. He has finally found somebody worth his time. At that point, he realizes he loves her, and his thrill for love overrides his thrill for evil. After asking for forgiveness and feeling great about it, he tells Sonia, and “he felt a strange, unexpected sensation” (389), this sensation was love. “He did not know himself how it happened, but something seemed to seize him...[and he realized] he loved her infinitely…love resurrected him” (521) from his evil. After this realization he was no longer raskolnik, no longer split between his desires. Love changed him; it transformed his thrill of evil into thrill of