Crime and Punishment
The character Raskolnikov in the novel Crime and Punishment is among one of the most realistic and believable characters I have ever read about. He is also the most confusing and distraught man I have been introduced to this entire year. Raskolnikov possesses the most varying personality imaginable and this makes the reasoning behind his actions a mystery, especially in the case of the murder. Determining the rationale in killing the old pawnbroker is a complex process that necessitates deep thought from the reader. It is also a difficult point to argue because Dostoevsky's novel is so intensely detailed that different readers can emphasize different aspects of the book in order to attempt to explain Raskolnikov's deeds.Guilt as well as intellectual reasoning prove to be the main motivating factors behind the crime of Raskolnikov. Throughout the novel his actions are usually a result of his striking intelligence or his tormenting conscience, or in the situation of the murder, both. Raskolnikov's idea to kill the old pawnbroker stems from a theory he was developing. It was probable that during his studies at the university he was aquatinted with the popular philosophies of two German thinkers of the time.
He has the strongest will and is able to force his power over others simply to gratify himself or assert dominance. This drives Raskolnikov to confess his crime in order to again become a member of society. Everything Svidrigailov does is done to either give him pleasure or place him above the normal morality. I feel that this was the straw that broke the camel's back and impelled him to take action. However, it is not in Raskolnikov's nature to rely entirely on his intellectual reasoning to exonerate his crime. He feels that extraordinary men that act in this fashion drive civilization forward to new levels of accomplishment. sophers is George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who had formulated a conception of an exceptional individual he called a "superman". The Nietzschean superman does not need consolation from anyone and is able to live totally alone. They have no authority to break any laws and they live only to reproduce more of their own kind. To Raskolnikov, all men fall into two categories, the ordinary and the extraordinary. Nietzsche was a devout atheist who believed that either no God exists or that He was dead, so his superman is a man who, without fear of God, exerts his own desires completely. All of his individual ideas were there, but many connection discrepancies arise. One main contradiction in the theory is that he believes the murder was executed for the benefit of all men, but then in turn, believes that, as a superman, he should not be concerned with the plight of the ordinary man. Consequently, when he tries to stand alone, like a Nietzschean superman, he finds that he cannot bear to be cut off from the rest of humanity. Svidrigailov represents an almost perfect embodiment of the superman.
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