Jasmine Hiraldo
Crime and Salvation
October 17, 2018
Crime and Punishment
Duality in Crime and Punishment
In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the theme of duality is present throughout the entire novel. We are introduced to the main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, who suffers from multiple personalities. One side of his personality is cold, calculating, and intelligent. The other side is compassionate, caring, and wants to take care of those in need. This double personality is evident to those who frequently spend time with Raskolnikov, as we witness when Dmitri Prokofych Razumikhin describes his observation of this dual personality to Raskolnikov’s family, “‘Magnanimous and kind. Doesn’t like voicing his feelings, and would rather do something cruel than speak his heart out in words. At times however, he’s not hypochondriac at all, but just inhumanely cold and callous, as if there really were two opposite characters in him, changing places with each other.’” (Dostoevsky 215)
Fittingly, the first part of Raskolnikov’s last name, Raskol, translates into the words “to split” or “to break.” This is an insightful perception as Raskolnikov often struggles with dealing with both sides of his conflicting and, sometimes, almost warring personality throughout the novel.
When Dostoevsky introduces us to Raskolnikov, the character is a withdrawn man whose main struggle is not wanting to partake in any social interaction. However, when he accompanies Marmeladov to his house and sees how he and his family live, we see a compassionate side of him. When he recognizes the dire straits that Marmeladov is in and the extreme poverty in which his family lives, "Raskolnikov had time to put his hand into his pocket, to snatch up the coppers he had received in exchange for his rouble in the tavern and to lay them unnoticed on the window" (Dostoevsky 27) Though Raskolnikov is also poor, Raskolnikov gives money that he could have saved for himself and it to a family who he feels need it more. What is interesting is that, immediately after leaving Marmeladov’s apartment, Raskolnikov regrets this action and wishes he could take back his generosity. This change of heart is perhaps one of our first glimpses of Raskolnikov’s second personality. To complicate things more, after this change of heart Raskolnikov realizes that, even if he could take back the money and the gesture, he wouldn’t.
It is this side of him that wants to help those who cannot help themselves. For example, when Raskolnikov comes across the drunk young woman in the park, he immediately wants to rescue her from the older man who undoubtedly intends to take advantage of her. Raskolnikov succeeds in involving a police officer and even tries to give her the little money he has left to ensure that she will make it home safely in a cab. His concern might simply stem from a sense of kindness, but it is also possible that the sight of the helpless young woman reminded him of his younger sister and this trigged a sense of empathy.
Indeed, when it comes to his own family, Raskolnikov is very protective of his mother and sister. He understands the sacrifices that his mother and sister have made to ensure his success, though, again, a complicating factor is that he is resentful of them for making them. He thinks, “And what’s she doing writing to me: ‘Love Dunya, Rodya, and she loves you more than herself’? Can it be that she’s secretly tormented by remorse at having to sacrifice her daughter for the sake of her son? ‘You are our hope, you are our everything’! Oh mother…” Anger boiled up in him more and more.” (Dostoevsky 41)
Upon reading his mother’s letter, he is angered at the thought of his sister marrying Mr. Luzhin for money so that Raskolnikov can continue his studies. The thought of his mother and sister sacrificing their happiness based on the hope that he will finish school and secure a well-paying job torments him and the pressure of this thought only gives him an increased incentive to commit the gruesome murders.
Raskolnikov’s plot to murder Alyona Invanova, the pawn broker, is devised by his evil, cold, and calculating side though his reasoning for the murder seems in part to stem from the caring personality. He makes plans to murder the old woman, but does not follow through with them and commit the murder until he overhears men at a bar speaking about what an awful person Alyona is. From overhearing this conversation Raskolnikov learns that she is abusive to her sweet younger sister, Lizaveta. He also learns the time when she will be at home alone. This new knowledge convinces him that murdering her is almost a selfless act. It will not only help himself, but will also help people like Lizaveta and even bystanders who do not think she deserves to live.
Another aspect of Raskolnikov’s reasoning is his idea that extraordinary men have the right to ignore laws and moral codes if it will help their vision for the future. By this reasoning, only ordinary men are bound by laws and their own morals. During a conversation with Porfiry Petrovich, Raskolnikov explains his stance in the recent article he wrote on crime. In their conversation, Porfiry addresses Razumikhin, saying, ‘The whole point is that in his article all people are somehow divided into the ‘ordinary’ and the ‘extraordinary.’ The ordinary must live in obedience and have no right to transgress the law, because they are, after all, ordinary. While the extraordinary have the right to commit all sorts of crimes and various ways to transgress the law, because in point of fact they are extraordinary. That is how you had it, unless I’m mistaken?’” In response to this, Raskolnikov explains what he meant in his writing. ‘I merely suggested that an ‘extraordinary’ man has the right… that is, not an official right, but his own right, to allow his conscience to… step over certain obstacles, and then only in the event that the fulfillment of his idea- sometimes perhaps salutary for the whole of mankind- calls for it.’” (Dostoevsky, 259)
After he commits the murders, Raskolnikov is constantly torn between his two personalities. One on side he has the paranoid, guilt-ridden personality that has a conscience that causes him to become delusional. On the other side, he has his cunning side that is always thinking to cover his tracks and take the focus off of himself. These personalities almost fight for dominance over Raskolnikov as he struggles between the need to be an extraordinary man, and the guilt that his actions have caused.
His obsession with being an extraordinary man is ultimately his downfall. Raskolnikov possesses some qualities of an extraordinary person, such as his intelligence and his calculating nature, which make him think that he is more than just an ordinary man. However, after he commits the murders, he is consumed by the ever-growing guilt that he feels. Had Raskolnikov been an ‘extraordinary’ man, he would not feel such remorse. Instead, by his own standards, voiced in the article he has written, if he were truly an ‘extraordinary’ person he would feel that his actions were justified. This is evident during a conversation with Raskolnikov, Razumikhin and Porfiry about the article that he had written. In this discussion, Raskolnikov explains how his reasoning works. During the conversation, Porfiry brings up an interesting point. ““Because, you must agree, if there is some sort of mix-up, and a person from one category imagines he belongs to the other category and starts ‘removing all obstacles’ as you quite happily put it, well then…”” (Dostoevsky 262) This question is vitally important, as throughout the novel Raskolnikov is torn between wanting to believe he’s extraordinary, and being burdened with the knowledge that he is most likely not- due to his incessant need to placate his guilt.
Towards the end of the novel, when Svidrigailov tells Dunya, Raskolnikov’s sister, the truth about her brother, he tells her quite simply what we all know:
He got terribly carried with Napoleon- that is, essentially what carried him
away was that a great many men of genius disregarded isolated evil and
stepped over it without hesitation. He seems to have imagined that he, too,
was a man of genius- that is, he was sure of it for a time. He suffered greatly,
and suffers still, from the thought that though he knew how to devise the theory,
he was unable to step over without hesitation and therefore is not a man of
genius. (Dostoevsky 491)
Though this truth comes from a vile, despicable man such as Svidrigailov, he is correct about Raskolnikov. Throughout most of the book, Raskolnikov is prideful of his intelligence and his ability to keep the evidence leading away from himself. His ultimate fault comes from his overbearing conscience. The remorse that weighs Raskolnikov down ultimately makes him lose his mind, which is somewhat ironic as it seems he would have gotten away with the crime had he not felt so burdened.
Raskolnikov had remained one step ahead, even when he was delirious with paranoia. Thinking so far as to burn the clothing that had remnants of the women’s blood on it, cleaning and returning the bloody axe to its original home, burying the purse he had taken from the scene of the crime under a rock, all of these forensic countermeasures would have ensured that his crimes remained undiscovered. All of these actions are proof that some part of Raskolnikov would have been what he considered to be an ‘extraordinary’ man, had his moral compass been a little bit quieter.
After spending some time in prison, Raskolnikov has a moment of pure clarity. Though he no longer feels haunted by the guilt that had plagued him for so long, his clarity comes instead from accepting himself as an ‘ordinary’ person.
‘Now, what do they find so hideous in my action?’ he kept saying to
himself. ‘That it was an evildoing? What does the word ‘evildoing’
mean? My conscience is clear. Of course, a criminal act was committed;
of course, the letter of the law was broken and blood was shed; well,
then have my head for the letter of the law… and enough! Of course,
in that case even many benefactors of mankind, who did not inherit
power but seized it for themselves, ought to have been executed at
their very first steps. But those men endured their steps, and therefore
they were right, while I did not endure, and so I had no right to permit
myself that step.’ This alone he recognized as his crime: that he had not
endured it, but had gone and confessed. (Dostoevsky 544)
Raskolnikov is no longer tethered to the idea of being an ‘extraordinary’ man. It is in this moment, that he recognizes that had he moved past the uncontrollable urge to confess for him crimes that he would in fact be what he considers to be extraordinary. Though imprisoned, Raskolnikov is freed in a sense, from living a meaningless life. With some acceptance of his true nature, he is free to be happy with Sonya, and live out the rest of his prison sentence eager and hopeful to start his new life with her once he is released.