Raskolnikov’s Duality
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s (1821–1881) Crime and Punishment explores many aspects of its characters’ complex personalities. One mainly, its so-called “hero’ Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished student with a dual and often conflicting perception of himself, decides to murder a pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna. Raskolnikov’s primary intention for the murder is his self-belief that he wants to start a life for himself. In the novel, Raskolnikov’s character reveals that he committed the crime to prove his exceptional character. His character’s “traits” are what made him believe that he is some “savior” or “Napoleon” capable of changing the world with his ideas. Raskolnikov is described as “melancholic, moody, quick-tempered, proud, and generous to a fault” (David Magarshack, 1961). But his motives for the murder are a revelation of his narcissism and grandiose sense of self. It appears that when Raskolnikov committed the murder, he was in some mania. A so-called psychologist would call this a particular personality disorder, but it is a precedent of any human tendency.
I can admit that Dostoevsky’s heroes in most of his novels have been my personal favorites. During the most depressing and lowest points of my life, earlier in my teenage years, the characters’ tendencies in his novels reflected my worst and darkest thoughts. In Dostoevsky’s stories, he describes his character’s mood swings, the daddy issues, egomania, self-loathing, and love addictions. My mental illness’s peek was when I felt like my inner creativity and covert narcissism revealed itself. I had and still have serious self-esteem issues, yet during my manic episodes are the times when I have this false belief that I am soon to be one of the greatest, a unique talent the world needs to hear. The boasting I had of myself spiraled from an extreme mania that I can achieve anything, and suddenly, I would shoot myself down into a deep depression. I was pale and weak. The craze would suddenly show itself from sudden extreme happiness, talkativeness, and then suddenly, a quietness and hatred for myself and everything around me would emerge.
I have an affinity towards Raskolnikov because of his dualistic personality. The way he treats his mother, Mrs. Raskolnikov, and his sister Dunya is selfish yet thoughtful, hateful yet loving. Raskolnikov struggles with being right, but his worst characteristic traits get the best of him. Partly, I related to Raskolnikov’s shifting and unstable image of how he views his mother and sister. I, personally, an experience with my parents or people in my life. There are times when I am fond of them, but there are moments when I feel I know them too well that I hate them even at random times of the day. I would suddenly think of how they treated me as a child. They provided me things, but they were also hurtful, and I guess the anger I have towards them is the lack of perception they had of what I was going through personally. They lacked the emotional depth to realize my depression, anxiety, my self-destruction, and my anguish. For me, unconsciously, I guess that rage would appear randomly in my thoughts, and I would use the “perfect” moment to spit my anger at them. I never felt an emotional connection with them. Maybe as I grew older, that was why I struggled to form deep relationships, maintain friendships, or find confidence in myself. I can be fond of people for a few moments, and soon I would split on how I view them, they are now the worst people.
Most readers would view Raskolnikov’s character as extremely irritable, and we can view this on how he speaks to his mother. He is thoughtful towards her and worried about her, but her small-mindedness irritates Raskolnikov. Partly, this is something I also struggle with in regards to my mother. I worry about my mother, yet there are times I would suddenly turn ill-tempered because of the lack of profundity my mother would have in her thinking. I feel terrible for talking about her like this, but I get deeply irritated by the kind of self-talk my mother would have with me. I know I can’t blame her. It is not easy being a mother, and she is just doing her best in conversation, but I do not have that kind of patience. I’m not too fond of gossip, chitchat, and any of that sort, and I guess that is why I can appear to be a dull and distant person. I am attached to my mother, yet I still hold this bitterness against her for not knowing me as deeply as she could.
Raskolnikov’s name derived from the Russian word, Raskolnik, meaning dissenter, revolutionary, or separatist. Raskolnikov’s character views him as an “intellectual” and a kind of moralist that entitles him towards a disdain for humanity. His self-absorption and over-intellectualization made himself foolishly believe that he is a kind of moral exception that allows him to transgress from a particular law and order that will enable him to commit a murder. Yet, as the story moves forward, he starts to realize that he is merely ordinary, oblivious, and however, Raskolnikov still exempts himself from the murder he committed. What I find interesting about Raskolnikov’s character is the grasp of self-awareness he has of himself, yet at the same time, he does not know himself too well. A part of me relates to his extreme self-awareness to a fault, yet I don’t know myself too well. An image I have of myself would continuously shift. As I mentioned above, I would be so arrogant to think I am unique in all the world in my mania, yet I am just ordinary. I know myself, yet I have no personality.
I was ashamed of living with mental illness most of my teenage years, and it took me years until I finally reached out, yet right now, it is still a deeply personal struggle for me. I use writing, reading, walking as a form of coping for me because I still have so many things to unpack about my mental problems. Most days, I have not felt this stable and standard for the longest time, but there are times when the mental fog would come back to me, and it would be difficult for me to get out of bed. But now, I am trying to figure out a system that works to live with an illness and still be able to do things and have a life of my own. I feel a certain resemblance to Raskolnikov because his character speaks to me powerfully. My most vicious thoughts are voiced in a book, and I feel less insane.
References
Magarshack, D. (1961). Crime and Punishment (The Penguin Classics, Trans.). Great Britain, Bungay: Suffolk (Original work published in 1866)
