After reading the first section of the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, I am unimpressed with the main character. I find that Rodion Raskolnikov is confusing and unrelatable, and that his motivations are unclear. He wanders aimlessly through the streets of St. Petersburg, talking to himself, and contemplating the murder of an old woman who has only ever been mentioned in Raskolnikov's previous ramblings. No reasons are given for his murderous intentions, and since I don't know the woman, I can't make inferences as to why he would want to kill her.
Not only are Raskolnikov's motivations not mentioned, but his actions are inconsistent, making his personality difficult to pinpoint. The best example of this happens early in the book, while Raskolnikov is wandering the streets of St. Petersburg. He runs into a young woman, drunk, with a torn dress, who he realises has just been raped. He notices that she is being followed by a man whose intentions are clearly less than honest. Raskolnikov becomes worried about the girl, and decides to tell a police officer what has happened.
"Look how her dress is torn, look how it's put on; she's been dressed, she didn't do it herself, and it was clumsy male hands that dressed her...and now look over there: that dandy I was going to fight with is a stranger to me...but he too noticed her on the way just now, drunk, out of her senses, and he's dying to come intercept her - seeing what state she's in - and take her somewhere..." (Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment 48).
At this point, it seems that it would be easy to judge Raskolnikov's character; his concern makes him look like a kind-hearted, honest and just man. However, Raskolnikov soon changes his mind.
"At that moment it was as if something stung Raskolnikov, as if he had been turned about in an instant.
'Hey wait!' he shouted after the moustached policeman.
The man looked back
'Forget it! What do you care? Leave her alone! Let him have fun' (he pointed to the dandy)..." (49).
Raskolnikov's sudden change of heart left me confused, and questioning whether I will ever be able to understand him, and because of this, whether I will ever be able to truely enjoy the book.
This is a good response. You have used the novel well to help you reveal your thinking. Why do you think he was portrayed this way by the author (of course you cannot say for sure...)?
ReplyDeleteWhat would have made it better for you? If his motivations were clear? Why do you think the author would have begun by placing Raskolnikov in this situation, against the 'other man' with the evil intentions?