Raskol
In his book Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky explores the path of Raskolnikov, the protagonist of the story, who has many problems and obstacles throughout his life. He commits murder and is faced with the long and mentally painful journey of seeking redemption.
The interesting fact about Raskolnikov lies in his name itself. His name comes initially from the Russian word raskol and means schism or split which can be seen as one small, hidden door which has the ability to open another one to Raskolnikovs mind.
Raskolnikov seems really to possess a dual personality in the beginning of the story.
Perhaps the best and first description of Raskolnikov occurs in Part Three, Chapter 2 when Razumihkin tries to explain to Raskolnikovs mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, and to his sister, Dunya how Raskolnikov has been acting lately:
He is morose, gloomy, proud and haughty, and of lateand perhaps for a long time beforehe has been suspicious and fanciful. He has a noble nature and a kind heart; he does not like showing his feelings and would rather do a cruel thing than open his heart freely. . .Its as though he were alternating between two characters.
His friend Razumihkin seems to have already figured out what is going on in Raskolnikovs mind. Not that he understands it completely but he has a slight idea about his friends mental situation.
Raskolnikov indeed is best described as split up person and if you just consider that in the first place you will notice that actions in the novel that seem to be contradictory are a result of these two extremes of Raskolnikovs personalities.
The first part of the novel deals with the committed crime.
The crime was a result of a theory Raskolnikov developed over years which also influenced his way of thinking in immense ways. Raskolnikov reasons that by murdering the old pawnbroker, he will be removing a harmful louse from society. His theory states that there are two groups of men on the world, ordinary and extraordinary men. Extraordinary Men are a step above the normal. Raskolnikov cites such extraordinary men as Newton, Mahomet, and Napoleon who have/had the ability to overstep normal bounds and violate the rights of those who are simply ordinary. In his belief all great men capable of giving something new to society must not submit to the common law because if they do they cease to be great. Great men create new laws by their discoveries and therefore should have the right to eliminate a few men in order to make their new discoveries known to all of humanity.
However, one of the problems is that Raskolnikov thinks that he is one of these great men but is not sure about that. The murder thats why is the result of this intellectual side, trying to determine whether or not he fits his extraordinary man theory. It was this side of his personality that develops the crime and carries out his plan, forcing the humane side to suffer for his actions. Therefore, one aspect of his character is a cold and inhumane, striving for individual power and self-will.
Another character that shows the same way of acting or in other words represents one of the two opposing aspects of Raskolnikovs nature is Svidrigailov. All of Svidrigailovs acts are performed so as to give him pleasure and to place him above common morality. Thus, as Raskolnikov could commit a murder because of his theories, so can Svidrigailov rape a 15-year-old mute girl for his own satisfaction gratification (right word?). The difference however is that both characters, let they be as similar to each other as they possibly could be, have different endings at the end of the story. Raskolnikov goes to prison and Svidrigailov commits suicide after he realizes that Dunya will never love him the way he loves her. Maybe this could be seen as a symbol that is supposed to show us that Raskolnikov could have ended up differently if he had made a different decision. But this is just speculation.
But what about Raskolnikovs other character side?
In accordance to his friend Razumihkin again Raskolnikov also has an aspect of his character which is the warm and compassionate. This becomes visible in his charitable acts (for example he gives the policeman in the beginning of the book a few Rubel to help this young, drunk lady).
In addition after the murder and before his confession to Sonia, Raskolnikov becomes ill and unconscious. I believe that Raskolnikovs suffering, his illness, his terrifying nightmares and his failure to confess in the beginning are consequences of his still existing good and human side. Although Raskolnikov verbally attacks Sonia for her religious beliefs, calling her crazy, suggesting suicide, and saying, But perhaps there is no God at all, seem to be something like anger and hatred in the first moment but actually just show how totally insecure Raskolnikov is and that he doesnt know how to handle the situation. Thus his human side is visible because guilt is always a sign of understanding that you did something wrong. On the one hand, Raskolnikov thinks of himself as a sort of superior human. On the other hand, it seems that he realizes as the novel progresses that he is just a part of common humanity.
The character that follows this scheme, a character that represents the warm human, compassionate, charitable aspect of Raskolnikovs, is Sonya. She is the meek and submissive personality.
However, is you have figured that out the problem of the novel opens a different door to the understanding of the story itself in general. It is now about the concept how to bring Raskolnikov back into one functioning character, which is partly Sonyas (she gets him to confessthis is the first step) but also and I would say mainly Porfirys task.
Porfiry is a master of the psychologically and he trusts in the fact that laws aren't just handed down to us but that they mark out human nature and must be followed. He understands the affect that breaking the law has on the human mind. Breaking the law means putting yourself apart from your fellow human beings. This leads simultaneously to a central question of the book: Are laws just arbitrary human developments or are there psychological laws which govern our behaviour in societies?
In fact, Profiry explains to Raskolnikov that the reason the criminal will turn himself in is that the criminal "can't get on without us . . . because suffering, Rodion Romanovich, is a great thing . . ." Profiry means that the criminal needs the police and the suffering because this is the nature of things; human nature.
Finally Raskolnikov goes to prison for seven years in Siberia (the second step).
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