Raskolnikov Personality

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Recommended: Transformation of raskolnikov in crime and punishment

After reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, I felt strong relation to each and every character in the novel, whether it was Pyotr Petrovitch self-absorbed and or egocentric nature, or Porfiry's psychological questioning of Raskolnikov. Every character has a different nature about them, therefore providing me a different perspective of their actions. In reading Crime and Punishment I had a greater interest in the lead character, Raskolnikov, I was very observant of his actions, thought process and role in the entire novel and found them to be quite interesting. Raskolnikov’s name means “schismatic” or “split” which by his personality and decision making process led me to believe that he has split personalities and or bipolar …show more content…

“He had decidedly withdrawn from everyone, like a turtle into its shell, and even the face of a maid who had the task of serving him, drove him to bile and convulsion”. At one point he wants to be alone, he withdraws from society, yet later on in the novel he wants to do the exact opposite. Raskolnikov was not used to crowds and, as has already been mentioned, fled all company, especially of late, but now something suddenly drew him to people”, this happens on multiple occasions, his sudden change of heart for things. I believe there is a moral and immoral side to Raskolnikov thus creating the theory of bipolar disorder. For example, when his friend Marmeladov is killed in a terrible accident Raskolnikov offers the family 20 roubles, because of Marmeladov's family’s destitute situation, though later on he seems to regret his decision because it was the rest of his money. In one situation he also saves a drunken woman from being taken advantage of, even offering her money as well. This especially goes to show in Dunya and Pyotr’s marriage, he notices Pyotr’s bad intentions towards Dunya, who he loves, therefore telling her “I do not want this marriage and therefore you must refuse him tomorrow”, even telling her to choose between either him or Pyotr, however awhile later he tells

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