Raskolnikov's Dual Personality In Crime And Punishment

Raskolnikov’s Dual Personality as Shown Through Doubles

In Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov displays two distinct personalities that become the main source of tension and conflict in the novel.

One side of his personality is cold, calculating, proud and intellectual. When he displays this side of his personality, he believes his reasoning to be completely rational and empirical, although it does not appear so from an outside perspective. This reasoning leads him to develop his theory on crime and criminals, and ultimately to commit a murder himself. Without this side of Raskolnikov’s personality, there would be no crime and thus no conflict in the novel.

The other side of his personality is warm, compassionate and family-oriented.

In order to highlight these dual personalities and the tension between them, Dostoevsky uses doppleganger figures that are faced with similar conflicts and decisions as Raskolnikov, but often make drastically different decisions based off of their own balance of these two contrasting aspects of personalities. Specifically, the contrast between Raskolnikov and: Marmeladov, Sonya, and Svidrigailov are used to highlight the tension between his dual

The presence of Marmeladov highlights the pride caused by the first side of his personality as a vice he cannot escape, while also demonstrating the importance of the second side of his personality in curbing the effects of his vice on his family. Svidrigailov and Sonya are personifications of the two sides of his personality and show the extremes of the different moralities that result. Sonya is the personification of the warm, compassionate and family-oriented side of his personality, and shows the anguish that results from extreme morality in the face of difficult decisions. Svidrigailov is the personification of the cold, calculating, proud and intellectual side of his personality. When Svidrigailov says to Sonya “there are two ways open for [Raskolnikov]: A bullet in the head or Siberia” (Dostoevsky 500), he effectively highlights the two actions that would result from a resolution of Raskolnikov’s inner conflict. Either he can let the first side of his personality win and kill himself to save his pride and superiority, as Svidrigailov did, or he can let the second part of his personality win, and search for redemption through hard labor in Siberia, with Sonya by his side. By placing these characters in close contact with Raskolnikov, especially directly before his decision to turn himself in, Dostoevsky dramatizes and personifies the mental