Raskolnikov's Inner Conflict In Crime And Punishment

Crime and Punishment exposes us to a character who is engrossed by his dueling personalities. Raskolnikov, throughout the novel, is shown as one of two people; a sensitive, caring, and compassionate person, or a dark and indifferent psychopath. His “dark side” is what leads to committing the murders of Alyona Ivanova and her sister. The personality battle presented in Raskolnikov after the murders show that it creates an inner conflict. This inner conflict grows and grows, becoming worse and worse until it drives him insane with guilt and forces him to confess to his act. Throughout the novel Raskolnikov is presented as a two faced killer who is incapable making decisions on his own and relying on fate to make them for him, similar to Macbeth.

He is currently contemplating some mysterious deed and will not reveal what that mysterious deed is, due to his indecisiveness of what he thinks it is to him. Raskolnikov wonders if this is merely just a thought or if he is seriously considering following through with the deed, and as he is finishing he attempts to shake it off by telling himself, “It is not that serious. It’s simply a fantasy to amuse myself; a plaything.” However, his tone immediately changes, “Yes, maybe it is a plaything.” (Dostoevsky,Pg.4)” Maybe”, that word just screams suspense, is he going to go through with the deed or is he going to suppress it under the pretext that it is just a thought. Raskolnikov’s conversation within his conscience points out confliction, he isn’t sure of what he is thinking about. The thought, the deed, has not even been mentioned yet, but we can see that he does not know what action to take. Raskolnikov’s struggle with inner conflict is shown throughout the entirety of the novel and nearly consumes him. We come to know why he is struggling with his inner conflict when we learn of the deed that is going through his

When acting on instinct Raskolnikov is kind, sympathetic, and has pity for others, but his feeling of superiority can lead him to mistreat those people. When he shows compassion for other people he counteracts it by feeling upset for doing a good deed. When he leaves money for a friend and his poor family, he says, “What a stupid thing I’ve done, they have Sonia and I want it myself.” ( Dostoevsky 27) or when protects a drunken girl from older man. The fact that Raskolnikov cannot make an instinctual action points to the confusion consuming his mind. The idea that he is superior goes to the trash can because he shows regret for making decisions that seem to be