The middle of Crime and Punishment has proven to be very complex and dramatic. After witnessing the crime, the two murders of Lizaveta and her half sister Alyona Ivanova by the main character Raskolnikov caused all the excitement within the novel to really burst. It was when I went back to the beginning did I remember who Alyona Ivanova was and then did all of the puzzle pieces fall into place. It made sense why he was acting so strange the day he went in to her apartment. The crime itself was written very well, Dostoevsky has a nice flow in telling the climax of the story,I had the whole scene play vividly through my mind. A part of the novel that I think is important was the dream Raskolnikov has prior to the crime. The nightmare told the story of a young boy watching as an old mare is beaten to death. This part is significant because it tells a story of a very cruel act and brought out my fear and sadness. I think this dream may have foreshadow what Raskolnikov was planning to do.
The drama between his mother, sister Dunya, and her fiance is effecting Raskolnikov in a very negative way. It brings out more of his mysterious illness, and keeps me wondering what he exactly suffers from. Dostoevsky also reveals the knowledge that Raskolnikov has one friends from the university; Razumikhin which rules out him possible being anti-social. What really struck me as important was the way he behaved in the Police office, I predict that if he can not control himself around the authorities then maybe he will eventually spill the beans. My opinion of the novel is that its exciting and worth the while only when important events are taking place. Otherwise it seems to be progressing quite slowly. I'm hopping the ending will be just and worth reading.
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I totally agree with what you said about the crime scene "playing vividly through [your] mind", because for me that was the only part of the book where I wasn't droning through it, waiting for the chapter to end. I got really into it, and I kind of felt like i was watching a movie, not reading one of the most boring books I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteI think the purpose of Raskolnikov's dream was to explain a childhood trauma, so that we can understand where his insanity began, because some people who develop mental illnesses have experienced some massively traumatizing moment in their childhood. So I can't really agree or disagree with what you said about the dream foreshadowing his murders. I feel as if the childhood trauma impacted him in such a way that would lead him to commit such a heinous crime. That's why I think Dostoevsky wrote about the horse being killed; I feel like he was saying why Raskolnikov would do it, not when.
The crime was in fact very compelling and interesting to me as well. He did use vivid descriptions to depict this scene. In addition, I agree in the thought that throughout the story one wonders what he is really suffering from. I hope that at the end, one is able to find out.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the dream, however, I think this is a direct relation to Dostoevsky's real life. The main character is very puzzling but at the same time, seems like a character that has many qualities of a real human being today. In my opinion, the dream along with the character himself has a lot of connection to the author of the story.