Homework: With the exception of Luzhin, most of the characters in the novel in one way or another are drawn to Raskolnikov. Some, like Razumikhin, Sonya, Dunya and Pulcheria, are devoted to him. Svidrigailov is fascinated by, and in his turn fascinates, Raskolnikov. Porfiry suspends his sardonic manner and professes a desire to help, even save, the young man.
Choose two characters and ascertain what it is that draws them to him. Come prepared with notes and marked passages to support your analysis.
Prompt: Why does Raskolnikov reject his family's and Razumikhin's attempts to solace and comfort him? Why, when they are at their most loving, does he express his most virulent feelings of hatred for them? Support your opinion with specific examples/quotes.
33 comments:
It does seem strange that Raskolnikov would feel such hatred towards those who love him most. However, I think from a psychological standpoint, it's clear that Raskolnikov may be in the midst of a reaction formation; a defense mechanism in which unacceptable emotions are disregarded by the development of the exact opposite emotion. To feel love for his family and friends would mean confessing his crime to them. Raskolnikov is a good person; if he were to feel love, he would feel compelled to tell his loved ones of his murders, which, at this point, he will not do. To protect himself from love, he feels an intense hatred for them.
I can't very well support that with quotes though, so let's look at it from a different angle, hmm? I believe he feels hatred not towards his family and friends, but for his situation.
"'Shsh, Mother, we shall have time to talk frely about everything!'
As he said this, he was suddenly overwhelmed with confusion and turned pale. Again that aweful sensation he had known of late passed with deadly chill over his soul. Again it became suddenly plain and perceptible to him that he had just told a terrible lie: that now he would never be able to talk freely about everything, that never again would he be able to talk freely about anything to anyone. The anguish of this thought was such that for a moment he almost forgot himself" (219).
These thoughts running through his mind are painful to him. He feels that he can't even speak freely to the people who love him most, and so he hates them for the very reason that they love him, and that they are there for him, when he can't love be there for them. The situation is torture for him.
On a note only slightly related to this, isn't there a quote that's something like, "Love and hate stand on two sides of a very thin line." Or, there was another one that went something like "The sweetest thing in life is love, and next to that is hate." I don't know. Haha, my thoughts for this blog sort of got me remembering (sort of) some love/hate quotes. Okay, I was curious so I browsed around online to try and find the quotes I was thinking of. I got the second quote more or less correct, but I couldn't find the first quote I "remembered" anywhere. Oh well... Nevermind, looks like I was probably thinking of "Love and hate are two sides of the same coin," or maybe "Love and hate are two sides of the same blade." Now that my mind's at ease, I think I'll be heading off.
Raskolnikov's reaction to the letter Pulcheria sent him about Dunya's engagement may give us some clue about the origin of and rationale behind his rude behavior towards his family. He may not want his family to sacrifice too much for his sake.
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Lets imagine that you have murdered two people. How would you handle yourself, a generally good person, around your family? Could you face them in the same way, or would it be hard, excruciating, to even look them in the eye? Such self-contempt and guilt would bar you from normal interaction. If your sister approaches you and gives you kind words, or a cheery hello, would you not want to turn away? I think it is mainly shame that made Raskolnikov rude to his family.
I'm somewhat worried that I'm making a blanket statement with what I've been saying, but I agree with Matt that he hates his situation and what he has to do/has done, rather than his family. Even Mr Duncan said last class that (paraphrased) "if any of you have taken any psychology, you'll know that these feelings are what he feels of himself". I believe it's just a projection of what he feels against himself. I will have to look up passages tonight and refine my post, but for now this is what I've got. I hope you don't mind, Mr Duncan, if I do a two-part post.
Raskolnikov’s hatred towards his family and Razumikhin is certainly odd, but not necessarily unexpected. Raskolnikov’s state of mind isn’t exactly where it normally would be if he hadn’t committed the murders, especially the one of “poor Lizaveta” (262). Although the hatred is directed at his family, I don’t think that it’s them he actually hates. The hatred he feels is actually for himself and the situation he is now in.
Raskolnikov hates himself for what he did (guilty about Lizaveta though probably not so much the pawnbroker) and that he can’t find a definite way out of being a suspect. The potential of being caught is constantly on his mind and he takes his frustrates out on the people trying to love and comfort him.
Another possible reason for his behavior is that he feels he doesn’t deserve the love of his selfless sister and devoted mother. He tries to distance himself from them so as to not drag them into his horrible situation. Raskolnikov likely also does it because of how highly they regard him and if they were to ever find out, it would be more than disappointing to them- especially his mother. He voices these thoughts by saying, “I went up to my mother and kissed her, I remember... To embrace her and think if she only knew” (262).
Much of the hatred Raskolnikov feels toward his mother and sister springs from resentment. Once he has committed the crime there is now a separation between Raskolnikov and his old life, a sort of 'crossing over' as I believe Mr. Duncan coined it. He no longer feels like he belongs in the company of those he once loved, he is no longer one of them. Instead he flees to those he feels himself deserving of their company- prostitutes, drunks, womanizers. This is his new life. He resents his mother and sisters presence because he does not feel worthy of them. He especially does not feel worthy of their love, which comes so unconditionally and he feels undeservedly.
"But why are they so fond of me if I don't deserve it? Oh if only I were alone and no one loved me.... Oh how I hate them all!" 493
Raskolnikov's theory, his entire mindset is based off of a black and white sort of justice in the world. He idealizes each person getting what they deserve, what is 'fair'. He should be punished because he is a criminal. He suffers under the weight of this knowledge and he rejects thougts of mercy. Mercy is what Dunia offers him after she loves him even after she knows he is a criminal. For them, he can do no wrong, and he hates this. He wants to be hated by them as he is hated by himself. He feels he deserves nothing but coldness and reprise, this he could accept more than loving affection. It is because of their open and unending love of him that he knows he is hurting them. He disappointments them continually, and even though they will not show it, he feels it. In a way they have put him on a pedestal from which he can only fall. He acts out childishly against them in tantrums, trying to get them to leave him alone, to abhor him, to scold him- but he only hurts them as they hold to him steadfastly. When he says 'oh how I have hurt these two women' he reflects that he knows he is hurting them, but he cannot stop, because he only wants to be left alone and hated.
He hates them because they continue to love him, but also because they remind of him of what he has done. How similar they are to the other two women he has hurt. Perhaps not in character or in appearance, but in age and countenance certainly enough to be a haunting reminder. How easily could someone else, someone like him, have chosen to kill these two as he chose the old pawn broker and Lizaveta. Another cold reminder is the similarity of Dunia and Raskolnikov. Both are strong willed, intelligent, and handsome, but there is an impassable separation between them. One has killed and one has not. Being around his familiar innocent only emphasizes Raskolnikov's own guilt to himself.
He feels guilty for hating them and for hurting them, and he feels guilty that they love. He feels guilty for the crime they remind him he has committed, and for all the disappointment in him they refuse to show. Underneath all of this guilt Raskolnikov substitutes his love of his mother and sister for another readily available passion, hatred. He hates them as he wishes they would hate him.
In considering Raskolnikov's sentiments towards his family and close friends, I cannot help but think again of his seemingly perpetual struggle to reconcile two, very different versions of himself: the Raskolnikov that he would like very much to be, and the Raskolnikov that he knows himself to be. It is a conflict that, in my opinion, he felt his murder of the pawnbroker would solve, as it would reveal to him whether or not he was indeed "a real ruler of men, a man to whom everything is permitted" (p. 291, in my edition), the Napoleon that he sought to emulate. However, as he makes clear in his despondent interior dialogue in chapter six of part three, he is never able to find an answer that truly satisfies him - he can only torment himself with the knowledge that such man as those who he admires are "not made of flesh and blood but of bronze" (p. 291 again); he can only realize that his murder of the pawnbroker is without proper justification, that the "old woman was probably a mistake" and that he is no more than an "aesthetic louse" for ever harming her. I believe that the kindness he receives from his family and close friends, the admiration and adoration that they bestow upon him, serves to only remind him of his failure. They see him as he once saw himself, as an idealist and an altruist, and they would prefer if he remained that way. They cannot fathom the change that has overcome Raskolnikov, the truth that he has forced himself to confront, and I believe he only recoils from them because he would much rather know the truth and live in sorrow than blind himself with denial.
To me, the explanation that makes most sense for why Raskolnikov rejects the love of his family is because he doesn’t feel he deserves it. He feels guilty about drawing them closer to him, as though they could be tainted by offering him their selfless love. I see him as being extremely conflicted by the whole thing—on the one hand, here is his family whom he loves dearly and who he wants to let in, but on the other, he has this huge horrible secret that could very jeopardize their feelings toward him and their very safety.
Surely it would make him guilty to allow them to love and support him so freely while he was withholding information from them—information that could potentially change the nature of their feelings. Could they still love him if they knew? Does he deserve to be treated with such kindness and compassion when he has murdered two women?
At the same time, he also has a sense of impending…doom? Perhaps that’s not the right word. But he knows that his life will continue to get more difficult as he tries to evade punishment. Because he knows this, he knows that he has to face it alone. He wants to push away his family so he cannot be distracted from what he needs to do, and so that he cannot drag his mother and sister down with him. Pushing away those he loves is easiest if he is harboring negative feelings toward them, just as someone might try to conjure feelings of anger before saying goodbye to a loved one, or something silly like that.
Agreeing with many of the people who posted before me, Raskolnikov lashes out at the attempts of comfort form his mother, sister, and friend not out of pure hatred. He in his experiment tested himself whether he was extraordinary. He killed, murdered two women whose likeliness he could sometimes see within his mother and sister. He is separate from them in the same way, Sonya is separated from the general population because she carries a yellowcard. (Which is one reason he identifies and seeks solace with her.) They are not like everyone else. He feels overwhelming regret, and sorrow that he can no longer be with them, but not hatred. During the scene with his mother, sister and Razumikhin, where Razumikhin suggests they take the money they all have and start a publishing business. Raskolnikov alarms them as he tries to separate himself from them. The reader learns that through his feeling of guilt as he is the cause of the rift, he shows he cares as he instructs Razumikhin, "I have nothing to tell you. Don't come to see me. maybe I'll come here....Leave me, but don't leave them." Raskolnikov intends that Razumikhin, his most trusted friend take over "his place with them as a son and a brother" the care of his mother and sister as he is unable to. (Part 4 Chapter 3)
Raskolnikov doesn't believe he deserves the love that comes from his family and friends. On a superficial level, he is burdened with guilt about how his mother and sister are sacrificing themselves for him. Dunia is willing to marry a pompous man for his sake and Pulcheria is loaning as much as she can to give her son all that is in her power. But more than that, it is his own self hatred that propels him to hate those who love him. After he killed the pawn broker and her sister, subconsciously he knows that he isn't be one of them (Razumikhin, Sonya, Dunya and Pulcheria) any longer. Raskolnikov cannot feel connected or close to his loved ones, because he marked himself with his own actions, killing two people. In his mind, he can no longer stay with people as pure as them. Also, their love towards him repels him, because he knows that he doesn't deserve it.
(“Yes, yes. … Of course it’s very annoying. …” Raskolnikov muttered in reply, but with such a preoccupied and inattentive air that Dounia gazed at him in perplexity.
(“What else was it I wanted to say?” He went on trying to recollect. “Oh, yes; mother, and you too, Dounia, please don’t think that I didn’t mean to come and see you to-day and was waiting for you to come first.”) Part 3 Ch 3 Page 2. In this scene, Raskolnikov is clearly treating his mother and sister with cold politeness that eventually angers them. he distances himself from them in a specific way as not to be openly annoyed at their presence, but not genuine and close as well. As others have said, he might be trying to distance himself from his loved ones to prepare them for the day that they find out about his crimes.
Part of Rasklonikov’s resentment stems from his resentment of all “normal” people after he commits the murder. He resents the fact that he is now different in status than all others on the street. He can no longer look at himself the same way, thus he separates himself from his family and friends. “I’ll try to be both courageous and honest all my life, even though I’m a murderer” (519). Raskolnikov believes that positive traits and being a murderer cannot coexist, and thus he must separate himself from those who are able to be courageous, honest, and loving. Thus much of his negative behavior towards his friends is he attempting to separate himself from his friends and family.
Going off the same premise, Raskolnikov also resents the fact that his friends and family would pity and forgive him. He feels he is undeserving of their love, as can be seen when he pushes away Razhumikhin. Even after he confesses to Sonia, he seems to refuse her forgiveness. He only accepts her forgiveness so that he would not “upset her”(422), but internally seems to be unwilling to accept. Like Krista said, Raskolnikov feels he only deserves a cold shoulder and resentment.
Finally, I believe Raskolnikov attempts to push away from his family and friends so that he will not become attached to them. He knows that at some point, he will either disgust them with his murder or have to go into exile because of his crime. Obviously, he is at least expecting to leave at some point, as he leaves the task of guardian to Razhumikhin. I think that he wants to leave his family with the least shock, by gradually pushing them away with his cold politeness.
I think the main reason Raskolnikolv is so antagonistic to his family and his best friend is that he feels hatred for himself and is displacing his anger to them. He loathes himself for his crime, calling himself a "louse" multiple times, worse than the evil pawnbroker that he murdered. I think he's using the Freudian defense mechanism of projection in the way that his dislike of himself is being warped into a dislike of the people he loves. It's easier to hate them for several reasons. Firstly, their love is unconditional; they might even and do forgive him for the terrible crime of murder. He isn't worried about losing their love, at least in the beginning. Near the end of the novel, Rodia goes to visit his mother and asks her, "Mother, whatever happens, whatever you hear about me, whatever you are told about me, will you always love me as you do now?" (488, Part 6, Ch. 7). Through all his suffering over his crime, he begins to doubt their love, but in the end, is reassured by all who do love him.
Secondly, they are easy scapegoats. Raskolnikolv is in some ways a coward because he doesn't own up to his wrongdoing til the very end of the novel. He just runs away from confronting the truth of the matter. He puts up this facade of being cynical and uncaring to try to mask the guilt and pain that he can't face.
Lastly, like some others above me said, he no longer feels like he deserves the love they give him. At the end of Part 6 Ch. 7, before he goes to confess, he asks himself, "But why are they so fond of me if I don't deserve it?" He's killed two innocent women. Even if the pawnbroker was mean to her sister, she didn't deserve such a grisly death and the guilt of doing that act makes him, in his mind, unworthy of love by anyone.
It does seem odd at first that Radkolnikov rejects his family. They show him love and support, but he seems indifferent to them. However I very much believe that he does not hate his family. I just think there is a gap between him and them now. He knows that he is no longer the same as his family. A murderer is not in the same class as ordinary, non blood stained people. He killed two women, his family also consists of two women. I just believe that there is a gap from the murder. Rodya and Dunya are quite simmilar in many respects except that Rodya is a murderer.
However I do believe his treatment of his family extends beyond the gap he feels from his family. I think he is treating the family the way he feels about himself and his situation. For example, If I messed up something, I am often a little more reserved and impatient with my family just because of my situation. He has not become the person that he wanted to be. He is basically extending his frustration and his knowledge that he did something heinous to his family.
In additon, I think its also the fact that his family supports him so much and that he is witholding such vital information about his life and the murder.
I think I will continue to read the blog every so often and comment on what other people have to say later.
" 'But how did I murder her? Is that how men do murders? Do men go to commit a murder as I went then? I will tell you some day how I went! Did I murder the old woman? I murdered myself, not her! I crushed myself once and for all, for ever .... But it was the devil that killed that old woman, not I'" (415 [Bantam]).
I may be really really off, because I'm not sure at all about why he does this. I'm thinking that he is traumatized by the fact that he kills somebody and that that is what makes him evade all of the people close to him. But then again, Mr. Duncan said to not dwell on that fact because it isn't going to get me anywhere. But I remembered that quote up there, and it seems to sum up the reason why he does it. Or in my head it does.
He murdered himself. He murdered the person that loved, not the person that they see now. He sold his soul to the devil, and he is now the devil. He does not want anymore intimate relationships because he is afraid that he will persuade them of doing certain things that they will regret for the rest of their lives. You guys know how Dounia and Alexa would do anything to help Ras. He knows that too, that they would give away their life earnings to help Ras out of a tough spot. He knows that they would give away their life to give him an opportunity to live if they had found out about Ras's dastardly crimes. I think that Ras does not want this to happen, that he wants them to live their own lives and not worry about him. Or he doesn't want them to be associated with something like the devil. He doesn't want them to be working with him. He doesn't want Porfiry to think that they were involved at all of his crimes.
I was also thinking about this one part in the book when Ras was thinking about how he wants them [Dounia and Alexa] to be with him, but when they come, he just wants them gone. Well, I was just thinking about how he killed two women, an elderly and a youngun. When Alexa and Dounia come in, he is reminded of the two women that he killed. But that does not explain why he emits such vehemence towards Razu.
Remember how when Ras first committed the crime, the first person that he came and found was Razu? But he did this all based on an impulse. He was not thinking about the reason why he was going to see Razu, he was not thinking about what he was going to say to Razu, he just felt a need to go to him. I think that also reminds him about killing Lizaveta. How after he killed the pawnbroker, he did not think about what would happen if he were to kill Lizaveta. He just did it. That causes him more pain and anger because that just proves to him how impulses are wrong.
OOORR, it could just be because he doesn't want the people closest to him to be near the devil. Razu is always talking about ways to renew his life and make it better by creating a publishing house, or helping Dounia and Alexa live in better conditions. Ras doesn't want that because I don't know why. He seems kind of hopeless, that once he's stepped over to the other side, he can't get back to the good side. But that doesn't make sense because why does he keep on pushing to read the uprising of Lazarus? There is that sense of hope then. I don't really know, everything he does just contradicts everything that he does and think.
Throughout the "punishment" period after Raskolnikov's murder, he goes through a severe change in attitude and view on people, especially towards the people who love him most. From a psychologist's perspective, it can be defined as displacing his agony within his mind, towards people around him. Which, in some sense, is what he is doing. I believe his virulent feelings towards Dunya and Pulcheria arise from the memory of murdering Lizaveta and Aliona. Because each character is a woman and similar in a way, Raskolnikov feels a sense of guilt and frustration that prevents him from portraying the true love the he has for his mother and sister. "A sudden intolerable awareness struck him like a thunderbolt. And he could not even lift his arms to embrace them. His mother and sister enveloped him ... He moved a step, swayed, and collapsed on the floor in a faint." (186) Also, from this stems a feeling that he does not deserve their unconditional love. He feels that because of the deed he has done, he is separated from Razumikhin and his family.
Part 2:
I reached my conclusion not by finding evidence for it, but finding evidence against him hating his family. "Mother, whatever happens, whatever you hear about me, whatever you are told about me, will you always love me as you do now?" (pg 488) Somebody who resents his family certainly wouldn't look to them for approval and hope that they are still love. It seems to me like Rodya is going through the stages of denial: he "accepts" the fact that the deed is done, but it is a false accepting because he is not prepared to turn himself in. He then denies it in fits of rage and fainting bouts, and ultimately accepts and tries to redeem himself: “I’ll try to be both courageous and honest all my life, even though I’m a murderer.” (519) I think the end-all statement I'm trying to make is that Rodya is in a stage of hateful denial, and that is why he rejects his friends and family.
Oo dang, hahaha I wrote Alexa instead of Pulcheria. Well, they're kinda the same thing, Alexa is like her middle name. As long as you guys know what I mean though :]
As everyone before has mentioned, I too think that the reason Raskolnikov is so rude and mean towards his family is because he is trying to spare them the pain. He is in constant fear of being caught and considers confessing on more than one occasion. As such, he knows that being related to a murderer will cause them great distress/sorrow. But for me I don’t think that his anger is actually anger for himself. I think that the anger he expresses is more of a way for him to distance himself from his family, not a displacement of feelings that he has for himself onto his family. I think that later, once he starts to sort of realize that he isn’t an “extraordinary” man, he begins to feel hatred towards himself, but his hatred towards his mother and sister starts even before he commits the murder. In part 1 chapter 3 he receives a note from his mother and after finishing it he then (in chapter 4) starts to criticize his mother and sister (and starts hating Luzhin for that matter.) He is angry at them for letting Luzhin take advantage of them, and he is also angry because they will be returning to the city. Surely he would not want his family to see him the way he is right now, and most certainly not after he has murdered the pawnbroker.
I may be completely analyzing this wrong but on page 46 (in B&N version) it states, “So he tortured himself, taunting himself with such questions, and finding a kind of enjoyment in it. And yet all of these questions were not new ones suddenly confronting him, they were old familiar aches. It was long since they had first begun to grip and rend his heat. Long, long ago his present anguish had its first beginnings; it had waxed and gathered strength, it had matured and concentrated, until it had taken the form of a horrible, wild and fantastic question, which tortured his heart and mind, clamoring insistently for an answer. Now his mother’s letter had burst on him like a thunderclap. It was clear that he must not now languish and suffer passively in thought alone, over questions that appeared insoluble, but that he must do something, do it at once, and do it quickly.”
Now, that is a really long quote and I wrote the entire thing because I think it takes that whole paragraph to grasp the point. There are two key points to this, first, that Raskolnikov mentions that the questions are old ones, his feelings are old ones, and that they aren’t recent developments. Never anywhere (at least that I can recall) does he actually mention a pure, complete hatred of his mother and/or sister. He has moments where he acts that way towards them, but he doesn’t hate them. Again I think he is trying to distance them from himself. Similar to what Thanh said, he represents a sort of evil and he doesn’t want to “taint” his family. The second important part is that despite these feelings and questions being old ones, he feels the need now to do more about it. My interpretation of this is that acts rudely, again to separate himself from them (he also acts angrily towards Luzhin, I believe, making his family less receptive to Luzhin as Dounia’s husband.)
That was kind of my thinking, because I really don’t think that Raskolnikov actually hated his family, and I don’t think he hated himself until much, much later in the novel. He thinks of himself as extraordinary, so why would he hate himself. But because what he is doing is “an experiment” he doesn’t want to risk dragging them down with him.
It is not a suprise that Rodia rejects his family and Razumikhin. After all, he turned his back on his morals, morals that his family most likely imparted towards him. By committing the murders, he knew he had to renounce himself from his family and friends. Raskolnikov is wallowing in guilt and an amount of stress because of his actions and distances himself from the ones that truly care about him. Rodia probably believes that if they came to know the truth, he would lose what existing respect they had for him. For him, it is better to know that they are still there for him in theory, rather than know that they have abandoned him, and that he had caused that.
I know that when I am stressed out or if I'm sorting out a situation, I want my family to stay far away. Since I have no control over them, I tend to detach myself from them. This is what is going on with Rodia, I think. Rodia still loves his family, that is no question, but he feels like he needs to figure out how to deal with the consequences of his actions undisturbed and without the pressure of being the 'Rodia who wasn't a murderer' for his family and Razumikhin.
When breaking the news of his departure to his mother and Dunia, Rodia says, "I don't feel well, I'm not at ease... I'll come later. I'll come myself, when... I can. I love you. I'll remember you.... Leave me! Leave me alone! That's the decision I made, I made it a while back." (299) In making the decision to murder, he made the decision to abandon everything he knew beforehand.
Well I think that one of the reasons Raskolnikov rejects his family is similar to the reason Marmelodov rejects his family. Both of these men seem to be compelled to create hardships for themselves. Marmelodov exclaims as his wife is pulling his hair and beating him after he comes back from drinking all his money away “I enjoy it, sir! It doesn’t hurt me at all. I enjoy it! I enjoy-y-y it!” As Marmelodov drinks his money away (that his daughter quite literally sold herself for) he is also alienating and rejecting his family, and by doing so he gets his catharsis through the beating of his wife. Thus Marmelodov rejects his family so he can get this purging of his emotions.
Raskolnikov does this as well. It is clear Raskolnikov loves his sister and his mother as evidenced by how adamant he is about getting rid of Luzhin. He says “No, my dear Dunya, I see it all, and I know perfectly well what you want to talk to me about.” Raskolnikov wants nothing more than to see them happy. Also he resists taking his mother’s money when she sends him a couple of rubles, even though it is the logical thing to do. He just doesn’t want to take form them. This is where Rakolnikov and Marmelodov separate. Marmelodov got his catharsis directly from his family but since Raskolnikov genuinely loves them, he rejects them, thus making him feel lonelier, and therefore purging his emotions. So by rejecting his family he gets the self-inflicted agony he wanted.
Within Part 1 of Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov is clearly shown to be a very loving son and brother to Pulcheria and Dunia. After news of Dunia’s impending marriage to Luzhin, he becomes furious and indignant at their sacrifice and at the selfish and indecent motives of Peter Petrovich. He worries for Dunia’s life after marriage and his mother’s ailing health and continual poverty. “In another ten years, mother will be blind from knitting shawls, maybe from weeping too…and my sister? Imagine for a moment what may become of [my] sister in ten years?” (46). Yet, after the crime, his attitude towards his mother and sister radically change and morph. His love for them has not diminished but his attitude is cold and harsh. Upon their initial meeting, when both Pulcheria and Dunia fly at him, Raskolnikov “…stood there like a dead man; a sudden intolerable sensation struck him like a thunderbolt. He did not lift his arms to embrace them, he could not” (186). “His mother was alarmed by his expression. It revealed an agonizing poignant emotion, and at the same time, something immobile, almost insane.” (189).
That “agonizing poignant emotion” is love for his family, but a love Raskolnikov knows he cannot show through emotion, attitude, or actions. Raskolnikov did not lose his love for his family. Rather, what formed between them was an impermeable barrier due to his murder of the old pawnbroker. He feels cut off from the rest of society, alienated from all by his deed. Their love for him, like the devotion Razumikhin has for him, is a burden. In a conversation with Razumikhin, he loses his anger and shouts, “How can I persuade you not to persecute me with your kindness? I may be ungrateful, I may be mean, but just let me be, for God’s sake, let me be! Let me be, let me be!” (162). Raskolnikov finds any compassion, benevolence, and love stifling. He feels that he is undeserving and just a louse. The unwavering love he receives from his family is torture for him because he is ashamed and horrified at himself (the first words he says upon meeting them: “Don’t torture me!” (189)). The “virulent feelings of hatred” he directs at them is really directed internally at himself.
Miranda, I agree with your idea that Raskolnikov treats them the way he does to purposefully estrange himself from them in order to spare them the horror and pain. But, the hatred he feels for them only appears after the murder. I don't think his reaction to the letter was hatred, merely anger at their foolish behavior in sacrificing Dunia to Luzhin. At that point, he still wholeheartedly loves them. Only after the murder does he rave, "mother, sister, how I loved them! Why do I hate them now? Yes, I hate them, I feel a physical hatred for them, I can't bear to have them near me..." (262)
I believe that Raskolnikov rejects his family's attempts to help him and love him because he feels guilty that they are giving so much and sacrificing so much to help him because they put him on this high pedestool that he hasn't lived up to. Dunya, his sister, has worked to support him in St. Petersburg but he is still unemployed and living in poverty and he committed this horrible act.
I agree with Roopa when she said that Raskolnikov is detatching himself from his friends and family because he is living with the stress of trying to deal with and understand the crime he commited. Obviously, this is how a lot of people thought about this prompt but could there be another reason why Rodya would be shutting them out besides his guilt from them helping him when he doesn't really deserve the help?
Woohoo!! 7:56!! :D
I agree with what Krista said.
I think that Raskolnikov rejects his family and Razumikhin when they are trying to help most because he feels incredibly guilty for what he has done. I think that deep down he immediately regrets the murders and that is why he gets so sick and doesn't want to be around people that care about him. He feels so angry and repulsed with himself that he can't bear to have anyone go to such lengths for him or care for him. An example of this is right after he faints, when he becomes more concious and sees Razuminkhin and is told about the clothes that Razumakhin bought for him. Raskolnikov gets mad and is very unappreciative. "They take so long to go away and leave me alone" is something that he thinks. He behaves this way to push others away from him. He doesn't feel worthy of their love.
I also think that he acts the way he does to protect his family and friends. He knows that by being related to him or even being his friend puts them at risk of finding out and being disappointed in him as well as in danger of the authorities thinking they are involved.
I think Raskolnikov rejects his family's solace and comfort because he doesn't feel like he deserves it. Raskolnikov has a great mother and sister who would give everything they own just to make sure he is happy. Raskolnikov knows he committed a terrible crime and doesn't think he deserves their love. Even though Raskolnikov murdered two women his mother and sister would forgive him for it and still love him just as much as they did before he murdered Aliona and Lizaveta. I think this is what drives him to reject their solace the most because he wants them to be angry and not forgive him for what he has done, but they love him too much to ever feel that way.
Raskolnikov's aversion to his family is a mixture of a want to keep them away from him while in his trouble, and he feels that he doesn't deserve him; that they wouldn't still love him if they knew the truth. Raskolnikov has enough trouble dealing with his own feelings on the issue, and the relocation of his family, his newly made friends, and his sudden love interest in Sonya have all made him especially sensitive to their feelings and opinions. Especially given Raskolnikov's night and day approach to Sonya, you see the inner struggle of "help me" and "stay away".
Woohoo Hannah! 7:56pm! But poor blazers :(.
Wow, I'm an hour and a half late. This is quite irresponsible of me Mr. D, please accept my apology and understand that it will never happen again, hopefully(there's actually quite a significant chance that it will, Hey come on I'm being honest!) Atleast I was 4 hours early on the last blog. Making me now 2 and a half hours early if I add the negative 1.5 hours, so that's good atleast.
Raskolnikov, better known as "The 'Kov", is quite the weirdo. He's like an unpredictable little rascal, that lashes out at the people who love and comfort him. I don't think he actually hates them, it's just how he is, it's how he's behaving after killing two people. Lets just be grateful he's not out there killing more people, sheesh. There's certainly two sides of this little rascal, the side of course where he's a hateful, sour, pessimistic, loner-like, grumpy man, and then the side where he's kind of the same, just not as extreme. Like when he's with Sonya, now I might be wrong on this, actually I'm probably definitely wrong, but I don't think he ever lashes out at Sonya, or anything, he really likes her, so he thinks of her a little different then he does his family. Why is definitely a hard question to answer when it comes to The 'Kov, we don't receive a whole lot of background information on the fellow. But I gave it my best and I have no regrets!!
Raskolnikov seems to always despise anyone who seeks to help him, even at first looking down upon Sonya. In the beginning when he is in a destitute situation, Dunya tries to marry Luzhin in order to give Raskolnikov some money. But instead of appreciating this effort, like Dunya hoped he would, Raskolnikov instead becomes furious. But even though Raskolnikov often feels disgusted by his family’s attempt to help him he always shows some type of love or affection for them, before flying into one of self reflections of revulsion. Raskolnikov recognizes that he is the one that is putting them through all this trouble and that he is the one that should be appreciative and affectionate of them. He instead has a need to feel superior and so he looks down upon their efforts with revulsion. He knows what he is doing and what he has done will hurt his family but he sees no way out, and is ashamed at himself for being the burden. Raskolnikov redirects this shame to his family and bring out his revulsion on them instead, because he does not want to see himself as the one being helped and supported. Sorry for the lateness, my internet was down most of yesterday and today.
Although Dunya and Pulcheria appear to love and support Raskolnikov, he seems indifferent to them. There is a gap between Raskolnikov and his family. This gap eminates from the fact that he has lived far from them for quite some time. This distance has wedged and further separated the distinction of what Raskolnikov experiences and what his situation is actually like compared to what his family percieves. The larger gap in their relationship comes from the simple fact he committed murder, a crime. As a criminal he knows that he doesn't deserve their presence. This feeling is best shown when Raskolnikov walks away from Razumikhin, Dunya, and Pulcheria at the dinner table, telling them he doesn't want to see them ever again. Despite the appearance that the action was derived from hatred, its really from the inferiority Raskolnikov feels as a criminal. This gap explains the stranger attitude Raskolnikov exhibits toward his mother and sister.
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