Crime and Punishment A.P. Prompt

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A.P. Prompt

Crime and Punishment

Some of the most significant events in a novel are mental or psychological; for example awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action.

Outline

  1. Introduction
  2. First Dream
  3. Second and Third Dream
  4. Final Dream

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment brings forward many instances of psychological struggle in Raskolnikov’s spiritual journey toward redemption.  Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov’s four main dreams to signify certain important details in his journey and through his struggles. Raskolnikov’s first dream addresses his first conflictions with himself on his motives and whether or not they are justifiable.  The second and third dream have an important correlation in their relation to Raskolnikov’s thoughts and feelings concerning his actions.  His final dream displays a final decision on the justifiability in his motives.  Through these dreams, Dostoevsky is able to communicate strong senses of suspense in Raskolnikov’s deep emotional turmoil and his long journey to realizing the truth about his beliefs.

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Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov’s first dream, which takes him back to a troubling event in his childhood, to bring forward a physical representation of the two sides to Raskolnikov’s dilemma. He relates the characters from the dream to corresponding characters in his situation.  The old mare represents the old pawnbroker, as victim of the slaughter.  The cruel drunkard Mikolka and the young boy Raskolnikov are portrayed as Raskolnikov’s inner struggle between his morality and his firm belief in his ‘superman’ theory, that unlike ordinary people, ‘supermen’ are entitled to break existing laws and make their own laws.  This ‘superman’ theory, and ...

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