Raskolnikov

Is humankind inherently good or evil?

Let me begin by saying I have never disliked a character in a book as much as I have disliked Raskolnikov. He decides to play supreme ruler of the universe, thinking of himself as an extraordinary man above Alyona Ivanovna and killed her. Of course no one loved her and no one needed her, so Raskolnikov thinks he’ll do the job himself. His arrogance just drips through the pages of Doestoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Even though in a deep depression, delusion and paranoia brought on by not only the death of Alyona Ivanovna but her sister Lizaveta as well that “extraordinary man arrogance still bleeds through.

As long as Raskolnikov’s brand of arrogance exists in humanity, we can never be good. People thinking they’re better than other people. It never ends well. Still after the torture of guilt day and night, Raskolnikov never confesses that what he did to Alyona was wrong. To me it’s like nothing is really changed in Raskolnikov, if this arrogance over Alyona still exists. It’s like the same song playing in the beginning of a movie is repeated at the end.