The Alchemist MJ

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov 

Role: Protagonist  

Characteristic: Intelligent, Conflicted, Proud, Anxious 

Meaning of Name: Raskol means “schism” which represents the division between Raskolnikov’s philosophy of “ordinary” and “extraordinary”.  

Representation: Existential Crisis, Psychological Dualism 

Rodion R. Raskolnikov is the main character of Crime and Punishment. He is a former law student living in poverty in St. Petersburg. He lives in a small closet-like room which he owes rent money on and often avoids his landlady.  

He has an anti-radical ideology which leads him to commit a crime to prove that ideology to be true. Rodion’s psychology is the central focus of the novel. In a way, he wants to prove to himself that he is exceptional and extraordinary, that he upon committing a murder, because of his intelligence can overcome the internal and external consequences of it. This is later proved to be the opposite.  

Dostoyevsky, the author of the novel, demonstrates the psychology of human nature upon committing murder through guilt, paranoia, isolation, and redemption though suffering.  It shows Raskolnikov’s dual personality of superiority and guilt simultaneously. Much of the book focused on the inner consequences rather than the outer or legal consequences of this crime.  

Connecting this to religion, Raskolnikov shows the effect of sin on an individual’s inner state.  

“She said nothing, she only looked at me without a word. But it hurts more, it hurts more when they don’t blame!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment