mea505
12-01-2008, 09:40 AM
In the opening of this chapter, the pawn-broker lets Raskolnikov (who has a "fake pledge") into the apartment: it's a fake cigarette, wrapped in a difficult knot in order to distract her. This is the point, when, the pawn-broker turns around to open the knot that Raskolnikov reaches for the axe that is hidden beneath his coat. After receiving several blows, Aloyna is seen lying on the floor, dead. At that point, Raskolnikov takes her keys along with the purse, and proceeds to the back room, where he is unable to find much more than a few little trinkets. Recall that the purse is never investigated; he never looks into the purse to see how much money, if any, is in the purse.
Later, the pawn-broker's sister, Lizaveta, enters the apartment and is seemingly paralyzed by the site of her sister, lying on the floor, dead. Raskolnikov then kills her too, but with a single blow to the head. It is at this point when he discovers that the front door to the apartment was left open the entire time (at least when he is killing the sister). He becomes extremely terrified that someone, perhaps, saw him commit the murders; he washes the blood from his hands and the axe.
There are some strange men who are knocking at the front door; apparently, they, also, had business with the pawn-broker that day. It is only when these men leave for a few minutes that Raskolnikov is able to escape from the apartment, seemingly undetected, via hiding in a vacant apartment in which two painters have been working. He stays in the vacant apartment until such time as he deems it safe to escape the premises. He later returns home, in a "feverish state," returns the axe from where he took it, and then returns to his own small room.
Question Is there anything that actually forces Raskolnikov to commit the murders? What, if any, is the actual "motive" for the crime(s)?
Later, the pawn-broker's sister, Lizaveta, enters the apartment and is seemingly paralyzed by the site of her sister, lying on the floor, dead. Raskolnikov then kills her too, but with a single blow to the head. It is at this point when he discovers that the front door to the apartment was left open the entire time (at least when he is killing the sister). He becomes extremely terrified that someone, perhaps, saw him commit the murders; he washes the blood from his hands and the axe.
There are some strange men who are knocking at the front door; apparently, they, also, had business with the pawn-broker that day. It is only when these men leave for a few minutes that Raskolnikov is able to escape from the apartment, seemingly undetected, via hiding in a vacant apartment in which two painters have been working. He stays in the vacant apartment until such time as he deems it safe to escape the premises. He later returns home, in a "feverish state," returns the axe from where he took it, and then returns to his own small room.
Question Is there anything that actually forces Raskolnikov to commit the murders? What, if any, is the actual "motive" for the crime(s)?