Was Raskolnikov Insane?

I am aware that you are discussing this in the insanity thread, but I feel that Raskolnikov deserves his own thread.

No, Raskolnikov is not insane. Like all youths he is impetuous and idealistic. The fact that he murdered the pawnbroker does not imply insanity; it implies determination. Ask any young communist attending Berkeley what he thinks about the execution of the tsar and his family. He'll tell you that they deserved it for the misery they caused. I myself can say the same thing about Robespierre's execution of the monarchs in Revolutionary France.

Raskolnikov's eccentricity, a trademark of Dostoevsky characters, is a product of his guilt. This is not insanity either. Dostoevsky portrays his guilt and self-torment as his realization that what he did was wrong; and of course, Dostoevsky was a notable religious zealot.

Neither Raskolnikov's actions or their subsequent effects on his psychology are products of insanity.

Radion had more of an understanding of sanity then any of the central charecters, he was willing to test his sanity in an effort to "step over" certain obstacles, with the hopes of all young men, acheiving greatness. His erratic and senceless behaviour illistrates the struggle between conscience and rationality. His sanity is proven because he planned the whole thing out, and had a rational(objectionable) idea that was the center of his fixation. Reading this book is partially walking the dark path of raskolnikov, and learning how dark it really is.

"His sanity is proven because he planned the whole thing out, and had a rational(objectionable) idea that was the center of his fixation"

yes, i agree!

on the other hand, his 'undoing' is proven also by Raskolnikov's trembling with fear. When he stepped over through the action of killing the pawnbroker, he found he counldn't step over his conscience that was not able to disregard human being's convention eventually.

"His behaviour illistrates the struggle between conscience and rationality."
just like every people with faint awareness of surperman realize he has the surpior right to 'stepover' but he has no strong mind power to do so.



:-?