Razumikhin and Raskolnikov

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how Razumikhin serves as Raskolnikov's foil in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment". It explains, however, that there are other foils present in the book. In many ways, the Razumikhin and Raskolnikov characters are similar, for instance, in their social and financial statuses; nevertheless, their personalities and ideals are quite different. It introduces the other foils, including Sonia and Svidrigailov, and shows that, in order to push the definition of a literary foil, Raskolnikov's split personality also serves as a foil to the other. This paper looks at Raskolnikov's foils with an emphasis on a comparison of Raskolnikov and Razumikhin.

From the Paper:

"One of the themes of the book is the conflict between two philosophical approaches or mindsets as to how to go about seeing life and how to rationalize situations in order to justify actions. Raskolnikov's approach to life is to diminish the worth of other people in order to lift himself to a higher level, at least in his mind. This is the classic psychological reaction of a lack of self-confidence or self-esteem. Raskolnikov has this perspective on life and those around him. He is an intelligent student who has to win at everything, no matter what the cost because he is convinced that he is better than everyone else. Not winning causes Raskolnikov stress, as seen in scenes where he thinks that his crime has been discovered and faints or gets sick. The thought of not winning causes him anger and motivates him to push himself harder order to maintain the high level that he has set for himself. Raskolnikov's approaches to life also puts him in a state of constant stress, which in turn, causes him to be sloppy, dream perturbing dreams and have what Razumikhin describes as a double personality."

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