Crime And Punishment Ambiguity Analysis

Ambiguity, a Human Trait
Most of the characters in Crime and Punishment were consumed by opposing feelings; they faced inner confusion. Dunya didn't know whether to choose Luzhin or her brother. Pulcheria Alexanrovna didn't know what side to assert herself on in the aforementioned situation. Sonya was torn between her best interests or that of her step-siblings and Luzhin couldn't decide whether to put aside his pride and apologize to Dunya, or stand tall like an erect peacock. The character that faced the utmost inner turmoil was Raskolnikov. His conscious told him to confess the murder, while his heart was unsure if he was ready to give himself up. Raskolnikov's indecisiveness and guilt caused him illness: paranoia, depression, and slight delirium. They became his character. Rodya's ambiguity about his actions after he killed Alyona Ivanovna and her sister, Lizaveta, was what made his character so alluring and intriguing.
Each character had their own inner conflictions, none too extreme though, both sides were understandable.
While both sides of Raskolnikov's situation were very comprehensible, his uncertainty in his actions was the result of the biggest occurrence, the murder of two innocent women. Since his indecision stemmed from such a life altering (literally) action, his ambiguity and way of dealing with it was unquestionably the most intense conflict of the book.
My response to Raskolnikov's attitude about his actions was what intrigued me the most about Crime and Punishment.
Raskolnikov, a poor former student living in quite disturbing surroundings, kills two women. His motive wasn't even quite clear. He then lies to everyone around him about the crime he committed. Even though the character I just described sounds like an awful human being, I found myself being attracted to and even feeling pity for him, as well as being repulsed by him. I credit these feeling to the ambiguity of his character, I could feel his guilt and shame, but then I would feel his superiority to society and almost an unnerving response to the death of the pawnbroker and her sister. His slight schizophrenia about the situation is what caused me to feel uncertain about how I should react to his character. The reader's expected reaction to Raskolnikov will never be set in stone, just a mere imprint in the ever changing
sand.
Raskolnikov became his illness, brought on by the immense guilt he felt. Right after he murdered Alyona Ivanovna and Lizaveta (which was in the beginning of the book) he became consumed by paranoia, depression, fever, and slight delirium. He didn't even start to feel like himself again until the epilogue, when he realizes he truly loved Sonya. This helped the book as a whole because of the intrigue I felt learning about a man's psyche, which truly has a good conscious. The way in which Dostoyevsky chose to write the book showed me that the real punishment wasn't Raskolnikov's imprisonment, but the mental torture he endured because he was aware that he was guilty. That is why I felt so much compassion for him. He truthfully knew what he did was wrong and immoral; otherwise he wouldn't have been so ill with repentance.