· Can killing be moral?
o No--Way he killed wasn’t immoral-blind with his wrath-overkill-wasn’t himself
o Does the way an act is committed determine morality?
§ Yes—so gory, premeditated—psychotic—“destiny:
§ Less bloody way—more moral killing?
· Selfish-trying to protect himself
o Did killing strictly out of hatred
o Knows that what he was doing was immoral—“voice would not obey him” in “a terrible haste” after killing—definitely immoral
o Doesn’t know what he’s doing it wrong—doesn’t consider himself a criminal
o He was proud of himself how he held his head during the murder—he could do it again
o Superman theory—creates his own guidelines for each situation
§ Over man—don’t have any emotions/compassion
§ Panicked when reads mom’s letter—very emotional or hard-hearted?
o Change in emotion when sees girl on bench
o Making readers think “what is good?” what are morals?
o Showing underlying struggle between heart and mind—carrying a doubt but going with what he thinks is right
§ Lear! External vs. internal struggle
o What’s causing him to change? Changes opinion after action
§ Through experiences—he does a lot of thinking; “I think”
§ “What made me think?” readers can see thought process of deep thinker—every different option is considered and its significance
§ What can the husband give that Rodya can’t? letter changed him
o Is there such thing as having good intentions to kill someone?
§ Psychotic—lack of thinking
§ No—doesn’t realize what he’s done until after he thinks about it—no real emotional drive—goes solely off of an impulse
§ Not an impulsive act—been thinking about murder for entire first part of book
§ Seems impulsive—doesn’t think about what he’ll feel afterward
§ Finding axe—impulsive
§ Impulsionsàsuccess
§ Can’t leave himself any time to think or everything will get delayed
§ Fantasize about act but can’t carry it out without impulses
§ Buried capacity for compassion—horrified with mare dream—rationalizing that he has every right to kill her—clashing thoughts/emotions
§ Impulsive act of kindness (girl and leaving money) are part of who he originally was—some factor (break with sanity) that we don’t know that’s contributing to him changing—initial character
§ Has thoughts that he’s above others because of intelligence—also has compassion for others
§ Everything he does—right thing to do in his mind—every impulse is good in his eyes
§ Doesn’t have time for pride to affect anything or his past/coldness—first acts are good/compassionate. Impulsive kind actions—who he truly is
§ Giving money=needing money=killing woman
§ Disagree—his actions initially and after thinking are consistent—desire to be needed, obsession almost. Helping girl=I have power in this circumstance and can help someone—she walks away=he loses interest/care. Not 2 different characters—one person with obsession to be needed
§ No recognition from giving $
§ But does he still have power?
§ Creates power? Doesn’t have overwhelming desire to be needed
§ Marmeledov was counting on him up the stairs=he felt needed/powerful
§ Not being needed=needs justification for his actions/feeling of superiority
o Why the axe?
§ Shows need for power?
§ Why not sleeping poison?
§ Axe shows lack of thinking—brutish
§ Can’t trust his skill with knife
§ Axe is simple—doesn’t need skill
§ Hard to get axe=why not rope?
§ Can’t trust a string
o Dream of gray mare=symbolic connection between dream and murder?
§ Foreshadowing—saw violent act that he witnessed—prepares reader for gruesome scene—more expected
§ Most confusing about dream=referencing twice a woman cracking nuts and smiling
§ Tom’s poem=people are oblivious to people’s sufferieng
§ After fallen angel—he doesn’t really care—it’s only 1 percent
§ Society is a bizarre place to live for an unstable person=reflects on childhood—grows up and gets message that his acts are okay
§ Location=motif=him living in st. Petersburg=triggers his mentality=contributed to rational
§ “animals and innocent beings”=lizaveta and mare (animal) liz doesn’t cover herself when axe comes down=she just takes it on her head. No protection= liz is great mare-aloyna uses liz as her “innocent animal”=murders the innocence that he’s initially doing this act for
§ Kills aloyna to help others and liz to help himself
§ Liz=2nd blow=he just wanted to get murder over with in 1 blow
§ Using axe to kill mare
§ “get an axe and finish her off”
§ Axe=needy for power. Made him feel like he had power like in the dream
§ Watching mare’s murder=feels powerless—runs to horse’s head—no one noticed him trying to stop them—now he wants power to change things
o We don’t know clearly why he murders: Where does his actual hatred for her come from?
§ In Petersburg, saw poverty etc. justification for why murder isn’t as bad as poverty—stop suffering of others
§ He wants to walk through haymarket—bothers him but he’s attracted to it—feels need to do something to help people in haymarket
§ His own suffering in his own family—when he heard guys talking in bar—suffering of many people in general
§ Is it his own suffering or other’s suffering?
· Fallen angel after reading letter and marriage—she’s sacrificing herself for rodya’s education—sonia sacrificing herself for her family—has 2 examples of innocent women—ultimate sacrifice—girl taken advantage of—he sees fallen angel as his sister and Sonia—wants to amend it
· Christ’s suffering—for others
o After reading letter: led to the murder? Not helping family, so he has to help others by killing her
§ Misdirected expression
§ We don’t know his rational yet
§ Seems to be a number of different reasons
§ Freudian psychology—before stream of conciseness
§ Repressed feelings= become stronger/ expression as depression and comes out in dreams in subconscious—dream with mare=powerlessness, sympathetic Rodya
o What happens when reason fails us?
§ Reason fails rodja= chance is relied upon
§ Retreat into complete opposite intention
§ Regress before having reason
§ Fight or flight—thinking more about one’s self—had reason for murder but then thought about only himself and killed liz
§ Reason fails=stop seeing options—a lot of open doors in book (imagery)—symbolize mobility of being able to choose own destiny=lack of reasoning by rodja=shuts doors
§ All liberty of action and free will were gone for R.
o Reason fails=resort to violence or apollonian mercy?
§ Negative and positive nature?
· Around circle:
o Repercussions of testing possibilities=accelerated moral decay=separation of mind and heart
o I don’t know if I like Rodja=seems extraordinarily human and relatable=mind so divided and over thinks things—intriguing character
o Curious that the climax of the story happens right away=what will come? Symbolizes that there is a second chapter to everything
o Foreshadowing affect had on readers=make it less of a shock? Less consequence to follow?
o When reason fails= actions or impulse or emotions
o No--Way he killed wasn’t immoral-blind with his wrath-overkill-wasn’t himself
o Does the way an act is committed determine morality?
§ Yes—so gory, premeditated—psychotic—“destiny:
§ Less bloody way—more moral killing?
· Selfish-trying to protect himself
o Did killing strictly out of hatred
o Knows that what he was doing was immoral—“voice would not obey him” in “a terrible haste” after killing—definitely immoral
o Doesn’t know what he’s doing it wrong—doesn’t consider himself a criminal
o He was proud of himself how he held his head during the murder—he could do it again
o Superman theory—creates his own guidelines for each situation
§ Over man—don’t have any emotions/compassion
§ Panicked when reads mom’s letter—very emotional or hard-hearted?
o Change in emotion when sees girl on bench
o Making readers think “what is good?” what are morals?
o Showing underlying struggle between heart and mind—carrying a doubt but going with what he thinks is right
§ Lear! External vs. internal struggle
o What’s causing him to change? Changes opinion after action
§ Through experiences—he does a lot of thinking; “I think”
§ “What made me think?” readers can see thought process of deep thinker—every different option is considered and its significance
§ What can the husband give that Rodya can’t? letter changed him
o Is there such thing as having good intentions to kill someone?
§ Psychotic—lack of thinking
§ No—doesn’t realize what he’s done until after he thinks about it—no real emotional drive—goes solely off of an impulse
§ Not an impulsive act—been thinking about murder for entire first part of book
§ Seems impulsive—doesn’t think about what he’ll feel afterward
§ Finding axe—impulsive
§ Impulsionsàsuccess
§ Can’t leave himself any time to think or everything will get delayed
§ Fantasize about act but can’t carry it out without impulses
§ Buried capacity for compassion—horrified with mare dream—rationalizing that he has every right to kill her—clashing thoughts/emotions
§ Impulsive act of kindness (girl and leaving money) are part of who he originally was—some factor (break with sanity) that we don’t know that’s contributing to him changing—initial character
§ Has thoughts that he’s above others because of intelligence—also has compassion for others
§ Everything he does—right thing to do in his mind—every impulse is good in his eyes
§ Doesn’t have time for pride to affect anything or his past/coldness—first acts are good/compassionate. Impulsive kind actions—who he truly is
§ Giving money=needing money=killing woman
§ Disagree—his actions initially and after thinking are consistent—desire to be needed, obsession almost. Helping girl=I have power in this circumstance and can help someone—she walks away=he loses interest/care. Not 2 different characters—one person with obsession to be needed
§ No recognition from giving $
§ But does he still have power?
§ Creates power? Doesn’t have overwhelming desire to be needed
§ Marmeledov was counting on him up the stairs=he felt needed/powerful
§ Not being needed=needs justification for his actions/feeling of superiority
o Why the axe?
§ Shows need for power?
§ Why not sleeping poison?
§ Axe shows lack of thinking—brutish
§ Can’t trust his skill with knife
§ Axe is simple—doesn’t need skill
§ Hard to get axe=why not rope?
§ Can’t trust a string
o Dream of gray mare=symbolic connection between dream and murder?
§ Foreshadowing—saw violent act that he witnessed—prepares reader for gruesome scene—more expected
§ Most confusing about dream=referencing twice a woman cracking nuts and smiling
§ Tom’s poem=people are oblivious to people’s sufferieng
§ After fallen angel—he doesn’t really care—it’s only 1 percent
§ Society is a bizarre place to live for an unstable person=reflects on childhood—grows up and gets message that his acts are okay
§ Location=motif=him living in st. Petersburg=triggers his mentality=contributed to rational
§ “animals and innocent beings”=lizaveta and mare (animal) liz doesn’t cover herself when axe comes down=she just takes it on her head. No protection= liz is great mare-aloyna uses liz as her “innocent animal”=murders the innocence that he’s initially doing this act for
§ Kills aloyna to help others and liz to help himself
§ Liz=2nd blow=he just wanted to get murder over with in 1 blow
§ Using axe to kill mare
§ “get an axe and finish her off”
§ Axe=needy for power. Made him feel like he had power like in the dream
§ Watching mare’s murder=feels powerless—runs to horse’s head—no one noticed him trying to stop them—now he wants power to change things
o We don’t know clearly why he murders: Where does his actual hatred for her come from?
§ In Petersburg, saw poverty etc. justification for why murder isn’t as bad as poverty—stop suffering of others
§ He wants to walk through haymarket—bothers him but he’s attracted to it—feels need to do something to help people in haymarket
§ His own suffering in his own family—when he heard guys talking in bar—suffering of many people in general
§ Is it his own suffering or other’s suffering?
· Fallen angel after reading letter and marriage—she’s sacrificing herself for rodya’s education—sonia sacrificing herself for her family—has 2 examples of innocent women—ultimate sacrifice—girl taken advantage of—he sees fallen angel as his sister and Sonia—wants to amend it
· Christ’s suffering—for others
o After reading letter: led to the murder? Not helping family, so he has to help others by killing her
§ Misdirected expression
§ We don’t know his rational yet
§ Seems to be a number of different reasons
§ Freudian psychology—before stream of conciseness
§ Repressed feelings= become stronger/ expression as depression and comes out in dreams in subconscious—dream with mare=powerlessness, sympathetic Rodya
o What happens when reason fails us?
§ Reason fails rodja= chance is relied upon
§ Retreat into complete opposite intention
§ Regress before having reason
§ Fight or flight—thinking more about one’s self—had reason for murder but then thought about only himself and killed liz
§ Reason fails=stop seeing options—a lot of open doors in book (imagery)—symbolize mobility of being able to choose own destiny=lack of reasoning by rodja=shuts doors
§ All liberty of action and free will were gone for R.
o Reason fails=resort to violence or apollonian mercy?
§ Negative and positive nature?
· Around circle:
o Repercussions of testing possibilities=accelerated moral decay=separation of mind and heart
o I don’t know if I like Rodja=seems extraordinarily human and relatable=mind so divided and over thinks things—intriguing character
o Curious that the climax of the story happens right away=what will come? Symbolizes that there is a second chapter to everything
o Foreshadowing affect had on readers=make it less of a shock? Less consequence to follow?
o When reason fails= actions or impulse or emotions
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ReplyDeleteIn this section, I really begin to see the development of Raskolnikov's character. I feel as though it is in this section where the author communicates Raskolnikov's dichotomous personality. It seems that he has the ability to act either rationally or emotionally, but struggles to balance the two. This internal struggle defines Raskolnikov's character at this point in the novel, and his inability to reconcile the two aspects could potentially lead to his downfall.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that although Raskolnikov has an elevated self image due to his intelligence, he is also able to act compassionately towards others. This duality could possibly foreshadow his emotion and reason existing harmoniously, contrary to the apparent diametric opposition that exists currently.