Quote 1
What
was taking place in him was totally unfamiliar, new, sudden, never
before experienced. Not that he understood it, but he sensed clearly,
with all the power of sensation, that it was no longer possible
for him to address these people in the police station, not only
with heartfelt effusions, as he had just done, but in any way at
all, and had they been his own brothers and sisters, and not police
lieutenants, there would still have been no point in this addressing
them, in whatever circumstances of life.
This quote, from Part II, Chapter I,
illustrates Raskolnikov’s sudden realization that by murdering Alyona
and Lizaveta, he has completely isolated himself from society. His
separation, which began before the murders, is now complete, as
he has truly crossed over the bounds that formerly kept him tied
to the rest of humanity. Indeed, one can argue that only because
of his increasing alienation and lack of empathy for other people
is Raskolnikov able to actually commit the murders. Additionally,
the act of having physically accomplished the crime makes it necessary
for Raskolnikov to cement his understanding of himself as a “superman”
so that he can evade the bothersome, banal consequences of his actions. Much
of the novel is concerned with Raskolnikov’s gradual breakdown and
deconstruction of this identity in the face of his alienation from
others. Only when he confesses his guilt to Sonya, someone whom
he sees as a fellow transgressor of morality, does he start on the
path of rejoining society.
