If pulling off a crime didn’t leave a person in a mental hand basket, I don’t know what would. In the book Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the main charcter goes through several mental stages throughout the book. Raskolikov is introduced to us in an impoverished apartment, where the landlord in constantly bickering over the rent. Raskolikov has pawned all of his belongings as a means to get money; since he doesn’t have a job.
He then recieves a letter from his mother stating that his sister is to get married. She is not going to marry him out of love, however, but for the money. Since Raskolikov was a student, he needs more money to get back into school. If Dounia (his sister) marries this man, then they will be able to pay for Raskolikov’s schooling.
Raskolikov, however, gets a crazy thought in his head that he should kill the pawn broker, an old lady and take all of her money that he is sure she has stashed in her apartment. He goes over to trade the last thing he has that he’s sure would be worth something. As the lady inspects the item and goes into the other room, Raskolnikov notes the keys that she has, and listens to the sounds of the things she is opening.
He plans out the murder and falls asleep. Raskolnikov wakes up late and has to hurry to get to the pawn broker’s apartment on time. He has planned to have her look at a tin box that is wrapped up in a lot of packaging. While she is trying to open it, he will take out his axe that he has hiding in his coat, and strike her with it. All of this goes according to plans but as he is inspecting to see if he has any blood on him (which is obsessing over), he realizes that Lizaveta, the pawn broker’s sister, has just come in the room and is appalled at the sight. So, naturally, he kills Lizaveta as well. Then as he turns to go and wash his axe again, he notices that the door is open and realized that it was probably open for both murders. He closes it this time. As he finishes cleaning the...