Raskalnikov's Psychosis is a psychoanalitical perspective on the book Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It's an awesome essay, one of my best. Period.

Essay by talusproteusUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, February 2005

download word file, 6 pages 5.0

Downloaded 23 times

Freud states that there are three components of one's psyche or mind; the id, ego, and superego. Simply put: The id is what the person wants to do, the ego is what the person can do, and the superego is what the person should do. In the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the protagonist Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov must overcome these three parts of his subliminal, inner self before he can take action of any sort. He cannot act or accomplish anything significant without first progressing through and overcoming his psyche, or rather…his psychosis. This truth is found to be evident both when he commits the murder of the old pawnbroker and when he goes through his repentance process directly after the murder, in which he becomes reborn and discovers his final realization of love.

Raskolnikov's first major action in the book is when he kills the pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna. He sets up a pattern in overcoming his psyche, which he continues to follow throughout the rest of the novel. The first tri-part of Raskolnikov's mind that is confronted and conquered is his id, followed by the superego, and finally the ego. The id is the place were ones mind stores its instinctual urges and desires. This component of the psyche seeks gratification with no regard for consequences. Raskolnikov has always had his philosophical ideas about superior or "extraordinary" persons and ordinary or "inferior" persons and the rights and privileges of each one. It is when he first hears of the pawnbroker that his idea for the "project" -the murder of the wretched old woman- is planted. He fantasizes and plots non-committaly about how it would be done, even discussing his thoughts and suppositions with his fiancé. He would like to exterminate the old woman to...