“What are Raskolnikov’s motives in committing the crime?” Raskolnikov himself ponders this very question. He tries to rationalize the crime he has committed in his head for several different reasons before he finally arrives at the core cause of his actions.
At first, Raskolnikov tried to convince himself that he needed the money and that he would be doing everyone an act of kindness because the pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, was an unhappy woman. This reasoning was promptly discarded for numerous reasons. Firstly, Raskolnikov did not take that much money and then he buried it without using it. He even said that he could have asked his mother for money for school fees “I told you just now I could not keep myself at the university. But do you know that perhaps I might have done? My mother would have sent me what I needed for the fees and I could have earned enough for clothes, boots and food, no doubt.” (Dostoevsky, 738) Secondly, Raskolnikov felt physically and mentally ill about his crime, which canceled the sense that Alyonas’ life had no significance. Lastly, Raskolnikov himself released the thought later on in the …show more content…
He was completely worn out inside himself between identities and was caught within his own philosophical thoughts so intensely that the motivation to live his life had vanished. Raskolnikov had quit school, stopped working, and isolated himself in his apartment to flounder in his own grief. From the very first page of the novel Raskolnikov had already been experiencing a crisis and depression. Raskolnikov had been experiencing a crisis long before the murders took place. He killed Alyona and her younger sister, Lizaveta, because he greatly desired to do something with his life. Raskolnikov said, “I … I wanted to have the daring … and I killed her. I only wanted to have the daring, Sonia! That was the whole cause of it!” (Dostoevsky,