Part Two Essay : Alienation of Raskolnikov Anonymous

Crime and Punishment Part Two: Essay

In Part Two of Crime and Punishment, the reader sees a continuation of many themes earlier presented, but in a new and more extreme environment. As Raskolnikov tries to remain clear of accusation, he continues to alienate himself from those who would love and help him, and hides his emotion from them, like the evidence he so closely monitors. Rodya is protected by sheer fortune throughout the text of part two, and it is clear that through beginning, middle, and end his secluded lifestyle, even in the weakness of his sanity, protects the façade of his innocence and spares him judgment; at least for a time.

As one enters the pages of Part Two it is clear that Rodya's mental and physical state have deteriorated as the guilt of his crime weighs on him, eating at his sanity and reason. Indeed, while he is obsessed with hiding such guilt-clinging to the bloody rags even in sleep, abandoning the loot from Alyona's house, questioning everyone of what they know when the murder comes up in conversation- he is also tormented by it, wanting desperately to let his secret out.

"But such despair and, if one may put it so, such cynicism of perdition that suddenly possessed him that he waved...