The Crisis of Self-Understanding in Dostoevsky

This paper seeks to explain the characterization of Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky\u27s Crime and Punishment. It makes the argument that Raskolnikov exemplifies the inexhaustible depth of the human consciousness, the quest for self-understanding, and the radical schism of the psyche which Dostoevsky wrote about in other works such as Notes From Underground. Contrasting Crime and Punishment with Joseph Conrad\u27s Heart of Darkness, this paper concludes that Conrad\u27s main character Marlow loses himself in the schism and that Raskolnikov finds peace through confession and repentance