Beginning of Essay
“Raskolnikov, Why’d you do it?” The character Raskolnikov in the novel Crime and Punishment is among one of the most realistic and believable characters I have ever read about. He is also the most confusing and distraught man I have been introdu ....

Middle of Essay
.... of the murder, both. Raskolnikov’s idea to kill the old pawnbroker stems from a theory he was developing. It was probable that during his studies at the university he was aquatinted with the popular philosophies of two German thinkers of the time. One of these philosophers is George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who had formulated a conception of an exceptional individual he called a “superman”. Hegel’s superman exists for good purposes. He stands above and beyond the ordinary man and works for the good of all men. The most controversial part of this superman theory that Raskolnikov obviously adopts is the Machiavell ....