Kirsten Beldock Crime and Punishment Seminar When a person has a dual nature, they often believe that they live more than one life. Many authors use dual nature in their novels. More often than not, authors use dual nature to show a character torn between two different lives. In the novel Crime and Punishment,Fyodor Dostoyevsky creates the protagonist Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov having dual nature to illustrate the drastic difference between the two ‘lives’ he lives. Throughout the whole novel, Dostoyevsky uses dual nature to show how Raskolnikov has conflicting thoughts of doing a good deed or going on with his business. For example, Raskolnikov is extremely poor and owes back rent to the landlady. Raskolnikov gives money to the Marmeladov family. After giving the family money, he instantly regrets it claiming that he is an idiot for giving the family money. On the other hand, Raskolnikov gives money to Sonia Marmeladov and her family but then goes and kills Alyona Ivanovna, a pawnbroker that Raskolnikov often goes to. He commits the murder of Ivanovna for money that he needs to survive. Another example of how Dostoevsky uses dual nature to show the split personality of Raskolnikov is throughout the novel, Raskolnikov is constantly saving money so he is able to continue to live the way he does. However, he never spends the money! He saves up all this money and then never uses it. Early in the novel, Raskolnikov comes across a young
