Crime and Punishment Blog

Raskolnikov is very affected by his family. He always feels guilty because his mother and sister gave so much for him to go to school and yet he dropped out and used up all of their money. This guilt causes him to rob and murder the old woman and Lizaveta. The reader sees the first big effect of family upon Rask when he recieves the letter from him mom. He is outraged that Dounia is marrying Pyotr Petrovich to better their circumstances rather than for love and he is disgusted that this man wants to marry a younger woman and not accomodate her. The relationship between Rask and his sister is very strong... she has a very calming effect upon him. He then is very rude to her fiance and this causes him to make new enemies. His love for his sister and his desire to have her not marry him change the course of his life and the way he acts. He becomes sick and delusional with his guilt for the murder (because of his poorness) and his personality totally changes as he is always on the defensive side, often betraying his family.