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Stream of Consciousness
Part 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis:
In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky writes in a style that emphasizes the psychology of the characters, whose thought processes are depicted in careful detail to the reader. Raskolnikov’s internal monologue as he contemplates his plan to commit murder reflects the psychological style of the novel more broadly:
“Hm…yes…man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice…That is an axiom…I wonder, what are people most afraid of? A new step, their own new word, that’s what they’re most afraid of…I babble too much, however. That’s why I don’t do anything, because I babble. However, maybe it’s like this: I babble because I don’t do anything. I’ve learned to babble over this past month, lying in a corner day in and day out, thinking about…cuckooland. Why on earth am I going now? Am I really capable of that? Is that something serious?”
Raskolnikov’s thoughts are presented in a realistic style that reflects his distracted and volatile emotional state at this point in the novel. His thoughts are scattered, occasionally disconnected, and often incomplete. In this passage, a characteristic example of stream of consciousness, he attempts to persuade himself to overcome his own fear, asking himself questions, occasionally answering them, and developing thoughts and ideas. Dostoevsky's style, here and elsewhere in the novel, emphasizes these psychological details in order to explore characters’ state of mind and worldview.
