Svidrigaylov Title: Reflects the duality of the two sides of Svidrigailov.

Pulkheria loves her son and doesnt want him to worry, so she wants us to believe hes not typically an evil man but just a normal man with human faults. However, we can discern from the way that Raskolnikov treats the letter (concerning Dunya and Luzhin) that not everything is as it seems, and perhaps Svidrigaylov is a piggish, disgusting man. His guiding purpose is to satisfy his sensual desires. Raskolnikov calls the dissolute man Svidrigaylov because of his loathsome desire to steal away the drunken young woman. The use of the name reveals there are many Svidrigaylov everywhere. During the half of the book, Svidrigaylov is only mentioned, but we find him in Rasskolnikovs room intending to go after Dunia. This is significant because these two or so alike, but dont realize it. Raskolnikov is meeting him for the first time and sees the end result of his extraordinary man experiment. Svidrigaylov is Dostoevskys character of Niesctze idea of Ubermensch. Svidrigaylov feels he is an extraordinary man transcending beyond humanity, therefore he tries to attain whatever he wants and feels no remorse for his evil actions. He believes his considerable intellect power makes him an extraordinary man and to him it justifies the attempted rape of Dunya and the donation to Katerina Ivanovna. Svidrigaylov and Raskolnikov have shown acts of kindness to women, but perhaps Svidrigaylov uses his generosity as more of a way to justify his bad behavior. He doesnt value them very highly because of his terrible history with his servants. Raskolnikov is more kind to women (for instance the drunken girl) and he doesnt take advantage of them. Svidrigaylov mentions to Raskolnikov hes going on a journey and when Raskolnikov inquires where Svidrigaylov is confused. The journey is possibly his plan of committing suicide, his journey to America. He most likely went to St. Petersburg as a last attempt to get Dunya and redeem himself for his past actions and his other option was suicide. Yes, he donates money to help Dunya and Sonia, possibly to atone for his crimes or to feel a sense of domination because he considers himself extraordinary. He reveals in his death he is not the vile, nasty, depraved man Raskolnikov thought he was. Through suicide, he finds a sort of redemption and descends back to the ordinary. Svidrigaylov almost reverts to his lewd ways justified by his superman personality. He finally realizes Dunya doesnt want him and he has to face the truth. As a man who commits atrocity without recognizing the consequences on others, the encounter with Dunya forced him to realize he cant have whatever he wants and his position as a superman was over. Dunyas never pulled him out of the illusion he created for himself as she outright rejected him. Svidrigailov can no longer love anyone or anything at all, which is why in the end he must kill himself because he fears spending the rest of his life in "an outhouse out in the country covered with mold and spiders." Yes, because they consider themselves as transgressing normal men. They cannot identify with most parts of society because they feel they are above the rules of society. Depends on the idea of the Ubermensch, while Raskolnikov looks at Christianity. Both of their hallucinations are a

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result of their guilt and an inner realization that theyre not at extraordinary as they originally thought. Svidrigailov and Raskolnikov are two sides of the same coin. Theyre results of the same experiment with two different results. a. His suicide is consistent with his inner personality, not one that he shows to others. His suicide relates to the realization (that Raskolnikov also has) about what makes a man above society. 9. Svidrigaylov is outside in the open when he commits suicide. The air and water have connotations of freedom and purity. Typical of catharsis. However, he is drenched and dreams of flooding and its foggy. Shows a lack of recovery. His journey was death. Achilles killed by his heel. Svidrigailov was able to kil himself because although he is superhuman, every super"hero" has his one weakness and for Svid. it is the loack of affection and love of another that allows him to kill himself. Although the theory is just an attempt at detaching oneself from the weakness of the human condition (which may in fact just be the ability to feel remorse), the 'human condition' will always bite at you in the end because you are abnormal in the most general of senses if you can cross societal bounds without regret or guilt.