5/10/2023 0 Comments Raskolnikov dostoevsky![]() ![]() Mikhail Shemyakin, Raskolnikov’s Dream, illustration to “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1964. ![]() The mare stretches out her muzzle, draws a long breath and dies” (59). Mikolka stands on one side and begins dealing random blows to her back with the crowbar. Several young men, also red and drunk, seize anything they come across–whips, sticks, poles and run to the dying mare. “Get an axe, hell! Finish her off,” shouts a third…”Finish her off,” shouts Mikolka and, beside himself, leaps out of the cart. “She’ll fall in a minute, pals, you’ll see, and that’s the end of her!” shouts an admiring spectator. The scene escalates and eventually the entire crowd is mercilessly, mockingly beating the horse. The young Raskolnikov looks on horrified, even when his father urges him not to. ![]() When the mare indeed fails to pull the cart, the crowd rises into a mocking laughter and Mikolka starts to beat the horse. It’s clear the horse can’t carry this many people. Upon closer inspection, they find that a group of drunken tavern-goers, led by a man named Mikolka, are climbing into a cart led by an aging horse, wanting it to give them a ride. He is walking through the town with his father and they come across a tavern. Wandering around St.Petersburg, contemplating the murder of pawnbroker Alyona Ivanonva, Raskolnikov falls into a vodka-induced sleep and dreams a scene loosely from his childhood. For me, one of the most startling and moving passages in Crime and Punishment comes in Part One, Chapter Five. ![]()
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