schism (skzm, sz-)
n.
1. A separation or division into factions.
2. A formal breach of union within a Christian church; the offense of attempting to produce such a breach.
3. Disunion; discord.
In 1-2 paragraphs make an assertion of what Raz´s schism is. Be specific. Use at least 1 quote to back up your analysis.
Be prepared to talk about his schism tomorrow. Read other people´s entries!
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Raz's schism are many things together. He has a double personality or this interior struggle between two ideas, what is right and what is wrong, how he should act and how he wants to. Nevertheless he never doubts when thinking of the murder.
These divisions are present among others, when he wants to contribute to the Marmeladovs more than once, but later regrets his generosity for ex "...had time to put his hand in his pocket, to snatch up the coppers...afterwards on the stairs he changed his mind and would have gone back"What a stupid thing Ive done..."" pg 27 part 1 ch2. Raz's state of mind being divided constantly in 2 is probably because of the consequences of the murder, his conscience acting. He murdered 2 people, but will give the little money he has to strangers? in his mind it probably would make no sense, it would fix almost nothing or it could also be as many other characters say and think of him as a "madman", he is considering one himself.
Raz's mental state is divided into two completely different personalities which battle with each other. His emotions, thoughts and opinions are completely contradictory on occasions because he has a schism in his mind. "I believe you said yesterday you would like to question me...formally...about my acquaintance with the murdered woman? Raz was beginning again. Why did I pout in 'I believe' passed through his mind in a flash. Why am I so uneasy at having pout in that 'I believe' came in a second flash." This quote shows how divided his mind can be, terrified one moment and furious the next moment at being terrified. Along with his mental divide we also see signs of other definitions of schism in Raz's character. His violent act of murder and belief of the Christian faith is sufficient enough to create a breach with the church.
The discord of his innermost thoughts creates his personal demons which ultimately lead him to his delirious insanity. The inner torture which he suffers as punishment for his crime. Although Raz had been in a divide since before the murder. Flashes of emotions revealing his divided personality.
Raskolnikov is fighting the everlasting battle between his conscience and reason. The problem he faces is that he cannot find the line between the two, he flies from one side to the other. As Andrea said, he knows what is right but he still did wrong. What I believe is that his subconscious (conscience) is always fighting to get out and it is that struggle that causes him to give away money. The second his lapse in economic savvy wears off though, he immediately regrets doing so.
"True! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?" Another thing is that Raskolnikov keeps on having these lapses in rational thought where he gets taken over by a strong sense of paranoia and nervousness. This quote is from Edgar Allan Poe's the Tell Tell Heart but I feel like it definitely applies to Crime and Punishment. To support the point that Raskolnikov has a very distinct, alternating personality, we can look at Razumihin's words in Part 3, Ch.2:
"'I have known Rodion for a year and a half; he is morose, gloomy, proud and haughty, and of late — and perhaps for a long time before — he has been suspicious and fanciful. He has a noble nature and a kind heart. He does not like showing his feelings and would rather do a cruel thing than open his heart freely. Sometimes, though, he is not at all morbid, but simply cold and inhumanly callous; it's as though he were alternating between two characters. Sometimes he is fearfully reserved! He says he is so busy that everything is a hindrance, and yet he lies in bed doing nothing. He doesn't jeer at things, not because he hasn't the wit, but as though he hadn't time to waste on such trifles. He never listens to what is said to him. He is never interested in what interests other people at any given moment. He thinks very highly of himself and perhaps he is right. Well, what more? I think your arrival will have a most beneficial influence upon him.'"
In a nutshell, Raskolnikov's schism is that of his mind and his heart. He has to take either the rational, "safe" path of keeping quiet or the morally redeeming, ethical path of confessing. We will have to wait and see which side is stronger.
To me, Raz is torn between the fact that he believes deep down inside of him that he is really guilty and must confess "'I'll go in, fall on my knees, and confess everything...' he thought, as he reached the fourth floor.". Though it's still early in the book, he is clearly vexed as to what he should do. His subconscious is constantly making him think about giving in, but he simply won't, for there are many times when he almost confesses, but backs down at the last minute. So instead, he tries to hide the murder and he tries to evict himself from it. He is trying to prove to his subconscious that he is not guilty of "murder". In here lies the schism. He can't decide between being or not being guilty. "...but perhaps I won't allow it! I shall get up and throw the whole truth in your ugly faces, and you'll see how I despise you.' He could hardly breathe. 'And what if it's only my fancy? What if I am mistaken..." He fights over himself, over his feelings and his conceptions, eating away at his mind little by little because of this schism.
Raz's schism is made up of his ideas of what is in fact right and wrong. This division is marked by a grey area in which he uses relativity to state his philosphy of life. Ras stated that there's ordinary and extraordinary men in the world, and the latter are allowed to do wrong if it is for the "benfit of humanity", as stated in this quote: "...an extraordinary man has the right...to decide in his own conscience to overstep...certain obstacles...(sometimes, perhaps, of benefit to the whole of humanity)" (P.3, ch 5)This idea of extraordinary and ordinary men is also viewed as a machiavellian idea, in the sense that Ras justifies his actions for the result he might obtain (benefit of humanity), as thsi quote states: "...I didn't kill a human being, but a principle!"(P. 3, ch 6)
In several occasions Ras is capable of distinguishing right and wrong, as Andrea and Andres mentioned,like when he helped Katerina Ivanonva with Marmeladov's funeral, but his desire to good in the world is blurred by his instincts and machiavellian ideas.
Raz's schism is based on the situations had met and created, whether they are physical, or physiological. the disunion in his character is presented with his relations, such as with razu or his family.
"mother, sister-- how I loved them! Why do I hate them now? Yes, I feel a physical hatred for them, I cant bear them near me...."
This quote shows how Rodya's mind is falling into pieces, where he begins to feel detached for the ones he love due to his crime. He feel a physical hatred towards them because he feels he's not worthy of them and can figure out how they still love him. IN general, he's mad at women due to Lizaveta been a woman and the fact she didn't cry for help when Rodya killed her, making him not having a conclusion for her actions and making him stressed with the thought of it.
He has come to realize that even though he killed a principle, he has seen that he may be far worse.
"I am perhaps viler and more loathsome than the louse I killed, and I fel beforehand that i should tell myself so after killing her."
Here is were his consciousness attacks his theory, where he now believes he was less worthy that the lady he killed. the separation of his character, here, is that he divides his mind in two sides, one where he believes he killed for the god of mankind, and the second, he believes it was a terrible mistake and he ought to take her place.
"The more cunning a man is, the simpler the trap he must be caught in."
"I should like to wish you success, but your office is such a comical one."
In these quotes, The author shows Rodya's different analytic skills, which are develop through philosophic ideas and theories the author give the character, making the schism to be a logical answer for him to think all these different ideas. He acts in such ways because he as to control his cunning, be aware of all probable traps, whether crucial or trivial, and then again, uses sarcasm in order to get his enemies lost, such as in the case of Porfiry.
"Why am I going there now? Am I capable of that? Is that serious? It is not serious at all. It's simply a fantasy to amuse myself; a plaything! Yes, maybe it is a plaything." Chapter 1
(P.S. Early enough quote to show what I'm about to approve, or try to approve.)
Raz undoubtedly is like many other humans. He doubts himself and double thinks his actions, but this uncertainity of his brain is where the big difference is. He believes himself extraordinary, giving him reason to kill the old Pawnbroker one minute. This reason makes him a cruel, calculated person. The next, he flips over to a more spontaneous, warm side.
So, one wonders: why doubt yourself if you are so damn intelligent? His theories on ordinary vs. extraordinary is his doctrine the he himself doubts. If he fully understood and believed the capacity of him being extraordinary, there wouldn't be any doubt. His seperation into his different personalities (what a schizo!) proves to readers that he has two natural standpoints on life. When convinient, he will use either one whether it being the "superhuman" or the more logical/common way of grief after an act of murder. These two clashing ideas and his lack of self confidence (real self confidence, because he usually is pretty cocky, thinking himself better than others) are what makes him go crazy.
Interesting fact: Dostoyevsky believed suffering led to the purification of the soul.
Raz's schism is pretty obvious in this book, he battles will all his different ways of thinking. Whether it is battling distinguishing right from wrong or doing what he wants to do rather than what he should do. "Good God!" he cried, "can it be, can it be, that I shall really take an axe, that I shall strike her on the head, split her skull open... that I shall tread in the sticky warm blood, blood... with the axe... Good God, can it be?" I think this happens to him because he feels guilt for what he did and it torments him. This is very weird though because when he committed the murders he didn't think it twice when doing it. He is like two different people at once: he may sometimes be so caring and so humane, but at the second he can turn into an outrageous, cruel human being. "“not because he was afraid for himself, but entirely from horror and disgust for what he had done” this shows to us how he is tormented after committing the murder, but the description and detemrination he had when committing is contradicts his thoughts afterwards.
i believe that raz's schism comes from one main thing: a solution or answer for his actions. he is trying to justify or to prove his theory of the ordinary and extraordinary people. he is trying to reach mental peace because he is being tormented by his actions. he tries to look for all types of reasons of why he committed the murder. he is the type of person that tries to fin an answer to everything and no matter how good or bad something is he will try to make it look good just to feel good about himself. here comes the schism... between what is good and what he tries to make seem good to him, there is a huge gap between these two concepts. " let the dead have peace, not the living, because those have still to live."
here we can see how he sees peace as something that is unattainable, so we know that he will do all he can to try to reach it and if that involves to lie to himself he will do it. raz is a person that is mentally confused and trying to decide between doing what he wants to do(bad) and what he should do. after he did what he wanted(kill) he is trying to justify himfself in order to attain peace.
The schism im rodya is between right and wrong. His mind trying to rationalize the murder into something permited and his head becoming a prision. His head tryies to rationalise the murder by leting him believe that "he killed a principle" like ligia said and that he is one of those greater men that do not suffer when killing. But he himself says that these men do for their victims, if the master feels sorry for them. "[The Master or genius] He will suffer if he felt sorry for his victim...these great men must, i think, have a great sadness on earth." The difference between rodya and the great ones is that he had a type of relationship with the victim, this must in someway make him feel sorry for the pawnbroker and her sister. Especially her sister for her death was not planned. So, while the great masters just gave orders and sent men to their deaths, raskolnikov's crime was a much more passionate one. The fact that he knew her makes rodya's concience sprung into action and like he said "If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. that will be a punishment- as well as the prision." which tears him apart. His battle to try and convince himself that what he did is right and he deeply knowing that his actyions were wrong.
Raz schism is presented in many different ways. but mainly is a battle he has constantly with himself. I considered Raz a very active person he is always with something is his mind and he always ends up getting frustrated over an argument he made up with himself.
I dont see it as a battle between right and wrong but as an insecurity of who he really is. for me you are good or your bad and consequently you know exactly why you make your choices without trying to fool yourself. Raz is always giving excuses of his actions to himself, excuses that are not exactly true "Why am I going there now? Am I capable of that? Is that serious? It is not serious at all. It's simply a fantasy to amuse myself; a plaything! Yes, maybe it is a plaything." Chapter 1 he keeps giving false motives to himself and the only explanation i can find for this constant battle within himself is that he doesn't know who he is and that he hasn't completely created himself and cant figure out how to do it so by fighting his opinions he is looking for a real answer or a real inspiration.
Andrea S.:
After reading the multiple meanings of schism i believe that rask. has is all of them. He branches out fromt he church. He seems to have a mental schism going on constantly woth his thoughts. He is also very schism like with his friends and family. ok...he branches out from the church becasue he murders someone and no matter how many times you try and justify what you did becasue it might of been for a good casue or becasue they deserved it stand against all morals and religious teachings, well unless ur a devil worshipper or something. He has friendsship schisms becasue he goes through many bipolar episodes with Razu, for example one second he is telling him about how he want him to "leave him alone" and how he should pretty much go to hell and five seconds lter he comes back to his house party and act all normaly with him again. The mental schisms he keeps having are the ones were he cant decide with what he should do or if what he id was right. it seems as if he wants to be a good person but then he seems to fight it in some way. Maybe it could be becasue of the money situation he is going through but he still does thing in good will. For example when marmelade died he gave all he could to help out the family but later on the walkhome he regrets everything.Mainly becasue he regrets giving the money.
Raz’s schism is that he is confused with himself, he doesn’t understand his own believes since he sometimes thinks his actions are not bad and sometimes there are good as well as he justifies everything he does like the murder he was trying to justified it. Also he changes his mind for example when he does good things and from the sudden regrets them as he did when he gave money to the girl. he is in a conflict with his mind, two different ways of thinking. He is very indecisive and I think he is like that because he fells guilty with himself so his mind tries to cover that up making excuses and trying to make it sound as it was the right thing to do, but in his inside he knows his actions were not right. Its a constant struggle with morals, he is already punishing himself.”If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake that will be punishment as well as the prison.” He is suffering as if he was in prison.
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