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Raskolnikov’s psyche changes in many ways throughout this novel; in the beginning he is already agitated and on edge, once he murders the pawnbroker he almost loses his mind, but then Sonia comes along and shows him the way out of the madness. Also Raskolnikov seems to have two different personalities. One side is cold, intellectual, and unfeeling and concentrates on power and self will. The other side is warm and compassionate and seems …

…rehearsal for something in the future. However, after he leaves the pawnbroker’s he asks himself how he could even consider doing such a despicable and loathsome thing (From reading the book we know this refers to murdering her). This is an example of Raskolnikov’s differing personalities, on one hand his intellectual side is planning to kill the woman for her money, but his compassionate side thinks that even thinking about it is disgusting.