Love, Suffering, and Gratitude for Existence

Abstract

This essay examines the transformation of Raskolnikov’s characteristic emotions toward his crime and toward his entire life in the world. Specifically, I argue that it is through Raskolnikov’s capacity to feel guilt over a particular deed that he overcomes his ambivalent emotions toward the limits of finite human existence. His commission of a crime and the subsequent experience of guilt allow him to redefine his predominant attitude toward the world. For much of the novel, Raskolnikov seems to wish that he could hover tentatively above finite existence rather than be immersed in it, but through his experience of guilt Raskolnikov develops his potential to care for others. His eventual guilt and remorse for what he has done are thus not only about the murder: these emotions show Raskolnikov’s willingness to accept the intricate ways in which he is implicated in a finite, temporal, historically situated existence. Only thus can Raskolnikov wholeheartedly begin a morally accountable life among others. What is affectively at issue for Dostoevsky’s protagonist, as I will show, is the tension between his general antipathy for the world and his capacity to love.