Crime and Punishment: Suspense
Suspense begins in Roskolnikov’s thoughts
There are times where we find ourselves living in suspense, feeling insecure about what possibly can occur next. So many things that surround us, at times, foreshadow what may happen next. When this happens, we crave to know what is the next event that will arrive. In the book of Crime and Punishment, there are many parts in which the story becomes suspenseful. Well, how does Dostoyevsky achieve and sustain the suspense in his novel?
It all starts right when we find out that Roskolnikov creates feelings of hatred towards Alyona Ivanovna, and creates some sort of plan to kill her. Even though in his thoughts laid the plan, he wasn 't completely convinced by his own being in actually completing with a crime. But once he was at the bar, where he overheard a conversation about Ivanovna and how she were better off dead, he decided that it was best that he were to do their request. This is before the suspense comes into play.
Overhearing the conversations about Alyona Ivanovna persuaded Rokolnikov that it was his destiny to murder her. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. This is where we can see a bit of suspense growing, because as a reader, what can we expect from a man who has never committed a crime such as killing? While Roskolnikov was a bit insecure about his decision in doing murder, he planned to use an ax to murder Alyona Ivanovna. He got his ax, and went his way to her door, waiting the moment where he can take action. It 's possible to imagine that in this moment, Roskolnikov probably tensed up in his body, possibly shook out of being nervous, and sweated heavily because he was going to do something he has never done before. The thoughts that lurked in his head of killing another person seemed right to him, because supposedly it was his "destiny", but somewhere deep inside of him, he knew the act of murder brought consequences. This is where suspense begins to grow.
There are times where we find ourselves living in suspense, feeling insecure about what possibly can occur next. So many things that surround us, at times, foreshadow what may happen next. When this happens, we crave to know what is the next event that will arrive. In the book of Crime and Punishment, there are many parts in which the story becomes suspenseful. Well, how does Dostoyevsky achieve and sustain the suspense in his novel?
It all starts right when we find out that Roskolnikov creates feelings of hatred towards Alyona Ivanovna, and creates some sort of plan to kill her. Even though in his thoughts laid the plan, he wasn 't completely convinced by his own being in actually completing with a crime. But once he was at the bar, where he overheard a conversation about Ivanovna and how she were better off dead, he decided that it was best that he were to do their request. This is before the suspense comes into play.
Overhearing the conversations about Alyona Ivanovna persuaded Rokolnikov that it was his destiny to murder her. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. This is where we can see a bit of suspense growing, because as a reader, what can we expect from a man who has never committed a crime such as killing? While Roskolnikov was a bit insecure about his decision in doing murder, he planned to use an ax to murder Alyona Ivanovna. He got his ax, and went his way to her door, waiting the moment where he can take action. It 's possible to imagine that in this moment, Roskolnikov probably tensed up in his body, possibly shook out of being nervous, and sweated heavily because he was going to do something he has never done before. The thoughts that lurked in his head of killing another person seemed right to him, because supposedly it was his "destiny", but somewhere deep inside of him, he knew the act of murder brought consequences. This is where suspense begins to grow.
Cited: Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment