Crime and Punishment--Is Raskolnikov Extraordinary

In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov concocts a theory: All men are divided into ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’. The extraordinary man should have the right to eliminate a few people in order to make his idea known to all humanity; however, the ordinary man has no right to transgress the law. Because he believes this theory is an idea that must be known to all humanity, he considers himself extraordinary; however, there is a legion of events …

…and again it is obvious that Raskolnikov needs companionship. In several instances, Raskolnikov visited Sonia. Raskolnikov’s longing for communion proves that he doesn’t fulfill his own requirements of extraordinariness. Raskolnikov likes to think that he is an “extraordinary man”, but the reader sees quite another side of him. Through his contradictory ideas, life that was inconsistent with the “Extraordinary Man” theory, and social behavior, it becomes obvious that Raskolnikov is actually rather ordinary.