Madie's Reaction P.5 Ch.4

Finally, he confessed! I've been waiting for this moment since the beginning of the book! Raskolnikov confesses to Sonia in a long drawn out explanation which doesn't even involve him saying it outright. He implies it to her, and she becomes upset, but not for what he did at first, but for his suffering. She embraces him as if to comfort his suffering. If I were her I would not have reacted this way! I would have been horrified but she doesn't seem to feel this way. And it is the same when he explains why he did it. He seems to avoid the question using metaphors of Napoleon, but he eventually comes to a conclusion. He says that he did it to get a better life, and finally he transcends to his reasoning that he needed to be "daring" in order to be a man. He emphasizes that he only did it to "dare" not to steal or for money but to dare because no man had before him. He states that "power is only given to him who dares to stoop and seize it." He is basically saying that he killed her to gain some sort of power. Throughout this Sonia is not rejecting him like I thought she might have. She seems to almost pity the pain he inflicts on himself because of it. She doesn't understand why he did it, but ultimately blames it on the Devil and not him. Faithfully, she decides not to abandon him. She hugs him and kisses him, and gives him support. However, now the burden is on both of them. Since Raskolnikov confessed to her, now they both have the truth wearing them down. Sonia even gives him one of her crosses and they both "bear the cross" of his actions. When Raskolnikov is finished he realizes that instead of feeling the load lighten as he had suspected, it had only become heavier and more painful. This confession did not do what he had hoped. Sonia tells him that the only way to be free of it is to turn himself in, and Raskolnikov will not do that. I am intrigued to see what happens to Raskolnikov now that he has confessed.