Raskolinikov’s third dream takes place while he is hospitalized in the prison as “he is still lying in feverish delirium” (pg 547). He envisions that a microscopic bug carrying an infectious pathogen has swept across Europe. The narrator specifies that “these creatures were spirits, endowed with reason and will” (pg 547), which makes the infected believe they are all-knowing. Believing that each individual’s ideals and beliefs were superior to the rest, society begins to destroy itself and chaos erupts. As society implodes and nearly everyone is killed, the only ones left, are those who are described as “pure and chosen” (pg 547). It is up to this remainder of the human population to renew mankind.
This dream illustrates Raskolinikov’s significant