Thank You B. Streuthker

Dr. Phil: My first guest tonight is a man who has some impulse-control problems.

Raskolnikov: What do you want? When will you leave off tormenting me?

Dr. Phil: Hold it right there. Seems to me you need an attitude adjustment.

(Raskolnikov turns abruptly and stares at the wall.)

Dr. Phil: Says here you murdered an old lady for her money. You murdered her, and then you murdered her sister. What were you thinking?

Raskolnikov: (Making a violent effort to understand what it all means) I murdered myself, not them! It was the Devil that killed them. Enough, enough! I killed a noxious insect of no use to anyone, so what is the object of these senseless sufferings?

Dr. Phil: You need to get a grip on yourself, and you need to take some responsibility and make healthier choices.

(Applause from studio audience.)

Raskolnikov: (Breathing heavily, his upper lip twitching.) My choice was to be a great man dedicated to improving the lot of humanity. The vast mass of mankind is mere material, and only exists in order by some mysterious process to bring into the world at last one man out of a thousand with a spark of independence.

Dr. Phil: Let's talk about the independence thing, since you brought it up. You're still receiving money from your mother, isn't that right? And you have a college degree but no job? And recently you've embarked on a life of crime?

Raskolnikov: The extraordinary man has the right to find in his own conscience a sanction for murder, if it is essential to the practical fulfillment of his idea. Our rulers destroy men by millions themselves and look on it as a virtue. They are knaves and scoundrels.

Dr. Phil: Ho ho, well I'm not an expert on politics, but don't you think you have enough problems of your own to keep us busy here? I understand you're in love with a prostitute?

Raskolnikov: Sonia is a woman of the utmost purity whom I love with a Christ-like intensity that drives me to torment and humiliate her.

Dr. Phil: Be honest with me now. Don't you think she'd prefer a relationship in which two healthy people come together because they complement each other on an equal footing of respect and love?

(Applause from studio audience.)

Raskolnikov: (Grinds his teeth.) A dull animal rage boils within me.

...

(Amazon.com Review for Crime & Punishment)