Saturday Reaction

The next few sections that I read from Notes From the Underground Dostoyevsky brings up many different topical points. The most prominent topic to me in those sections was the struggle between the man of actions and the man of acute consciousness (man of thoughts).

            Dostoyevsky’s character compares the difference of the man of action, or the normal man, and the man of acute consciousness, or the brilliant man, through their different reactions to revenge and how they approach it. The man of action finds revenge as simple as justice. Revenge to the normal man is righting the wrongs of someone else. In contrast, the man of acute consciousness understands the twisted nature of revenge. The man of acute consciousness has no desire to seek justice. He only wants to satisfy a dark need to destroy his enemies.  The normal man is easily rid of revenge because he takes action against his enemies quickly and without thought. The man of acute consciousness suffers through the process of revenge. He recalls every offense in excruciating detail, sometimes embellishing their memories to anger himself more. He thinks and over analyzes every situation, and because he is not a man of action, he never takes action to satisfy these vengeful fantasies. He dies with mental aguish and suffering.