Raskolnikov's Motives

In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov's motives for committing the crime may not be immediately obvious. Of course he is testing his theory of the types of people in the world and what that gives them the right to do, but being one of these extraordinary people, he already knows that he is one of them and that he has the right to do this and that he can probably get away with it. What, then, is the purpose of going through with it? It could be that he is so disgusted with himself for thinking about doing this, as he sometimes states, that he feels he has to go through with it just so he'll stop thinking about it all the time-- he wants to purge the thoughts from his head by complying with them. It also could be that he feels intensely guilty about thinking these things in the first place and realizes that people wouldn't believe he was a bad person if he tried to describe these feelings to them, so he feels he has to go through with the crime so that others will see he is a bad person and some of his guilt will be alleviated by having someone other than himself realize his true nature. Another possibility is that he feels driven by destiny to go through with it. His hearing the pawn-broker's sister talk about when the old woman will be alone, hearing the young man talk about why it could be reasonable to do away with the pawn-broker, and finding the ax all make Raskolnikov feel like he is being driven towards this event against his will. Feelings of destiny and guilt drive Raskolnikov to commit this crime.
Little Red