He had to come quickly, at the first good opportunity, to dishonest means of wealth. The question arose in his mind: how is one to explain this desire to oneself? As a weakness or a strength? It would have been much more simple and believable to explain it as a weakness, but it was much more pleasant for Raskolnikov to consider himself as a strong man and to justify his hand in someone else's pocket by this shameful thinking" (Pisarev 157). Raskolnikov had to think this way in order to justify the murder to himself. Denial is what he was going through throughout the whole novel. He refused to believe that he was in the wrong so he made this theory to protect himself from his thoughts of confession. There is a way to get away from the law but there is no way to get away from the guilt. "And everywhere there is recognition of the fact that behind the law there is guilt." There are ways to fool the law but you can never get away from what you already know. It is impossible to remove from your conscience the wrongful deeds that you have done. There is no way to run away from your own thoughts. It was said in a essay of criticism that Dostoevsky was contemplating how to end the novel. The two decisions were suicide or confession. Confession was needed to fulfill the lesson of how guilt tears at a person and brings them to confession. "The feeling of disconnection and of isolation from mankind, which he had realized immediately on committing the crime, torments him to death"(Dostoevsky 69). Raskolnikov can't even get the guilt of the murders out of his mind. The truth is tormenting and tearing at him. His only escape is confession. "The thought of criminal punishment hangs like Damocle's sword over Raskolnikov's head" (Pisarev 158). The only thing that keeps him from confessing is the punishment that he would receive. The thought of many years of suffering seemed unbearable to him. If you think about it, prison might actually be a better place for Raskolnikov.