Crime and Punishment Essay examples - 1327 Words

Crime and Punishment In his book â€Å"Crime and Punishment†, Dostoevsky explores the path of Raskolnikov who has many problems and obstacles throughout his life. He commits murder and is faced with the long and mentally extremely painful journey of seeking redemption. Raskolnikov believes that by a law of nature men have been â€Å"somewhat arbitrarily† divided into two groups of â€Å"ordinary† and â€Å"extraordinary†. Raskolnikov believes that the duty of the ordinary group is to just exist, in order to form the world and the society. The second group, those who are â€Å"extraordinary†, are a step above the normal. They have the ability to overstep normal bounds and violate the rights of those who are simply ordinary. They are the prime movers; they†¦show more content†¦However, once he realized that he had made mistakes, he began to question his theory. After all the frustration, he decided to go to the scene of the crime. This gave him a rush that made him feel invincible. He believed that this would prove if he was truly â€Å"super†. Once he realized that he wasn’t part of this class, he suffered a mental breakdown. Raskolnikov’s suffering has a direct relationship with his guilt over his crimes. It is also due to his recognition of his failure to meet his theory. However another controlling idea behind his punishment is a result of his dual personality and his obsession to prove his theory. He is best represented as being either cold, intellectual and isolated from society, or as being warm and compassionate. The murder is the result of his intellectual side, trying to determine whether or not he fits his â€Å"extraordinary man† theory. It was this side of his personality that develops the crime and carries out his plan, forcing the humane side to suffer for his actions. Both Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov are headed down the same path throughout the novel. They share the same goal of redemption. Dunya was the same objective to Svidrigailov as the â€Å"superman† theory to Raskolnikov. When theyShow MoreRelatedDostoyevskys Crime And Punishment1447 Words   |  6 PagesDosto yevsky s Crime and Punishment relies heavily on Raskolnikov’s motivation for committing the crime. To the casual reader, the motives are straightforward–he wants to find out if he, like Napoleon, is an extraordinary man; wants to rid society of the pawnbroker, the louse; wants simply to lift himself from debt with the money he stole. But these explanations do not strike the heart of the matter: there is a deeper cause. The ultimate reason behind Raskolnikov’s violent murder of the pawnbrokerRead MoreReview Of Crime And Punishment 824 Words   |  4 PagesIn Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov is depicted as â€Å"crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him† (Dostoyevsky 3). During 1861, the Emancipation Reform had recently taken place. The economy was suffering and the need for money became crucial. The protagonist of the novel, Raskolnikov, struggles to earn money, which associates with his behavior. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the author of the novel, considers Raskolnikov a divided character with different opinionsRead MoreCrime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky1025 Words   |  4 PagesCrime and Punishment, written by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky; is a philosophical crime fiction novel. The story is very powerful in that it goes beyond the book and into the lives of the audience; making the audience feel some type of relation between themselves and the story. Dostoevsky was brilliant in creating a fictional world where the characters seem to be found within the audience, transitioning from a fictional story to a self-help book. He employes many life lessons in the story, whichRead MoreCrime and Punishment vs. The Stranger1438 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the novels Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Stranger by Albert Camus, sun, heat, and light play a significant role in the development and understanding of the novel and the characters in it. Upon the initial readin g of The Stranger, the reader may have a general acknowledgment of a relationship between the novel’s protagonist, Mersault, and the sun and heat, either proceeding or following one of the novels significant events. What is harder to understand on the first readRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel Crime And Punishment 1709 Words   |  7 Pagesthe principles they live by. In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky explores contrasting ways of response to adversity. In the novel, there are those who don’t commit crimes while facing the hardships of life, like Sonia, Lizaveta, and Mikolka. Those like Raskolnikov, however, try to change the elements of life that provide challenges by taking drastic measures to modify society and life: by murdering an opportunist pawnbroker in his case. When reading Crime and Punishment, one can see that the differenceRead MoreUtilitarianism In Dostoevskys Crime And Punishment770 Words   |  4 PagesIn the novel Crime and Punishment the main charac ters Raskolnikov, Svid, and Sonya embody different philosophies. Throughout the novel you can tell which philosophies Dostoevsky likes and dislikes depending on the character. Sonya represents religion, Raskolnikov represents utilitarianism, and Svid represents a utilitarian hedonist. Throughout this novel these characters help to describe the psychology of a criminal and paint the path between crime and punishment. This novel is told almost entirelyRead More The Struggle in Crime and Punishment Essay1524 Words   |  7 PagesThe Struggle in Crime and Punishment Reading this book makes you ill because from the beginning to the end you watch as psychological forces eat away at the thoughts and actions of their victim causing him to finally confess to the hideous crime he has committed. The story is basically the struggle between Raskolnikovs Napoleon-à ¼bermensch theory and his conscience which make him confess to his crime. Dostoevskys genius is in describing how Raskolnikov struggles in his thoughts and actionsRead MoreCrime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky881 Words   |  3 PagesThe Great Divide In Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Raskolnikov faces a split in his con-science. Despite his attempts to achieve and maintain rational self interest, Raskolnikov finds it impossible to escape his own human nature. Throughout the course of the novel, Raskolnikov becomes divided between modernity and morality, and is continuously pulled back towards hu-man nature. From the start, Raskolnikov portrayed clearly that he was not like other people from his time. RaskolnikovRead MoreDostoevsky s Crime And Punishment1349 Words   |  6 PagesFyodor Dostoevsky wrote â€Å"Crime and Punishment† in 1866, during a time of Russian history where there was a convergence of several different, and oftentimes contradictory, political, philosophical, and economic ideologies. Not only was this a period of many conflicting sentiments, it was also a time of great change, with the Russian government implementing several reforms that changed the course of the country forever. One such reform was the freeing of the serfs under Alexander the II, Tsar of RussiaRead MoreEssay on Guilt in Crime and Punishment1266 Words   |  6 PagesGuilt in Crime and Punishment  Ã‚   In Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky tells a story of a young man that has been forced out of his studies at a university, by poverty. In these circumstances, he develops his theory of an extraordinary man (Frank 62). This conjecture is composed of the ideas that all great men must climb over obstacles in their way to reach their highest potential and benefit human kind. In Raskolnikovs life, the great obstacle is his lack of money, and the way to get