The extraordinary man in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is presented in three fashions: the first is Dostoevsky's theory of the extraordinary man, the second is the main character's, Raskolnikov's notion of himself as an extraordinary man and the third is Dostoevsky's view of the protagonist's attachment to his self-identification with the extraordinary. Dostoevsky's ideas about the extraordinary man are given in Raskolnikov's speech to Porfiry Petrovich on pages 242 and 243. Dostoevsky's view is expressed as Raskolnikov's, and is concerned with defining what exactly an extraordinary man is. Lending the protagonist definition, however, does not signify the author's acceptance of Raskolnikov's supposed extraordinariness. Dostoevsky satirizes Raskolnikov's declaration of having extraordinary qualities inasmuch as he conjoins the adjective, extraordinary, with dream states, transformations, delirium and chance. The last way in which the extraordinary man is presented is through Raskolnikov's self-representation, his interpretation of events and his attempt to reconcile his ideas with his actions. Dostoevsky is not satirizing the idea of an extraordinary man; on the contrary, he is proposing it as a possibility- a possibility that is hardly possible. This unlikelihood is described with the statistics given in Raskolnikov's speech to Porfiry: "People with new ideas, people with the faintest capacity for saying something new, are extremely few in number, extraordinarily so, in fact" (page 245). Rather than the concept of the extraordinary man, Dostoevsky is satirizing people who think that they have the right to act like extraordinary men; the characters of Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov are representative of such people, and their ult... ... middle of paper ... ...oevsky allows the possibility of being extraordinary is Porfiry, who looks "with extraordinary simplicity at Raskolnikov (which startled him and instantly put him on his guard)" (314). Porfiry's "extraordinary simplicity" frightens Raskolnikov because he realizes that he is in the presence of someone higher than him: he is in the presence of someone who makes him unconsciously recognize his ordinariness. Dostoevsky wrote a novel about a fool, and his intended audience is the fools who think they see the extraordinary in themselves. In the guise of Raskolnikov's speech to Porfiry, Dostoevsky defines what an extraordinary man is for those who not only do not know, but who pretend that they do know (i.e., Raskolnikov). The intention of the speech is to make such people reflect and, in reflecting, learn their ordinary place in the world, much like Raskolnikov does.
Understanding how far your psyche is able to be pushed is useful for everyday life, and for the long run. Dostoevsky properly displayed how Raskolnikov was shaped by his mental and outward conflicts, ultimately showing how important this character was in the book. Even though he’s the main character, if Dostoevsky failed to highlight how Raskolnikov’s sanity was getting away from him, it would be hard for the reader to understand his actions. In the end, knowing that Raskolnikov was mentally incapable when he committed the crime of murder and went on to hide the fact he was guilty, it foreshadowed that in the end of the book he would give himself up one way or another. Mental capacity and its limits can be seen as an important aspect of a person’s personality, as displayed in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment with Raskolnikov, who was unaware of the limits of his psyche which resulted in him loosing his sanity.
Dostoyevsky's writing in this book is such that the characters and setting around the main subject, Raskolnikov, are used with powerful consequences. The setting is both symbolic and has a power that affects all whom reside there, most notably Raskolnikov. An effective Structure is also used to show changes to the plot's direction and Raskolnikov's character. To add to this, the author's word choice and imagery are often extremely descriptive, and enhance the impact at every stage of Raskolnikov's changing fortunes and character. All of these features aid in the portrayal of Raskolnikov's downfall and subsequent rise.
Dostoevsky does not like all of Raskolnokv though. He hates his aloofness. Dostoevsky cannot stand anti-socialism and believes that people should be together and not dislike “meeting at any time'; with anyone. Constantly Raskolnokov alienates himself from all his friends and family to go alone about his way, which ends up getting him into trouble because of his radical thinking, like his theory that some people can transcend the law because of some extraordinary powers. The trouble that Raskolnokov gets into is Fyodor’s way of showing that continually parting yourself from society is unhealthy for a person and that they need other human contact to be complete.
In Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov's initial crime, failure, and acceptance of mistakes are his road to overcoming his ego, as well as self discovery.
Raskolnikov demonstrated this as he proved that he was either not truly extraordinary or that extraordinary people simply could not break the law and go unpunished. how an extraordinary man could not transgress the law, though, and that he would not be able to escape the punishment of the crime. He realized that he would eventually be caught. Raskolnikov's view on the extraordinary man changed drastically from part III to part V, because he went from believing and testing the extraordinary man theory by committing a murder, to realizing that the theory is inaccurate and no one can simply transgress the law and go unpunished and the line between extraordinary and ordinary people is far vaguer than he ever could have imagined, causing him to falsely believe that he was an extraordinary
Dostoevsky was made aware of the problems with Nihilistic ideas while he was exiled in Siberia. Crime and Punishment was Dostoevsky’s first attempt at a psychological analysis of a person’s inner struggles to rationalize this radicalism. Raskolnikov represents that intelligentsia and is being used by Dostoevsky to portray and warn against succumbing to these ideals. Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov’s life to illustrate the implications and applications of this Nihilist to the public and then expands upon it in Demons.
Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg is a large, uncaring city which fosters a western style of individualism. As Peter Lowe notes, “The city is crowded, but there is no communality in its crowds, no sense of being part of some greater ‘whole.’” Mrs. Raskolnikov initially notices a change in her son marked by his current state of desperate depression, but she fails to realize the full extent of these changes, even after he is convicted for the murder. The conditions and influences are also noticed by Raskolnikov’s mother who comments on the heat and the enclosed environment which is present throughout the city. When visiting Raskolnikov, she exclaims "I'm sure...
Often times in literature, we are presented with quintessential characters that are all placed into the conventional categories of either good or bad. In these pieces, we are usually able to differentiate the characters and discover their true intentions from reading only a few chapters. However, in some remarkable pieces of work, authors create characters that are so realistic and so complex that we are unable to distinguish them as purely good or evil. In the novel Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky develops the morally ambiguous characters of Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov to provide us with an interesting read and to give us a chance to evaluate each character.
Within the tortured mind of a young Russian university student, an epic battle rages between two opposite ideologies - the conservative Christianity characteristic of the time, and a new modernist humanism gaining prevalence in academia. Fyodor Dostoevsky in the novel Crime and Punishment uses this conflict to illustrate why the coldly rational thought that is the ideal of humanism represses our essential emotions and robs us of all that is human. He uses the changes in Raskolnikov's mental state to provide a human example of modernism's effect on man, placing emphasis upon the student's quest for forgiveness and the effect of repressed emotion. The moral side of Raskolnikov's mind requires absolution in a Christian manner. This need obliviates his claim to be a Nietzschean superman, and illustrates that all humans have a desire for morality.
In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Raskalnikov undergoes a period of extreme psychological upheaval. By comparing this death and rebirth of Raskalnikov's psyche to the story of the resurrection of Lazarus, Dostoevsky emphasizes not only the gravity of his crimes, but also the importance of acceptance of guilt.
One of the most profound and obvious changes in Raskolnikov’s character can be seen in the newfound appreciation for other people and human relationships he discovers at the end of the novel. When the reader is first introduced to Raskolnikov, Dostoevsky quickly makes it apparent that he has little to no regard for others, writing on the very first page that Raskolnikov was “so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but anyone at all” (1). Indeed, in Raskolnikov’s mind, “to be forced to listen to [the landlady’s] trivial, irrelevant gossip […] and to rack his brains for excuses, to prevaricate, to lie” is the most loathsome thing imaginable (1). His disdain toward other people is so great that the mere thought of interacting with anyone for any length of time repulses him. On some occasions...
"You keep lying!" screamed Raskolnikov, no longer able to restrain himself. "You're lying, you damned clown!" And he flung himself on Porfiry, who retired to the doorway, but without a trace of panic. "I understand everything, everything!" He approached Porfiry. "You're lying and taunting me so Ill give myself away-" "You can't give yourself away any more than you have already, Rodion Romanovich, old man. Why, you've gone into a state. Don't shout, I'll call my men, sir!" (Dostoyevsky, 34)
The man is peculiar because of his lack of self-respect, his sadistic and masochistic tendencies, and his horrible delight in inflicting emotional pain on himself and others. Almost instantly, the reader is forced to hate this man. He has no redeeming values, all of his insights into human nature are ghastly, and once he begins the narrative of his life, the reader begins to actively hate and pity him. The reader is forced to ask why Dostoyevsky would bother writing about this troubling man and his problems. The answer is that Dostoyevsky does not believe in the norms society sets for people.
Through Raskolnikov's fears, the reader is able to see that he does feel guilt. When he is awake and sober in mind, he is an egoist and believes that he is extraordinary. It is through his visions of ghosts and phantoms, that one can feel the guilt haunting him. Through his dreams, he sees for himself that his beliefs are wrong.
According to Raskolnikov’s theory in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”,there are two types of people that coexist in the world; the “Extraordinary” and the “Ordinary”. The ordinary men can be defined as “Men that have to live in submission, have no right to transgress the law, because they are ordinary.”(248). To the contrary “extraordinary” men are “Men that have a right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way , just because they are extraordinary”(248). Dostoevsky’s theory is evident through the characters of his novel. The main character, Raskolnikov, uses his theory of extraordinary men to justify contemplated murder. There is a sense of empowerment his character experiences with the ability to step over social boundaries. He is led to believe the killing of the pawnbroker is done for the perseverance of the greater good. It is ironic that character who is shown to be powerful in the early stages of the novel subsequently go on to show many weaknesses.