Murder Rationale in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment
Feodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is a murder mystery unlike most murder mysteries. In this novel the reader knows "who done it"; the mystery lies in why the murder is committed. Throughout the story, Raskolnikov gives three main reasons why he kills Alena Ivanovna. Although these reasons seem unrelated on a superficial level, there is truth in all of them. What's more, each one builds on its predecessor. Raskolnikov's first two reasons are scrutinized by Sonya one at a time as his solitary motive for murder. These reasons are then disproved on their own, leaving one ultimate motive that essentially encompasses the other two. As readers, we sometimes tend to want a direct explanation for events that have occurred. Dostoevsky gives us explanations, but they are not direct and can be confusing if we are looking for an obvious cause and effect relationship. Crime and Punishment imitates life in that the happenings do not always fit in nice neat categories. Perhaps this is one of the elements that make it such an intriguing and acclaimed novel.
Raskolnikov's first reason for murdering the pawn broker is to help himself. He claims he wanted the money. He states in his confession to Sonya, "It was to rob her" (348). It is obvious that he needed money for school. Also, if he had the money to put himself through school, his mother would not have to scrimp and borrow from others to help her son. Since the death of his father, Raskolnikov's mother and sister are greatly dependent upon him to make something of himself. His mother says in a letter to him, "You are all we have, Dunya and I, you are everything to us, our only hope and trust" (25). In this same letter, his mo...
... middle of paper ...
... commoners. His last reason was accepted as his ultimate motive; "Sonya understood that this gloomy creed had become his faith and his law" (353).
Raskolnikov himself does not really know why he is committing murder when the murder is taking place. It is a discovery of self and of a theory that was not yet developed. He uses excuses for his reasoning in the beginning, saying that he needs the money, and, later, that he is performing a service for the greater good. These excuses are necessary and fundamental steps of Raskolnikov's journey into self-discovery. It is human nature to rationalize, which is what he is doing. Ironically, this very need for rationalization and excuse is what fails him in his quest for proof of his superiority.
Work Cited
Dostoevsky, Feodor. Crime and Punishment. Trans. Jessie Coulson. Ed. Goerge Gibian. New York: Norton, 1989.
As we move into the Twentieth Century the similarities are almost identical. The First World War has shaped not only modern warfare but even produced global attention to the brutal and inhumane death toll of the war. As stated in the Geneva Protocol, which prohibited the use of chemical weapons in warfare, which was signed in 1925? While this was a welcomed step, the Protocol had a number of significant short comings, including the fact that it did not prohibit the development, production or stockpiling of chemical weapons.
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.
The purpose of this essay is to deal with the fact that chemical warfare should be brought back to modern warfare strategies. As Warren Rudman said, “And they will tell you unequivocally that if we have a chemical or biological attack or a nuclear attack anywhere in this country, they are unprepared to deal with it today, and that is of high urgency.” Rudman’s words are true in what they say and that we should do everything to counter-act his statement. Biological weapons are a key to outstanding success in war and therefore, I strongly suggest that chemical warfare is an effective and producible weapon tactic that can be used on today’s battlefield.
Clark, D. K. (1959). Effectiveness of chemical weapons in WWI. Bethesda, Md.: Operations Research Office, Johns Hopkins University.
In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky gives the reader an inside look to the value system that he holds for himself, as well as the type of characteristics that he abhors in people as well as the characteristics that he admires in people. He uses characters in the novel to express his beliefs of what a person should be like in life to be a “good'; person. Specifically he uses Raskolnokv to show both good and bad characteristics that he likes in people. Also he uses Svidriglaiov and Luzin to demonstrate the characteristics that people should shun and his personal dislikes in people.
Chemical warfare is the use of chemical agents to injure, incapacitate, or kill enemy combatants. First seen during World War I (WWI), the devastating effects of widespread chemical warfare were eventually deemed inhumane by an international consensus and chemical agents were subsequently banned from use. Still, despite the tendency of the modern warrior to overlook antiquated tactics, the threat of chemical agents in the theater of war cannot be entirely discounted by today's Soldier. By analyzing the application, evolution, and overall legacy of chemical weapons in the Great War we can work to minimize the danger they pose in current conflicts and those of the near future. For it is only by understanding the past that we can understand the present and shape tomorrow.
In such poor living conditions, those that the slums of Russia has to offer, the characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment1 struggle, living day to day. Raskolnikov, the protagonist, experiences multiple layers of suffering (the thought of his murder causes him greater suffering than does his poverty) as does Sonia and Katerina Ivanovna (1). Through these characters as well as Porfiry Petrovitch, Dostoevsky wants the reader to understand that suffering is the cost of happiness and he uses it to ultimately obliterate Raskolnikov’s theory of an ubermensch which allows him to experience infinite love.
Seeking Atonement in Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov, the protagonist of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment was a complicated man who committed a crime. Raskolnikov murdered a woman who was a plague to mankind, especially the poor of Russia. In the chilling process however, he also murdered her younger sister, Lisaveta. To be purified, he drives himself through much agony. Not until the closing of the novel did he realize he must confess to be atoned and to find love.
Raskolnikov is an impoverished ex-student living in St. Petersburg, the grimy, plagued, and urbanized capital of the Russian Empire. He “is nothing but a poor half-crazed creature, soft in temperament, confused in intellect” (Waliszewski), a maverick who believes he must deliver society from mediocrity. Deluded, he murders Alyona Ivanovna, a pawnbroker, and her unsuspecting half-sister, Lizaveta. Throughout the story, Raskolnikov undergoes transformations in all facets of his life, many of which are attributed to his infatuation with Marmeladov’s humble daughter, Sonia. Forced into prostitution, she is seen by Raskolnikov as a fellow transgressor of morality, but also as a savior that will renew him. This new development causes him to decry his nihilistic lifestyle as desolate and insufferable and to expiate, ending his self-imposed alienation and long suffering. Notwithstanding the title, the story has little to do with the crime or the punishment; the true focus is the turbulent internal conflict of Raskolnikov - the constant doubting of his motives and the psychological torment he endures.
Crime and Punishment at first is a daunting novel. With its sheer size alone, at 551 pages, combined with the dense writing style of Dostoevsky the initial sitting can leave one wonder how anyone ever finishes this hefty novel. However, the reasons soon become clear as you breeze through anxious to see where the next turn will take you. This psychological thriller aspect is also what leads to such a close examination of Raskolnikov's thoughts. It is not until part three that we are given the core idea that drives him to murder. Prior to his encounter with Porfiry beginning on page 248 the reader is left only with conjecture as to what drove him to murder of Alyona and Lizaveta Ivanovna. We see that he is ill and destitute, both good reasons to murder for money. We also have the dream with the horse starting on page 54 that at the very least gives rise to his brutal method of murder. It is clear in the exchange between Porfiry and Raskolvikov that Porfiry believes this idea hinted at in Raskolnikov's article is what drove him to murder. P...
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment explores the dangerous effects of St. Petersburg, a malignant city, on the psyche of the impoverished student Raskolnikov. In this novel, Petersburg is more than just a backdrop. The city plays a central role in the development of the characters and the actions that they take. Raskolnikov survives in one of the cramped, dark spaces that are characteristic of Petersburg. These spaces are like coffins; they suffocate Raskolnikov's mind. St. Petersburg creates a grotesque environment in which Raskolnikov can not only create the "Overman Theory," but he can also carry it out by murdering a pawnbroker in cold blood, then justify his actions with the belief that society will be better off without her. Raskolnikov finds no relief outside of his cramped room; the Petersburg climate is just as oppressive to the psyche as the cramped space of Raskolnikov’s room. Not only is the outside air dangerous; it forces him to find relief in the devil’s tavern. While wandering the infernal streets of St. Petersburg, Raskolnikov enters the devil’s realm in the form of Petersburg taverns. These are evil places, where treacherous ideas of robbery and murder circulate. Raskolnikov overhears the twisted idea to kill the pawnbroker inside one of these infested taverns.
In the novel Crime and Punishment the author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, places each of the main characters specifically to serve as a foil for Raskolnikov, the protagonist. The meaning of Raskolnikov’s name is split which serves as parallel to his split personality. Sonia serves as just one of many foils to his personality. Sonia is the part of his personality that is remorseful and ashamed of the crime he has committed. Another part of Raskolnikov’s character can be seen in Svidrigailov. Svidrigailov is the part that is immoral and corrupt.
In his novel Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov as a vessel for several different philosophies that were particularly prominent at the time in order to obliquely express his opinions concerning those schools of thought. Raskolnikov begins his journey in Crime and Punishment with a nihilistic worldview and eventually transitions to a more optimistic one strongly resembling Christian existentialism, the philosophy Dostoevsky preferred, although it could be argued that it is not a complete conversion. Nonetheless, by the end of his journey Raskolnikov has undergone a fundamental shift in character. This transformation is due in large part to the influence other characters have on him, particularly Sonia. Raskolnikov’s relationship with Sonia plays a significant role in furthering his character development and shaping the philosophical themes of the novel.
The book Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky has a main ideology in which the novel is based on. The protagonist, Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment embodies the idea of nihilism and the Übermensch. Dostoyevsky places the main character with the ideology that he wishes to shine light on. In this case, Dostoyevsky, hoping to criticize the philosophy of nihilism allows Raskolnikov to believe he is a kind of Übermensch, transcending society and making greater decisions and later renounce nihilism it to show its flaws.
Structure is a key element to any form of literature, whether it is a novel, poem, play, etc. Understanding the structure of a literature piece is vital towards understanding the purpose and meaning behind it because the structure is the foundation upon which the author is attempting to convey his or her message. In Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky embeds his message in the structure of the novel through the ways in which he divides his novel. He creates three distinct divisions in the novel, each representing a different state of Raskolnikov. These three divisions consist of Raskolnikov of old, the turning point of Raskolnikov, and the birth of a new Raskolnikov. The different division or states are symbolic of Dostoevsky’s message towards criminality as well as his critic of Friedrich Nietzsche’s idea known as the Übermensch. By analyzing each of these divisions, we can see how Dostoevsky has embedded his message within the structure of the novel.