Comparing Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment

1557 Words4 Pages

Crime and Punishment shares the story of how internal conflicts can shape an individual’s values and priorities, especially when the torment they’ve endured has been lengthy and emotionally consuming. Self-inflicted punishment from guilt and remorse at some point corners characters into finding a way out --a form of salvation and redemption-- for they come to realize the magnitude of their crime. Dostoevsky reveals that psychological torment leads an individual to seek forgiveness and redemption, a sensation that is found in religion. We’re presented with the story of Raskolnikov, in which he attempts to test his published Ubermensch theory, in which humankind is separated into two categories: the ordinary and the extraordinary. Individuals …show more content…

This relationship was the motivating force for him to put his Ubermensch theory to the test, curious about discovering his own place in society. Facing the legal consequences of killing Alyona and Lizaveta were only the start of to his problems; he subconsciously carried the guilt wherever he went to the point of torment and punishment. “‘I must put that sock on!’ But he immediately pulled it off again with loathing and horror. “‘There, I put it on! I finally put it on! [...] I’m strong enough’”, Raskolnikov treated the sock from the night of the murder as an embodiment of the sanguinary, wicked act itself (93). Forcing himself into the sock was equally as torturous as committing the actual murder; wearing the sock was a method of accepting the guilt and temor and especially the fact of wanting to commit murder in the first place. From this point on the guilt persevered and the psychological torment grew, yet humorously, life presented the simple solution of hope and renewal with the characters that appeared along the …show more content…

Hearing his story and how his need to repent for the past, and to some extent the present, with the help of alcohol has ruined him and his loved ones around him: “‘Do you know, do you know, sir, that I even drank up her stockings!” (15). Marmeladov was willing to sacrifice the happiness of others in order to suffer even more for what he’s done. “‘I drink, for I wish to suffer!’”: he wants to feel the punishment that he believes he’s earned in return for the terrible person he’s been all his life (16). It’s crucial to recognize that Marmeladov was willing--in his own twisted way, nonetheless-- to seek redemption. At the end of the day, Marmeladov helped Raskolnikov recognize that it’s better to suffer through the consequences of his actions while still having people to be near by, such as family, rather than avoiding everything and everyone because of the mistakes from the past, for “it is necessary that every man have at least somewhere to go” (14). In the conversation with Raskolnikov, Marmeladov made it clear that his life was full of hardships and distress because of his actions, but even in the instance before death, he sought redemption and forgiveness in all forms possible: from both God and his family. Sonya appeared moments before he died, and unable to recognize her in the form she now took,a different way of dress

Open Document