In the epilogue of “Crime and Punishment” Radion Ramanovich Raskolnikov confesses to his crime of killing the old pawnbroker and her sister. However this is not the punishment that is referred to in the title of the story. Rather it is his strong feeling of guilt, lack of conviction, and ultimately the realization that he is a scoundrel, and not one of the few extraordinary men that he thought himself to be. In the beginning of the novel, Raskolnikov has a theory that in a world full of ordinary people, there are an extraordinary few who rise up, and achieve greatness. Therefore they are able to go against the moral code that affects the ordinary due to their impending destiny. Raskolnikov uses this as one of his justifications for murdering the pawnbroker. He thought that because he himself is one of the few extraordinary, then he can get through feeling guilty for his actions. He also believed that by killing the pawnbroker there would be one less evil in the world, and he was in fact committing a crime for the common good. However by the end of the novel, Raskolnikov realizes that he, not the pawnbroker, is the true evil and that he is not one of the extraordinary people that he once thought he was. Once he was able to accept this ego bruiser and confess to his crime, then his mental rehabilitation could begin.
posted by Eddie D.
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Re: The Punishment, and the justification for murder
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eddie on this one. Guilt and a feeling of worthlessness is a worse punishment than having the books thrown at you. I was surprised to find out that most of the book dealt with Raskolnikov’s suffering and mental anguish rather than with his planning or execution of the crime. An act that took minutes to execute becomes the focal point of the entire book. Dostoevsky goes into great detail about the human condition and the effect of such a heinous crime on a person. Raskolnikov attempts to cover up the magnitude of his crime by dismissing it only as an “ego bruiser”. He claims that the only thing he did wrong was fail to steal more money and items of monetary value . He believed his rules of morality were supreme and right. He bent these rules to fit his interests and ideas. However, I believe that his behavior shows that even he didn’t buy his own excuse. His constant fainting, illnesses and erratic behavior are all characteristics of a deeply troubled guilt- ridden person. I think the confession to the crime helped begin the rehabilitation process and his new found love will help him relate with people and fit back into society.