Stacey's Entries on Crime and Punishment

#1
After reading A Streetcar Named Desire, it would've been a refreshing change to be assigned a more upbeat novel in which the characters possessed positive attitudes and behaviors. What was I thinking? Crime and Punishment is definitely not the answer to my wish. It is a novel written by Fyodor Dostoevsky, whose main character, Raskolnikov makes Stanley Kowalski seem tame and lame. This was a difficult read, with a most appropriate title- Crime and Punishment. With no disrespect to Mr. Dostoevsky, it did indeed feel like a "crime" as well as a "punishment" to get through this novel.

Raskolnikov is most likely Dostoevsky's alter ego. This character possesses two completely contradicting personalities. One side of him is extremely intelligent and cold-hearted. In fact, so evil that he appears inhuman. He displays extreme self-will. This is the side of his personality that drives him to commit the most wicked crime, one can ever imagine- murder. The other part of his duel personality enables him to be this warm, empathetic, and considerate human being. This is the side that displays his charitable nature, and his ability to attack the evilness within society.

This character is another example of a confused soul; Raskolnikov demonstrates this confused state when he tries to come to the rescue of a young girl in the street who had just been raped. When he finds her in this pitiful position, he immediately tries to protect her from such evilness. After pondering his actions, he becomes disgusted by this horrible society and changes his mind. He questions his motives, asking why he took it upon himself to interfere. He then concludes what is it to him "Let them eat each other alive".

Raskolnikov is the primary and most significant character in the story. He appears to be in a state of torment. The first two parts of the story, he contemplates acting an observation. After he murders this old woman, he spends a great deal of time contemplating a confession. He spends his time feeling trapped in society, even though nothing is really holding him back. He chooses not to escape, nor confess, however he continues to feel stifled. Will he ultimately fess up to this crime?

#2
This novel was written during a turbulent time in Russian history. Fyodor Dostoevsky depicts the human experience through suffering and death. As soon as Raskolnikov commits these murders, he begins a life of more intense suffering. Prior to these murders, he was a drop out student, living in a tiny room in St. Petersburg. He is poverty stricken and when his friend Razumikin, offers to help him financially, he refuses. This would be way too ordinary for him to accept help. Instead, he plans to murder an elderly woman, and steal all her money. Unfortunately, this murder becomes a double murder, because the half sister of the elderly woman stumbled upon the murder in progress. Raskolnikov's dream

Raskolnikov dream about the mare acts as a tool to determine how he really feels deep down inside. The dream alludes to Raskolnikov as a "Split Man". (His name in Russian means, "split"). I find this to be quite ironic. His personality as we know it has two sides. His cold heartless side leads him to commit murder, while his warm side leads him to perform kind acts. As I mentioned before, he helped this young girl who just got raped, as well as help the Marmeladov family. At the time of these good deeds, he does them without thinking about it, however it is interesting that when he does these deeds, he regrets them all, thinking it was stupid on his part to get involved. These reversals of thought create an onset of his cold side.

#3
At the end of the novel, Raskolnikov is convicted of his crimes. He is sent of to a prison in Siberia for seven years. The object of this novel was to categorize society in two groups. One being the ordinary, and the other become the extraordinary. People who lead quiet lives, follow rules, and show respect for authority figures fall under the ordinary group. The people that break laws and commit crimes, in order to change their social environment, are considered extraordinary. In other words, people tend to justify their crimes in order to feel "extraordinary" or better than everyone else. People actually believe what Raskolnikov believes. That he is part of the group, which possesses a license to kill in order to help mankind. As I am trying to understand this concept, I can compare it with events in history such as the tragedy of 9/11 and then Oklahoma City bombings. Terrorists that commit such hideous crimes are just modern day Raskolnikovs. They are people who feel justified for their actions.

I tried as best as I could to grasp the concept of this story. Sometimes I came off with convoluted responses, and my thoughts appeared scattered. I hope some sense can be made to those who struggled with this novel, as much as I did.