Dostoevsky was one of the prominent forward-thinking writers of his time. ‘Crime and Punishment’ is a by-product of his time spent in prison and his observations of the criminal psyche through other inmates.
In this book, Dostoevsky wades into the mind of a soon-to-be criminal, Raskolnikov, who then commits an act from which there is no coming back. Raskolnikov is haunted by the constant lack and poverty that surrounds him and the lives of his fellow university students. He is an intellectual and his crime is not motivated by his need for survival, but in fact to test a theory that he has propounded.
Raskolnikov believes that the world consists of two types of men-ordinary and superior men, the latter, who shape the world through their moral or amoral actions and are risen to the social positions of world leaders. According to him, the world has always celebrated the acts of such men as Napolean, whose actions no matter how vile, were validated by this world of followers. When these men were born before their time, they were hanged or imprisoned, but they changed the course of history forever, for instance, Galileo. However, after their deaths they were honoured and praised. He believed that such a man was one in a million and the rules of the society didn’t apply to him. Raskolnikov admits that while they do not have an official stamp of approval, such men have an “inner right” to override superficial laws of society.
Despite it being his foremost crime and suffering from constant reproach by his conscience, the author never denies Raskolnikov’s guilt or intent. The book is a journey through Raskolnikov’s mind and his internal conflicts, sometimes verging on schizophrenia. While this is a thin thread of a plot running across such a large volume, Dostoevsky paints a fixed and definitive portrait of the lead character with extreme descriptions of the horrible nature of poverty. This book has played a major role in changing the perceptions of society towards the ordinary criminal and criminal psyche. At a time when few books were written with a criminal for a protagonist, and in the absence of television or any criminal tele-dramas, this book was a treasure-trove of resource for criminal psychology.
Dostoevsky also plays with the idea of faith and its restorative qualities for a criminal. Raskolnikov claims to believe in God and has a sense of right and wrong demonstrated by his dreams, which show him trying to save a pony from cruel and painful death. But while he is righteous in thoughts, all the greater injustices he observes in his poverty and stagnant state make him rethink the immorality of his crime.
The end of the book might seem a bit out of place but just like in the Bard’s plays, every character has something to say. After experiencing the agonizing struggles and mind-mazes throughout this book, the ending is like a soothing effect to the soul. This book proves to be, if nothing else, an exceptional study of a brilliant psychological specimen.
In this book, Dostoevsky wades into the mind of a soon-to-be criminal, Raskolnikov, who then commits an act from which there is no coming back. Raskolnikov is haunted by the constant lack and poverty that surrounds him and the lives of his fellow university students. He is an intellectual and his crime is not motivated by his need for survival, but in fact to test a theory that he has propounded.
Raskolnikov believes that the world consists of two types of men-ordinary and superior men, the latter, who shape the world through their moral or amoral actions and are risen to the social positions of world leaders. According to him, the world has always celebrated the acts of such men as Napolean, whose actions no matter how vile, were validated by this world of followers. When these men were born before their time, they were hanged or imprisoned, but they changed the course of history forever, for instance, Galileo. However, after their deaths they were honoured and praised. He believed that such a man was one in a million and the rules of the society didn’t apply to him. Raskolnikov admits that while they do not have an official stamp of approval, such men have an “inner right” to override superficial laws of society.
Despite it being his foremost crime and suffering from constant reproach by his conscience, the author never denies Raskolnikov’s guilt or intent. The book is a journey through Raskolnikov’s mind and his internal conflicts, sometimes verging on schizophrenia. While this is a thin thread of a plot running across such a large volume, Dostoevsky paints a fixed and definitive portrait of the lead character with extreme descriptions of the horrible nature of poverty. This book has played a major role in changing the perceptions of society towards the ordinary criminal and criminal psyche. At a time when few books were written with a criminal for a protagonist, and in the absence of television or any criminal tele-dramas, this book was a treasure-trove of resource for criminal psychology.
Dostoevsky also plays with the idea of faith and its restorative qualities for a criminal. Raskolnikov claims to believe in God and has a sense of right and wrong demonstrated by his dreams, which show him trying to save a pony from cruel and painful death. But while he is righteous in thoughts, all the greater injustices he observes in his poverty and stagnant state make him rethink the immorality of his crime.
The end of the book might seem a bit out of place but just like in the Bard’s plays, every character has something to say. After experiencing the agonizing struggles and mind-mazes throughout this book, the ending is like a soothing effect to the soul. This book proves to be, if nothing else, an exceptional study of a brilliant psychological specimen.
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