Crime And Punishment Essay, Research Paper

Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” is the story of a poor man in Russia who

mentally destroys himself of his guilt through pain and suffering. It

analyzes the mental and physical conflicts brought upon himself by his crime.

His complications are put together by the conflicting personalities which he

shows. The reader is encouraged to characterize him by his cold, ravenous

side. Yet, without the warm peaceful side of his nature and the people

evolving around him, Raskolnikov never realizes the problems in his beliefs

and actions. Raskolnikov is repeatedly emphasized for the alternating style

of his personality, which both are very important.

Raskolnikov’s cold side leads him to develop his theory that extra

ordinary men have the right to commit crimes, and also to commit murder. This

side of him bases all decisions on reasonability, rather than on feeling. A

person can be absolutely nothing without emotions. The other side of his

character is kind and generous. Without this side of Raskolnikov being told

in the novel, the reader can only see him as an evil murderer, and not an

mislead victim, as Dostoevsky tries to show.

In the novel “Crime and Punishment,” Raskolnikov shows random acts of

kindness whenever he finds a person in need. He gives money to the Marmeladov

family, he attempts to aid Marmeladov when he dies, and he tries to get a

drunken girl home and away from the stranger. All of these things were done

spontaneously. He simply feels that at the time it is the right thing to do.

However, after a short period of time his views can reverse dramatically. He

starts to sensibly analyze what he has done, and then feels that his actions

were dumb and stupid. This spontaneous change shows the return of his cold

side, and it occurs after every kind thing that Raskolnikov does.

These changes and alterations between two different personalities give

Raskolnikov separate visions on his characteristics. The novel is focused on

the differences between the two points of view, and the reader is able to see

how one person can change to another person in a matter of seconds. Both

Raskolnikov’s generous and evil actions are essential to his character

because they allow the reader to identify the two different points of view

and the two characteristics of his personality.