Redemption In Crime And Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a dramatic story about a poor man by the name of Raskolnikov and the conflicting journey he undergoes. The story is about his aims at ameliorating himself through theory and murder. However, the story is not as cut and dry as the prior statement may make it seem. In fact, this morally ambivalent story uses Raskolnikov’s subconscious struggle, the effect of love on other characters, and Raskolnikov’s redemption to exemplify Dostoevsky’s idea of man’s need for emotional stability.
In the novel, Raskolnikov chooses an isolated life where he may not be bothered. He not only secludes himself from his family, but also his friend Razumihin. He lives in a “garret... under the roof of a high, five-storied
It is his pursuit of this love that is the most interesting. It is not only a love of its own, but it has parallels with Svidrigailov and his pursuit for Dounia. Svidrigailov is a despicable man who is a child predator, murderer, and womanizer. He comes to St. Petersburg with aims to gain Dounia’s love. He pursues what he cannot have since he cannot experience such a feeling. Dounia represents to Svidrigailov what he can never have and this drives him into thinking that he loves her. The guilt of his crimes have come back to haunt him and are evident in his dreams and visions of those he has killed. In fact, he dreams of the girl he pushed to suicide and a five year old girl whose face turns into that of a “French harlot” (Dostoevsky 504). This shows that he has realized his obsession has gone too far and is eventually what drives him to suicide. However, it is Svidrigailov’s absence of love that truly sets the gears in motion. He had been experiencing visits from his ex-wife and servant before, but it is after he learns that Dounia will never love him that reality sets in. He had nowhere to turn and no one to love him or anyone for him to love. He no longer had access to this necessity in life and chose to die than live another minute without
He finally acknowledges that his theory is flawed. He believed that there were two types of men, extraordinary and ordinary. It was the obligation of the ordinary man to stay in his lane and continue on with his way of life. However, there was an elite class of men that were extraordinary who could break laws and move history forward without being punished as a result. Raskolnikov thought that if he could prove to himself that he was extraordinary, that he could solve his problems. He believed in his theory wholeheartedly, but subconsciously knew it was wrong. He knows that he could never become extraordinary, but it is his pride that blinds him from this fact. It is not until he dreams of a plague entering society and making all men believe they are extraordinary that he sees the fault in his theory. This epiphany changes his entire outlook on expressing love. He then tosses his methodical side aside and embraces his compassionate and loving side. He demonstrates his new found love when he sees Sonia by bowing to her and making his deep love known by telling her that he “loved her beyond everything” (Dostoevsky 541). He has filled himself with love and can now truly experience life. Although his living conditions are similar to that of his old life, he now has something to keep him going. In fact, he sees how “life had stepped into the place of theory” (Dostoevsky 542). He has finally accepted his blunder and