Punishment is defined as the infliction of a penalty for an offense. The novel Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky took place in St. Petersburg, Russia, mid 1860s. The main character, Raskolnikov, committed the murder of a pawn broker and her sister which he became ill with guilt. He is accused as the murderer but denied it until the end where he eventually confessed and was sent to Siberia. In the novel, Raskolnikov had an unbearable amount of guilt, faced punishment by imprisonment, and gave his heart to God for forgiveness. Conflicts he was put through helped illuminate the meaning of the novel: For all crimes, there will be punishment.…
Raskolnikov’s self-imposed isolation represents one of the main principles of nihilism, the idea that nothing truly exists causes relationships of any kind to seem futile and meaningless. Because of this, Raskolnikov avoids human interaction of any kind as much as possible. His exile from the rest of society only serves to perpetuate his nihilistic tendencies, as he is able to distance himself from all other humans mentally as well as physically. This results in his adoption of Nietzsche’s concept of the “superman”, an inherently nihilistic idea that separates humanity into the weak (the majority) and the strong (the minority). Raskolnikov characterizes himself as a superman, above the laws of his society. In this way he is able to justify his murder of Alyona Ivanovna, which gives him confidence in his capacity to commit the crime without error or remorse. He considers himself an intellectual, capable of higher thought processes than the rest of the world, which in turn gives him a boosted ego and a superiority complex.…
Law is good. Man, in his needs, has different motivations for law in society. His secular needs require striving for justice, social stability, and punishment. However, in the area of religious influence, law should promote morality so that believers can get close to God or be separated and condemned by God. As man and society evolves, the purpose of law has remained the same – to punish and deter.…
Creon’s actions and judgment in the play Antigone were questionable, but I don’t think he deserved the punishment he received at the conclusion of the play. My philosophy of life probably influenced my decision because I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. Creon was arrogant and did not listen to anyone’s advice, including Tiresias, a prophet who has never told him a lie. However, in the end he realized what had happened and accepted his fate.…
“Nobody, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in contrary direction at the time.” (Laurence Sterne) In Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, it is this exact miscalculation that leads the protagonist Raskolnikov (Rodya) to his ultimate mental, physical and social demise. Similarly, the theme of the novel directly correlates to Sterne’s quote, as Dostoyevsky delves into the psychology of a criminal, centering the novel on a murder and its after-affects on the transgressor.…
The idea that Raskolnikov is a superman comes from his time at university where he wrote a paper called “On Crime.” Raskolnikov believes that society has been "somewhat arbitrarily" divided into two groups, the ordinary and the extraordinary. Raskolnikov believes that the duty of the “ordinary” is to be like sheep, the society its self. The second group, the “extraordinary” are those who are better, a step above the rest. They have the ability and the responsibility to overstep morals and disregard the rights of the “ordinary.” The “Supermen” have a duty to society to break whatever laws and restrictions that apply to the “ordinary” to better the society as a whole. Raskolnikov labels Napoleon as one of these “Supermen”. He tells us that Napoleon had the right to kill all of the men that he did…
Raskolnikov believes that “ordinary” people’s purpose is to just exist, in order to form the world and the society. The second group is those who are “extraordinary” and a step above those who are simply ordinary. Raskolnikov cites such “extraordinary men” as Newton, Mahomet, and Napoleon. He tells us that Newton had the right to kill hundreds of men in order to bring to the world knowledge of his findings and to create a new world. They overturned laws and created new ones. They had the right to uphold their new ideals, even if it meant killing innocent men. Therefore Raskolnikov believes that some “extraordinary” humans like him have the right to oppose ordinary social laws in order to create a new social order. Raskolnikov believed that “the first preserve and world and people it, the second move the world and lead it to its goal” (Dostoevsky 227). Raskolnikov also believes that both classes have an equal right to exist. Without “extraordinary” people the human race would be stuck and without the “ordinary” men the efforts and ideas of “extraordinary” men would be nonexistent.…
In the Russian novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the main character, Raskalnikov goes through a vast time period of great psychological turmoil. When comparing and contrasting this death and reincarnation of his consciousness and mind to the biblical tale of Lazarus’s resurrection, the author not only highlights the extremeness of the crimes he has committed, but also touches on the importance of recognizing one’s guilt. This theme of reconciliation and religion becomes one of the central themes of the novel.…
Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a psychologically charged novel in which the primary element that plagues the protagonist, Rodion Raskolnikov, is not a person but rather an idea; his own idea. Raskolnikov has an unhealthy obsession with rendering himself into what he perceives as the ideal, supreme human being, an übermensch. Raskolnikov forms for himself a theory in which he will live purely according to his own will and transcend the social norms and moralities that dominate society. Raskolnikov suggests that acts commonly regarded as immoral are to be reserved for a certain rank of “extraordinary” men. Raskolnikov’s faith in his theory is put to the test when he meets a man that is utterly amoral, seemingly unrepentant, and the very epitome of his “extraordinary” man, Arkady Ivanovitch Svidrigaïlov.…
In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov concocts a theory: All men are divided into ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’. The extraordinary man should have the right to eliminate a few people in order to make his idea known to all humanity; however, the ordinary man has no right to transgress the law. Because he believes this theory is an idea that must be known to all humanity, he considers himself extraordinary; however, there is a legion of events that prove that Raskolnikov is not extraordinary.…
In the novel Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky creates the character Raskolnikov who experiences apparent madness after he commits a murder. He experiences this apparent madness because of the universally given human quality guilt. Dostoevsky tries to prove his belief that every person has a moral and ethical obligation and people should be punished for their wrongdoings. Raskolnikov murders an old pawn broker and her sister. This murder causes him to go “mad”. He shows symptoms of anxiety, isolation, and is haunted by his dreams.…
Ordinary people are the law-abiding citizens whereas supermen are not bound by any laws as they govern their lives based upon their own ideals. Raskolnikov’s believed the supermen must “sanction bloodshed in the name of conscience” (Dostoyevsky 229) and that great inventors and creators cannot submit to the laws that are meant for the ordinary. In order to achieve something new, the superman must defy the rules of law and commit crimes if he thinks it is necessary. He justifies all the murders he commits by regarding them as necessary for the greater good of the world that he lived in. By constructing the aforementioned theory, Raskolnikov established himself as a “superman” or above the ordinary people. He realized that “it was no longer possible for him to address these people” (Dostoyevsky 103) because his self-proclaimed and deceptive identity caused him to isolate himself from his society and gave rise to feelings of superiority over his peers. As seen in the case of Invisible Man, Raskolnikov becomes blind to those around him because he refuses to see past the theory that he has conjured in his mind. Eventually Raskolnikov’s blindness becomes an “agent through which [his] pride is chastened and his imaginative eye is opened to a more charitable and empathetic view of his fellow man” (Brothers). Consequently, Raskolnikov decides to later counter his theory and produces every effort to prove it wrong by realizing that he is in fact, not a…
In this passage from Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Marmeladov dies after being run over by a horse carriage. Raskolnikov watches his friend lose his life, and this sparks a light of positivity in him. Through the use of contrast, religious jargon, and a triumphant tone, it is evident that Raskolnikov develops into a positive and religious man by the end of this passage.…
According to the book, Criminal Law and Punishment, written by Joel Samaha, the characteristics of punishment include pain or unpleasant consequences, punishment prescribed by the law, punishment administered intentionally and punishment administered by the state (Samaha 22). The two sole purposes of punishment are prevention and retribution. The five philosophies of punishment include retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and restitution. Retribution is the best at exemplifying the philosophy of punishment.…
Stemming from his monomania, this dream reveals Raskolnikov’s view of himself as a Napoleonic figure, or as he calls it, the “extraordinary man.” In the dream, Raskolnikov is back at the pawnbroker’s apartment where the pawnbroker is alive and well. He goes through the motions of murdering the woman once again, but when he steps back after hitting her over the head, he sees her sitting on the floor laughing. Deeply unsettled, he frantically tries to strike the woman on the head over and over again but each blow only produces more laughter. Unlike the dream about the horse, this dream does not emphasize who or what Raskolnikov is. Rather, this dream forces him to confront the faults of his belief by completely doing away with his hopes of surpassing mortal mediocrity. All of the assumptions he had regarding his ability to transcend humanity and avoid responsibility are thrown to the wayside by the events in the dream. The old woman derogates and derides Raskolnikov to the point where he cannot successfully assert his will, which is the hallmark of the extraordinary man. Rather than exuding total power and control, Raskolnikov demonstrates a weakness that is intrinsically human. The dream’s deconstruction of Raskolnikov’s self-perception is what enables him to eventually confess to his crime and open up to love at the prison. By essentially destroying his inflated ego, the…