Gabriel's complete term paper

Gabriel Magalhaes

5/1/13

Period4

Term Paper: Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a novel that has made a significant impact on society for its profound and complex themes and the twisted mentality of a sociopathic criminal. Raskolnikov, the protagonist of the story, appears to be a man whose mind does not function as the rest of society does. As a result, this drives him to commit the dreadful crime of stabbing and taking the lives of two innocent women. Although he constantly attempts to convince himself that he did this as a favor to society, it is evident that he feels as if he is above society – as if he had the right to play God. This is known as the Superman theory, which occurs when a person feels he is superior to others for no apparent reason. This crime drives Raskolnikov to become tortured by an exponentially worsening guilt that he faces every moment of every day. This guilt drives him to further alienate himself from society, and also drives him to act irrationally. He becomes so overwhelmed with guilt that he becomes critically ill on multiple occasions. He faces extreme paranoia daily and is constantly anxious and worried about covering up the evidence and hiding the truth from others who attempt to help him. Raskolnikov’s true punishment in the story is in fact his psychological punishment – his overwhelming guilt that slowly leads him to his downfall.

From the beginning of the novel, it was evident that Raskolnikov had a different thought process than others. He did not see the world as others did, which led him to be unable to function in society. As a result, he alienated himself from others. He did this with the sensation that mankind was inferior to him; that no one could understand him. This feeling drove him to feel as if he had the right and authority to rid the world of the pawnbroker. He spent a lot of time scheming the ultimate plan and contemplating whether or not he should follow through with it. When he finally built the courage, he decided to follow through with his plan and stab her at her own house. However, her sister unfortunately came in and witnessed the murder, which startled Raskolnikov and made him kill her too. Killing the pawnbroker’s sister confirms the fact that he knew he was doing wrong and he knew he was guilty of a terrible crime in his subconscious, whether he wanted to know it or not. This is the first of countless acts supporting his devastating burden of guilt. He proceeds to attempt to cover up all the evidence by disposing of his knife and clothes, further emphasizing his guilty conscience. While hiding the evidence, he displays intense paranoia right from the start as he realizes the potential consequences if he were to be caught. He then decides to alienate himself more than before, but for different reasons. Previously, he simply did not wish to associate himself with society. Now, he fears for his life that he will be imprisoned or even executed. However, what he does not realize is that his punishment as already begun: the psychological torment that he must endure greatly surpasses any form of imprisonment or physical punishment that he could potentially face.

Raskolnikov’s guilt proves to be his true punishment as he attempts to justify his actions and thought process on multiple occasions. However, even as he attempts to justify his actions he provides more incriminating evidence to others. For example, Raskolnikov wrote an article that was titled “In Crime.” This article consisted of his point of view regarding justifications to committing a murder. He claims that if it is for the benefit of society, than it is not actually a crime. In fact, it would be immoral not to do the favor of ridding the world of such terrible people. When writing this, he was clearly attempting to form an argument in his head in order to convince himself to follow through with his plan to commit the murders. This once again supports the Superman theory, which states that a man has reached a state where pity and suffering are non existent and the individual feels superior to others.

This accurately describes Raskolnikov as he is not affected by pity or any of the other requirements that fit in to the Superman theory. He is considered corrupted amongst modern society because he is not affected by normal human emotions.

Throughout the story Raskolnikov expresses an immense amount of guilt, yet he never truly acknowledges it. Even after he confesses at the end of the novel, he does so mostly because Sonya influences him to follow through with it. He nearly turns away from the police station, showing his cowardly side. But after seeing Sonya following him, he gathers the courage to follow through with his confession. By doing this, he spared Nikolai from being wrongfully punished. He is sentenced to only eight years in prison. Sonya decides to follow him and support him throughout his prison experience, which finally causes Raskolinkov to express emotion and cry tears of joy as he hugged Sonya: How it happened he himself did not know, but suddenly it was as if something lifted him and flung him down at her feet. He wept and embraced her knees. For the first moment she was terribly frightened, and her whole face went numb. She jumped up and looked at him, trembling. But all at once, in that same moment, she understood everything. Infinite happiness lit up in her eyes; she understood, and for her there was no longer any doubt that he loved her, loved her infinitely, and that at last the moment had come . . . (Dostoyevsky, 521).

This shows that he is on the path to redemption as he finally begins to display normal human emotions. However, it is evident that he still has not fully learned from his mistakes. This is because after everything, it is revealed that he still does not believe that anything is wrong with his personality and that the murders he committed were not necessarily sinful. He thought of them more as unfortunate errors. Although he fails to recognize the severity of his actions, the fact that he confessed while knowing that he will be imprisoned and punished shows that the guilt was too much for him to handle. He clearly preferred to be physically imprisoned than to live with the guilt like he had been previously.

In addition to Raskolnikov’s intentional alienation, he constantly pushes away the people that love him and that are trying to help him through his random illnesses. After he committed the murders and suffers from fainting, fevers, and irrational behavior, people become worried and are willing to help him. However, he disrespects them and is ungrateful of their efforts. He frequently argues with his best friend, Razumikhin, and loses his trust. Sonya, who becomes his lover toward the end of the novel, dedicates her life to attempting to save Raskolnikov and lead him toward the right path. However, Raskolnikov takes her for granted and dehumanizes her, despite her efforts to gain his love, affection, and trust.

Sonya serves as possibly the most influential character in Raskolnikov’s life. As mentioned previously, she is the reason why Raskolnikov followed through with the confession. She presented a cross to him as a gift for his decision to confess. However, this cross was not simply a gift to protect Raskolnikov. The cross was symbolic for Raskolnikov’s path to salvation, forgiveness, and a new beginning. This was meaningful as Raskolnikov played the role of an immoral, tormented, lost cause throughout the novel. However, the idea that he is opening his soul to accept the presence of God in his life and that he is willing to work on himself and accept responsibility for his crimes illustrates a new Raskolnikov; one that will accept help from others, embrace his loved ones, and live a morally acceptable life.

Dostoyevsky further emphasizes the severity of the psychological punishment through the structure that the novel is written in. He organizes the novel so that the beginning focuses on the anxiety that Raskolinkov faces while planning the murder, and then follows with the effect that his guilty conscience leaves him for the rest of the novel. Finally, the author decides to address the legal punishment, his eight-year sentence, in the epilogue of the novel. By choosing this specific layout, it is evident that the author was attempting to imply to the reader that the true punishment was the internal struggle that Raskolnikov faced daily. The fact that the psychological trauma that Raskolnikov faces is discussed for practically the entire story suggests that Dostoyevsky’s intentions were to convey to the reader that although Raskolnikov is eventually sentenced to eight years of hard labor, his constant paranoia is more torturous and detrimental to his health and sanity. As a result, Raskolnikov eventually confesses in order to ease his mindset initiate his journey to redemption.

Arguably, the only character in the story that was able to not only match but also to surpass Raskolnikov’s intelligence was Porfiry Petrovich, the police officer.  He displays a high level of confidence in his job and is able to manipulate and influence Raskolnikov psychologically. As soon as he is confident that Raskolnikov was the murderer, he does not change his opinion even when someone else confesses to the crime. This underlines Porfiry’s strong character and wisdom in his work field. In almost every conversation between Porfiry and Raskolnikov, Porfiry chooses his words and tone of voice wisely in order to lure Raskolnikov into an irresistible temptation and feel the intense desire to confess. Raskolnikov falls into his traps by acting in a predictable manner – that manner usually being in random outbursts and irrational behavior.

The fact that Raskolnikov delays reclaiming his pawned possessions longer than anyone else is another sign indicating his guilt. Porfiry is well aware that it is only a matter of time until Raskolnikov either confesses his guilt or breaks down and goes mad. The reason why he is so confident as to the outcome of the mystery is because he believes that the way murderers commit their crimes and cope with the guilt is almost formulaic. This is emphasized when he criticizes Raskolnikov’s mediocre attempts to run away from his predetermined fate:

What is it, to run away! A mere formality; that’s not the main thing; no, he won’t run away on me by a law of nature, even if he has somewhere to run to. Have you ever seen a moth near a candle? Well, so he’ll keep circling around me, circling around me, as around a candle; freedom will no longer be dear to him, he’ll fall to thinking, get entangled, he’ll tangle himself all up as in a net, he’ll worry himself to death! . . . he’ll keep on making circles around me, narrowing the radius more and more, and—whop! He’ll fly right into my mouth, and I’ll swallow him, sir, and that will be most agreeable, heh, heh, heh! (Dostoyevsky, 325)

This quote, in addition to various others, was clearly said in order to prod at Raskolnikov’s subconscious and extract a reaction out of him in order to analyze it. Porfiry’s method proved to be flawless – Raskolnikov, already feeling “restless and suspicious” (Dostoyevsky, 316) from being in the presence of the officer, was tense and on edge throughout the conversation. However, he grew livid at the witty psychological games that Porfiry was using to play with his emotions and trigger a reaction. After yelling at Porfiry and demanding to know whether he is being accused or not, Porfiry simply laughed and asked sarcastically why Raskolnikov was so anxious to know, which was clearly another attempt to play with Raskolnikov’s mind. Porfiry Petrovich played a significant role in Rakolnikov’s psychological punishment because he has the ability and experience to easily control and toy with Raskolnikov’s mentality and conscience like a puppet.

A major question that this novel raises is whether or not Raskolnikov should be perceived as a villain. Although he committed two socially unjustifiable murders, it has been established that he did not have a normal thought process, hence his rational decision making skills are severely limited. Moreover, he displayed various acts of generosity and selflessness throughout the story – one of the more charitable situations being when he donated his money to the Marmeladovs. After meeting with Semyon Marmeladov at a bar, he listens to his familial issues, specifically his financial crisis. In this conversation, Raskolnikov is informed that Semyon is an alcoholic who is unable to support his family financially. He confesses that every time he is able to gather some sort of money, he is unable to control his urges and ends up spending it all on alcohol rather than on his family, forcing his daughter to take up a life of prostitution. Although Raskolnikov does not have any previous history with this man and was just told that he spends his money on alcohol, Raskolnikov selflessly donates a large amount of money to the Marmeladovs. It is not common for a murderer with ill intentions to be so gallant as to provide money for an unrelated family in need. Therefore, it is arguable that Raskolnikov is not guilty of being a villainous character, but rather a victim of a dysfunctional mindset.

Although Raskolnikov may be viewed as a victim, it does not change the fact that he brutally took the lives of two innocent civilians. In the world that we live in, no crime goes unpunished. This punishment tends to be physical, such as jail, death or even torture. Raskolnikov, as smart as he may be, believed that he would be able to cover up his crimes and simply push them aside and proceed with his life. This proved to be an incorrect assumption, as his efforts to evade the law caused extreme paranoia and mental stress, resulting in a deteriorating health and further isolation from society. The guilt proved to be too much for Raskolnikov to handle. After realizing that there was nothing worse than his guilt that was exponentially consuming his life, he eventually turned himself in and received eight years in prison as punishment. Since he chose this punishment voluntarily in exchange for his physical freedom in order to ease his guilt and preserve the leftovers of his sanity, it is evident that the psychological punishment that he faced was far worse than the physical punishment, and was therefore the true punishment.

Works Cited

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and punishment. New York: Modern Library, 1950. Print.