Embedded Files
My artwork for Crime and Punishment
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT SONG: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxYX_Umr0ebCq5LfThed23Voak9utk2w/view?usp=sharing
INTRODUCTION:
Crime and Punishment (Преступление и наказание) is a novel Written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This book was originally published in the literary journal called: "The Russian Messenger" It was installed in 12 monthly instalments in the Year 1866. Later on it was fully published as the book we know today. It was the second full length novel that he published after he was sent to Siberian exile for ten years of his life. Crime and Punishment (Преступление и наказание) is considered one of the greatest works of literature and is a well known first book that people reading Dostoevsky tend to lean towards first to see if they like his style. It is also considered (by people other than myself) the best of his novel collection, but in my opinion I would have to disagree, that in my opinion his greatest work is "The Brothers Karamazov". One thing to keep in mind about Crime and Punishment is that in the grand scheme of Russian literature, it is very small compared to other writers works, such as War and Peace, but even compared to his own writings it is considered a smaller novel in size. The size of Crime and Punishment is just above 200000 in words, with the page count varying drastically based on your translation or font size.
In a nutshell the plot of Crime and Punishment goes like this: The book follows (Mainly) The character Rodion Raskolnikov (Родион Раскольников) who is an impoverished ex university student in St Petersburg. He ends up planning to kill a abhorrent and unscrupulous pawn broker. This old women pawn broker exploits the poor and keeps valuable objects and riches in her apartment. He thinks that in killing this pawn broker he would liberate himself from being a poor unemployed young man and go on to perform magnanimous deeds and do the world good. He has convinced himself that some crimes are justifiable to commit in order to remove the obstacles and pave a path for what he calls "extraordinary men". But once he actually commits the deed of killing the women, he is transmogrified into a state of confusion, guilt, paranoia, hysteria, and disgust of his deeds. His justifications for his deed of murder erode from all of their power and he is confronted with the consequences of his deeds, both internally in his inner world, and in the world around him.
BACKGROUND OF THE NOVEL:
At the time of the story being made, Dostoevsky owed large sums of money to creditors and was trying to help the family of brother, Mikhail, who had died early in the year of 1864 and had put him into a depressing debt. After all appeals failed to, Dostoyevsky went to a publisher called "Mikhail Katov" as a last resort and tried to seek an advance on a previous proposed contribution. Dostoyevsky offered his short story or novella, because at the time he did not think of making it a full novel, for publication in Katov's monthly writers Journal "The Russian Messenger" which I mentioned before, which I may add, was a rather sought after and prestigious Journal, which was used by the other Russian literature giants, such as "Ivan Turgenev" and "Leo Tolstoy". Dostoyevsky's relation towards the publisher, Katov, was not completely alien, because they both engaged in controversial polemical debates together in the early 1860s. Dostoyevsky had written to Katov, about the book, and described the book as exploring "certain strange 'Unfinished ideas' yet floating in the air." What Dostoyevsky was referring to, was the new ideas around "radicalism" which had emerged at the time, (Radicalism, meaning the beliefs and the actions of individuals who advocate complete, thorough, total or complete social reform and political changes to the country or world, which at the time were manly liberalism which opposed the tsar and traditionalism.) He manly tried to explore the moral and psychological damages of the aforementioned ideology, which he thought would appeal to the conservative Katov. In 1865, a major transformation had occurred, the "story" he had planned, had now become a novel. From then on Crime and punishment was referred to as a "novel" from then on.
Dostoyevsky had originally planned to make the novel in the perspective of first person narrative. But, he then changed it all to use an innovative third person instead, which in my readings of Dostoyevsky, is rather rare, considering he usually used first person narrative techniques, (most of the time at least). Dostoyevsky, actually had made the whole book in first person and had to change it all, which is a good thing that happened might I add, because the way the book is written would be spoiled in a first person format. Dostoyevsky initially had four different plans to narrate the book in the first person medium. Number one: A memoir that would written by Raskolnikov about the events. Number two: his confession which he would record eight days after the murder had be executed. Number three: And the last would be a mixed concoction of a in the first part a form of a memoir, and the second part being written in a diary. Dostoyevsky wrote the following to his friend Alexander Wrangel in early 1866:
"At the end of November much had been written and was ready; I burned it all; I can confess that now. I didn't like it myself. A new form, a new plan excited me, and I started all over again." Wrote he.
The final form of Crime and punishment came into being when in November of 1865, Dostoyevsky had made the decision to completely rewrite the novel in the perspective of third person. This complete shift of the bones of the novel was a long period of struggle and hardship for him. But once he decided on the shift he was easily able to translate certain parts of the old manuscript into the final one. And people also debate whether he actually burnt his manuscript at all. He was under a severe pressure to be able to finish the novel on time for his publisher, and also at the same time of Crime and punishment being written, he was under even harsher pressure to finish a separate novella called "the gambler" (which I have on this project as well.) He was contracted to finish the latter by the prominent Russian publisher "Fyodor Stellovsky" who had made the conditions Dostoyevsky very harsh in the writing process. The first part of Crime and punishment appeared in the January of 1866 and the one which all know today was finished and published in December of that year.
THE CHARACTERS:
In crime and punishment, Dostoyevsky's goal was to fuse his main character Raskolnikov with his own anti-radical ideological themes. The plot oscillates around Raskolnikov's murder, which is the result of the "Ideological intoxication" he is engulfed in. It shows the all disastrous ethical and psychological consequences that come about from the murder. The main themes are Raskolnikov's mental anguish and psychology which are placed in the middle, but it carefully interwoven with the other character's moralities and is based around his main reasoning behind his murder.
"Raskolnikov" or his other name is (Rodion Romanovitch) is the protagonist of the novel and it is mainly from his perspective. He is 23-year old man and a former student, who is now destitute and poor. This is the description of him: "exceptionally handsome, taller than average in height, slim, well built, with beautiful dark eyes and dark blonde hair. The meaning for his name "Raskolnikov" (Раскóльников) actually means schism in Russian or split. Which refers towards his spilt in his soul with his views on the world. His schism can be looked at, on the one hand, his coldness and apathetic nature and his antisocial behavior, and also, on the other, he can be very compassionate and surprisingly warm. For example, of course yes he does commit the murder, but he also did acts of compulsive charity. A common misconception people may have with the title, is that they may think the book contains the actual punishment of his crime, although it does, it mainly focuses on the internal struggles rather than the legal ramifications. The soul "punishment" of the crime you could say. When he commits the crime of killing the pawnbroker he believes that the world would be better off without the pawnbroker. He also thinks that he has the intellectual and emotion fortitude to handle the guilt of the crime, but he ends up getting engulfed in his guilt and becomes ill. It is only in the epilogue and the very end of the main story where he ends up confessing to his crime and decides to end his alienation from society, consequently going to a Siberian labour camp as his punishment.
"Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova" Or mainly Sonya (Meaning wisdom in Greek). Sonya is a daughter of the drunkard (Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov) whom Raskolnikov meets in a tavern at the start of the novel. She is very often described as being a shy, kind, selfless, and innocent woman, but was forced into prostitution by her family to help their desperate financial situation. Raskolnikov ends up seeing in her his own alienation and shame from society, and he related to her own misery as he saw it in himself, ergo, she was the first person to whom he confessed his murder to. Sonya could see the deep despondency and unhappiness inside him so she ended up empathizing with him and supporting him, notwithstanding being the best friend of the other woman whom Raskolnikov ends up murdering (Lizaveta) because she was in the house and saw the crime. Throughout the entire novel Sonya acts as a beacon of light, hope, and rehabilitation for Raskolnikov, albeit Raskolnikov being rather abusive with his language to her, but she still kept around him.
"Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova" Or mainly Dunya. Dunya is Raskolnikov's younger sister who is described as being extremely strong willed and resilient. She worked as a governess. In the novel she planned to marry the wealthy but revolting "Luzhin". She thought that in becoming the betrothed to the man she would escape the desperate financial that their family was in and escape the sensual and abusive former employer Svidrigailov. The desperate financial situation that she is in and her loveless engagement are reasons why Raskolnikov ended giving into the plan of murdering the pawnbroker. She eventually escapes the grasps of both "Luzhin" and "Svidrigailov" and actually marries Raskolnikov's best friend who was a student as well.
"Razumikhin" (Meaning sense or intelligence) Or sometimes Dmitry Prokofyich. Razumikhin is Raskolnikov's friend and is also a former law student, he is a loyal friend to Raskolnikov, bordering on dog like loyalty and naivety. The character is meant to make a bit of a representation between faith and reason. He is very strong, resourceful and extremely intelligent notwithstanding ignoring the signs of Raskolnikov being guilty and repressing them. His qualities are of a great help and importance to Raskolnikov's situation. He looks after Raskolnikov's helpless mother and sister when he is in St Petersburg. He marries Dunya at the end of the novel.
"Pyotr Petrovich" Or mainly Luzhin (Meaning puddle). Luzhin is a wealthy lawyer who is engaged to Raskolnikov's sister at the start of the novel. His motives for marrying Dunya are malevolent, because he practically states in the book that he wants to marry a woman that will completely loyal and binded to him, without any freedom herself. Later on in the book he ends up slandering Sonya and accuses her of stealing from him, although he was the one who put the money in her pocket. He did this terrible action in order to try and harm Raskolnikov's relation with his family. He is meant to represent complete immortality.
"Svidrigaïlov" Or Arkady Ivanovich. Svidrigaïlov is a sensual, depraved, hedonistic, fleshy person. He was the former employer of Dunya in her first job as a governess in his household. He loved Dunya and would do anything to get her to love him. He was also rumored to have killed his wife, but no one ever knew who actually did it. Svidrigaïlov in the later parts of the novel ended up over hearing Raskolnikov's confession to Sonya through the apartment next to them. He used this advantage over Dunya and Raskolnikov to torment them greatly, but with his psychological torture he did not ever go to the police, and even did not want to do that. Notwithstanding his apparent depraved disposition, he is actually capable of doing good throughout the novel, showing compassion, and helping people drastically. Svidrigaïlov ends up trapping Dunya in an apartment but it turns out that she had a gun and after shooting him and missing she says to Svidrigaïlov that she would never ever love him, in defeat Svidrigaïlov lets her go. Svidrigaïlov told Sonya that he had made financial arrangements for the rest of the Marmeladov children and had put them in good orphanages after her step mother died, and gave her 3000 roubles for her to go with Raskolnikov into Siberia for his punishment. He left the rest of his wealth to his juvenile fiance, spent a night at a crumby hotel with rats, and then walked into the street and shot himself in the head committing suicide.
"Porfiry Petrovich". Porfiry Petrovich is the lead detective in the case involving the murder of the pawnbroker and her sister. He along with Sonya end up making him confess to his crime, but Sonya uses a compassionate method along with religion, but Porfiry uses psychological methods to mess with Raskolnikov in order to break him down and get him to confess. One of the examples of this is when he got a person to walk up to Raskolnikov in the street and call him a murderer, which broke him down and he ended up thinking it was just a dream. Porfiry ended up giving up these means of confession and decided to implore Raskolnikov to confess for his own good.
There are many other characters in the novel but these are of the main interest...
THE PLOT OF THE BOOK:
PART ONE: Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov, who is a former law student lives in destitution and poverty. He lives in a very small apartment room in the city of St Petersburg. He is an antisocial person who hates people and feels alienated from society. He had stopped trying to care for himself and now is obsessed with an idea that has been haunting him, killing an old pawnbroker to lift society from its poverty from her death and fund himself to do great things in the world. He decided to go to her apartment, with the excuse of pawning his father's watch. He goes there but is unable to commit the act, and also gets low balled for his father's watch. Later on in a tavern he ends up conversing and then talking with a drunkard called (Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov). He is a drunkard who had squandered all of his family's money on booze and he described having to sell his daughter into prostitution and him waking up in barns while sleeping on hay beds. The next day Raskolnikov gets a letter from his hopeful mother. She describes the problems that the family have been dealing with, that being Dunya's employment of the depraved Svidrigaïlov, and Dunya being slandered by their family. In order for Dunya to escape her situation she ends up getting engaged to Luzhin the wealthy lawyer, who is also a relative of Svidrigaïlov's wife, whom he was rumored to have killed. But now her mother has described his way of thinking that she is his object (Dunya) and that enraged Raskolnikov. With his current situation he is even more compelled towards murdering the pawnbroker and with some more events he is eventually compelled to committing the act.
In a state of nervous reverie, Raskolnikov steals an axe and sews holes into his long coat where he can hold the axe without any attention. He then makes his way back up to the apartment again. He gained access by pretending to have something he had pawned, which was something he had wrapped up very tightly so the woman would have to try hard to untie it. He slaughters her with an axe to the head. But as he is rummaging through her belonging he sees her mentally deficient sister in the other room reveal herself, he then takes the axe towards her and exterminates her as well. But he is so shaken by the actions he had just committed, that he barely took anything from the old pawnbroker and left most of her wealth untouched. He realized the door was open the entire time and then with some extremely good luck, he escaped some painters and left the scene...
PART TWO: In a delirious and borderline hysterical state, Raskolnikov hides the stolen items he had taken from the pawnbroker and then falls asleep in his small cupboard like room exhausted. The next morning he is taken aback when he realizes that the police have called him to the police station to be questioned, but he realizes that it was only because of old debt from his landlady. When he is at the police station they start mentioning the murder and then Raskolnikov in a fugue like state passes out in the station in front of everyone. He soon wakes up but then he sees that his faint has made the police suspicious of his presence. Fearing a search of his room, he puts the objects in his pocket and brings them to a large rock and places them under it, and he noticed that he did not even know how much money was in the purse he stole. Without a plain reason, Raskolnikov walks to his old friend Razumikhin's apartment, who noticed that Raskolnikov was gravely ill. Raskolnikov then walked to his apartment (which Dostoevsky described as a cupboard) and then succumbs to his apparent illness, passes out and then falls into a long period of delirium.
Raskolnikov emerges a couple of days later and realizes that his friend Razumikhin had tracked him down and had been nursing him while he was in a fugue. Nervously Raskolnikov listens to the state of the murder in a conversation between Razumikhin and a doctor: A Muzhik (meaning a Russian male peasant) called Mikolka, who was working in neighborhood flat at the time had been detained by the police, and the pawnbrokers clients are being interviewed. They are soon interrupted by the arrival of Dunya's fiance Luzhin. But Raskolnikov insults Luzhin superciliously, and basically kicks him out of his small room. In a rage he tells everyone else in the room to leave him alone, then like a cat he sneaks out without them knowing. He leaves his apartment in a self destructive state that appears to a reader that he wants to be caught. He tries to find news about the murder, and ends up encountering the police official Zamyotov, who was present at his faint, and he gets mocked by the police official. He arrives at the scene of the murder and replays it inside his head in a self destructive fugue. He ends up angering the workers and civilians who were present with causal questions about the murder, and even suggested that the people come with him to the station to go and discuss it. As he is pondering whether or not he should confess the murder, he sees Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov (the drunk who he admired). The state that the drunkard is in is rather grave and was struck by a large carriage and was soaking in a pool of his own blood. He tends to the mans and succeeds in bringing him back to his family's apartment. Calling out Sonya to forgive him for his deeds, he dies in her arms. Raskolnikov then gives his very last money, 25 roubles, notwithstanding were not his money and was his mother's money from her pension she mailed, to Sonya's abusive and consumptive step mother, with the excuse that the money was a debt to his friend. Raskolnikov while feeling better goes to Razumikhin's apartment, they both go back to his apartment. Raskolnikov is shocked when he sees the sight of his mother and Dunya in his room, who never mentioned their visit. He could not respond and then faints again. PART THREE: Razumikhin starts taking care of Raskolnikov and manages to convince Raskolnikov's mother and sister to return to their own apartment. Razumikhin goes with his family while drunk and in awe of Dunya's beauty. When they come back to Raskolnikov's room they see that he has improved physically, but that he is clearly distracted and not mentally improved. Raskolnikov forces himself to endure the meeting in his room. Raskolnikov begs Dunya to break off with Luzhin, but Dunya defends her motives for the marriage. Raskolnikov's mother has been sent a note from Luzhin in which he demands to not have Raskolnikov present in their meetings. He also mentions that he saw Raskolnikov give his 25 roubles to "an unmarried woman of immoral behavior" (Which is Sonya). Dunya decides that a meeting with both Luzhin and Raskolnikov must take place. Raskolnikov decides that he will come along with Razumikhin as well. Abruptly, Sonya makes a visit to Raskolnikov which he is taken aback from. She shyly asks Raskolnikov if he could attend the funeral for her father and that his address was left at her apartment. As she leaves, Raskolnikov said that he would come and see her soon. At Raskolnikov's command, him and Razumikhin both go to see Porfiry Petrovich who is in charge of the investigation of the murders. Raskolnikov immediately thinks that Porfiry Petrovich knows he is the murderer. Porfiry Petrovich adopts an expression of sardonic attitude while talking with Raskolnikov. Porfiry Petrovich expresses great curiosity in Raskolnikov's article that he wrote a couple of months titled "on crime". In this article he expresses the idea that certain people are above others in their nature and are the benefactors of mankind's genius. He says that these certain individuals have the right to "step over" or "Cross over" the boundaries of mankind, if these boundaries are acting as obstacles for these great men and their ideas. Raskolnikov defends himself very well with this controversial ideology, but is vexed by the insinuating Porfiry Petrovich adapts. An interview is placed for Raskolnikov the next day at the bureau. Leaving Razumikhin with his mother and Dunya, he returns to his small room. As he returns to his apartment, an artisan starts to inquire about him. Once Raskolnikov goes up to him and asks what he wants he says only one word to Raskolnikov..."Murderer" and then walks off. Distraught and petrified Raskolnikov goes back to his room and falls asleep. He awakens from an eerie nightmare and finds another person present in his room watching him sleep. This man is Svidrigaïlov Dunya's former employer.
PART FOUR: Svidrigaïlov starts up a disjointed but gregarious conversation with Raskolnikov and his interjections. Comically Raskolnikov pretends to be asleep when he sees him. He claims that he has no more romantic interest in Dunya, but he tells Raskolnikov that she should not marry Luzhin, and presents an offer to her of ten thousand roubles. Raskolnikov refuses to accept the money on her behalf, and refuses to organize a meeting with Svidrigaïlov and Dunya. He also mentions that his wife had left Dunya three thousand roubles after her death in her will. Raskolnikov goes to the meeting with his family and Luzhin. The conversation starts with the discussion of Svidrigaïlov, his depraved essence and his presence St Petersburg, the unpredicted death of his wife and the money she left Dunya. Luzhin takes extreme offence at Dunya's suggestion of reconciling with Raskolnikov and resolving each others issues. When Raskolnikov brings attention to the slanderous letter of him interacting with Sonya, he bursts into a rage and then reveals who he truly is. Dunya bursts into tears and tells him to leave and never come back ever. With them now free and with lots of money, they discuss their future opportunities. But Raskolnikov gets up from his chair and says to his family that this may be the last time they ever see him. He instructs the confused Razumikhin to take care of his family. Raskolnikov goes to Sonya's place. She is gratified from his visit and joyous but also scared of his strange and hysterical disposition. He asks a number of intrusive questions about her situation with her step mother and her sister's family situation. In the dialouge Raskolnikov realises that Sonya is only sustained by her faith in God and her orthodox christian beliefs. Sonya reveals that she was friends with the murdered Lizaveta, (the innocent half sister of the old pawnbroker, who Raskolnikov murdered.) Sonya reveals that Lizaveta gave her a cross and a copy of the new testament. She passionately reads the raising of Lazarus from the gospel of john. (Which is the story of Jesus performing a miracle to resurrect Lazarus from the dead.) Raskolnikov's fascination with Sonya grows even more potent, and he decides that they must face the future together. When Raskolnikov goes to leave he says to Sonya that he will tell her who killed her friend.
When Raskolnikov presents himself to be interviewed by Porfiry, the latter adopts the same attitude he had before, that being a sardonic and insinuative demeanor and in an even more amplified essence. With Raskolnikov's anger getting more and more explosive and about to explode everywhere, Porfiry hints that he has a secret surprise for Raskolnikov behind the partition in his office, but at that moment a commotion takes place outside the office, which is Mikolka the painter running in with some officers. To both Raskolnikov and Porfiry's confusion and astonishment, Mikolka loudly confesses to the crime that Raskolnikov is suspected of. Porfiry does not believe a single word of the confession but he is forced to let Raskolnikov go. When Raskolnikov comes back to his room he is horrified when an old artisan appears in his room trying to talk to him. But the man bows and then asks for forgiveness from Raskolnikov. He reveals that he was the surprise that Porfiry had for Raskolnikov and was present when Raskolnikov went back to the murder scene and he had reported that behavior to Porfiry.
PART FIVE: Raskolnikov attends the post funeral service for Sonya's drunk father at Katerina Ivanovna's apartment, (Sonya's step mother.) The disposition of the room deteriorates as the random guest's get drunk and Katerina get mad and verbally assaults her german landlady. With the apartment spiraling into madness everybody is taken aback when Luzhin makes an appearance in the service. He comes in and loudly announces that a hundred Rouble note has been missing from his possession in his apartment, at the very time when Sonya was making a visit to him, whom he had made a guest at his house to make a small donation. Sonya, while distraught, fearfully denies stealing the money. But Luzhin fearfully accuses her of stealing and demands that she is searched to see if she stole it. While outraged, Katerina abuses Luzhin and defends her step daughter, and searches her pockets to show her innocence, but a hundred bill ends up flying out of her pocket and on to the floor. The atmosphere of the room turns against Sonya at that point. Luzhin chastises Sonya and her step mother and then the landlady orders them to leave their apartment. But Luzhin's utopian socialist roommate Lebeziatnikov claims loudly that he saw Luzhin put the note in her pocket as she was leaving his apartment, but at the time he thought that he was doing it magnanimously. Raskolnikov backs up Luzhin's roommate fiercely by identifying the motive behind his action: a desire to take revenge on Raskolnikov by framing Sonya, in the hopes of causing a distortion in his family relationship. Luzhin is discredited, but Sonya still remains severely traumatized from the interaction. She runs out of the apartment and then Raskolnikov follows her. Back at Sonya's apartment Raskolnikov draws attention to the fact that Luzhin could of ruined her entire life as well as the children's, but this was only a preliminary before the confession of the murder of the pawnbroker and her half sister. With great difficulty he tries to explain the complicated motives for the murder, but Sonya does not comprehend it. He eventually confesses and she is horrified, not just at the murder he committed, but at the self torture he has been putting himself through. She says to him that he has to confess his crime to the police. Luzin's roommate comes in and then says that Katerina has been kicked out of her house and her children have been kicked out as well. He expresses that Katerina has "gone mad". They find Katerina and the children in the street. They are surrounded by people and she is making her infant children dance and sing for money, and she is near to death from her consumptive illness. They end up taking her back to Sonya's apartment, where she dies in distraught. To Raskolnikov's surprise, Svidrigaïlov appears and says that he will be using the ten thousand roubles intended for Dunya and spend them on the children to be placed into well off orphanages. When Raskolnikov askes Svidrigaïlov what his motives are for such a Magnanimous action, Svidrigaïlov replies with the same words that he had used to justify the murder of the pawnbroker when he was listening to his conversation with Sonya from the apartment next door. He had heard every word of his confession because he had been living next door.
PART SIX: Razumikhin tells Raskolnikov that his sister Dunya has been very distant after receiving a letter from someone. He also mentions to Raskolnikov that Porfiry doesn't suspect him as the murderer anymore, Raskolnikov is taken aback from this. As Raskolnikov goes in a search of Svidrigaïlov, suddenly Porfiry appears and asks to have a small chat with Raskolnikov. He apologizes sincerely to Raskolnikov for his actions in his interrogations and tries to explain his reasoning behind it. Raskolnikov is abruptly alarmed at the thought that Porfiry may think that he is innocent. But the changed disposition in Porfiry is not because he thinks that Raskolnikov is innocent, it is quite on the contrary, he has gained some respect for Raskolnikov, but concludes his speech in saying that he thinks that Raskolnikov is indeed the murderer. He says to Raskolnikov's that he will arrest him in the next couple of days, and that it is futile to run away and says that he should confess to make it easier on himself. Raskolnikov keeps struggling against him and denies it. Raskolnikov meets Svidrigaïlov at an inn. Svidrigaïlov warns him against seeing his sister Dunya, although he had arranged to meet Donya. Svidrigaïlov says he will go to the police but Raskolnikov does not care. Raskolnikov leaves after a long conversation and walks back to his home, but Donya has been watching him and she approaches Svidrigaïlov and demands to know what "Raskolnikov's secret is." She reluctantly follows him to his apartment, which is the one next to Sonya. He says that he secret he overheard and that he wanted to use it to make Donya yield to him in love, but suddenly Donya pulls out a small gun she had been hiding. She fires at him and it narrowly misses Svidrigaïlov; he asks her to try again and reload, but she throws the gun aside. Svidrigaïlov is so crushed by her hatred for him and so heart broken, especially after he asked if she would ever love and her response was "never". He tells her despondently to leave. He later goes to Sonya to talk about the arrangements of the children's orphanages. He gives her three thousand roubles so she can go follow Raskolnikov to Siberia for his punishment. He spends a night in a rat infested hotel, has terrible nightmares on multiple levels, leaves in the night and then puts a bullet through his head in public. Raskolnikov makes a heartfelt goodbye to his mother without telling her the truth. Donya is waiting for him in his room when he gets back. He tells her that he will be going to confess for his crimes. He stops by at Sonya's apartment and she gives him a crucifix and she tells that he needs to go into the street and kiss the ground and ask for forgiveness. He learns of Svidrigaïlov's suicide while at the police station and then ends up not confessing to the crime, but when he leaves he locks eyes with Sonya who followed him, he walks back and confesses to the murder.
EPILOGUE: Due to the full confession of his crime and the fact that somebody else had confessed to the crime, he only got eight years in Siberian exile. Dunya and Razumikhin get married and move to Siberia. Sonya also follows him, but he originally becomes hostile towards her because he thinks he is only guilty of weakness. He soon accepts his crime and begins his redemption with Sonya's moral help. The book ends with Raskolnikov weeping in Sonya's lap and asking to be forgiven.
Übermensch, Utilitarianism & a Conclusion For the Novel:
In order to understand the philosophy behind Raskolnikov's idea of people being superior than others' and that they can step over the boundaries of moral and societal boundaries to make the world a better place, I will talk about friedrich Nietzsche's "Übermensch." But first I will construct the idea of what Raskolnikov's reasoning was for the crime in the first place. Raskolnikov thinks that he is superior than normal people and that he has the right to step over boundaries in order to cause good in the world. He thinks that the pawnbroker is a waste of space for the world and that the entire world would benefit from her not existing anymore. But he is right about her being a terrible person, because she is. She abuses her half sister physically and torments her mentally, she rips off the poor by exploiting their terrible situation and benefits from it by herself. She is indeed a terrible and unscrupulous person. And at the start of the book Raskolnikov overhears men talking about her. They quite literally say that she is a terrible person and that the world would better without her, so the feeling is universal in the world of the book and it is not just Raskolnikov who feels like she is a waste of space. What this idea is practically based in is called: "utilitarianism", which I will not do a deep dive into because that would deserve an entire project to do justice. But boiled down to the ultimate core of the idea, utilitarianism is the belief that all the actions that are right are the actions that benefit the majority, and that pleasure is a good thing that should be strived for and that it is inherently good, and on the flipside, that pain and suffering are inherently bad and should be avoided in all formations. This is the core idea around the murder of the pawnbroker. Applied to the book it looks like this in the way Raskolnikov thought himself (this is not a quote from the book, this is just the thought process):
"This terrible and suffering causing pawnbroker makes this world so much more terrible and abhorrent with her existing in it. And it is not like anybody would miss her if she was murdered and taken off of this earth. Thus I shall murder her to do good in the world, and with the money I can elevate myself so I can give the poor money and make the world a better place. The ends justify the means...And this is necessary to making the world a better place. So in consequence the mere murder of a pawnbroker does not matter if at the end of it all more pleasure is brought into the world." The reasoning is. Now I know that this is easily debunkable and is easy to see how it works but I will now put the thought process into a different medium. For example: "Vladimir Putin is such a terrible person who killing thousands upon thousands of poor souls. Thus in murdering him brutally the new reformed Russia will be a place free of suffering and hardship." Now I don't have to explain how bad a person like Vladimir Putin is, but just because he is a murderer doesn't mean that in the action of him getting murdered the world will become a better place free of suffering. Yes he is a terrible dictator, but two wrongs do not make a right, notwithstanding this phrase being a cliche one, it is the one that Dostoevsky is trying to convey. And in the action of killing all the bad people in the world to make it a better place, you will be the only bad person left in theory, but in reality there will be no end at all for your extermination of bad things. This is a simple Lacanian desire problem, because once you stop desiring, or in this example stop killing and removing all the bad things, you will get to a point of total self destruction and total nothingness. This can be clearly seen in Raskolnikov being surprised when Porfiry says that he does not suspect him anymore, albeit he still did, but Raskolnikov finally realized that he has nothing to do anymore because he is not in a cat and mouse game with the law. He would then be trapped in the guilt even more so than before, because he has nothing to have a purpose for, that being getting away from the crime and the murder. So what I am saying is that once you remove all the bad things in the world you will be distraught because there is nothing left to do, for example one could imagine the christian heaven getting very boring because there is nothing to do anymore. And this is the clear faulty in utilitarianism, that is that life is too complex to put things down to just good and bad, and in reality there would be no end to it! Because there will always be more suffering to eradicate and remove. An example I am rather fond of is that of the anime "death note" where a student gets a notebook that can kill anyone just by writing their name down. The protagonist claims that he will eradicate suffering and bad people from the world and that he will be the new God of the world, but in the book it spirals out of control and he realises in a nutshell that he is just a human like everybody else and that he can't control the emotional problems of killing everybody, he eventually gets caught and shot. I really like this particular example because I just re watched the anime and I can see the clear influence of Crime and Punishment and the same things of utilitarianism are clearly present. They are very similar but the example shows how ends never always justify the means and the same cliche saying comes back into the mix "two wrongs don't make a right". I will now talk about the idea of Übermensch.
The word "Übermensch" and the idea first comes from the book "Thus spoke Zarathustra" but what is the Übermensch? To first understand the idea made by the german philosopher Nietzsche, we have to talk about what the word Übermensch comes from. The first english translation of the Übermensch described it as the "beyond man", but later it was translated as the "superman", but then obviously this misrecognized itself as being the superhero called superman. But the most accurate translation of the Übermensch is the "Overman". But I will just call it in its original german word. Nietzsche was a fond admirer of the american essayist, philosopher, and abolitonist "Ralph Waldo Emerson". He wrote in his notes the following about Emerson: "Emerson-never have I Felt so much at home in a book and in my home, as I may not praise it, it is too close to me."
Emerson had coined the term "oversoul" (which is the title of one of his essays), which may of influenced his idea on the Übermensch. Which makes the translation of the term "overman" the best translation. Nietzsche had not come up with the idea for Übermensch until the later years of his lifetime. However he had spoken of the term "free spirits" in his earlier years, which was to evolve into the sage Zarathustra, who moulded the path for the Übermensch. In one of Nietzsche's earlier works titled "Human, all too human: a book for free spirits". In this work he dedicates himself to the free spirits who did not yet exist. But he saw them coming slowly. He spent time with these "free Spirits" and imagined them to be in a good mood amidst illness, inactivity, isolation, creativity. He described the free spirit as someone who challenged the normal and conventional ways of thinking and living in society, and promotes the growth of society. In "Thus spoke Zarathustra", the Übermensch is linked with the final metamorphosis of the child. Nietzsche described that there were three different stages for the self overcoming and for transmogrification. The camel the Lion and the Child, which represent the stages of change.
The camel: Nietzsche first starts with the "camel". The camel is a strong willed load carrier who is happy to take on burdens the camel says: "Put it all on my back, load it all on there. Put all of the joys, the sorrow, the suffering, and the knowledge. I wish to experience everything in life." The camel experiences the most suffering and hardship in their life. We begin as being the camel in life. As kindergarten, primary and high school students we chase the knowledge of the world and then go on to chase knowledge in other forms, such as employment and higher education. We seek to understand the world as much as possible. There is such a profuse amount of knowledge in the world to learn and there is so many great minds out there. The more we learn the more we put on our camel backs. But...The journey is a long one and is a one of great hardship. The camel soon gets the desire to stop walking through the desert, and to stop bearing the burdens of responsibilities and the care for other people, because it soon realises that there is no universal ethics, morals, meanings, religions, truths in the world. There is no universal meaning of life. The trip is long and the camel wants to stop bearing the knowledge on its back. The world, the camel has discovered, has no real meaning inside that applies to everybody. There is no one meaning of life. Then the camel metamorphoses into a lion to rid itself from its burdens and make new meaning in life.
The Lion: In order for the lion to rule over the desert in all of its power and true freedom, it must overthrow the existing lord that resides in the desert. The dragon is the palpable obstacle in the way of the lion achieving true freedom in its desert. On this dragon are scales, and on each and everyone of the pretty scales, the words "Thou shalt" but all these words translate to are just the words: "you shall!" This dragon represents the institutions that determine the moral values of the masses and what the masses should believe in and what they should hold as being the truth of life. The dragon for Nietzsche represents religion, the government, your masters, your boss. Basically the dragon represents anything that tells you what is good for you and what you should be doing. The lion who had transformed from the camel carrying all the burdens and knowledge, is confronted by the dragon and the lion says: "I will do what I shall." And then the dragon responds with: "The gold and value of 2000 years glow on my scales!" What the dragon means is that for the longest time we have been governed by the authorities, with the same type of values, and are told what our values are. We are given no choice, but then the lion slays the dragon and screams "No!" This represents us rejecting what the dragon has to say about how we should live our life.
The child: Contrary to what you may think of, we do not start off as children, rather we end as the child. Now that the lion has its own will, it metamorphoses one last time into the eternal child. Nietzsche says that: "The child is innocence and forgetfulness, a new beginning, a game, a self propelling wheel, a first motion, a scared yes!" What he is trying to convey is that the child has a new beginning an opportunity to create his own meaning and values in life. The child is unburdened by rules and regulations put onto us by society and the authorities. He has free will and can choose to create his own destiny. They are free to discover the meanings hidden inside himself.
Once one has changed into a child, they are free to play and create their own values and meanings free from society, and find out who they truly are. The Übermensch is the one final form of the human. They are the one who rejects nihilism by creating their own values and focusing on their own life. They put of their faith in themselves as the creator of everything and are free to do as they please. In a nutshell it is to create meaning in your life you have right now and to have faith in yourself. What Nietzsche does is tie the Übermensch to the "death of God" (if you did not know he was the one who said god was dead.) But the quote claiming that god is dead is more saying that God can no longer provide values for us anymore, thus we have to create our own to live fully.
CONCLUSION:
Now, the idea of Übermensch is actually meant to be a peaceful one, it was used by the Nazis to describe their superiority as the aryans. Now, tying this back to Dostoevsky, you can see how well he predicted such terrible things that were bound to occur from the ideological intoxication that I described earlier. You can see these relate. But however, Raskolnikov was NOT an Übermensch, he was a slave to nihilism, thus he cannot be called one. The point is that he thought he was above everyone and he thought he was similar to napoleon. But he was still a slave to the dragon. Raskolnikov was still a camel at the end of the day. He had to realise that he had to suffer greatly to atone for his crime and that he can find meaning with religion.
Sources:
Crime and punishment book
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crime/summary/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_Punishment
Beyond Good and Evil by Frederick Nietzsche
Page updated
Report abuse