Crime and Punishment: Review
Finished reading Crime and Punishment. Without the shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest works to be penned.
So as the crux of the story goes, the protagonist Raskolnikov imagines himself to be a wise and learned human being who has the right to execute an action which is generally a reprehensible deed in society; however, Raskolnikov believes he’s the “hero of this story” and believes he must do this reprehensible deed for the benefit of the whole society.
He thinks of himself as Napoleon. He also imagines about other great human beings who did these sorts of things, such as Muhammad [pbuh], Jesus [pbuh], et cetera. He thinks of kings, prophets, and in a lesser way, philosophers, who did generally reprehensible things, but reasonably explained that it was alright for them to do it since they were learned. Raskolnikov started to think he had the right to transgress the moral law for a higher purpose. He believed himself to be “the chosen one.”
The task at hand, in this case, was murder. The lowest of the low, the most reprehensible deed of all. He was thinking of murdering a nefarious pawnbroker women named Alyona Ivanovna.
Now let’s see how learned Raskolnikov actually was, and what things really motivated him to kill Alyona. She wronged him, and on top of that, she always acted in an aggressive manner, the people in society hated her and talked ill of her. She harmed many. Alyona had a lot of money. Raskolnikov, who had became an ex-student because of poverty, thought of killing her out of vengeance and greed, because he’d feel joy in killing her and will be able to free himself from this predicament by doing so. In actuality, there was no great moral cause. All of that delicate pondering was to convince his proud and individualist self that what he was doing, wasn’t wrong; rather, it was a good deed for all of humanity. Raskolnikov developed a narcissistic personality that compensated for his low self-esteem and insecurity. He fantasized about being a hero who would change the world with his actions.
Understand that this is something a huge amount of people suffer in reality. Which included myself, but now I’m enlightened (haha). A lot of thrill-seeking youngsters do stupid things because of thinking they’re superior to others. And in a lesser manner but a more conspicuous manner, these people imagine themselves to be superior in intelligence, and believe they’re judgement is always valid and better. However, when put to test, we can see several blind spots and fallacies in their thinking. Just the same happens with Raskolnilov’s mentality. However, at one point he understands what he in reality is. And here’s the greatness of the story: he understands this after innumerable interactions with numerous people.
He realizes that he was not a “Napoleon”, but a “louse”, a miserable and insignificant creature who had no right transgress the general sense of morality in any way.
To be very frank, that’s the actual state of most gen z’s nowadays who think of themselves as special. Nevertheless, it’s not about us, it’s about Raskolnikov. So, let’s get back to the book.
Raskolnikov’s mental state after the murder was a reflection of his inner conflict between his pride and his conscience, between his reason and his emotion, between his individualism and his sociality. He was a student in 19th century Russia, which is a big thing. Poverty took away his pride. This put his unsullied mental state into limbo. He was trying to figure out what to do, and in his frustration he falls into an abyss. He not only ends up killing an evil person, but also her innocent and kind sister Lizavetta. This completely breaks him mentally. But he is adamant on concealing his crime. Which changes with time.
Why does it change? Raskolnikov interacts with a perverted government employee Luzhin, with a wealthy spoiled brat Svidrigailov, a psychotic aggressor police detective Porfiry Petrovitch, a spiritually pure prostitute Sonya, an extremely loyal friend who’d stab him in the front Razumikhin, and some other people including his mother and sister. All of them influence his psychological state, and Raskolnikov’s thinking gradually evolves. Every interaction he has, is etched in so much delicate details, it’s beautiful. This is literature at its absolute peak.
The isn’t just some non-fiction in disguise of fiction, it does have pretty good dramaticism that hits hard. Especially near the end when Raskolnikov reveals his crime to Sonya, Sonya tells Svidrigailov so that he helps Raskolnikov, and Svidrigailov uses that knowledge to blackmail Dunya, Raskolnikov’s sister, into submitting to him.
Before leaving to reveal what he has done to the police, Raskolnikov talks with his mother. Even then, when he’s understood his wrongdoing, he can’t leave his demons. He has a manipulative discussion with his mother, even though that wasn’t his intention. After getting out, on his path to the police, he understands what he really is. He understands that he’s a lowly being who doesn’t deserve anything. Nevertheless, the point of all of this is, once you’ve purposefully distorted your moral compass, you can never reset it. Once you’ve committed a heinous deed, you’ll never get your Innocence back — without taking extreme spiritual measures, at least. Therefore, a person needs to always guard the sanctity of their moral compass.
And Raskolnikov does have an awakening; redemption through repentance, confession, and suffering.
Sonya immensely helps him get through all of this. In the 1800s, Russia had this yellow badge, it allowed girls to get into legal prostitution. Sonya had to do this because of his family and worth for nothing father. Nevertheless, she was an extremely pure hearted girl. Her story, from the beginning to the end, was phenomenal.
I should mention, if someone is going to take tests like SAT or GRE, they absolutely need to go through this book. If they can read this book with complete concentration, they can nail those tests.
You’ll feel the emotions in this book. Crime and Punishment isn’t fiction, it’s reality. It’s the most real thing you’ll ever read, and it’s the best I’ve ever read.
