Crime And Punishment

3 Pages 702 Words

Crime and Punishment - Suffering

In the novel Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, suffering is an integral part of every character?s role. However, the message that Dostoevsky wants to present with the main character, Raskolnikov, is not one of the Christian idea of salvation through suffering. Rather, it appears to me, as if the author never lets his main character suffer mentally throughout the novel, in relation to the crime, that is. His only pain seems to be physical sicknes.

Raskolnikov commits a premeditated murder in a state of delirium. He ends up committing a second murder, which he never ever wanted to be responsible for. He kills Lizaveta, an exceedingly innocent person. But does the author ever remind us of the murder at any time in the novel again? Not in the physical sense of the crime itself. The reader doesn?t hear about how heavily the murders are weighing on his heart, or how he is tormented by visions of the crime. He doesn?t feel the least bit guilty about having committed the crime, only his pride?s hurt. He doesn?t mention the idea of the pain that might arise from recurrent visions of the crime. Raskolnikov never again recalls the massive amounts of blood everywhere, the look on Lizaveta?s face when he brings down the axe on her head. These things clearly show that the crime isn?t what might cause him suffering, or pain, it is something else.

After Raskolnikov is sent off to Siberia, he doesn?t feel remorseful. His feelings haven?t changed about his crime, he feels bad at not being able to living up to his own ideas of greatness. He grows depressed only when he learns of his mother?s death. Raskolnikov still hasn?t found any reason to feel remorse for his crimes. He takes Siberia as his punishment, because of how annoying it is to go through all these formalities, and ridicularities that it entails. Yet, he actually feels more comfortable in Siberia than in his home in St. Petersburg. It?s more...