Reading Response #4: Character

When I first started reading Crime and Punishment, I didn't like the main character because of his unpredictable nature, and because I couldn't relate to his situation, or his personality. However, as I read more of the novel, I began to feel a closer connection to him. Although I still can't empathize with him, I do feel that I now am able to understand him a bit more, and I at least now know his motivations. I also did some more research on the novel, and found some interesting information, that gave me a greater insight to his character. For example, Raskolnikov's name is a play on the Russian word 'raskol' which means a schism or split. This was done by Dostoevsky to help explain his character's personality. It is a fitting description, as Raskolnikov does indeed seem to have a split personality. A good example of this is the time that Raskolnikov tries to help the drunk, raped girl, but quickly changes his mind. This is also shown at many other points in the novel, where Raskolnikov quickly changes from being overly rational, and extremely iratalbe around others to being good natured and pleasant towards them, or vice versa.

In the beginning of the novel, during the time before the murder, and the time after it, when Raskolnikov is trying to justify his actions, he tries to ignore the gentler side of his personality. He believes that it will get in the way of his ambitions, and his ability to be 'extraordinary'. However, as the novel progresses, and Raskolnikov begins to feel more remorse for what he has done, it is apparent that the kinder side of

his personality is putting up a fight, and trying to push aside the darker personality.

Partway through the book, Raskolnikov meets a girl named Sonya, who helps in the struggle between his personalities. Sonya is a kind, and religious young woman who has been driven to prostitution to keep her family alive. When Raskolnikov first meets her, he feels pity for her situation, and the two develop a strong bond. Throughout their relationship, Sonya is able to get Raskolnikov's gentler side to show its self more often, and is even successful in 'toning down' his darker side, making his anger at the world less extreme. Sonya doesn't believe that Raskolnikov is a cold blooded killer, and over time, she even gets Raskolnikov to believe it himself; something he could never have done without her help. By the end of the novel, when Raskolnikov finally decides to confess, his two personalities have begun to merge into one. Although there are still times when he is antisocial, and sullen, he has - for the most part - overcome that, and has been able to join his two personalities to become a logical and rational, yet kind-hearted person. In the end, this change in character allows Raskolnikov to begin to find redemption, and begin to feel true remorse for his actions, which is his first step towards clearing his conscience.

"...here begins a new account, the account of a man's gradual renewal, the account of his gradual regeneration, his gradual transition from one world into another, his acquaintance with a new, hitherto completely unknown reality." (Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment).

Reading Response #3: Conflict

Although the main conflict in this novel is between Raskolnikov and his conscience, it is certainly not the only one in the book. There are also many conflicts between the characters. One of the ones I find interesting is between Raskolnikov and Porfiry Petrovich, the man investigating the murder of the pawnbroker and her sister. Throughout the novel, Petrovich tries to get Raskolnikov to confess to the crime, but he goes about it in a rather complex manner. When Raskolnikov first meets him, Petrovich - for the most part - seems like a serious, straightforward man. However, he spends the course of their first meeting dropping hints to Raskolnikov that suggest he knows of his guilt.

"Porfiry Petrovich suddenly looked at him somehow with obvious mockery, narrowing his eyes and as if winking at him. However, perhaps it only seemed so to Raskolnikov..." (Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment 251).

Here, Petrovich pretends to know more details about the murder than he actually does, and in the process, he manages to put Raskolnikov on edge "Raskolnikov trembled within himself" (252). Later in the story, after Raskolnikov has dropped some clues about the murder that confirm Petrovich's suspicions, Petrovich starts to pretend that he knows less than he actually does. This happens when another man, Mikolka, confesses to the murder. Petrovich doesn't believe the other man and is still convinced of Raskolnikov's guilt, but nonetheless, he apologizes for suspecting him.

" '...I've come to explain myself, sir; I regard it, so to speak, as my sacred duty...I made you suffer through a great deal, Rodion Romanych. I am not a monster, sir...but I now wish, for my part, to use every means to straighten out the impression produced, and to prove that I am a man of heart and conscience. I say it sincerely sir.' " (450, 451)

It then comes as quite a surprise, both to Raskolnikov, and to me, when Petrovich suddenly changes tactics again, directly accusing Raskolnikov of murdering the pawnbroker and her sister.

" '...forget Mikolka, my dear Rodion Romanych, there's no Mikolka here!'

These last words, after everything that had been said before and that had seemed so much like a disavowal, were too unexpected. Raskolnikov began trembling all over as if he had been pierced through.

'Then...who did...kill them?...' he asked, unable to restrain himself...

'But you did, Rodion Romanych! You killed them, sir...' " (456)

In this section of the novel, Petrovich shows an incredible amount of insight into Raskolnikov's character, and a high level of competence at his job. He is able to read into the character of his suspect, and change his tactics to match Raskolnikov's level of pride, impatience, and even fear. He uses this method of psychological manipulation to annoy Raskolnikov, to scare him, and eventually, to provoke him into a confession.

Reading Response #2: Theme

As the title of the novel suggests, one of the main themes Dostoevsky explores in Crime and Punishment, is that of punishment. In order to fully analyze this theme, Dostoevsky draws on his own personal experiences. After being arrested for joining a group of liberal Utopians, Dostoevsky was sentenced to 8 years of hard labour in Siberia. In the novel, Raskolnikov is similarly sentenced to hard labour in Siberia for the murder of the old pawnbroker. Just as Dostoevsky was never the same after his experiences, Raskolnikov was also greatly changed by his time in Serbia. The hard labour he was forced to endure allowed him to come to terms with what he had done, and find redemption through it. Dostoevsky uses this scenario as a metaphor; it is his way of saying that redemption only comes to those who pay for what they have done, and understand the wrong in it.

Although Dostoevsky does use legal punishment to demonstrate this metaphor, it is not, in fact, the type of punishment he spends most of the novel considering. Instead, he looks at the punishment one brings upon himself after committing a detestable act. In other words, he describes Raskolnikov's conscience. At one point in the novel, I finally gained some insight into why Raskolnikov wanted to kill the old pawnbroker. He attempted to rationalize his actions by suggesting that:
"...all people are somehow divided into the 'ordinary' and the 'extraordinary'. The ordinary must live in obedience and have no right to transgress the law, because they are, after all, ordinary. While the extraordinary have the right to commit all sorts of crimes and in various ways to transgress the law, because in point of fact they are extraordinary." (Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment 259).

Raskolnikov tries to believe that he is the second type of person; the type with the right to commit an horrible act imaginable simply because he is 'extraordinary'. However, his conscience will not believe it. Subconsciously, Raskolnikov is sickened by his actions, and this sickness even takes the form of a physical illness. It strikes him shortly after the murder, and he is bedridden for weeks. However, Raskolnikov does not only suffer physically, he also endures an incredible amount of emotional turmoil as he tries, and fails, to rationalize his actions. Although he was able to explain his actions in a 'logical' and intellectual way, he forgot one thing. The human conscience cannot be put at ease by logic alone, it demands that the wrong the person had done be righted, or they will suffer for their actions, as Raskolnikov suffered for his. Although Raskolnikov is the protagonist of this story, I found that I was not at all sympathetic to his plight, and I even felt a certain amount of justification for his pain. I felt that Raskolnikov had committed a heinous crime, not just in terms of the law, but in terms of humanity, and I was, in a way, relieved to see that he was human enough to be punished for it by his conscience alone.

Reading Response #1: Character

After reading the first section of the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, I am unimpressed with the main character. I find that Rodion Raskolnikov is confusing and unrelatable, and that his motivations are unclear. He wanders aimlessly through the streets of St. Petersburg, talking to himself, and contemplating the murder of an old woman who has only ever been mentioned in Raskolnikov's previous ramblings. No reasons are given for his murderous intentions, and since I don't know the woman, I can't make inferences as to why he would want to kill her.

Not only are Raskolnikov's motivations not mentioned, but his actions are inconsistent, making his personality difficult to pinpoint. The best example of this happens early in the book, while Raskolnikov is wandering the streets of St. Petersburg. He runs into a young woman, drunk, with a torn dress, who he realises has just been raped. He notices that she is being followed by a man whose intentions are clearly less than honest. Raskolnikov becomes worried about the girl, and decides to tell a police officer what has happened.

"Look how her dress is torn, look how it's put on; she's been dressed, she didn't do it herself, and it was clumsy male hands that dressed her...and now look over there: that dandy I was going to fight with is a stranger to me...but he too noticed her on the way just now, drunk, out of her senses, and he's dying to come intercept her - seeing what state she's in - and take her somewhere..." (Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment 48).

At this point, it seems that it would be easy to judge Raskolnikov's character; his concern makes him look like a kind-hearted, honest and just man. However, Raskolnikov soon changes his mind.

"At that moment it was as if something stung Raskolnikov, as if he had been turned about in an instant.
'Hey wait!' he shouted after the moustached policeman.
The man looked back
'Forget it! What do you care? Leave her alone! Let him have fun' (he pointed to the dandy)..." (49).

Raskolnikov's sudden change of heart left me confused, and questioning whether I will ever be able to understand him, and because of this, whether I will ever be able to truely enjoy the book.

Welcome

Welcome to my classic novel study! This blog is dedicated to Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic horror story: Crime and Punishment. Over the next few months, I will be using this blog as a place to record my thoughts while I examine, in detail, a piece of classic literature. It will also give me a chance to share my thoughts and opinions of the novel, and the author, with others. This blog is meant to push me to read something I wouldn't normally pick up (in other words, a classic novel) and to allow me to reflect on what it is that I'm reading.

The story of Crime and Punishment follows an impoverished former student, Rodion Raskolnikov, who is living in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the 1860s. Although the story revolves around the double murder of a rich pawnbroker and her sister, Dostoevsky has chosen not to linger on the details of the crime. Instead, he decided to take me into the mind of the killer. The novel has taken me on a journey to 19th century Russia, where I witnessed a story of unspeakable horror, and experienced the suffering of Raskolnikov as he attempted to rationalize his actions. I watched his eventual acceptance of the evil in what he had done, and finally, his redemption through this acceptance.

At the end of this study - once I have thoroughly explored the plot, characters and themes of the novel, and I feel that I have have a complete understanding of each - I will decide whether I believe the label of 'classic' truly applies to this novel, or if it simply doesn't live up to the standards of a true classic novel.