By Fyodor Dostoevsky
One of the most influential psychological crime fiction novels of the nineteenth century, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment tells the tragic story of Raskolnikov—a talented former student whose warped philosophical outlook drives him to commit murder. Surprised by his sense of guilt and terrified of the consequences of his actions, Raskolnikov wanders through the slums of pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg trying to escape the ever-suspicious Porfiry, the official investigating the crime.
In this novel we have a young smart guy in 19th century Russia who comes up with the idea that some people should be allowed to kill with impunity, because they are geniuses who are performing amazing deeds. Any murders which help to advance these deeds, which are for the good of all mankind, are worth the cost and should not be prosecuted.
Of course, what our protagonist, Raskolnikov, came up with is not really new, and Napoleon is listed as one of the main inspirations for the thoughts he is struggling with. Raskolnikov is poor and hungry, his beloved mother and sister are living far away from him and struggling, and he is trying to decide whether he is one of those chosen few people or not. The person he is thinking of killing is an old lady who is lending people money at very high rates, and of course she is described in a very negative way.
He later starts to question his own theory and ending up portraying himself the evil one with evil deed.
The eventual moral of the story is that only God can decide who lives and who dies, shouldn’t have Raskolnikov come to understand that he was not allowed to take away a life, no matter whose life it was, even if he only killed a greedy old lady? I don’t have an answer.
At last Raskolnikov turns himself in. He is sentenced to eight years of hard labour in Siberia. However, after an illness, he at last comes to the realization that happiness cannot be achieved by a reasoned plan of existence but must be earned by suffering.
The supporting characters were again wonderful all around – and they are written with so much compassion. This book is obviously no romance, but it has a brief love story for the main character and it even has a somewhat hopeful ending. Of course the love story is tied to the murder investigation and Raskolnikov’s eventual confession. It is not quite a “saved by love” ending – I always read it as “saved by God” ending — but the young woman is a true believer in Christ, so in my mind they are always connected together.
And then there is Raskolnikov’s sister Dunya, who actually had several suitors, two quite horrible, but she ended up with a really good man and I was very happy for both of them.
But one thing which bothers me the most is, how can he fight his guilt for those murders yet still feel no remorse. Which makes this book a must read and golden book recommendation to all Blog readers.
Comments