Assignment On

Crime and Punishment as an anti-social novel

Submitted To

Mam Zahida Rehman

Submitted By

Sobia Rani

Roll.no 47034

BS English Literature

Semester 8th

Content
Abstract
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Crime and punishment
Raskolnikov anti-social behaviour
Roskolnikov's Ego
Overhearing Conversation of Students
Poverty of Raskolnikov
Raskolnikov and Napoleon
Psyche of Raskolnikov
Svidrigailoff commit suicide
Marmeladoff indifferent attitude
Crime and Punishment VS The Trial
Conclusion
Reference

Abstract
Crime and Punishment was Dostoevsky's first great revelation to the world, and the main pillar
of his subsequent philosophy of life. It was a revelation of the mystic guilt incurred by the
personality that shuts itself up in solitude, and for this reason drops out of the comprehensive
unity of mankind, and thus also out of the sphere of influence of moral law. A formula has been
found for negative self-determination by the individual: the name for it was isolation.
Raskolnikov's incarceration within himself, which was the result of the supreme decision of his
free will, finds its final expression in the crime he commits. Crime and Punishment tells the story
of redemption. This novel deals with the question of responsibility for the actions of each
individual, background of struggle between God, morality and the theory of the Superman. It is
an eschatological novel, concerning the salvation of men. Dostoevsky reveals a humanity that
can be saved only by the submission and by the acceptance of a common morality, a kind of
universal rules. This novel is therefore wrong in ruling against nihilism in Russia in the
nineteenth century.

Crime and Punishment as anti-social

Law-making and law-breaking, or crime and the punishment of crime, are two things which have
held the human interest from time immemorial. Crime and crime detection are cultural
phenomena and therefore have a history.
‘’A crime can be regarded as any act that invokes against its author the characteristic reaction
which we can term punishment.’’
Durkheim

This means an act of crime is always punished. Moreover, crime always occurs in a community
and not in a vacuum. Law which dealt with crimes primarily was therefore criminal law.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky (1821-1881) who left his mark in the world literature was a Great Russian author,
editor and a journalist. He was also renowned as a political thinker, philosopher and a
psychologist who gave voice to human sufferings and narrates what lies behind the psyche of the
human mind. His works are infused with the social, political, and religious aspects of Russian
society. He lived at a time when Russia was going through political pressure and social issues.
His life is a message to those who go through pain and suffering , as how in the worst and
miserable condition of his life, Dostoevsky survived through his faith in Christian belief and
came out as a great thinker who rendered meditative ideas about living life in a better way.
Dostoevsky contends that most of the time people look at crime as a physical act based on facts
and forget about the psychological influences and effects of crime on the criminal mind. Hence,
for Dostoevsky, punishment is not exactly legal punishment, but it is the suffering of a guilty
conscience.

“Man is a mystery: if you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you
have wasted your time. I occupy myself with this mystery, because I want to be a man.”
Dostoevsky
Crime and punishment
Crime and Punishment (1866) by Fyodor Dostoevsky is the best crime fiction of the 19th century
Russian Literature. It holds its place among the excellent crime fictions of world literature. The
novel was a huge success and was the most talked novel of its time. It’s such an excellent novel
of crime that is relevant even today in the 21st century. Crime and Punishment was published in
the literary Journal the Russian Messenger in 1866. Crime and punishment is so popular that,
some movies based on this theme have been produced. Crime and Punishment is based on the
real life story of crime (in Russia) published in the newspaper. This catches interest of the author.
He wants to discard the prevalent rational theories in Russia that is destroying the youth. It was
Dostoevsky’s first novel that earned him a name and fame in world literature.
'Crime and Punishment' is a superbly plotted, brilliant character study of a man who is at once an
everyman and as remarkable as any character ever written. In Dostoevsky’s novel, we find a
combination of both the existential and psychological aspects. Dostoevsky is both a Psychologist
and an existentialist. His psychoanalysis and existential quest of the criminal is brilliantly
portrayed in Crime and Punishment.

The novel presents variety of different characters having good and evil tendencies .On one part,
there are essentially good characters like Sonia Razumihin, Porifiry Petrovich, Dounia and on the
other, there are vicious characters containing evil like Svidrigailov and Luzhin. Raskolnikov
stands in between, as he possesses both good and evil, as his very name suggests “double”.
Dostoevsky presents him as containing both vices and virtues.

Raskolnikov anti-social behaviour

Crime and punishment is a novel based apparently on the interior of Raskolnikov’s mind. It is
also an apt representation of a social situation with its social inequalities and how this inequality
affects the personalities of individuals and their reactions towards certain situations.
Dostoyevsky intimates himself so closely with Roskolnikov's consciousness, and describes his
turmoil and angst so precisely and exhaustively, that it is easy to forget that the events take place
over the course of a mere two weeks. He encourages us to identify with Roskolnikov: the
painstaking descriptions of the student's cramped, dingy quarters; the overpowering sights and
sounds of a stifling afternoon on the streets of St. Petersburg; the excruciating tension of
Porfiry's interrogation – all serve to place the reader at the' heart of the action: Roskolnikov's
fevered, tormented mind. Dualism is the key to Raskolnikov's character. He is torn between the
desire to do evil and the desire to do good. He wants to harm, to commit murder, to test his
theory that there is such a thing as a crime of principle. He believes that he has a moral right to
commit crimes and kills an old woman who is moneylender. He continually struggles with self-
doubt, questioning what he does and blaming himself for every decision he makes. Dostoevsky
presents multifarious reasons for Raskolnikov’s criminal act. Raskolnikov is propelled by
multiple motives. That can be seen in his conversation with Sonia and Dounia after his
confession. The Temptation of Crime in Crime and Punishment may be aroused by the following
factors:

Roskolnikov's Ego

Raskolnikov is the protagonist in the novel. The story is told entirely from his point of view,
which offers a unique perspective on a murderer’s guilty conscience and justification for his
actions. His name is derived from the Russian word “raskolnik”, meaning schismatic or divided.
This basically sums up Raskolnikov’s attitude towards society. He feels that every person that he
comes in contact with is out to get him. Alienation is his most fundamental trait as a protagonist.
This trait leads him to believe that he is above the typical moral standard for all humans. His
murder of Alyona and Lizaveta Ivanovna are justified, in his mind, because he is under the
impression that he can choose who deserves to live or die. And yet, his weakness is illustrated
through his fainting at the mentioning of the murderers due to his overwhelming guilt. With the
progression of the novel, Raskolnikov begins to ponder a confession more and more. Although
this is apparent, he never once questions his reasoning for the murders. To him, the murders were
justified through his “above the law” attitude. Much is learned about Raskolnikov’s personality
by observing his interactions with the other characters in the novel. He is oblivious to his friend’s
attempts to help him due to his obsession with his crime. When compared to Sonya, he is proved
flawed. Sonya sacrifices herself through prostitution, in order to help her family. While on the
other hand, Raskolnikov commits his crime through his own sake alone.
Poverty of Raskolnikov
Dostoevsky presents Raskolnikov as a young desperate man. He considers himself as an extra
ordinary man who has a right to infringe the law. But, at the same time, he is also suffering from
physical and emotional illness. He was trying to test his self made theory. Due to extreme
poverty and pathetic condition of his mother and sister, he plans a daring act: to kill an abhorrent
pawn broker. Her murder garners two benefits: first, Raskolnikov will get the money he needed
to help his family as well to use it for the welfare of the society and secondly, he will testify his
theory of an extra ordinary man. But, he incidentally kills the Pawn broker’s sister too. Thus, he
committed double murder.
In part I of the text, Crime and Punishment, we found Raskolnikov received a letter from his
mother, in which she mentions that now their troubles are over. She writes that Dounia is going
to marry Luzhin, a rich man who will financially aid their family. She also mentions how Dounia
has gone through horrible tortures by his employee Svidrigailov, and how because of his
shrewdness, Dounia had to face humiliation. But now everything will be alright as Dounia is
going to marry Luzhin. Reading the letter, Raskolnikov got afflicted by the letter and thought he
couldn’t do anything for them. Moreover he thought, his sister is going to marry a rich man only
because he promises to help her family. Raskolnikov felt Dounia is sacrificing for the sake of his
family and he resolved that he will not let anything happen. We find this to be the first
instigation of his crime, as Harriet Maurav points out:
‘’It occurs to him, however that there is nothing he can do for his mother and sister. He begins himself
torturing with the thought that only yesterday had been a dream- the idea of murdering the old
pawnbroker-acquires a terrible reality.’’
Overhearing Conversation of Students
Further, Raskolnikov is provoked by the University student’s conversation centered on the old
pawn broker. Raskolnikov overheard a conversation of university students about Alyona
Ivanova. They talk about her shrewdness and they emphasized on killing her by rationalizing that
after her death, her money can be used to help the needy. They are calculating the murder on the
base of how it can be beneficial to other. This intensified Raskolnikov’s criminal urge. He saw a
student and a young officer talking about the old pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna. While talking,
the student becomes aggressive and gives a derogatory comment on the old lady.
Later, he even affirmed to kill the old lady and take her money that can be used to help the
needy. In this conversation, we find a glimpse of utilitarian philosophy as the boy is of the view
that:
She is first-rate... You can always get money from her. She is as rich as a Jew, she can give
you five thousand roubles at a time and she is not above taking a pledge for a rouble. Lots
of our fellows have had dealings with her. But she is an awful old harpy….
Raskolnikov and Napoleon
Raskolnikov identifies himself with Napoleon. He is fond of Napoleon Ideology. And he implied
it through killing the old women. Further, he express his motive of crime in which he mentions
that he killed the old woman to help her family and setting his career. We find Raskolnikov deny
his former motive that is influence of the radical ideas and then moves to another rationalization
of his crime. As Liza Knapp in this context states:
‘’Raskolnikov’s “extraordinary man” theory formalizes the Napoleonic complexin the
Russian context.’’
Raskolnikov fulfills the first stage of Nietzsche’s superman. He is driven by the same motive, but
he can’t successfully rich to the last stage, Nietzsche’s Superman does not repent for his actions
and is devoid of guilt. But Dostoevsky’s protagonist does not contain such characteristics. They
feel guilty and repent over their wrong deed. Dostoevsky believes in the regeneration of morality
by embracing Christian values and Nietzsche believes in the recreation of morality by an
Individual autonomy.
Psyche of Raskolnikov
Raskolnikov’s crime leads him to psychic trauma. After committing the crime, all the ideologies
of Raskolnikov demolished and he got caught by his own terrible feelings and fall into both
mental and physical illness. Pisarev in his critical essay on

Crime and Punishment remarks:

‘’…After committing the murder, Raskolnikov conducts himself…like a petty cowardly

and weak-nerved imposter for whom a major crime turned out to be beyond his strength.’’

It shows how an educated young man under the influence of the nihilistic ideas commits crime
and fall into illness, caught by his own terrible thoughts and feeling of loneliness that broke him
down and ultimately he redeemed himself from suffering by confessing his crime and received
atonement. The murder takes place in the first part of the novel. What is most important is how
Raskolnikov is driven to crime? What motivates him to commit crime? And, what happens after
he commits crime? The rest part of the novel deals with the despair, anguish and the suffering
that he gone through, and how he overcomes this situation with the aid of Sonia and ultimately
how he is redeemed from it has been discussed in the novel. Dostoevsky shows how
Raskolnikov’s confession and embracing of Christian values lead him to salvation. It explicates
mental agony and moral perplexity confronted by Raskolnikov throughout the novel.
Svidrigailoff commit suicide
Svidrigailoff of Crime and Punishment who is responsible for the death of his wife, his servant
Philip, and a young maid, commits suicide unable to bear the burden of the moral responsibility
of his crimes.
When Rascolnikoff says, “People say you have killed Marfa Petrovna.”
He replies, “I hardly know how to answer it, although my conscience is perfectly at ease on
the subject.
Every customary formality has been gone through most minutely; the inquest has proved that the
dead woman died of an apoplectic fit brought about by a bath she had taken after a copious meal
at which she had drunk nearly a bottle of wine. Nothing else has been discovered. No, this is not
the matter that causes anxiety.
Later unable to bear the burden of his guilty conscience like a mad man he wanders about from
place to place. The nightmare on his return home – that of a five year old, innocent girl
transforming herself into a brazen French harlot is what finally destroys the meaning of life for
him. But he is, however, not altogether devoid of the spark of goodness, although he does not
have the Christian ideal of salvation. Before he commits suicide he helps Dounia, Rascolnikoff‟s
sister, and the girl he intends to marry. Then he goes to Sonia and informs her that he has
provided substantially for her and her step brothers and sisters. He commits suicide,
symbolically, in front of a building surmounted by the belfry.
Marmeladoff indifferent attitude
Marmeladoff, Sonia‟s father shows the same indifferent attitude towards his daughter.
Marmeladoff, who looks like a retired government official, is a drunkard. “This man” writes
Dostoevsky
“Who was over fifty, was of medium height and had a hale complexion. His head was very
bald, displaying only a few grey hairs……The most striking thing about his face was its
expression of intelligence and enthusiasm, which alternated with a look of insanity.”
He enjoys his poverty, and says that poverty is no vice. He proudly announces that he married
Catherine Ivanovna, a widow with three children as she has nowhere to go to. Then he speaks
about Sonia, his daughter from his first wife, who is a yellow card holder. Marmeladoff justifies
himself that Sonia was not forced take up yellow card. He says that Catherine Ivanovna, his wife
said so only to vex her than to drive her to evil ways. This shows that as a father he fails to
perform his duty and his indifferent attitude towards her.
Crime and punishment Vs The Trial

Kafka gives us in his The Trial an inside glimpse of the troubled psyche of Joseph K. when he
comes under the grip of Law officials. The unrest which Joseph K. experiences from his arrest in
the opening of The Trial is felt by Dostoevsky’s hero, Raskolnikov also right from the beginning,
as he is under debt to his landlady and was afraid of meeting her. A constant threat assails him
because of his poverty: He had become so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his
fellows that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but any one at all. He was crushed by
poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him.

The parallels continue on into part two of Crime and Punishment and chapters two and three of
The Trial, which deal with immediate effects of the drastic openings of both the novels. Both
heroes are summoned to appear before the officials. Raskolnikov is summoned to police
headquarters, not aware of the reason why he is called, or probably for the murder. In the same
manner K. is called in the court for his first interrogation, not aware of what he is accused for.
Both the heroes go to the authorities with a mixed feeling in a state of confusion.
Similarly, K. in The Trial undergoes a sense of alienation from the society because of his arrest
and guilt. He is completely engrossed in the process of his trial. Further, both the heroes suffer
unconscious suffocation in the office. When at the police station, Raskolnikov overhears talks of
murders and with just a reminder of his crime; he quickly becomes weak and faints.
“Something was happening to him entirely new, sudden and unknown”.
When he “recovered consciousness” the men at the station undoubtedly notice his illness and
point out that “he can scarcely stand upright’’. His guilt has driven him to a serious state of
sickness. Likewise, K. becomes weak, later faints in the suffocating atmosphere of the law
offices where “the air” is “dull and heavy . . . hardly breathable”.
The parallels between the two novels can be further drawn with regard to a series of self-
lacerations, which both the heroes experience, while K’s, on an inner level Raskolnikov’s, on the
outer level. Psychologically and emotionally they are under the grip of their respective cases
because of their guilt. Joseph K. is becoming a wreck slowly and steadily right from the day of
his arrest. Because of his own inner conflict which now has become his constant companion, he
starts to have hallucinations. The novel is thus, the description of K’s confrontation with his own
fear, identity and self-condemnation.
 Conclusion
Much has been said and much more can be said in this context but it can affirmly say that Fyodor
Dostoevsky created this “epic novel” based on his own experiences, and attached to it several
literary themes that made it hard for most readers to resist. He used his novels as a form of
rebellion, and with them, he showed many people that a change was necessary in the
government. Crime and Punishment clearly summarizes the highlights of his life, and the main
goals that Dostoevsky strove hard to achieve. He also showed that educated men in poverty have
been punished by their hierarchical position, and that only crime can be expected to follow this
punishment. In Crime and Punishment, the main character Raskolnikov is a poor educated man,
who resolves to change his life and his condition for the better. He murders a local pawnbroker,
and steals her money and goods, but his heart stops him from benefiting from the spoils of his
crime. He covers his tracks well, and evades the officials, but in the end, after much mental self-
torture, he decides that any punishment sent upon him would be more merciful than guilt, and
confesses, and is thus exiled to Siberia. Raskolnikov seems to suffer from mood, personality and
perhaps, even psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.
 Reference
Dostoyevsky F (1997). Crime and Punishment. London: Penguin Books.

Wasioleck E (1964). Dostoyevsky: The Major Fiction. Massachusetts: M. I. T. Press.

Welleck R (1962). Dostoyevsky: A Collection of Critical Essays: Englewood Cliff: N. J.
Prentice Hall.
Frank, Joseph. (1866). Introduction. Crime and Punishment. By Fyodor Dostoevsky. Trans.
Constance Garnett. New York: Bantam classics, V-xxiii.Print.
Harriet Murav. (2010). “Crime and Punishment: Psychology on Trial”. Ed.Harold Bloom .Viva
Modern Critical Interpretation: Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment”. New York: Viva
Books, 87-104.Print.
Molchulsky, Konstantin.(1947).Dostoevsky: His Life and Work, translated by Michael A.
Minihan. Princeton: Princeton University Press.