Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky

“Crime and Punishment” is just one of the most intellectual stories I ever came across. I say its intellectual, because I believe it to be so. Although the ending was vague, I really enjoyed the story.

            Raskolnikov has committed a crime by murdering a pawnbroker and her sister, and he suffers for it.

            Okay, I know this might seem very trite and nothing really new for a topic. But the most interesting part lies in Raskolnikov’s inner conflicts with himself.

            Raskolnikov planned the murder a lot of times in his head, but before actually committing the crime, he thought about backing down repeatedly. This shows that he was actually a good man, but wanted to be evil. I personally believe that this was because of his financial crisis: Raskolnikov had the idea that good people can not survive if evil, such as the pawnbroker, are not eliminated.

            Raskolnikov, however, had a theory that “extraordinary” people – or people with superior intellectuality than ordinary – possesses the right to eliminate a few people (if necessary) for the good of the entire humanity. He exemplified his thoughts by saying that Newton or Einstein possessed the right to kill a dozen or a hundred people if that would help in their work – which served humanity as a whole.

            Raskolnikov himself used to believe that he was an extraordinary man, and that he possessed the right to kill others for his benefit.

            However, he was a generous man. The loot from the pawnbroker’s house that he had taken, was given partly to his friend’s family after his friend’s demise.

            Soon however, Raskolnikov fell ill. His deteriorating health was symbolic throughout the novel. He was ultimately caught by the police after he confessed his crime; but since it was proven that raskolnikov was mentally unstable while murdering, he only received a sentence of 8 years in prison.

            As I said, I enjoyed the story, and it was mainly because of Raskolnikov’s inability to conceal his darkest secret to himself. His inner conflicts with himself were really applaudable. It certainly is one of my favorite reading items that I came across till date.