A desperate young Raskolnikov, poor and starving, plans the perfect crime. Raskolnikov murders an old and loathsome pawnbroker; a woman that no one cares for and that no one will mourn. Raskolnikov makes sure to plan this murder so that there will be no flaws, however as reality is, there will always be a catch. There is no perfect crime. Raskolnikov believed that by killing this woman the world would benefit from the outcome. Is it not right, Raskolnikov figures, for a man of learned intelligence to commit such an offense, to break the rules of moral law if it will benefit humanity? Many however, would follow Raskolnikov, such as two men that Raskolnikov overheard in a bar t

Laws and punishments, though limiting possible losses to society, block the path to the truth and consequently would impede the progress of society. Through error, Raskolnikov came to the truth behind his extraordinary man theory, even though it required transgressing law and murdering the pawnbroker. Even though the murder disproved Raskolnikov’s theory, as Porfiry told Raskolnikov, “you made up a theory and then were ashamed that it broke down and turned out to be not at all original.” (Page 424)., the knowledge that Raskolnikov’s theory was incorrect will help society prevent similar misjudgments in the future. If Raskolnikov had succeeded, the murder may have been seen as justified. “It was only in that he recognized his criminality, only in the fact that he had been unsuccessful and had confessed it” (Page 499). It is absurd for a society to expect both perfection and progress. Luzhin and Razumihin would agree that mistakes should not be condemned by society. Luzhin saw errors as occurring from special circumstances, while Razumihin saw mistakes as the stepping-stone to the truth. Laws must be flexible, for no matter how just a law may be, there is always a time, a situation, in which the law is unfair or impractical. Raskolnikov’s physical punishment did come however in the end when he was sentenced to prison in the Siberian prisons. This physical sentence wasn’t nearly as harsh as his intense emotional failure of his murder. Although Raskolnikov did suffer through a physical punishment in prison, his time before p

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