Crime and Punishment

The character Raskolnikov in the novel Crime and Punishment is among one of the most realistic and believable characters I have ever read about. He is also the most confusing and distraught man I have been introduced to this entire year. Raskolnikov possesses the most varying personality imaginable and this makes the reasoning behind his actions a mystery, especially in the case of the murder. Determining the rationale in killing the old pawnbroker is a complex process that necessitates deep thought from the reader. It is also a difficult point to argue because Dostoevsky’s novel is so intensely detailed that different readers can emphasize different aspects of the book in order to attempt to explain Raskolnikov’s deeds.
Guilt as well as intellectual reasoning prove to be the main motivating factors behind the crime of Raskolnikov. Throughout the novel his actions are usually a result of his striking intelligence or his tormenting conscience, or in the situation of the murder, both. Raskolnikov’s idea to kill the old pawnbroker stems from a theory he was developing. It was probable that during his studies at the university he was aquatinted with the popular philosophies of two German thinkers of the time.

When Raskolnikov was developing his own superman theory he borrowed elements from both Nietzsche and Hegel, then applied them to his situation in order his own vague hypothesis. To Raskolnikov, all men fall into two categories, the ordinary and the extraordinary. Ordinary men are inferior to the extraordinary, and they live in submission. They have no authority to break any laws and they live only to reproduce more of their own kind.

It is extremely important to understand that Raskolnikov had not completely worked out his theory at the time of the murder. All of his individual ideas were there, but many connection discrepancies arise. The theory is essentially contradictory sometimes because he had not totally devised his plan before he committed the homicide. One main contradiction in the theory is that he believes the murder was executed for the benefit of all men, but then in turn, believes that, as a superman, he should not be concerned with the plight of the ordinary man. Incomplete understanding of his own thoughts such as this leads Raslkolnikov to the possibility of confession and redemtion.

Another prevalent German theorist was Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche who had a differing opinion of the superman. His idea was that the superman does not live for benefit of society, but instead for his own personal satisfaction. Nobility never prompts any of his aims. Nietzsche was a devout atheist who believed that either no God exists or that He was dead, so his superman is a man who, without fear of God, exerts his own desires completely. He has the strongest will and is able to force his power over others simply to gratify h