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Dostoevsky

            Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky's life was dark and dramatic as his novels were. His father's drunken brutality led to his murder by his own serfs. At the age of 28 he was imprisoned for alleged subversion against Tsar Nicholas. He was in prison for ten years. While in prison he made many changes in his philosophies and it was greatly shown in his novels. "Man is a mystery. If you spend your entire life puzzling it out then do not say you have wasted your time. I occupy myself with this because I want to be a man." This quote is from a letter that Dostoevsky sent to his brother at the age of eighteen. The quote shows the mindset of the author. This mystery is what Crime and Punishment is about. Dostoevsky reveals this mystery through guilt. He shows that almost everybody has a sense of guilt. This guilt will not let you get away with the crime. This information brings me to a statement that I feel reflects the entire novel. Through pain and suffering, guilt will bring confession. Knowledge of crime or bad deeds lead to guilt. " I was not delirious, I knew what I was doing," he cried straining. "I was quite myself do you hear?" (Dostoevsky 310) This quote shows that Raskolnikov knew what he was doing and that he was guilty. Even through his extraordinary man theory he knows that he had done wrong. He would like to believe that he was in the right but in the back of his mind he knows that he is in the wrong. "Good God, am I going out of my senses?"(Dostoevsky 130) This shows that he doesn't know what is happening to himself. He thought that he would have no remorse for this crime but he came out with a lot of guilt. The extraordinary man theory seemed to be a scapegoat for himself. There was not a really big need for the pawn-broker to be killed. She was not really hurting anyone. "In Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov constructed his whole theory of the extraordinary man for one purpose only, to justify in his own eyes a quick and easy way for profit.


Essays Related to Dostoevsky

1. A Gentle Creature by Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky's, "A Gentle Creature," resembles in many ways the archetypal story of Cinderella, however, this story is nowhere near the romantic stories one would be told as a child. Dostoevsky provides a sharp sense of reality by writing about the difficult situation of a young girl within Russian society during Dostoevsky's time. ... Dostoevsky in his introduction explains that the story is mean to be read as if, "A stenographer could have overhead him and taken down his words in shorthand" (Dostoevsky 670). ... " (Dostoevsky 705) She thought he had finally given up. ...

  • Word Count: 546
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography

2. Dostoevsky's Revolutionary Hero

Dostoevsky's Revolutionary Hero The fictional author of Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground claims that he has all the traits of the anti-hero. ... I think this is hat Dostoevsky's character is attempting to do in the second half of this novel. ... Dostoevsky's character indeed suffers in his individuality. ... Although the demeanor of Dostoevsky's underground character strikes one as loathsome, he seems to truly be an exemplar of the vital revolutionary hero....

  • Word Count: 1484
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography

3. crime and punishment

As Dmitri Merejkowski describes, Dostoevsky writes "hasty" with "clearly neglected language". ... Merejkowski implies that all of Dostoevsky's heroes are "God-tortured." ... Dostoevsky's delicate, symbolic language written in Russian is sadly different from its translated versions. ... Dostoevsky meticulously captures every shift and thought of Raskolnikov's mind. ... Instead, Dostoevsky shows us the power remorse and guilt play on the human mind. ...

  • Word Count: 1662
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. The Divine Trinity

In the novel Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky, Dostoevsky utilizes three unlikely characters to portray this same image of the Holy Trinity. ... Dostoevsky makes it clear that Razumikhin is a significant character for a reason. ... Dostoevsky refers to Sonya throughout the book as a child, emphasizing her innocence and gentleness. ... Dostoevsky uses the symbol of a child to reveal Sonya's true innocence and good intentions. ... Dostoevsky also notes Sonya as a dove when Marmelodov is talking again, "My little Dove" (28). ...

  • Word Count: 1936
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment is a book written by Fyodor Dostoevsky who spent four years at a labour camp in Siberia, followed by four years of military service. Raskolnikov's time in a Siberian prison, described in the Epilogue of Crime and Punishment, is based on Dostoevsky's own experiences at a similar prison. ... During his time in prison Fyodor Dostoevsky underwent something of a political conversion, rejecting the radical socialist positions that had led to his arrest in favour of a conservative concern for traditional values. ... Petersburg during the time that Dostoevsky was writin...

  • Word Count: 554
  • Approx Pages: 2

6. Morrison's and Dostoevsky's Word Choice

Dostoevsky takes this crude and radically expressive man, known as the underground man, and makes him into the narrator of the piece. ... However, Dostoevsky begins to submerge the reader into the piece through the human principles of conformity and exclusion, just as Morrison's politicians do. As opposed to how the politicians use inclusion as a promise and a disguise, Dostoevsky used exclusion as an attraction. ... Further, this response is apparent in Dostoevsky's novella as well. ... However, as the piece progresses Dostoevsky depicts the underground man as a relatable person, ju...

  • Word Count: 1711
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Russian Novel

A Religion Of Russia's Very Own The third of Fedor Dostoevsky's five major novels, The Devils, also erroneously titled The Possessed, is a powerful political tract inspired by an assassination in 1869 and written in 1872. ... Dostoevsky is largely attacking Russian socialism's tendency toward atheism and its attempt to replace Christianity with a cult of the masses. ... Offering the Christian response to modern atheism in Russia is the novelist Fedor Dostoevsky, "The West has lost Christ and that is why it is dying; that is the only reason."" ...

  • Word Count: 866
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Human Nature

Beginning with Socrates and ending with Dostoevsky, our study of literature regarding human nature this quarter was quite extensive. Of notable interest was the seeming drift toward pessimism as the years went on; Socrates and Plato were arguably the most optimistic, and then came the ever-pessimistic Machiavelli, and finally we ended up with Dostoevsky and Huxley, whose grim outlooks on human nature were somewhat unnerving. ... Dostoevsky, through the Grand Inquisitor through Ivan, gives us a very disheartening outlook on human nature. ... Dostoevsky's reasoning appears to be that p...

  • Word Count: 923
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Crime and Punishment - Significant Themes, Etc.

Dostoevsky makes numerous references in his novel concerning the direct impact one's living quarters can make upon their life and it is these specific references that further illustrate Dostoevsky's themes and characters. The living space of Dostoevsky's main character, Raskolnikov, is a scene that holds a variety of significant events. ... The living quarters of Raskolnikov helps Dostoevsky further develop his themes and the personality of his characters. ... The home is indeed where the heart is, an undoubtedly true expression in Dostoevsky's novel. Dostoevsky illu...

  • Word Count: 1258
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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