Comparing Dostoevsky's Crime And Puni

Dostoevsky, in retrospect brought on by his punishment and acceptance of religion, saw flaws in his old revolutionary and nihilistic ways and mirrored this in Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov's life parallels to that of Dostoevsky's in many ways, and Raskolnikov seems to represent a past version of Dostoevsky himself. Dostoevsky's shift back to religion stemmed from his yearning to find familiarity in his life, an ideology that made sense to him. During his time in prison, as with many prisoners, Dostoevsky found his religion again. As pointed out by Cynthia Ozick in Dostoyevsky’s Unabomber, Dostoyevsky “fought doubt with passion unreason: ‘If someone proved to me that Christ is outside truth, and that in reality the truth were outside of Christ then …show more content…
Ultimately, religion is an idea that dwells from human creation. This can be seen through its mirroring of various human feelings and passions. Due to this, religions is an extremely powerful tool concerning how people justify the actions in their lives. In the case of “Crime and Punishment,” Raskolnikov strongly believes throughout a fair part of the novel that his ideas are justified through the Übermensch theory and due to the fact that his actions are to help the greater good. Unable to see his wrongdoings, Raskolnikov suffers an immense mental suffering throughout the novel. The traditional Christian punishment can be seen as an eye for an eye. However, in the epilogue of “Crime and Punishment,” the lawyer's attempt to find justification in Raskolnikov’s actions through a rational viewpoint. They end up deducing that his crimes were committed during a state of “temporary mental derangement, through homicidal mania, without object or the pursuit of gain.” (Dostoevsky, 492). This specific conclusions makes sense to the reader because Raskolnikov hardly …show more content…
Dostoevsky points out that this is “the beginning of a new story – the story of a gradual renewal of a man, the story of his gradual regeneration of his passing from one world into another, of his initiation into a new unknown life. (Dostoevsky, 505)” Dostoevsky is exemplifying through Raskolnikov’s constant debate over his religious affiliations, and his ultimate succumbence to religion, that religion is the only true salvation to be free from guilt. The final scene where Raskolnikov confesses and accepts religion, is used by Dostoevsky in order to show that Raskolnikov’s suffering throughout the novel is able to be liberated once Raskolnikov is at his weakest state. In this state, he finally sees the opportunity and freedom that Religion presents. Although as a citizen, Raskolnikov will no longer be a free man, mentally, he has truly freed himself from the burden of his