Crime and Punishment shares the story of how internal conflicts can shape the an individual’s values and priorities, especially when the torment they’ve endured has been lengthy and emotionally consuming. Self-inflicted punishment from guilt and remorse at some point corners characters into finding a way out; a form of salvation and redemption, for they come to realize the magnitude of their crime. Dostoevsky reveals that psychological torment leads an individual to seek forgiveness and redemption, a sensation that is found in religion.
We’re presented with the story of Raskolnikov, in which he attempts to test his published Ubermensch theory, in which humankind is separated into two categories: the ordinary and the extraordinary. Individuals …show more content…
Let’s not forget that readers weren’t only exposed to Raskolnikov’s journey of redemption, but Svidrigailov's as well. In regards to a crime, Svidrigailov’s was his greedy and crude treatment of Dunya, and his inability to let her go, to cut whatever strings he had attached to Dunya. Contrary to Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov never tried to find forgiveness or a form of salvation, instead he continued to accomplish something that simply couldn’t be done, a relationship with Dunya. His last attempt was during that night in his rented room where he cornered her to the point of being threatened at gunpoint by Dunya herself. The moment in which Dunya “realized that he would rather die than let her go” was the moment the reader understood that Svidrigailov felt no remorse at all for the harm he had caused all this time, so there was no reason for him to seek redemption (496). Ultimately, if he couldn’t be by Dunya’s side, there wasn’t another reason for him to continue living, there wasn’t hope for him to redeem his actions. Death was truly the only, for the lack of a better word, solution for his suffering. The night of his suicide, Svidrigailov rented a room, one “at the very end of the corridor [...] the only one left since all the other rooms were occupied” (503). Even the placement of setting expresses the hopelessness in his future; there was only one outcome that could happen, since all the other doors of opportunity were closed. Svidrigailov didn’t look for advice in God or religion, and that resulted in in him unable to find redemption and salvation for his
We’re presented with the story of Raskolnikov, in which he attempts to test his published Ubermensch theory, in which humankind is separated into two categories: the ordinary and the extraordinary. Individuals …show more content…
Let’s not forget that readers weren’t only exposed to Raskolnikov’s journey of redemption, but Svidrigailov's as well. In regards to a crime, Svidrigailov’s was his greedy and crude treatment of Dunya, and his inability to let her go, to cut whatever strings he had attached to Dunya. Contrary to Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov never tried to find forgiveness or a form of salvation, instead he continued to accomplish something that simply couldn’t be done, a relationship with Dunya. His last attempt was during that night in his rented room where he cornered her to the point of being threatened at gunpoint by Dunya herself. The moment in which Dunya “realized that he would rather die than let her go” was the moment the reader understood that Svidrigailov felt no remorse at all for the harm he had caused all this time, so there was no reason for him to seek redemption (496). Ultimately, if he couldn’t be by Dunya’s side, there wasn’t another reason for him to continue living, there wasn’t hope for him to redeem his actions. Death was truly the only, for the lack of a better word, solution for his suffering. The night of his suicide, Svidrigailov rented a room, one “at the very end of the corridor [...] the only one left since all the other rooms were occupied” (503). Even the placement of setting expresses the hopelessness in his future; there was only one outcome that could happen, since all the other doors of opportunity were closed. Svidrigailov didn’t look for advice in God or religion, and that resulted in in him unable to find redemption and salvation for his