The basis for the entire novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky - the crime - occurs very early on and this leaves the rest of the story to explain the different forms of punishment. As the title of the novel suggests, crime and punishment go hand in hand, meaning that with a crime comes punishment. Rodya Raskolnikov, the main character, kills two women and, subsequently, is punished in many different ways, including illness, guilt, paranoia, and a prison sentence. Each of the punishments that Raskolnikov receives affect him in some way, however, some are more effective in teaching him a lesson. Through the different forms of punishment that Raskolnikov endures, he ultimately repents for his sins and finds redemption. The immediate
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The paranoia that Raskolnikov experiences is incredibly strong and it causes him to do very irrational things, such as go back to the crime scene, tell Zametov that he killed the pawnbroker and then said it was a joke, and confessed to Sonia, who he had only known for a very short period of time. Directly after the murders, the paranoia is already deeply affecting Raskolnikov as he begins to imagine that he is covered in blood and that someone will find the things he stole from the pawnbroker that he hid in the wall. Furthermore, it is explained that, “The conviction that all his faculties, even memory, and the simplest power of reflection were failing him began to be an insufferable torture” (93, Dostoevsky). Raskolnikov’s paranoid state ties back into his physical health as the paranoia inhibits him from sleeping and being able to think clearly. After meeting with a detective, Porfiry, Raskolnikov’s paranoia only worsens, and once he gets home “in senseless terror he rushed to the corner, to that hole under the paper where he had put the things” (271, Dostoevsky). He does this because he fears that there is still something left from when he had hid the pawnbrokers items there, even though he had hid them under a rock right after stealing
The paranoia that Raskolnikov experiences is incredibly strong and it causes him to do very irrational things, such as go back to the crime scene, tell Zametov that he killed the pawnbroker and then said it was a joke, and confessed to Sonia, who he had only known for a very short period of time. Directly after the murders, the paranoia is already deeply affecting Raskolnikov as he begins to imagine that he is covered in blood and that someone will find the things he stole from the pawnbroker that he hid in the wall. Furthermore, it is explained that, “The conviction that all his faculties, even memory, and the simplest power of reflection were failing him began to be an insufferable torture” (93, Dostoevsky). Raskolnikov’s paranoid state ties back into his physical health as the paranoia inhibits him from sleeping and being able to think clearly. After meeting with a detective, Porfiry, Raskolnikov’s paranoia only worsens, and once he gets home “in senseless terror he rushed to the corner, to that hole under the paper where he had put the things” (271, Dostoevsky). He does this because he fears that there is still something left from when he had hid the pawnbrokers items there, even though he had hid them under a rock right after stealing