Similarities Between Crime And Punishment

Murder, defined as the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice and aforethought, plays a huge part in this book. The plot of Crime and Punishment is based solely off of a murder and it plays a huge part in the motives of the main character, Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov is a former student who has been isolating himself from society after becoming poor. In the story, he is seemingly very lonely, but does not mind the lack of company. The few people that Raskolnikov is forced to talk to are his landlady, his housekeeper, and also occasional notes from his mother and his sister. When in public places, Raskolnikov does not pay much attention to others and tends to talk to himself. He is not very happy or content with his life and …show more content…
“This story of a dead man restored to life perhaps suggests to Raskolnikov that he too may someday be able to return to normal life. He tells Sonya that on his next visit he will disclose to her the murderer's identity” (Crime). Context clues suggest that among committing this horrible crime, Raskolnikov is brought closer to God. He is continuously apologetic in prayer and wishes that God will someday forgive him for what he has done. Though he recognizes that it was not a rational or ideal plan, he has high hopes that God will someday forgive him and accept him into heaven if he admits to his crime and turns himself into the police. While Raskolnikov considers himself unsuccessful for getting caught in this crime, there is evidence through the entire book that he does feel bad about what he has done. “It was only in that that he recognised his criminality, only in the fact that he had been unsuccessful and had confessed it” (Dostoyevsky). Though he feels unsuccessful, he knows that it is the only way that God will be able to completely forgive him for what has occurred. One more thing that helped transform Raskolnikov into a completely different person was his newfound love for Sonia, his friend’s sister. This helped him realize what love actually was and how happy it made him. Putting aside the murder, he …show more content…
"Fear gained more and more mastery over him, especially after this second, quite unexpected, murder. He longed to run away from the place as fast as possible" (Dostoyevsky). When the murder occurs, Raskolnikov is very anxious, especially because he was forced to kill not only the old woman, but her sister as well. While the murder makes him feel exhilarated, the aftermath makes him very nervous. He does not want to be caught in this horrible crime and wants to conceal it. This guilt that Raskolnikov feels continues to progress throughout the book and he eventually wants God to forgive him so he turns himself in and is honest. “It is often said that Dostoevsky's "novel-tragedy" gravitates toward a single major ‘catastrophic’ event, one usually connected with a crime; what has not been sufficiently stressed is that Dostoevsky's focus is not crime at all, but its corollary--guilt” (Bem). Guilt was the main focus in this novel. Raskolnikov would not have been punished by the authorities unless he admitted to it himself, something that he eventually decides to do. Guilt was what really drove him to admit to the murder. Crime and Punishment shows how Raskolnikov slowly deteriorates with the feeling of guilt over time. It impacts him a lot and he is not the same person after he commits the murder. Readers will notice a slow but evident change in his mood and actions after the