When any kind of suffering arises in one’s life, many negative emotions and detrimental ideas are typically evoked. In the most extreme situations, individuals tend to isolate themselves or even consider committing suicide. However, does suffering always have to be a negative aspect throughout life? In Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky proves otherwise, exhibiting the fact that suffering can have its own beneficial attributes. For instance, he portrays that suffering can provide for survival but further, that it can develop significant facets in one’s nature. Moreover, these enriching aspects of the characters exhibit their moral growths. Thus, the various sufferings of certain characters cultivate positive aspects in their natures.
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Sonya agrees to accept the position of a prostitute for the sole purpose of feeding her family and keeping them alive. The importance of Sonya’s suffering can be perceived through Raskolnikov, who “fully understood the monstrous pain she suffered…at the thought of her disgraceful and shameful position…he understood fully what these poor little orphaned children meant to her, and this pitiful, half-crazed Katerina” (Dostoevsky 322). Here, Raskolnikov truly begins to realize the immense amount of loving care that Sonya shows towards her family. Although Katerina and the children are not related by blood to her, Sonya is selfless enough to abandon her values for these people. This eighteen-year old’s abysmal suffering truly highlights the virtue of compassion within her. She loves her stepmother and sisters to such an extent that she wholeheartedly wants to relieve the hardships that they are undergoing, which causes her to endure a much greater moral suffering. Moreover, despite the indifferent contempt that Raskolnikov displays towards Sonya, her compassion develops yet more towards him. Sonya endures a mass of psychological suffering due to Raskolnikov as he mentally challenges her with sensitive topics such as God and her ignoble profession. However, throughout all the traumatic meetings with him, Sonya develops a greater sense of compassion for Raskolnikov, a fellow sufferer. As Sonya hands the …show more content…
Before the Epilogue, Rodya continually exhibits mixed attitudes towards many people, including his own mother and sister. As a mentally-challenged murderer, he, at one point, wildly thinks, “My mother, my sister, how I loved them…Yes, I hate them physically. I cannot bear having them near me” (Dostoevsky 275). Before suffering from destitution and from the initial idea of murdering, it appears as though Raskolnikov had a rather close relationship with his family. However, after his confrontation with killing, Raskolnikov conveys diverse emotions towards other humans as he even alienates himself in some instances. Persistent with this isolated mood and hollow tone, Raskolnikov utterly distorts his feelings towards his own family members, including his loving mother Pulcheria. He seems to renounce every idea of a relationship, whether it be familial or romantic, but this dark aspect of him changes. Although his mental suffering after the murder produced a sense of estrangement within himself, the suffering that he endures in his last days before prison displays something exceedingly different. Before leaving for prison, “Raskolnikov had been very pensive…inquired often about his mother, was constantly worried about her. He even suffered too much over her, which alarmed Dunya. Having learned in detail of his mother’s ailing spirits, he became very gloomy” (Dostoevsky 539). This passage
Sonya agrees to accept the position of a prostitute for the sole purpose of feeding her family and keeping them alive. The importance of Sonya’s suffering can be perceived through Raskolnikov, who “fully understood the monstrous pain she suffered…at the thought of her disgraceful and shameful position…he understood fully what these poor little orphaned children meant to her, and this pitiful, half-crazed Katerina” (Dostoevsky 322). Here, Raskolnikov truly begins to realize the immense amount of loving care that Sonya shows towards her family. Although Katerina and the children are not related by blood to her, Sonya is selfless enough to abandon her values for these people. This eighteen-year old’s abysmal suffering truly highlights the virtue of compassion within her. She loves her stepmother and sisters to such an extent that she wholeheartedly wants to relieve the hardships that they are undergoing, which causes her to endure a much greater moral suffering. Moreover, despite the indifferent contempt that Raskolnikov displays towards Sonya, her compassion develops yet more towards him. Sonya endures a mass of psychological suffering due to Raskolnikov as he mentally challenges her with sensitive topics such as God and her ignoble profession. However, throughout all the traumatic meetings with him, Sonya develops a greater sense of compassion for Raskolnikov, a fellow sufferer. As Sonya hands the …show more content…
Before the Epilogue, Rodya continually exhibits mixed attitudes towards many people, including his own mother and sister. As a mentally-challenged murderer, he, at one point, wildly thinks, “My mother, my sister, how I loved them…Yes, I hate them physically. I cannot bear having them near me” (Dostoevsky 275). Before suffering from destitution and from the initial idea of murdering, it appears as though Raskolnikov had a rather close relationship with his family. However, after his confrontation with killing, Raskolnikov conveys diverse emotions towards other humans as he even alienates himself in some instances. Persistent with this isolated mood and hollow tone, Raskolnikov utterly distorts his feelings towards his own family members, including his loving mother Pulcheria. He seems to renounce every idea of a relationship, whether it be familial or romantic, but this dark aspect of him changes. Although his mental suffering after the murder produced a sense of estrangement within himself, the suffering that he endures in his last days before prison displays something exceedingly different. Before leaving for prison, “Raskolnikov had been very pensive…inquired often about his mother, was constantly worried about her. He even suffered too much over her, which alarmed Dunya. Having learned in detail of his mother’s ailing spirits, he became very gloomy” (Dostoevsky 539). This passage