As human beings we constantly strive to be better. We desire to become the strongest, smartest, richest, and overall best. However, even when we finally reach our goals we continue to strive for dreams outside our reach. These ideas of superiority and dissatisfaction emerge from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Through the use of foreshadowing, the words “superman” and “gentleman”, and emotions/ descriptions of desperation, Dickens and Dostoevsky uncover humans’ unavoidable tendency to hold themselves to impossible expectations. These expectations leave mankind trapped in a hopeless internal prison surrounded by dissatisfaction.
Throughout the two novels Dickens and Dostoevsky both illuminate …show more content…
When characters in Crime and Punishment debate over the idea of moral responsibility, Raskolnikov agrees with the idea that “all men are divided into 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary.' Ordinary men have to live in submission, have no right to transgress the law, because, don't you see, they are ordinary. But extraordinary men have a right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way, just because they are extraordinary” (205). This concept of lack of concern for the law appeals to Raskolnikov, for he views himself as superior to the common, ordinary masses. Raskolnikov’s desire for superiority shows throughout the novel as he refuses to acknowledge his moral obligation to confess and attempts to subdue his feelings of guilt. Likewise, in Great Expectations, Pip constantly communicates his desire to rise to gentleman status. His obsession with rising in status allows him to easily abandon his previous life, as he states “I walked away at a good pace, thinking it was easier to go than I had supposed it would be, and reflecting that it would never have done to have had an old shoe thrown after the coach” (160). That Pip abandons his friends and family for money illuminates his fixation with becoming a rich, well-mannered man. Furthermore, Pip’s disgust towards …show more content…
Even though Raskolnikov longs to ignore his conscious and feelings of guilt over the murder, he remains unsatisfied as an “extraordinary” person above the law. Raskolnikov connects with the phrase “pain and suffering are always inevitable...the really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth,” (210) because he recognizes that even as an “extraordinary” person he finds himself imprisoned by suffering. Similarly, Pip also finds himself dissatisfied after attaining gentleman status. After receiving news of his fortune, Pip describes his second night after hearing the news as “lonely and unsatisfactory as the first” (150). The use of the words “lonely” and “unsatisfactory” express Pip’s discontent after achieving his utmost desire. Additionally, once Pip arrives in London, a destination he has been dreaming of, his first experience disgusts him. He illustrates the historically rich Smithfield Market as a “shameful place being all asmear with filth and fat and blood and foam” (165). This vulgar description conveys Pip’s endless dissatisfaction with life even once he escapes his common home. While these two characters expect to experience happiness once they achieve their dreams, they cannot escape the dissatisfaction which continuously surrounds the human
Throughout the two novels Dickens and Dostoevsky both illuminate …show more content…
When characters in Crime and Punishment debate over the idea of moral responsibility, Raskolnikov agrees with the idea that “all men are divided into 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary.' Ordinary men have to live in submission, have no right to transgress the law, because, don't you see, they are ordinary. But extraordinary men have a right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way, just because they are extraordinary” (205). This concept of lack of concern for the law appeals to Raskolnikov, for he views himself as superior to the common, ordinary masses. Raskolnikov’s desire for superiority shows throughout the novel as he refuses to acknowledge his moral obligation to confess and attempts to subdue his feelings of guilt. Likewise, in Great Expectations, Pip constantly communicates his desire to rise to gentleman status. His obsession with rising in status allows him to easily abandon his previous life, as he states “I walked away at a good pace, thinking it was easier to go than I had supposed it would be, and reflecting that it would never have done to have had an old shoe thrown after the coach” (160). That Pip abandons his friends and family for money illuminates his fixation with becoming a rich, well-mannered man. Furthermore, Pip’s disgust towards …show more content…
Even though Raskolnikov longs to ignore his conscious and feelings of guilt over the murder, he remains unsatisfied as an “extraordinary” person above the law. Raskolnikov connects with the phrase “pain and suffering are always inevitable...the really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth,” (210) because he recognizes that even as an “extraordinary” person he finds himself imprisoned by suffering. Similarly, Pip also finds himself dissatisfied after attaining gentleman status. After receiving news of his fortune, Pip describes his second night after hearing the news as “lonely and unsatisfactory as the first” (150). The use of the words “lonely” and “unsatisfactory” express Pip’s discontent after achieving his utmost desire. Additionally, once Pip arrives in London, a destination he has been dreaming of, his first experience disgusts him. He illustrates the historically rich Smithfield Market as a “shameful place being all asmear with filth and fat and blood and foam” (165). This vulgar description conveys Pip’s endless dissatisfaction with life even once he escapes his common home. While these two characters expect to experience happiness once they achieve their dreams, they cannot escape the dissatisfaction which continuously surrounds the human