Connection Between Crime And Punishment

In Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky tells the story of how a man, Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov, became a murderer. Dostoevsky sets a majority the novel in Raskolnikov’s mind, taking the reader through his psyche before, during, and after committing a double-murder. Typically, a murderer is not an archetype for a protagonist; yet, Crime and Punishment is known for its antihero who plays the role of both the protagonist and antagonist: Raskolnikov. By setting parts of the novel in his mind, Dostoevsky depicts Raskolnikov as an antihero through the false realities he paints – such as dreams – that allow the reader to examine Raskolnikov’s inner conscious in juxtaposition to his outward actions.
Dostoevsky characterizes Raskolnikov when
This dream represents Raskolnikov’s first inner feelings of guilt. In this dream, Petrovitch is beating Raskolnikov’s landlady outside his garret. Unlike the murders Raskolnikov committed, the landlady’s beating is not silent. Raskolnikov does not see the beating happen – he hears all of it, the sounds it produces torturing him. In this case, the sounds represent the numerous conflicting thoughts of Raskolnikov’s conscious overwhelming him. Dostoevsky contrasts these feelings of guilt with the cold feelings Raskolnikov displays during the murder. In this way, two sides of Raskolnikov are shown again through false reality, continuing to paint him as an
Moreover, Raskolnikov is portrayed as an antihero through his ability to change after committing a double-murder. In Raskolnikov’s fourth dream, a new plague begins to infect men; however, the microbes that carry the plague are equipped with intelligence and will. This causes infected people go insane and begin to kill each other. This scenario is a direct reference to Raskolnikov’s superiority complex. The knowledge Raskolnikov had gained from law school acts as the plague in the dream; it prompted him to develop a theory that eventually created an uncontrollable will. Yet, Raskolnikov’s final dream reveals his conscious’ acceptance that he was wrong. The insanity the men demonstrate in Raskolnikov’s dream represent what would happen if everyone believed they were extraordinary: destruction of humanity. Through this dream, Raskolnikov indirectly accepts that he is an average member of society. Hence, Dostoevsky shows a change in Raskolnikov’s character. Unlike the previous dreams, which represented internal conflict, this dream represents acceptance. Dostoevsky portrays Raskolnikov as an antihero in this way because even as a murderer, Raskolnikov possesses the ability to change and learn to lead a normal