Crime And Punishment Response Paper

Response Paper to “Crime and Punishment” The two sharply contrasted settings in Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky are symbolic of how turbulent Raskolinikov’s mind becomes after he murders Alyona Ivanov. In the bustling and disgusting Saint Petersburg, Raskolinikov has to suddenly battle the guilt that comes with Alyona’s demise yet once Raskolinikov confesses to his crime and serves his sentence in the lonely and removed Siberia; his mind relaxes. Similar to The Stranger, most of Crime and Punishment takes place during the summer, when the hot sun muddles Raskolinikov’s mind as it did to Meursaults’s. While Meursault uses the sun as an excuse to why he committed murder, Raskolinikov tried to justify his actions to Sonya; but ultimately Raskolinikov definitely comprehended his own guilt and spent most of the novel attempting to ease his shame. Saint Petersburg had a reputation for extraordinary art and brilliant minds, but in reality it also had severely poor people who were desperate to survive, the perceived greatness versus the bitter truth symbolizes how Raskolinikov is polished by his
years of education and level of intelligence yet is degradingly poor and destitute just like the majority of Saint Petersburg. Raskolinikov’s consciousness is split between believing he did society a great service versus knowing murder is never truly justifiable, Dostoyevsky clarifies by adding "Actions are sometimes performed in a masterly and most cunning way, while the direction of the actions is deranged and dependent on various morbid impressions - it's like a dream" (Dostoyevsky 197). Raskolinikov is mentally trapped and in Saint Petersburg, the poor are trapped and forced to survive on bleak conditions. In contrast, in Siberia there are relatively few people and the people who are there have a set purpose; to atone for their crimes, this clarity and understandable sentence helps Raskolinikov recover.
Raskolinikov is able to forgive himself easier once he has the time to reflect and serve his punishment. After committing the crime Raskolinikov eventually accepts that he must suffer the consequences, by law or by his own mental prowess; "If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will be punishment - as well as the prison" (Dostoyevsky 230). The human brain dictates that all actions should have either a logical or emotional purpose, Raskolinikov struggles to find a good enough reason and his mind endures the penalty, until he is properly punished and serves out his sentence in Siberia with a quiet mind and a happy ending with Sonya to look forward
to. The stark contract between life in Saint Petersburg and life in Siberia helps paint the drastically different pictures of guilt and reasonability. Interestingly, Dostoyevsky lived in Saint Petersburg and experience firsthand the rough lifestyle, so he knew directly the circumstances of the environment Raskolinikov faced, perhaps Dostoyevsky was attempting to place a greater impact on how social standing can lead to crime and not simply justification.