Dichotomy Between Crime And Punishment

As a piece of literature, Crime and Punishment’s most forceful method of conveying a message is its characters. Unfortunately, this is an area where the book fails in some ways. Raskolnikov, the main character, is not relatable to anyone except the most tortured and self-absorbed young men on earth. He is too melodramatic in his mannerisms to be considered real and relatable to the common person. Although Dostoyevsky does an excellent job of using Raskolnikov as a means of disproving the uberman theory, his belief in his own superiority and his dramatic demeanor prevent readers from becoming emotionally invested in his redemption and recovery. Ideologically, Crime and Punishment is excellently executed. Emotionally, the book falls short.
That being said, Dostoyevsky was successful in providing a strong dichotomy between happiness and sadness; connection and isolation. Given the poverty and moral corruption infesting St. Petersburg, the book could have been rife with misery from beginning to end, but aspects such as Razumihin’s passion, Sonia’s endless love, and Raskolnikov’s charity make the book dynamic and
Symbolically, it makes sense for Raskolnikov to fall in love with Sonia, the Christ figure, as a way of portraying his commitment to religion and redemption. However, Sonia is the most one-dimensional character in the book. She is selfless to the point of caricature, and therefore could easily be replaced with a walking, talking cross and have the same effect on the book. Every other character, from Katerina to Pulcheria to Raskolnikov is motivated to some degree by selfishness, which makes Sonia’s own motivations highly questionable in comparison. Due to her lack of depth, Raskolnikov ends up falling in love with nothing more than idea, while shunning his devoted