Crime And Punishment Analysis

Can murder be justified? To many people, this horrible sin is one of the worst things man can do. In Crime and Punishment, the character Rodion Raskolnikov is tormented by the murder he commits and scrambles to find a reason why he did it. Even before he carries out the crime, Raskolnikov thinks that killing Alyona is his destiny. With the thoughts of predetermination and exceptionality driving him, Raskolnikov executes the murder. But the reason behind the murder is still clouded in his mind, as the effects of it take their toll. He discovers the reason, only after talking through his thought process which gives him clarity into the reasoning of his crime and he is able to understand why it is affecting him. Raskolnikov wrongly assumes that

The thought of committing a crime is usually linked with a need for something. Someone who is starving will turn to theft in order to survive, with the thought of the crime pestering them until the act is followed through. Rodion, in addition to following his extraordinary man theory, killed in order to kill. There were something in his mind that pestered him to kill as if it was his only way to survive his scattered, secluded, and poor life. Rodion states that: “I longed to shake it all off my back: I wanted to kill without casuistry… to kill for myself, for myself alone! I didn’t want to lie about it even to myself! It was not to help my mother that I killed- nonsense! … I simply killed- killed for myself” (Dostoevsky 419). Rodion wants to do something with no repercussions, wishing to feel the rush of crime without a second thought of it. This self-centered reasoning of the crime shows the warped thoughts Raskolnikov had in the beginning of the book. His mind continued to think about murder until he was dreaming of it. Rodion seeks relief in carrying out the crime, but it offers no solace to him. Rodion continues to say, “Is that how one goes about killing, the way I went about it then? Someday I’ll tell you how I went about it… Was it the old crone who I killed? I killed myself, not the old crone” (Dostoevsky 420). After the crime is perpetrated, Rodion feels as if he had killed himself. The murder, instead of lifting a burden off of his shoulders causes more problems in his life. He expected to feel nothing of doubt after the murder but ended up feeling constantly paranoid and further splits his mind. The continuation and worsening of his scattered mental state, as well as his hypochondria, feels to Rodion as if he kills himself. The assumed freedom that sprouts from the act of killing does not arise in Rodion as he expected after the murder. Instead, his mind is filled with melancholy, distrust, and