Raskolnikov Being example essay topic

'Tis a stated fact that the physical environment surrounding a living creature has a profound impact on their mind, attitude, charisma, integrity, and basically all the key essentials that makes that creature unique from all others. What Dostoyevsky did in the novel, Crime and Punishment, was make the surrounding environment of St. Petersburg, Russia, during the 1850's, be a noticeably decaying place of both moral and virtue and with this theme of the city being in a constant downward spiral, the author was able to reflect the protagonist's psyche, Rodin Romanov ich Raskolnikov, based off of this environment. With the morality of St. Petersburg slowly crumbling day by day because of how wretched and vile this hive filled with scum, villainy, poverty, smut, and drunkenness was, it could easily be compared to the same of Raskolnikov's mental state and moral values. Although, Raskolnikov's mental state is going down the drain like the rest of society, he still thinks very highly of himself and is made to believe that he is above everyone else because he considers his murder of Alyona to be completely justified. Ultimately, Raskolnikov's murders end up being just one big mind game and testing his abilities to see how long he can truly last before confessing his sins, which leads to Raskolnikov being singled-out by nearly every character in the novel. The comparison of St. Petersburg and Raskolnikov's feeble-minded brain can be considered as one in the same.

St. Petersburg has all of the requirements of a city to be considered one that is in a state of depression and in a rapid declination because of the poverty, prostitution, and alcoholism (because of that famous Russian vodka). While within the city limits, Raskolnikov practically has no way of escaping the city because he himself is part of the financially-challenged list and while not being able to escape the city, he is also unable to escape his delirium he has brought upon himself. It is human nature to linger on a subject that would make one feel guilty, whether they had the best intentions or the worst intentions; the outcome is always the same. As each day went by, Raskolnikov's guilty conscience was catching up with him and he knew it too. His one true problem, however, was that he could not think of what the outcome would be like if he confessed his crimes since many of his thoughts were more of a pessimist's view. Now, for more of a look at the actual crime that had been committed, since the book is called Crime and Punishment.

What made the book a complete irony is that the crime was committed at the end of the first part of the book, but the punishment will not even be mentioned until the very end of the book. The death scene of Alyona, that had taken place in her room, was entirely planned out beginning with a gift of a silver cigarette case with an intricate knot to keep Alyona busy and ending with a bludgeoning smash to the head with the ax leaving her a bloody mess on the floor. Raskolnikov had the justification to go through with it and could " ve used that for his own good because he thought he had all the right intentions when killing this so-called "louse" who was taking what the poor had and made it her own with the rent. However, all his justifications were thrown out the window when Lizaveta paid an unexpected visit because Raskolnikov had foolishly forgotten to have shut the door and lock it. In a rather quickened (and panicked) fashion, he took care of Lizaveta the same way he did Alyona.

This senseless murder of Lizaveta was intended to only benefit Raskolnikov's way of not going to jail for his crime he had committed; it was null and void for any and all justifications that Raskolnikov ever had for killing Alyona. Throughout the course of the novel, Roskalnikov must withstand the thoughts of the sins he has committed and be able to live with the guilt of them. With this guilt, comes his descent in mentality and sanity. With his thoughts on the subject matter considered to have been justified, he thinks very highly of himself and has come to believe that he is a better person than anyone else. Just because he had good intentions when he killed Alyona, doesn't means society will look at the same way. So when Raskolnikov had come to his senses after the murders and began his guilt trip, any little thing he did that was of good intention, he made people know it and found it as another excuse to make up for his one horrible act of villainy.

In fact, Raskolnikov was so insecure about the murders and that they were unsuccessful murders that he began to talk to himself while lying in bed saying, "The old woman was a mistake perhaps, but she's not the point! The old woman was merely a sickness... I was in a hurry to step over... it wasn't a human being I killed, it was a principle! So I killed the principle, but I didn't step over, I stayed on this side... All I managed to do was kill. And I didn't even manage that, as it turns out...

(264) " When Raskolnikov couldn't take it anymore, he went and told Sonya about all that he did, unaware of Svidrigailov being in the next room and listening to the conversation. Once Raskolnikov makes Sonya aware of his horrible, horrible wrongdoings, one by one, each character also became aware, or at least suspected him, of his murders also. The investigator in charge of the murder case, Porfiry Petrovich, was constantly aware of Raskolnikov's mental well-being and after figuring out that Raskolnikov was responsible for the murders, it became a mind game in trying to get him to confess. One thing well known about the human psyche is that when under extreme amounts of pressure, they " re willing to say any and everything unless that person has an iron will, which is why we have interrogation rooms when attempting to de-brief an enemy or trying to get vital intel from them. To add fuel to the fire, one of painters that were at the apartment complex when Raskolnikov murdered the two women ended up being tried for the murders. With all of this weight on his shoulders, he simply could not take the pressure anymore and with the added fact that several people were coming on to him, he was left with no other choice than to confess it was he who did it.

When finally confessing his sins, an unbelievable amount of stress and anxiety was released and Raskolnikov can live with himself now. In the last part of the novel, the epilogue to be more specific, Raskolnikov was sent to a labor camp in Siberia for several years, but this Raskolnikov was an entirely different man. He know longer was the insane, mentally ill person everyone once knew his as. Now if we refer to what the essay was written about, character traits being affected by the physical environment, it will show that instead of only being half true, Dostoyevsky made it become the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help him God. With this hypothesis now being proved, it makes you ask a question... the ultimate question... what if? What if Raskolnikov had never lived in St. Petersburg, would he have ever been driven to murder?

What if Raskolnikov had been raised in an aristocratic life-style, would he have ever had justification for the murders? The world may never know.