Crime and punishment by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky
Crime and punishment is a book written by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky after his return from exile in Siberia. The author has written the book from a third-person perspective and narrates the story of Rodion Raskolnikov, the protagonist, a 23-year ex-student in St. Petersburg who is going through mental anguishes and moral dilemmas. Raskolnikov comes up with a plan to murder a pawnbroker for her money, with the idea that he could use the money to liberate himself from the poverty he is facing. He formulates his plan after overhearing two men in a tavern discussing killing a woman, Alyona, for the evil she has caused in the society which resonates with him. One of the men says, “Kill her, take her money, on condition that you dedicate yourself with its help to the service of humanity and the common good: don’t you think that thousands of good deeds will wipe out one little, insignificant transgression? For one life taken, thousands saved from corruption and decay! One death, and a hundred lives in exchange – why, it’s simple arithmetic!” (62) which further provokes Raskolnikov into the idea of murdering for the sake of humanity. However, upon committing the crime, he is disgusted with himself for what he had done. This paper will, therefore, focus on the theme of utilitarianism and alienation presented in the story. It will further explain the protagonist’s struggles as he tries to deal with the moral consequences of his actions.
Firstly, the theme of alienation is presented in the story when the author describes Raskolnikov as a character who lives an isolated and antisocial life. The author describes him as a dedicated law student; however, he adds that ” he worked with great intensity without sparing himself, and he was respected for this, but no one liked him. ” This is because Raskolnikov considered himself more superior, which resulted in other people alienating themselves from him. As a result, he ended up living a very lonely life. At the end of the book, Raskolnikov is presented as a character who is hugely guilty and struggles to acknowledge the moral consequences of his crimes, which makes him hostile towards everyone. Even in Siberia, the author says, “he was disliked and avoided by everyone; they even began to hate him at last, why, he could not tell.” As a result, Raskolnikov ended up keeping himself at arms-length from other people. Nevertheless, through his redemption time in prison and Sonya’s loving influence, he was able to start forgiving himself.
Utilitarianism is a belief that if doing a particular action results in the good for the majority of people, it is the right thing to do. In the book, Raskolnikov overhears a conversation between two men in a tavern who were discussing killing a woman, Alyona, who had committed evil deeds including cheating people out of their money in her pawn business and use her money to do good in the society. Raskolnikov, who believes that he has a superior intellect, hence the need to act on behalf of other members of the community, resonates with the man’s words concluding that he had the power to decide who should live and who should die. According to his utilitarian principles, he argues that since Alyona steals from people in her pawn business, she is not a good person and deserves to die. Her money is then directed to other areas that could benefit society. Raskolnikov finds the men’s idea attractive and uses it to justify the plot he had of killing the pawnbroker and use her money to escape poverty.
Moreover, he is presented as a lazy character who has abandoned all means to support himself; hence, the scheme of murdering and robbing the elderly pawnbroker and use it to save himself from his unfortunate situation sat well with him. Also, his utilitarianism belief is fueled by the notion of wanting to save his sister Dunya, who agreed to get married to a wealthy but conceited opportunist suitor, Zuhlin, in an effort to escape from her ill-intentioned employer and to save her brother. This move by his sister angers him more, painfully aware of his poverty and impotence, and further fuels his reasons to kill the pawnbroker. The author also brings out the theme of utilitarianism when the character Svidrigailov informs Raskolnikov and Sonya that he will be using the ten thousand rubles intended for Dunya to prepare a funeral arrangement for Katerina Ivanovna and place her two children in good orphanages. This was money he had intended to give to Dunya to save her from marrying Luzhin. When Raskolnikov inquired from him why he had changed motives, he directly quotes Raskolnikov words, which he had overheard, justifying himself to Sonya for killing the pawnbroker.
In conclusion, Raskolnikov is an emotionally disturbed character who believes the only ticket from his poverty-led life is by killing and stealing from an elderly pawnbroker. His intention to kill her is fueled by a conversation he overheard from two men in a tavern stating that the woman is corrupt. In his narrow-minded beliefs that he is superior and can decide whether a person should live or not, he goes ahead and kills the woman, arguing that her money will be used to benefit other people in the society who need it more. This brings out the theme of Utilitarianism in Crime and Punishment, from a character who is presented to have lived an alienated life.