CRIME AND PUNISHMENT BY FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY

 “To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.” 

My puny review will never do justice on how great this masterpiece is. Ever known as one of the finest literature with psychological element in the world, reading this book will give an indescribable satisfaction for literature enthusiast.

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Translator: Oliver Ready

Price: RM 52.21

Bookstore: Kinokuniya

Synopsis: 

Extracted from GoodReads:

“Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer the chance of redemption.”

I am quite disagree with the synopsis. It incorrectly justify the murder committed by the main character. Instead of random murder, the murder committed is a planned one. He planned the murder ahead prior to the execution. However, there was an unforeseen incident where he forcefully need to kill one innocent victim.

As per the title, a very direct straight forward title indeed where it leads you to a direct plot. Someone will commit a crime, and he will be punished. A pretty simple plot with beginning and a proper ending. However, the story does not evolving around that theme in particular. Apparently, this book centred on psychology of criminal precisely after he committed a certain crime. A novice criminal I would say. Raskolnikov is a former student, unable to pay for his tuition fees, he dropped out from the university and spent his entire life in his small lodging in St Petersburg. The beginning of the story highlighted on peculiar characteristics of the main character. Raskolnikov at very first of story has been hinted to have mild delirium. Whenever he walked on the street, he refused to be seen, refused to be called upon and avoid seeing eyes to eyes with other people. He always mumbled with himself. His thoughts are always contradicted with one another. As if there are two personalities within him, and he tried to debate with himself. He also suffered from insomnia. These are the major symptoms of delirium.

“Delirium is a serious disturbance in mental abilities that results in confused thinking and reduced awareness of the environment.” - https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/delirium/symptoms-causes/syc-20371386

Readers were then directed to the encounter between Raskolnikov and the elderly pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, in which from this encounter the story started to advance to the main plot which is the crime. The first visit is just a preparation for Raskolnikov to plan the scheme and one of it is to identify where the pawnbroker keep her money. On the second encounter where the major plot took place, Raskolnikov committed a grave crime that made his life even worse than it actually is. He killed the elderly pawnbroker with an axe. Quickly after that, he rifled through all her possessions without even realizes that he forgot to lock the main door. A novice murderer indeed. However, there was an unforeseen incident happened. Lizaveta, Alyona’s half-sister unexpectedly came into the house and Raskolnikov had no choice but to kill her as well. From the first part of the story, one might guess the main motive of the murder is money. He kills to rob. However, as the story move forward,the real motive of the murder will be revealed. There are 6 parts and 1 epilogue. And from one part to another, readers will be introduced with more characters where all of them have their own crucial part in the story.

That was all about the crime that took place in the story. But, the story does not stop there. In fact the crime was just a kick-start on the actual theme of the story. The real story is about the mental disturbance suffered by Raskolnikov aftermath the incident. From the investigation until discovery, he was tortured mentally by his own action. 

Utilitarianism

This philosophical branch emphasizes on general happiness and condemn any act that brings unhappiness outcome. And the outcome not only for the performer or executor, but also for everyone affected by it. This ethical theory related with another branch of philosophy which is consequentialism. According to consequentialism, the only matter is the outcome. The action will be judged as right and wrong depends on the outcome. These can be seen through Raskolnikov intention to commit the murder. He justify his actions based on the outcome. According to him, the pawnbroker lady is a hindrance in good community because of high interest being charged for every money she lend. Thus by killing her would yield a net gain to the mankind. No poor people will be oppressed anymore. In morality view, his action definitely cannot be accepted no matter how good his intention is. This raise a question on how his intention can be validated to be good. What If he violates the Utilitarianism concept according to his own will? In the first part of the story, clearly shows that his real intention is to rob the money from the pawnbroker. This can be seen in the scene where he visits the old lady to pawn something. It is clearly been described in the scene that Raskolnikov carefully monitor the pawnbroker and managed to locate the place where she keep all the cash. Even after he killed the lady, he quickly grab the keys and anxiously try to unlock the drawers where the cash were being kept. So my point is true intention is not a correct mechanism to justify the unlawful act to be morally correct based on the consequences alone. More on Utilitarianism can be read at https://www.britannica.com/topic/utilitarianism-philosophy and https://iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/

“There’s more. On the other hand fresh-faced youths going to waste for lack of support – thousands of them, everywhere! A hundred, thousand good deeds and initiatives could be arranged and assisted with the money doomed for the monastery! Hundreds, possibly thousands of lives could be set on the right paths; dozens of families saved from beggary, disintegration, ruin, depravity, the venereal hospital – and all this on her money. Kill her and take her money, so as to devote yourself afterwards to the services of all humanity and the common cause. What do you reckon? Won’t thousands of good deeds iron out one tiny little crime? For one life – thousands of lives saved from decay and ruin. One death and a hundred lives in return – its basic arithmetic! And anyway – what does the life of this consumptive, stupid, nasty hag weigh on the scales of the world? No more than the life of a house, a cockroach, and it’s not even worth that, because the hag is vicious. She’ll eat you alive: just the other day she bit Lizaveta’s finger out of pure spite. They nearly had to cut it off!”

 

Superior human being

Raskolnikov is in view that human are divided into two categories, ordinary and extra ordinary. According to Raskolnikov, ordinary referring to majority of the human that love within their comfort zone and abide the law as it is. They have no desire to change the law, obedient and well-behaved group lived within their own capabilities of being an ordinary. In short, ordinary people is the common people. Accept the law as it is, live with the law and accept the punishment given for their wrongdoing.

“Ordinary people should live a life of obedience and do not have the right to overstep law, because, you see, they are ordinary.”

Whilst extra-ordinary is a contradiction of the ordinary. Extra-ordinary according to him has been granted an autonomy to perform outrageous act for the sake of better future. In short the chosen one. They may act beyond the law, permit his conscience (even it is morally wrong), step over the moral and ethical value as long as the final outcome brings a salvation to all humanity. You may kill you may destroy things provided the end result will bring happiness to humanity. He gave example on the founders of humanity such as Muhammad, Napoleon, Lycurguses where according to him all these figures did a huge sacrifice to attain the peace that they strived for. Bloodshed required to change the world into a better place. Raskolnikav put himself as the extra-ordinary people. He believed that he is one of the few that is permitted to act beyond the law. As the consequence of his belief, he never considered the murder act as the act of a crime. According to him, the murder of the pawnbroker is necessary in order for the world to become a better place to live. Raskolnikav hold proudly his belief in this concept. He wrote an article related to psychology of a criminal and it was published as an article in Periodical Review

“…..All I did was hint that an “extraordinary” person has the right….not an official right that is but a personal one to permit his conscience to step over ….certain obstacle…”

Psychology of guilt

Crime and punishment, one will expect the story to be about a crime committed and the punishment that comes after that. However, that is the idea but the chronology is not what is expected. The crime was committed in the first part of the story, and the punishment comes after hundred pages later. Revelation of the crime happened at the last part of the story and the punishment can be found in the epilogue. So what lies between them? The real focus of the novel is the exploration of the psychology of a criminal. Precisely the story focus on to the aftermath of the crime. Right after Raskolnikov successfully infiltrated the pawnbroker house and executes the crime, he was tormented with excessive guilt to the point he even intended to turn himself in. there were part of the story where he keeps on coming to the Ditch, a waterway passage in which it is hinted that he wanted to commit suicide. His illness become worsen and he was haunted by the image of the murder. In this story, Dostoyevsky seems to suggest that the actual punishment is not the imprisonment or hard labour in Siberia, but the real terror is the psychological torment due to excessive feeling of guilt, as well as the stress and anxiety to be caught by the authority. The most interesting part of the novel is when the investigator Porfiry Petrovich tries to make Raskolnikov confess his wrongdoing. Raskolnikov was caught not because of sufficient evidence. But, it’s simply because a brilliant act carried out by an investigator using psychology trick primarily in order to lure him into a confession.

There are quiet number of psychological theme and philosophical element in this novel such as nihilist, poverty, the concept of good society and etc. The theme I listed above are just part of it. You can discover a lot throughout your reading and that what makes it interesting.

This is the second Dovtoyevsky’s novel that I read. The first one is The Idiot. Compared to The Idiot, Crime and Punishment has better story plot with a clear outline. A straight forward plot compared to The Idiot. Between those two novels, I incline to like Crime and Punishment. A book that I will recommend all the time if you ask. About the translation, i think this version is quiet easy to read. 

My Rate: 4.8/5

GoodReads Rate: 4.2/5