"crime and Punishment"

In the novel Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky,

suffering is an integral part of every character's role. However, the

message that Dostoevsky wants to present with the main character,

Raskolnikov, is not one of the Christian idea of salvation through

suffering. Rather, it appears to me, as if the author never lets his

main character suffer mentally throughout the novel, in relation to

the crime, that is. His only pain seems to be physical sicknes.

Raskolnikov commits a premeditated murder in a state of

delirium. He ends up committing a second murder, which he never ever

wanted to be responsible for. He kills Lizaveta, an exceedingly

innocent person. But does the author ever remind us of the murder at

any time in the novel again? Not in the physical sense of the crime

itself. The reader doesn't hear about how heavily the murders are

weighing on his heart, or how he is tormented by visions of the crime.

He doesn't feel the least bit guilty about having committed the crime,

only his pride's hurt. He doesn't mention the idea of the pain that

might arise from recurrent visions of the crime. Raskolnikov never

again recalls the massive amounts of blood everywhere, the look on

Lizaveta's face when he brings down the axe on her head. These things

clearly show that the crime isn't what might cause him suffering, or

pain, it is something else.

After Raskolnikov is sent off to Siberia, he doesn't feel

remorseful. His feelings haven't changed about his crime, he feels

bad at not being able to living up to his own ideas of greatness. He

grows depressed only when he learns of his mother's death. Raskolnikov

still hasn't found any reason to feel remorse for his crimes. He takes

Siberia as his punishment, because of how annoying it is to go through

all these formalities, and ridicularities that it entails. Yet, he

actually feels more comfortable in Siberia than in his home in St.

Petersburg. It's more comfortable, and has better living conditions

than his own home. But he isn't free to do whatever he likes. But this

does not contradict what I've said before. He doesn't view Siberia as

suffering, but he does view it as punishment, because he would rather

not have to go through seven years in his prison cell.

His theory of the extraordinary, and the ordinary is something

he has to follow and adhere to . His necessity to suffer is a part of

his necessity to fulfill his unknown criteria to be extraordinary. His

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