Literary Essay Sample on Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Published: 2022-05-03
Literary Essay Sample on Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Type of paper:  Essay
Categories:  Literature
Pages: 5
Wordcount: 1138 words
10 min read
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In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's initial novel "Crime and Punishment" portrayed a strong discourse on the psychology of criminality. In this detailed recount, Dostoyevsky makes an interesting intellectual appeal connecting the reader to the activities and the characters throughout the text. The witty interactions between the antagonists and protagonists play a pivotal role in creating the plot's constructive link of the issues of criminality and justice administration. The narration shows how some crimes are a good spurt in the society. The main character murdering the pawnbroker is a net benefit to the entire society. The insensitive sequence of murder leads to unprecedented consequences in the community. The recounts of the progressive unfolding of criminality show a deep political representation of the early Russian setting in the wake of the author's times of economic liberalism.

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The protagonist in the book "Crime and Punishment", Raskolnikov is largely presented by Dostoyevsky as a third-party narrator whose inner world through subsequent monologue and dialogue to present the two sides of this main character. The protagonist's contradictory character compels him to the contextual meaning of his name "split personality" where at some instances he is noble and kind-hearted while at other times Razumihkin explains his character as gloomy, proud, and morose. The dual character traits in Raskolnikov manifests after he perpetrated the murder of the pawnbroker and her sister and end up confessing his deeds leading to his confinement in prison. The protagonist is presented in the narration as a conservative who hates showing his feeling and engages in cruelty to conceal his inner being. The two contrasting personalities of the Raskolnikov show a mixture of humane compassionate and cold intellectual personality that contradicts his true identity. In his cold intellectual personality, Raskolnikov gets the drive to commit murder placing his inner self above common morality. On the contrasting warm and compassionate side of his personality, Raskolnikov is charitable, humane, and regrets his mistakes. In the presentation of the split personality of the protagonist, Dostoyevsky shows the social representation of the two contrasting personalities in a single person to show the integration of morality and immorality in the society as equal shares.

In the text "Crime and Punishment", Dostoyevsky presents the political identity and artistic goals to depict the irrationalism of the liberalism reign of his times. The writing shows the dislocation of the social and psychological aspects of the people due to the rapid economic changes. The downward mobility of the middle-class people instituted the oppression of the irrational and hostile liberalism. The author anticipates that the collapse of the Soviet Union due to the dislocation of the economic change lead to the right and left political identity. Raskolnikov takes refuge in the Russian mystical nationalism due to the confusion yielded by the liberal modernization. In this presentation in the book "Crime and Punishment" Dostoyevsky made the appealing contrast of the Russian's political representation with the West. In sympathy with Slavophiles, the author attacks the Westernizers, while the protagonist represents Nihilists viewpoint to depict the contrast of the radicalization in the society.

In measuring the successes and the failures of Dostoyevsky's work in the novel "Crime and Punishment" we evaluate the literal and socio-political critics emanating from the presentation of the themes, structure, tone, and atmosphere generated in the genre. The major criticism of the literary piecework disapproves the agitating power derived from the controversial political viewpoints. The work of Dostoyevsky failed to accommodate the indulgence of the young generation with Westernization in Russia. His conservative interaction with fictional society. In presenting the themes that drive the protagonist of the literal work, the author successfully depicts Raskolnikov as a product of environmental circumstances as well as other antagonists got high influence from the situations they found themselves in to portray their conduct. In presenting the redemption of the sins conducted by the characters, the author takes his players through pain and suffering as payback for their wrongdoings. This approach of looking for justification of justice in the society fails to bring a positive redemption to the social ills in a real context.

The work by Dostoyevsky successfully distinguishes between the inward and the outward definition of personality to signify the true meaning of crime and punishment. In this demonstration of the contrasting personality that entice individuals to have a criminating mind, the author succeeds in the integration of two opposite traits in a single player to show how the outward display of personality conceals the internal hypocrisy that instigates vices in the society. This successful application of reality in the protagonist makes the work by Dostoyevsky influential in the contemporary society. The soar reputation created to the contemporary reader from the book "Crime and Punishment" failed to make a conclusive support of the initial prose when the author makes a non-satisfactory epilogue that did not resolve the existentialist ideals at the beginning of the work.

The significance of the book's natural context the goes far and beyond in showing the application conscious and unconscious impulse to depict the spirit of heroism in a character. The structure of thought in the plot of the book "Crime and Punishment" demonstrates the significance of integrating historical medium and revolution to realize the natural presentation of the line of thought by the author's communication. The characters in the text portray the untimely goals in the progressive nature of spirit that result from civilization, modernity, laws, and morality. The subjective nature of the plot shows the subsequence flow of the elements that constitute the progress that shows consciousness through the agents of personality.

In conclusion, the book "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky presents the Russian revolution era that depicts the controversial elements gained from borrowing the social-cultural characteristics on the morality from the West. The protagonist of the book shows a split personality with two different and distinct character traits that make him conducts morally and immoral in the social and political representation of norms in the conventional society. The work starts with the protagonist contemplating on the legality of crime and executes a murder to 'safe the community. His inner being fails him and the silence is broken with a confession that takes him to a correction facility in Siberia. In this presentation of recounts, Dostoyevsky presents his tone on the circumstances surrounding him in the evolutional period to show his perception and attitude towards the political elements of the land. The work takes its considerable share in the success and failure depending on the angle of criticism a reader perceives the recount of events. From this critical analysis of this book "Crime and Punishment" gives me an insightful understanding of a personality. Many people who portray care and warmth to the people they interact with do not necessarily show their inward personality.

Works cited

Dostoevsky, Fyodor Crime and Punishment. Translated in English by Constance Garnett, 1866.

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Literary Essay Sample on Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. (2022, May 03). Retrieved from https://speedypaper.com/essays/literary-essay-sample-on-crime-and-punishment-by-fyodor-dostoyevsky

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