Raskolnikovs Originality and His Article On Crime Essays

Raskolnikov's Originality and His Article On Crime Raskolnikov's article on crime is vital to the understanding of his beliefs throughout the novel. This article also has such a profound effect on Crime and Punishment as a whole, the subject matter being one of the main themes of the novel. The idea of the "extraordinary man" is referred to very often throughout the book, but also something to note is the subconscious effect that the idea has on Raskolnikov. Sometimes Raskolnikov is not even aware of the influence that this has on him. It is important to note originality, or the ability to "utter a new word," as a defining characteristic of the extraordinary man. In his article on crime, Raskolnikov talks about the importance of uttering a new word, however, the ideas of Pisarev, Nietzsche, and nihilism bring to light the reality that Raskolnikov is not original, does not have a new word to utter, and that lack of originality haunts him throughout the novel. Conflict plays a large role in the novel. "The underlying antithesis of Crime and Punishment, the conflict between the side of reason, selfishness, and pride, and that of acceptance of suffering, closeness to life-sustaining Earth, and love, sounds insipid and platitudinous when stated in such a general fashion as we have done here." (Gibian, 979) The conflict within Raskolnikov is the main source of conflict in the novel. Raskolnikov is torn inside himself: he is a nihilist yet he is not completely a pessimist. The reader must be careful when examining the theme of nihilism in the article and the novel. In many ways Raskolnikov is a nihilist: he doesn't believe in traditional values, he thinks the existence of ordinary people is senseless and only useful in the most simplistic way, and he believes that conditions of the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable. Dostoevsky is not preaching nihilism, but warns against the dangers inherent in it, despite seein g the impulses of young radicals, like his Raskolnikov, as self-sacrificing and altruistic. "Pisarev established that identification of radicalism with Nihilism, and hence with the ambition of creating a tabula rasa by total destruction, on which we have seen Dostoevsky drawing in his letter to Katkov." (Frank, 71) In this letter to his friend Katkov, Dostoevsky writes, "you know they are helpless against these stupidities [radical ideology] and take them for perfection." For this reason, Dostoevsky makes Raskolnikov come to the final conclusion that his idea is incompatible with itself - one cannot go about helping humanity through being unkind to everyone, and that he is wrong. "One can draw several important conclusions from this letter to Katkov. Crime and Punishment was originally designed as a shot tale in five or six printed sheets. The author envisioned its theme as something completely independent of The Drunks. It was only later that the story of the Marmeladov family was introduced into Raskolnikov's narrative. From the very moment of its conception this plan to portray a "theoretician-murderer" was divided into two distinct parts: the crime and its causes, and the effects of the crime upon the criminal's soul." (Mochulsky, 273) There is but a small influence of Nietzsche and his theory of superman on the novel. Nietzsche's first published works came in 1865, and they were essays on Aristotle. Nietzsche's first personal theories were seen in 1867, a year after the publication of Crime and Punishment. The theory of the superman is expounded in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, published in 1885. Instead, the inverse is seen, that Dostoevsky had a profound influence on Nietzsche. In separating humanity into the two categories, Nietzsche applauds Caesar, Napoleon, Goethe, Dostoevsky, and the Sophists as healthier and stronger types. To look at the relationship in this new way, it is interesting to see how Raskolnikov might have affected Nietzsche's principles. Nietzsche is a nihilist, like the former Raskolnikov, supposing that we invent "truths" for the purpose of security. Both Raskolnikov and Nietzsche rebel against these truths. Nietzsche's theory of the "will to power" as a cause of one developing his own morals and behavior is seen frequently in Raskolnikov. Although Nietzsche is an atheist, part of his purpose is to draw people