The Symbolic Burden of Crime and Redemption in Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment

Abstract

Opinion Paper: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky Introduction “Without wisdom, courage bears no fruits.” One may wonder how a sane male would just think of taking other people’s lives to confirm his courage in facing life situations. It does not work like that especially in the context of law because ignorance of law has no defense. Crime and Punishment is a very interesting book that Dostoevsky uses to express how the transition from the medieval traditions to westernization exposed Raskolnikov to limited use of commonsense leading him to a very disturbing life. In my opinion, as much as this era came with defined challenges as many struggled to keep up with its demands, it did not justify the protagonist ignorance of humane ethical considerations while relating with his fellow civilians. On the contrary, Raskolnikov’s urge to eliminate any hindrance along his path to meet the expected standards of the transitions change brought him more evils than good as the law took its course. To this effect, this opinion paper will explain some of symbolisms used by Dostoevsky to express how the protagonist ignored the relevance of wisdom while approaching his psychological challenges and instead employed courage to seek greatness without thinking of the consequences of his actions. The Cross The use of symbols in literature allows the writer/author to use signifiers to allow the target audiences go beyond what is known or seen by creating links between different concepts and experiences. In my opinion, Dostoevsky uses a number of symbols to help the target audience understand the connection between the protagonists’ action and a great rough road to his redemption. The cross is one of the symbols this author use in the novel more than once to help Raskolnikov understand the need to carry his own burden and pay for it to acquire peace of mind and soul. While engaging in murder, the protagonist assumed his superhuman nature and believed that he is above reproach. At that instance, he felt justified to ignore the law if it would benefit great men who in this case included his assumed “super” being. However after murdering Alyona, his first encounter with the cross becomes defined. Raskolnikov finds a purse and notices a string tied around Alyona’s neck. Out of curiosity, he goes ahead to check on what the string held only to find two crosses attached to the string. Unfortunately, such confrontations with the crosses disgusts Raskolnikov who throws them on top of Alyona’s dead body. What does Raskolnikov’s detachment with the cross signifies? Based on my opinion, I believe that Raskolnikov’s act of throwing away the tied crosses expresses his feelings towards redemption. It is a sign of disposal and rejection redemption in that he feels that his killing acts are justified and had no need to seek for redemption. Unfortunately in the real sense, this man needed redemption more than ever only that his pride blinded him from this reality. However, it did not take long before Raskolnikov encountered a cross for the second time. Unlike in the first time when he got the cross himself and ignored it, this time round he got the cross from his lover “Sonia”. Sonia knew that the only way for Raskolnikov is to seek for redemption through taking responsibility of his action. For this reason, she gives him a cross before his confession and though hesitant to pick it, he finally gives in to it as a way of showing his readiness to confess. At this point, I can confirm that the protagonist had started ignoring the belief that his actions are justified and instead embraced the idea of being guilt of his action and his dire need for redemption. While arguing Sonia’s act of giving out the cross to the protagonist from Christianity point of view, I depict her as Jesus Christ our savior. As a Christ figure, Sonia is willing to accompany Raskolnikov to Siberia to accept the suffering of his punishment so long as he finds his redemption. Her urge for his friend’s redemption was the same with Jesus Christ when he suffered and died on the cross for humankind salvation. I really admire Sonia’s true love for her lover who regardless of his inequities she still finds deserving a better life that haunts not his conscious. Basically, in my opinion, the cross is a way to redemption not only for the protagonist in question but for all humans. It is not stupid to take responsibility of own action. On the contrary, such an act is an expression of swallowed pride and embracement of the right way of life. Whether the environment to which the crime offender remains subjected to dictates the reasons to engage in any form of crime or not, the need to take responsibility of our crimes is a great reflection of acceptance of a cross that one carries all along the redemption path. Since the protagonist assumed a super-human nature, such an assumption exposed him to other assumptions like the humane approaches while dealing with other humans limiting him to see the need to accept the guilt that haunted his conscious until the time that the encounter with the cross opened up his eyes and got him back on track. I believe it is all about acceptance of our unworthiness as humans that can only lead us to redemption through carrying our own crosses as a reflection of our readiness to reform and regain our lost peace of mind, soul and body. The Dreams As much as dreams happen unconsciously to humans, they can make once life miserable if their recurrence speaks nothing but trouble to the dreamer. In Raskolnikov’s dreams it is interesting to acknowledge that neither of his dreams gave him a nice feeling but rather relief upon waking up and realizing that it was just a dream. In Raskolnikov’s first dream, he dreams while watching drunkards beating up a horse until its death. When he wakes up, he compares such a dream with his thoughts of murder and though appalled feels the need to go ahead and satisfy such a dream. In such a situation, I can confirm that such a dream reflects the imbalances between his innocence and guilt as this protagonist wavers on his decision to commit the murder. Unfortunately, upon engaging in the murder to satisfy such a dream, he does not stop experiencing other forms of dreams that makes his life worse day after the other. Raskolnikov conscious remains disturbed by dreams and visions that to some extent leave him unconscious and foster his urge to clear his guilt by facing the reality of his actions consequences. In my opinion, the dreams that the protagonist experienced reflects the hardships that every poor person experienced during the transition era. Unfortunately, living up to the reality of such dreams proved a misery to all that could not make to the demands of the embraced westernization way of life. It is no wonder that the protagonist always admired life upon waking up and finding that it was just a dream. But in reality this man always made such dreams come true which reflects the realities of hardships that the transition era defined to people of his standards whose potentials to survival proved limited. It is not like the transition era came along with any good for the poor. On the contrary, all of them were expected to keep up with the...