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Critical Essay on Crime and Punishment
“Crime and Punishment… is a novel not only about the extremes of evil the criminal inflicts on others, but also about people’s unlimited goodness, a goodness which can save the criminal.” Fyodor Dostoevsky’s protagonist in this novel, Raskolnikov, is greatly impacted by the encouraging sentiments of many of the other characters, which includes Pulcheria, Dounia, Razumihin, and Sonia. Additionally, Dostoevsky’s writing style includes the use of “doubles,” which ultimately portrays the two sides of Raskolnikov: good and evil. The aforementioned individuals are essentially Raskolnikov’s positive doubles whose love becomes Raskolnikov’s savior and eventually leads him to redemption as seen in the epilogue (Karyakin 111).
