“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin.
That is his punishment.”
Who can we call a good individual, and what is the exact definition of good? Some would argue that a person who never does anything wrong, in thought, word or deed is good…but that is not humanly possible, after all, ‘to err is human’. So then, the only other alternative is to use the conscience as a yardstick for inherent goodness. But what if one willfully commits a wrongdoing, despite the incessant prodding of one’s conscience? The guilt will drown him, but is that punishment enough for intentionally sinning against his fellow mankind?
“Crime and Punishment” is a well-known name in the genre of Russian classic fiction, a work that many find intimidating but equally impressive. It was first published in a Russian literary journal and was released in monthly installments during 1866. Later, it was compiled into a single volume and has become a glimpse into the lives of the nineteenth century average populations of St. Petersburg, a different route from Tolstoy’s perspective on the Russian aristocracy.
There are thousands of reviews and summaries of the book and so we’d like to focus this review on our experience and perspective on reading “Crime and Punishment”. Often, books that are slow-paced pick up the tempo and we can justify the initial speed as a tool for narrative and character development. However, Dostoevsky’s pace in “Crime and Punishment” remains glacial throughout, but it is deliberate. It only becomes evident as the story progresses, that we are meant to pause and think while we explore Raskalnikov’s psyche. “Crime and Punishment” has several monologues, deep-dives into the human psyche that at times are so disconcerting that you need to put down the book and process. Overall, reading this book is like an unconditional surrender into the darkest and most vulnerable parts of not just the protagonist’s mind and emotions but also that of our society and morality as a whole.
“Crime and Punishment” may seem long drawn and exhaustive, and we believe it’s written to do just that, to immerse the reader in the same despair that so many of the characters feel. Further, there is a part of the story that we all share. Maybe not as vexing or bleak as Dostoevsky presents it, but all of us share the philosophy underlying the novel. We all lead insulated, isolated lives and experiences which remain unchanged despite the mistakes that we make. But as in “Crime and Punishment”, it is possible for us to make amends for our mistakes and change our lives at least in the eyes of others.
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