Crime_and_Punishment_Essay

Crime and Punishment Essay Societal Rehabilitation Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s work in Crime and Punishment can be cited as largely autobiographical. Although the author never committed anything like the atrocious murders depicted in the novel, the nihilistic traits of his protagonist, Raskolnikov, closely resemble his own ideals as a youth. In 1947, Dostoyevsky joined the revolutionary Petrashevist cause. The author and this group of radical socialists narrowly escaped death after being arrested by police. They received a pardon from the czar only moments before a firing squad was to take aim. They were sentenced instead to four years in a Siberian labor camp. In his penal servitude Dostoyevsky examined his revolutionary intents and was swayed by the Russian nationalists whom he encountered (McDuff 13). He became aware of the apparent sinfulness of his rebellious socialist efforts. The author embraced God and invested himself in promoting the Russian people’s sobernost. Dostoyevsky uses his novel Crime and Punishment to call for this return to traditional Russian values. After the Petrashevists’ 1848 revolt, during the rule of Nicholas I, educated Russians became divided in their values (Brown 52). One group advocated a western approach of politics and economics. Another group crime, punishment, dostoyevsky, raskolnikov, raskolnikov’s, new, ideas, dostoyevsky’s, radical, one, novel, author, russian, people, life, himself, extraordinary, after, western, two, theory, sonya, revolutionary, power, nietzsche, group, conservative, book, being, time, through, tendency, tendencies, take, sort, socialist, say, return, purpose, political, old, gradual, god, dionysian, convictions, communism, believed, begins, another