"Crime and Punishment"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines and discusses the following thesis statement: our culture is committed to the idea that suffering, at least in part, redeems a criminal for his actions. This is achieved by providing a character analysis of Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment".

From the Paper:

"Throughout the book, we come to see that Raskolnikov's actions have created an internal hell for him and that no court of law can punish him, the way he is punishing himself for his crimes. He has created his own internal hell and we can feel his internal angst and pain.
In today's society, most people want to know that justice inflicts pain on the criminal. Whether it be, imprisonment for some obscure period of time or punishment by death. The method of pain is immaterial. Society wants to know that there has been some form of payback for the crimes that were committed.
Raskolnikov is a pathetic character from the very beginning. He is a poor student, who is in debt and lives in rather squalid quarters with no hope of bettering his life. He plots to murder a pawnbroker. The murder takes place early in the novel but not until we have lived through Raskolnikov's plotting and planning. As he does so, there is not sense of being touched by good or evil. He has come to terms with what he must do and feels that he is beyond either."

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