Crime and Punishment

In Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, two of the underlying themes were “Man as a victim of society” and “Man as a victim of his dreams”. Rodion Raskolnikov displays himself in these themes well. Rasko is a victim of his dreams, because he thinks he is an extraordinary person. He thinks he is better than society but he is a victim of society by thinking he can save those he cares for. Raskolnikov commits a crime that he thought he could pull off extraordinarily, but only messes up.

Raskolnikov killed an old pawnbroker and her sister to prove that he was an extraordinary ma, to benefit society, and to follow the example of his idol, Napoleon Bonaparte. However, he is more unprepared than expected, but follows through anyway. He made numerous mistakes and practically gave himself up when he confessed how he would do it if he were the murderer. He thought he was an extraordinary man, when actually he was a borderline schizophrenic, monomaniac who was experiencing delirium. He almost confessed to the police three times, but did not because of surrounding happenings and events. Rasko relates to the theme of “Man as a victim of society”.

“Man as a victim of society” is one of the themes presented in Crime and Punishment. Rodion Raskolnikov displays himself in this theme when e thinks he can save Sofia and Dounia by killing the old pawnbroker. He hears the soldier in the bar talking bout how he would kill the pawnbroker for the good of society. He is a victimized by the police and when he tries to commit