Many of the citizens try to classify peoples into two categories-there the person is totally

pure or evil. It is not a foreign concept at all in the society that we live in. We do this all the time.

At the same time, is it okay to classify people into only those two categories? To answer that,

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, brings out the point that people aren’t only stuck

in those two categories-that the people can be mixed with evil and pure. In Crime and

Punishment, the main character Raskolnikov, a poor noble, decides to initiate a murder of

Alyona-the pawnbroker-and her sister Lezibeta. As time passed on, he felt guilty and tried to

hide the evidence that he was the one who had killed them. In the end, he decides to confess his

crime to the police and Sonya-a prostitute -and was sent to Siberia’s prison for 8 years. The

whole story indicates that nobody can be classified as totally pure or evil. Based on

Raskolnikov's actions, the author mentions that humans have both evil and pureness at the same

time.

Raskolnikov always had believed strongly about Superman theory, a theory that is saying

that the person is way superior than other peoples, he had a strong belief on this theory. His

actions of murdering the pawnbroker and her sister is based on the idea that the pawnbroker was

fit for the social norm. However, Marmeladov,SOnya’s father and whom he had met in the

tavern, fits the criteria for being a evil person. In doing so, Raskolnikov should feel hatred rather

than sympathy, regardless, when Marmeladov cries out, “Dare you assert that I am not a pig?”

(Part I, chapter II) Raskolnikov did not see Marmeladov as a parasite in society but rather felt

sympathy for his struggles. This goes against his murdering the pawn broker and her sister ‘s

reason. This proves that Raskolnikov’s reason for murdering Alyona and her sister doesn’t

justify. Marmeladov had always drunk alcohol, hurt his family, yet he was not considered as an

evil person in Raskolnikov’s view. At the same time, in Raskolnikov’s view, the pawn broker
was an evil person and it is okay to kill. Not only the meeting with Marmeladov, but his words

impacted Raskolnikov in various ways. Marmeladov changed Raskolnikov’s view of his theory-

Superman theory. Due to this meeting, Raskolnikov started to think about the validity of the

theory that he had strongly believed. This is what he had described his theory:“What if man is

not really a scoundrel, man in general, I mean, the whole race of mankind-then all the rest is

prejudice, simply artificial terrors and there are no barriers and its all as it should be” (Part 1,

chapter II). The word choices of the author to describe the confusion of Raskolnikov shows that

he is starting to think more about the theory that he has been strongly believing about. To

illustrate it, the noun, scoundrel, terror, shows that he has been thinking of the man kind mostly

into an evil side. Though, in the next line, the phrase: then all the rest to is prejudice, gives the

contrasting idea that it is just a people who had chosen the ideas where to make the boundaries

but the truth is that there is no such boundaries to keep them. In other words, meaning that the

author wanted to emphasize that there is no such boundaries to keep the people to classify them

into a totally pure or evil in general.

Even though he had decided to have a strong belief on those superman theory, he tries to

change his behavior towards others and go outside of his boundaries of his theories. According to

the part 5, chapter 4, Raskonikov makes a point, asking Sonya, whether if Katerina-her mother-

or Luzhin-Raskolnikov’s younger sister Dunya’s finance-should die. Nonetheless, Sonya says,

“How can I know the will of God?” This might prove to be that, Sonya was the one that he had

chosen to tell about the crime that he had done. After Raskolnikov had confessed about the

murder of his, SOnya simply puts the idea that confessing his sins publicly and accepting the

punishment is the possible way to find true peace and be forgiven.”Go at once, this very minute,

stand at the cross-roads, bow down, first kiss the earth which you have defiled and then bow
down to the whole world and say to all men aloud, I am a murderer!!” Raskolnikov tries to

defend his crime by trying to explain, ranging from his poverty to his superman theory, but it

doesn’t work. Sonya’s advice to Raskolnikov stands as the process is to suffer and be saved from

his sins. On the other hand, Raskolnikov rejects this idea because, he fears the laugher of men

who would call him a coward and a fool-a coward because he couldn’t live by his ideas, and a

foll because he would follow the advice of prostitute. This could be also one of the themes of the

reputation of that time. The author uses settings of the Russia, connecting to the real situation,

and it might be showing the at that time’s citizen’s mind. Not only that, but Sonya also hands

him out the wooden cross, but he rejects it until a later date because he was not quite prepared to

acknowledge completely his crime.

Finally, at part 6, chapter 7, Ras decides to confess. Then he meets Razumkhin and his

younger sister, Dunya. They both talk about the good benefits of him confessing his crime. On

the other hand, Raskolnivok argues against, denying the advice of Dunya’s, by saying, “Crime?

What crime?” he cried in sudden fury. “That I killed a vile noxious insect, an old pawnbroker

woman, of no use to anyone!... Killing her was atonement for forty sins. She was sucking the life

out of poor people. Was that a crime? I am not thinking of it and I am not thinking of expiating

it, and why are you all rubbing it in on all sides? ‘A crime! a crime!’ Only now I see clearly the

imbecility of my cowardice, now that I have decided to face this superfluous disgrace. It’s

simply because I am contemptible and have nothing in me that I have decided to, perhaps too for

my advantage, as that… Porfiry… suggested!” This shows that, even in the redemption process,

Raskolnikov is still denying the crime of murdering Lizaveta and Aloyna, saying that he had

done a good deed for the society by killing the societal norm. In addition, it also shows that he

had not been able to leave his theory completely about some people being the evil people in the
society and normal citizens. In doing so, he is admitting that he had killed Lizebeta, is not being

able to be justified, but he is still denying that he had done a good deed to the society by killing

Aloyan-the pawn broker.