Although its many pages and complex themes and ideas may be frustrating for undergraduates, it cannot be denied that Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment does not is nothing short of a literary masterpiece. It explores a myriad of themes: the psychology of crime, nihilism, poverty, the idea of ​​a "superman", transcendent Christian values, the journey towards redemption, alienation from society. While isolation may not be as apparent as some of these other themes, it is just as important, if not greater. Indeed, it can be said that it is isolation that drives Raskolnikov, the protagonist, to commit his crimes, and then it is isolation that ultimately leads him to the beginning of his journey toward redemption. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Raskolnikov, a poor student who harbors the nihilistic ideals that swept St. Petersburg in his time, finds himself in a place of severe isolation. He lives in relentless poverty that separates him from the majority of society. He has only one friend, Razumikhin, and he does not appear to have a close or significant relationship with Razumikhin. The relationship with his own mother and sister is also strained and distant. Additionally, he has begun to subscribe to ideals that, by their very nature, will isolate him from society because they place little or no value on other humans and place him in a different category from other humans. Thus, his isolation from society is both practical and ideological. Oddly enough, the very factor that drove him to commit his horrific crimes, isolation, is the concept that leads him to redemption. First, he must recognize the evil in his actions and feel remorse, regret and guilt accordingly. Then he must repent of his crimes and suffer for his crimes as reparation. Both of these processes will bring him to redemption, but they are internal battles. Ultimately, internal battles must be fought alone – they must be fought in isolation. Raskolnikov's isolation from society is first demonstrated in a practical sense. One of the very first things we learn about him is that he is "incredibly indebted to the landlady" and that he is "dressed so poorly that another man, even one accustomed to it, would have been ashamed to go out in such an outfit.” rags during the day” (Dostoyevsky 3-4). It is the description of a man who endures extreme poverty. Poverty, in itself, is something that creates distance and separation for a few simple reasons. On the one hand, a person who lives in poverty is someone who must spend the majority of their time and mental and physical energy trying to obtain and maintain the basic things necessary for survival. This makes them a person who has little time or energy to devote to nurturing meaningful relationships. Additionally, poverty makes people accept crime as something less serious because it may be necessary for survival. Indeed, one of the things that makes Raskolnikov's crime more attractive to him is the possibility of acquiring a little extra money. And crime dehumanizes or at least devalues ​​others in the criminal's mind, because he uses another person as a means to an end, rather than as an end in himself. Thus, Raskolnikov, as an extremely poor individual, turns out to be separated from society. A second example of Raskolnikov's isolation from society is the complete absence of social life. He is young, he is a student, he is described as handsome and intelligent. There is no reason why he should notno friends and one or two romantic relationships. But the only friend we are introduced to in this novel is Razumikhin and it is noteworthy that Raskolnikov "had almost no friends when he was at university, he kept away from everyone, never visited no one and had difficulty receiving visitors; however, “he became close to Razumikhin, that is to say not really close, but he was more sociable, more frank with him” (51). Their relationship is described as very tense and they argue frequently. At one point, during the illness that followed Raskolnikov's crimes, during which Razumikhin went to great lengths to help him, they passed each other on a porch and were surprised to see each other and the exchange that took place. What follows is painfully heavy with pain and anger: 'So this is where you are!'" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "You ran away from your sick bed! And I even looked for you under the sofa! We went to the attic! I almost beat Nastasya because of you… And here is where he is! Tell the whole truth! This means that I am tired of all of you and I want to be alone, ”Raskolnikov answered calmly. “Alone? When you still can't walk, when your cup is white as a sheet and you can barely breathe! Idiot! … What were you doing at the “Crystal Palace”? Confess immediately! “Leave me alone!” said Raskolnikov, and tried to pass. This made Razumikhin angry: he grabbed him firmly by the shoulder” (Dostoyevsky, 166). This is just one example of a tug-of-war between the two of them. What is important here is that Razumikhin wants to help Raskolnikov overcome his illness and he wants to be there for him, but Raskolnikov refuses. Raskolnikov insists on being alone; he wants to isolate himself, even from the only friend he has. Raskolnikov's relationship with his mother and sister is similar to his relationship with Razumikhin. It's not so full of contempt and argument, but it's just as distant and just as tense. It is clear from the letter his mother sends him, the contents of which include details of a marriage proposal for his sister, that they do not see each other or hear from each other often. Indeed, she says that “it has now been more than two months since I spoke to you in writing, and I myself have suffered from it, and I have even spent sleepless nights thinking. But you will surely not blame me for my involuntary silence” (Dostoyevsky, 30). And then, she ends her letter with a slightly sad feeling: “Remember, my dear, in your childhood, when your father was alive, how you chatted your prayers sitting on my knees, and how happy we were all then! Goodbye, or better, until we meet again! I embrace you very, very warmly and I send you countless kisses” (39). These words indicate a distant, distant, formal relationship. The love she and her daughter feel for Raskolnikov is evident ("Love your sister Dounia, Rodia; love her as she loves you and know that she loves you infinitely, more than herself" [39 ]), but there is a desire for happier days. Raskolnikov's response to his mother's letter is strange: it torments him (40). He does not send a loving response; instead, he becomes irritated by his sister's potential marriage. He does not reciprocate the love of his mother and sister; he even isolates himself from his own family. To make his isolation even more serious, Raskolnikov distances himself from society on an ideological level. He begins to consider the doctrines of nihilism which deny any meaning or value to life, people or a deity. At first we have the impression that he is playing with new beliefs when he says: "I want to try such a thing, and at the same time I am afraid of these trifles!" He continues: “Hm… yes… man has everything in his hands, and everything slips through his fingers out of pure cowardice”, then adds: “Am I really capable of that? Is this something serious? No, not serious at all. I'm just playing with it, for the sake of fantasy. A toy! Yes, a toy, if you want! (Dostoyevsky 3-4). The “it” he is referring to is the crime he plans to commit. He finds nothing serious in it because the woman he is going to kill is "a stupid, insignificant, worthless, wicked, sick old woman, who is of no use to anyone and, on the contrary, is harmful to everyone, who does not know not herself why she is alive” (65). He finds no intrinsic value in it; thus, he determined that “what he had plotted was not a crime” (71). Committing this crime is his way of experiencing the idea that people are devoid of worth and value. Now, if he finds no intrinsic value in himself, in others, or in the world around him, what would motivate him to pursue a meaningful relationship with someone? There really would be no reason; because if there is no value in another person, then there is certainly no value in a friendship, romantic relationship, or family relationship with another person, a person he considers worthless. Another aspect of nihilism that creates distance is the idea of ​​a “superhuman.” Raskolnikov believes himself to be above the laws and rules that govern the rest of humanity. He is described as being "immersed in himself" (Dostoyevsky 3), "unaccustomed to crowds" (11) and in a scene where he has a conversation with a drunk in a tavern, "at the first word that actually comes to him addressed, he suddenly felt his usual unpleasant and irritable feeling of hatred towards any stranger who touched or simply wanted to touch his person” (12-13). His sense of superiority is clear: “He was very poor and somewhat haughty and unsociable, as if he was keeping something to himself. It seemed to some of his friends that he regarded them all as children, seen from above, as if he was ahead of them all in terms of development, knowledge and beliefs, and that he considered their beliefs and their interests as something inferior. 51).He ​​considers himself a sort of “superhuman” – a person who is above the law and above others. Thus, he places himself at a different level from the others, so he has nothing in common with the others. If he sees himself as being apart from all, or at least most, other humans, then he has no one with whom he can identify. His ideology isolates him from others. It is therefore the isolation of his life, both practically and ideologically, that pushes Raskolnikov to commit his crimes. He cannot identify with anyone because he views people as worthless, or, at best, as a means to an end and because he views himself as being on a different level from others. Because people have no value to him, he sees nothing wrong with taking their lives, and because he believes himself to be some sort of "superhuman", he determines that he can live outside the universal rules of morality and decency and be a law. for himself. This is the role that isolation plays in the commission of Raskolnikov's crimes. But it is also the isolation that causes him to suffer for his crimes, to feel guilty for his crimes, and ultimately to repent of his crimes and acknowledge his wrongdoing. So, we can say that while isolation led him to commit his crimes, it also helped him begin his journey toward redemption. Almost immediately after his crimes, Raskolnikov begins to suffer. When he wakes up the morning after the murders, he is terrified that he has left evidence somewhere and will be discovered. He isparticularly nervous because “maybe all his clothes were covered in blood, maybe there were stains everywhere, and he just didn't see them, didn't notice them” (Dostoevsky 91) and so, “ frozen and shivering, he began to take everything apart and examine everything again more thoroughly” (89). He also becomes very ill and “a terrible chill seizes him; but this chill was also caused by a fever that had appeared a long time ago in his sleep. But now he was suddenly seized with such a shudder that his teeth almost flew out and everything in him came loose” (89). Furthermore, his illness is described as "a febrile state, with moments of delirium and semi-consciousness" (117). More important and more intense than his physical suffering, however, is his mental suffering. He experiences great emotional turmoil and confusion and "the conviction that everything, even memory, even the simple power of reasoning, was abandoning him, began to torment him in an unbearable way" (90). “What,” he said, “can this already begin, can the accounts come so soon” (91)? His anxiety is extreme and is experienced in solitude. No one else can feel his physical illness and no one else can bear his mental torment. This aspect of isolation has a positive effect: it makes him feel guilty for his sins, which brings him closer to the path to redemption. Despite all of Raskolnikov's suffering, it seems that it takes him a while to feel guilty. Often he simply determines that he is physically ill and uses the excuse that the woman he killed was just a louse and a worthless person, and therefore there was nothing wrong in what he did. But ultimately, suffering takes its toll. In one scene he is with his mother and sister and is arguing with his sister. In response to an accusation from him, she exclaims passionately: "If I ruin anyone, it will only be myself... I haven't put a knife in anyone yet!" …Why are you looking at me like that? Why have you become so pale? Rodia, what's wrong? Rodia, my darling! » and Raskolnikov faints (233). When Dounia notices that there is no blood on his hands, Raskolnikov feels extremely uncomfortable, to the point of fainting, because he cannot say the same. In a subsequent scene, Raskolnikov catches up with a man on the street who had asked about him. The man calls him a murderer. Raskolnikov muttered a response to him, “barely audible,” then, “with slow, weakened steps, his knees trembling and as if he were terribly cold, Raskolnikov returned and went up to his closet. He took off his cap, placed it on the table and remained motionless next to her for about ten minutes. Then, helpless, he lay down on the sofa and stretched himself painfully, with a low groan; his eyes were closed. He stayed like that for about half an hour” (272). Now that someone has confronted him about his evil deeds and described his actions correctly - as the murder of a valuable person - his guilt is undeniable and his suffering, both physical and mental, is tremendous. Like his suffering, his guilt is something he must experience for himself. No one can feel the guilt of others. Only the person who suffers from guilt can truly feel it in its entirety. Raskolnikov feels his guilt in solitude; he is isolated in his suffering and he is isolated in his guilt and this is what allows him to repent of his crimes and recognize their immorality. Raskolnikov is finally pushed to repentance by Sonya, his lover. She tells him to “go to the crossroads, to bow before the people, to kiss the earth, because you too have sinned before it, and to say.