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Psychological effects of a murderer based on novel “Crime and Punishment”

Dennis Cruz

3/13/2018

CRT 1401

Crime and punishment is a profound psychological analysis of its protagonist, Raskolnikov, who believes that humanitarian means justify the evilness that drives him to commit the murder of a cruel pawnbroker. Because he commits the crime, the culpability will be a constant nightmare in which he will not be able to live on. The novel shows us how a young male with talent, after terrible personal suffering caused by society, is ruined by nihilist ideas such as his denial of a bigger entity or a God to follow. Therefore, he must experiment a process of expiation and redemption to save his soul and recover his humanity and morality. An attempt is made to explain the effects murder can cause in a criminal’s mind by focusing on the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and how he can find peace for his soul through God. In the process, this essay proposes to show how Dostoyevsky uses psychology, sociology and literature together to craft one of the greatest work on universal literature, in addition to the developing of Raskolnikov’s theory: “Man is his only owner, and everything is allowed to him.”

Dostoyevsky and Raskolnikov’s portrayal

"Raskolnikov in the Attic" (from Crime and Punishment) by Fritz Eichenberg

Dostoyevsky’s novels, as explained by Joseph Frank are “a mean of penetration into the hidden depths of human psychology” (Frank, 1976) which he portrays passionately with Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. Dostoyevsky describes Raskolnikov’s mind and concerns about behavioral patterns that exists in people and how those patterns leads to actions or inactions. In Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky shows how nihilism beliefs can lead, since there is no morality, to commit crimes such as lying, stealing or murdering, and how these beliefs, and the people who follows them, turn to be a disgrace to society and its rules. After Raskolnikov commits what he considers an infraction to a meaningless external law and society prejudice (murder), it turns out to be a challenge for his own body, conscience and soul because he discovers that the sin he committed has very high repercussions. His crime turns out to be an infraction to his internal moral justice, which he thought he could ignore, and his purpose to become a leader, as big as Napoleon, got turned into a seeking of salvation for his own soul and mind and salvation for those around him, his family and friends.

His punishment from the world is exile to hard work in Siberia, but inside him, it is his pride that separates him from humanity and drives him to commit the crime. His feeling of selfidolatry could only be redeemed by a surrender act on himself. He must humiliate himself in front of God and ask for his forgiveness like those who he considers inferior to himself for believing in God. Raskolnikov thought God weakens people minds into believing they must do what is considered “correct” by the morals of society, but what he considers correct is to follow the rules made by people more powerful than themselves, not God. Raskolnikov wanted to create his own rules, and follow them, but since he failed in the process he must be humble in front of God and follow His rules. These rules and the path Raskolnikov must follow is express by “Sophia” throughout the novel. Sophia is a prostitute and Raskolnikov’s love and salvation. She takes care of him even in the worst moments of his life and she is the reason why Raskolnikov surrender in front of God’s feet. Sophia’s beliefs and religion guides Raskolnikov “into the light” of a better man and most importantly, she helps him become a better human. His move to the prison in Siberia presents an interesting contrast. Siberia is represented as pure and natural, untouched by the pollution and vice in which St. Petersburg in drowning. Crime and Punishment view prison not as a continuation of suffering, but rather as a hospital for criminals, a place to heal and find redemption.

Society influences on Raskolnikov

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1821-1881

Although Crime and Punishment is mostly based on Raskolnikov’s reaction to murder, Dostoyevsky also creates a representation of society inequalities and how it can affect the reactions of its individuals to certain situations. Edwin H. Sutherland describes the process by which humans are not born with a criminal mentality, instead he states: “Criminal behavior is learned in interactions with others who have already incorporated criminal values and illegitimate opportunities including conditions favorable to the learning of such a role” (Sutherland, 1937). To be a criminal or to behave like one, the person must have had someone or something in their life that has made them believe it is a means of survival, or that it is beneficial for himself or for society. Sometimes a criminal commits a crime in benefit of society, such as Raskolnikov’s case, killing a cheating woman to help other who were being robbed by her. The most serious crimes are the ones that attack the vital values to preserve society. His attack to “life” as valuable to society can be based on the Bible’s commandment which states: “You shall not murder”. One can say Raskolnikov values self-empowerment over life and since Raskolnikov has no moral beliefs, he is in a state of depression and weak thinking which leads to

killing the usurer and her sister just to help himself to get out of that difficult mental situation. It is after he kills that he goes through a traumatic and life changing experience. He beliefs there are two kinds of men, the one that create the rules for society and the ones that follow those rules and he wants to be a creator and a leader but to do so, he needs to cross the barrier who separates him from greatness, which he believes is morality. But how does crime begin? What causes it? Some psychologists believe criminal behavior is inherited, while others believe it is acquired through the environment. In Raskolnikov’s case, his environment was a major influence in his decision. He is what he is because his surrounding made it so. Some circumstances, such as birth and his social status, determine what and how he thinks and is. The environment in which the novel is developed is St. Petersburg, Russia in the 1860s. Crime and Punishment focuses on some of the grimmer aspects of St. Petersburg during that time such as drunks, vagabonds, poverty and unsafety. Besides the St. Petersburg setting on the novel, smaller places take big importance as well. Raskolnikov’s room is an example. It is small, depressing and one can blame part of his psychological state to it. The homes in the novel are places of abuse, violence and chaos. “From the sociological perspective, the causes of crime and violence lie within the social structure, defined by poverty, unequal opportunities for the minorities or low-income class, cultural emphasis on being on top and ruling over others, exploitation on part of the ruling part and so on” (Marx, 1984). In cases such as Raskolnikov’s, it is believed those who commit this crime are against the socio-economic conditions in which they live. Members of this low social class look for a way of success through these crimes, to rise from the bad economic situation they are at and since they believe society is one of the causes for their problems, this it their way to prove themselves that they can be better, even if they have to follow an immoral path.

Dostoyevsky's understanding of crime and punishment

Raskolnikov and Alyona Ivanovna

Dostoyevsky wrote this novel at a time when he was psychologically strained. He was sent to prison before writing his novels and this psyche is mirrored in Raskolnikov’s mind. Raskolnikov’s stream of consciousness is unique in literature, where Dostoyevsky raises the problem of freedom of choice, trying out the consequences of a “free-will” unleashed on society and at the same time an attempt to find a force to restrain the free-will. He shows Raskolnikov as Men’s image, where his path to salvation is narrated in terms of the biblical myth from the original sin: he has fallen in disgrace and must be redeem. The characters of the novel such as Petrovich, Zamiotov, and Raskolnikov’s mother and sister worries about looking into his soul to make him conscious that the crime he has committed is a sin against the divine presence who lives inside him. Raskolnikov feels little remorse after killing the old lady, but he suffers the most because of what he has done to himself.

Dostoyevsky’s writing styles is a logical outcome of various influences from the literary world and from his own experience. It is worth noting that even before the commission of the crime, Raskolnikov is presented as a man lacking in decision. Raskolnikov is hungry, schizophrenic, psychotic and manifests his socio-economic condition which he was not born with; beginning a view to his existential problems. Dostoyevsky represents the sum of society with characters such as Raskolnikov, Razumijin (Raskolnikov’s best friend) Sophia; and he represents the upper bourgeois class with Alena Ivanovna (the pawnbroker) or Peter Looshin (the police detective). Dostoyevsky challenges his society through the single mindedness in killing the pawn-broker, showed as a statement that evokes the antagonism between the oppressed and the oppressor. His novel, therefore, raises a protest against the existing order that is found to be agonizing in quest of a new society and another kind of persona, a persona trying to reach greater purpose, if not for society then for himself. The psychological description of the characters in the novel involves Dostoyevsky in the intimate delineation of subconscious. In dreams, the subconscious manifests itself and achieves a special prominence. According to Freud (1932) dreams occupy a special place in Psychoanalysis: they are indispensable. It is the dream in part which symbolically directs our attention to the meaning of the story. Dreams play a great novel in the novel, this gives a better understanding of the characters and why they do all that they do. The use of interior monologue also reveals the soul that is divided and a split personality. One can notice the attempt by Dostoyevsky in this novel to accentuate the unexpected in his characters’ behavior so that they disrupt the lives of others around them because each characters’ own their individual sins and society portrayals, which opens the secrets of everyone’s souls. Svidrigailoff kills himself, Dounia is willing to sacrifice herself, Raskolnikov is willing to sacrifice his soul for greatness.

Prison as a source of spiritual rebirth

Leaving Prison

Do religious beliefs and behaviors deter individuals’ criminal behavior? Religion on crime is evident in the conclusion of the novel and through it as well. Recent theories incorporate arguments for a criminal diminution effect due to religion. The most recognized is the hellfire hypothesis which predicts that religion deters individual-level criminal behavior through the promise of supernatural reward, in this case, redemption. Religious institutions, like the family and educational institutions, are hypothesized to foster individual commitment and involvement with the larger society (Marcos, Bahr, and Johnson, 1986). Individuals identified as religious are more likely to experience shame from deviant acts, like in the case of Raskolnikov who was ashamed of his soul in front of God, and to deter from committing criminal acts through fear to the supernatural punishment. Losing the connection with society, with religion or school and employment, humans become bore and it can lead to seek for a riskier behavior, such as crime.

This happened to the protagonist of our novel who, after seeing himself without a job and out of school, he found his “way out” of his lifestyle through murder. In the meta-analysis by Colin J. Baier and Bradley R. E. Wright (2001), the effect of religion on crime is examined from 60 studies, and they found that religion had a statistically significant effect on criminals, concluding with confidence that religion does indeed have some deterrence effect. The results vary depending on the type of crimes committed, the community based on and the sample size with diversification: such as individuals who compare and control their own behavior based on the behavior of the group. Thus, as religion becomes centered in a group, religion deters crime through the intensification of group-level morality (Bock et al. 1987). Another interesting finding is that white subjects studies show a lower levels of religion deterrence. One hypothesis by Ellison and Sherkat (1995, 1999) maintain that African Americans are constrained in their ability to not participate in religious activities as highly segregated African American churches are a primary source for supernatural rewards and punishments. A different image of prison as rebirth is given by Malcom X when he said: “I still marvel at how swiftly my previous life’s thinking pattern slid away from me, like snow off a roof. It is a though someone else I knew had lived by hustling and crime.” (Braly, 1976 ). The metaphor of snow falling off a roof shows Malcolm X’s perception of ease and naturalness with which his transformation occurred. He felt as prison was his opportunity for a life change and through it he became the man he was always supposed to be. Imprisonment offers an opportunity to renounce to arrogance and reunite with society. It is often imagines as a matrix for spiritual rebirth and it should not surprise also that some people aspire to experience imprisonment, as one can see on Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Hall”, embracing the opportunity joyfully when it arrives or, in the case of Mr. Luther King, to call for a change, equality and respect to human

rights. In the United Stated, some street youths often want to go to prison to prove their toughness, preferring tougher prisons that softer ones. Being incarcerated may unconsciously signify an entry into the mother’s womb, which, in turn, implies the possibility of being reborn.

Religion and crime in society today

One might assume that societies where religion is highly practiced diminishes criminality. Well, there comes the theory: If people becomes less religious, the society will decay. But it doesn’t. In fact, in the modern world, the societies that are the most religious tend to have the highest violent crime rates, while the most secular (weaker faith and church attendance) societies then to have the lowest. According to the United Nations’ 2011 global Study on Homicide, of the 10 nations with the highest homicide rates, all are vey religious such as Colombia, Mexico and Brazil. Of the nations with the lowest homicide rates, nearly all are very secular and the least theistic, such as Sweden, Norway and Netherlands. If we talk peacefulness, according to the nonprofit organization Vision of Humanity, which publishes an annual Global Peace Index, each of the 10 safest and most peaceful notions in the world are among the least God-believing in the world. The least safe are extremely religious. Same goes for the United States. According to the latest study from the Pew Research Center, the 10 states with the highest belief in God, such as Louisiana or Mississippi, have the highest child-abuse fatality rates in contrast with the least theistic states, like New York or Connecticut. And although it is not possible to conclude if religion causes crime or secularism

causes societal well-being, it is true that peace and prosperity in any society is cause by different factors, going from cultural to political and so forth. Conclusion

Crime and Punishment is devoid of hope and denies the existence of any possibilities of a social struggle, but instead, it glories in Christian humility and suffering as can be seen in the life of Raskolnikov while in prison. There is no doubt that the society of the novel is harsh, oppressive and injurious, but if we compare that society to ours one can say there are some things in common. Examples can be seen of rebirth after crime in real people who have gone through a process of purification with God’s help or seen prison as a tool for it and aa a way to connect with greatness. Crime and Punishment is a mixture of the psychological novel with the human mind, the people, the society and its sins. Multiple voices and points of view are portrayed during the novel that connects the reader to its moral and brings the question of existentialism. Dostoyevsky appears to be saying that the world is meaningless as it is, full of injustice and exploitation and although things have changed since the 1800s, we are still living in oppression but just in different ways. We don’t know how people might want to take away their pressure and some might choose Raskolnikov’s path, some might choose murder as a way of getting out from their minds cages or some might pick protest to combat immorality. The connection between the novel and society can be greater than it seems due to the psychology it uses to understand the human mind, and although religious societies appear to be more dangerous nowadays, there might be rival causes as a reason for that criminality. It is proven that Religion can help criminals become better people and can bring them back into society, so we should not underestimate the power of a higher power when it comes to moral and immoral

decisions taken by the people. One might not believe in God, but when tough times appear in our lives, it seem as we need a way for redemption, a belief that we will be forgiven and the certainty that we can do better with a God on our side. References: "Raskolnikov in the Attic" (from Crime and Punishment) by Fritz Eichenberg https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/detail/FE150/Fritz-Eichenberg/Raskolnikov-in-theAttic-from-Crime-and-Punishment “Leaving Prison” retrieved from: http://www.eitcoutreach.org/outreach-strategies/reentry/ “Raskolnikov and Alyona Ivanovna” retrieved from: https://eyeoflynx.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/why-you-should-read-crime-and-punishment-nonspoiler/ Baier, Colin J., Wright, Bradley R.E. 2001. “If you Love Me, Keep My Commandments”: A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Religion on Crime. Journal of research in Crime and Delinquency. University of Connecticut. Blake, James. The Joint. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1971. Bock, E. Wilbut, John Cochran, and Leonard Beeghley. 1987. “Moral Messages: The Relative Influence of Denomination on the Religiosity-Alcohol Relationship.” The Sociological Quaterly 28:89-103. Braly, Malcolm. False Starts: A Memoir of San Quentin and Other Prisons. Boston: Little, Brown, 1976. Dostoyevsky, Fiodor M. Prestuplenie i nakazanie. Barcelona, Penguin Clasicos, June, 2015. Translated by Rafael Cansinos Assens, 2015. Duncan, Martha Grace. Romantic Outlaws, Beloved Prisons: The Unconscious Meanings of Crime and Punishment. NYU Press, 1996. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg6p4. Ellison, Christopher G. And Darren E. Sherkat. 1995. “The ‘Semi-Involuntary Institution’ Revisited: Regional Variations in Church Participation among Black Americans.” Frank, J (1976). Dostoyevsky: The Seeds of Revolt. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Freud, S (1973). New Introductory Lectures. Trans. James Strachey. Hamondsworth: Penguin Books. Johnson, Richard E., Anastasios C. Marcos, and Stephen J. Bahr. 1987. “The Role of Peers in the Complex Etiology of Adolescent Drug Use.” Criminology 25:323-40 Kainzow. Eye of Lynx, August 27, 2013. https://eyeoflynx.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/why-you-should-read-crime-and-punishment-nonspoiler/. Accessed May 7, 2018.

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