Crime And Punishment Nihilism

Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment was written in response to Russia’s social changes in the 1860s, but it has grown timeless because it leads its readers to question the ways in which they discover faith and happiness. Nihilism, or the rejection of morality and religion, pervades the thoughts and goals of the characters, and creates an intense conflict in the formation of their ideologies. Throughout the novel, the development of the protagonist, Raskolnikov, and the effect other characters have on that development is the most effective way that Dostoevsky is able to demonstrate how our lives are shaped by our religious and ideological perspectives. Religion affects every character in the novel differently, but the differences we see

One of the greatest conflicts he faces, however, lies in how he views himself. Raskolnikov is introduced as a man who was always “so immersed in himself” that he becomes so isolated from everyone that “he was afraid not only of meeting his landlady but of meeting anyone at all” (3). This is Raskolnikov’s first demonstrated conflict. His self-centered nature contrasts his inclination towards social isolation, leaving us to wonder whether he holds himself separate from society because he feels superior, or because he feels socially insecure. This is the first exposure to Raskolnikov’s true nature, and immediately, attention is drawn to a simple human truth: he has

No matter how hard Raskolnikov tries to pretend that he does not depend on anyone, that there is no purpose of faith, and that to be “extraordinary” you must overcome the constraints of the law, he still struggles to do any of this without emotional turmoil. We see this not only through his deteriorating mental state, but his physical one as well, as “the simplest power of reflection” results in feelings of “insufferable torture” (90) for him. Later in the novel, this suffering is related to the eventual salvation he finds in religion as he asks Polenka to “pray for [him] sometimes” (181). Though Raskolnikov’s true transition from nihilist to religious does not come until the epilogue, his perspectives begin to move into a new direction at this moment in the