Impressions on Dr. Bryan Burton's presentation of Dostoevsky

I found it interesting, after reading Crime and Punishment, to step back and look at the author and his beliefs. It was clarifying to understand Dostoyevski's association with existentialism and how that affected the way he wrote. He wanted to not just communicate a message, but he wanted to make the reader feel and experience that point. As an existentialist, he focused on being, so experience would have been a big part of that. Dr. Burton also said that Raskolnikov embodies existentialism. I think that Raskolnikov is a very sensitive character, sensitive to his own existence and experiences, although, on the other hand, he seems like he does not excercise very much control over his own fate, which I thought was a major tennant of existentialism.

Dr. Burton also brought up the idea that perhaps the whole of Raskolnikov's story is a retelling of the raising of Lazerus. Now that I think about it, it does rather seem as if Dostoyevski does make that parallel, however, in my opinion, to say that they are parallel stories is a stretch. Lazerus, as far as the Bible tells us, did not have a specific sin that casued his death and he did not go through the phychological battles and conflicts of conscience that Raskolnikov subjected himself to (and these seem to be such an fundamental point in Crime and Punishment, that I think we would be remiss to say that it is too related to the story of Lazerous).

In addition, Dostoyevski believed that redemption only comes through pain and suffering. It is true that our redemption came only through the pain and suffering of Jesus, but I think Dostoyevski means our own human pain and suffering. In this I disagree. If we say that our redemption is attained through our own suffering, that is just the same as saying we can earn our own way back to God. But we know that is not true. However, it is certain that pain and suffering can lead us to redemption, as opposed to buy our redemption.

Did Raskolnikov Repent?

Raskolnikov does realize his sin and in a sense repent, in that he has changed the attitude of his heart and his life's direction so that his sin will no longer haunt him in the future (though the consequences of it will remain with him for a long while).

First of all, as he goes from Sonya's presence to confess to the police, he says of himself, "I am a beggarly, worthless scoundrel, I am a miserable wretch!" (504).

However, he seems to say this more in reference to his behavior toward Sonya, and not to his murder, but it is a step in becoming sensitive to sin and wrongdoing.

Furthermore, when he arrives at the crossroads of the street, he recalls Sonya's instruction to, "Go to the cross-roads; bow down before the people, and kiss the ground, because you are guilty before them, and say aloud to all the world, 'I am a murderer!'" (505).

As a result, Raskolnikov, "so crushed" by his burden, "softened on the instant and the tears gushed out. He fell to the ground where he stood...He knelt in the middle of the square, bowed to the ground, and kissed its filth with pleasure and joy" (505).

If Raskolnikov did not believe himself to be, to some extent, guilty, he would feel no need to demonstrate such an act of humility and, in a sense, penance. Furthermore, if he did not believe himself to be guilty, the act would not have brought about any satisfaction, but rather something akin to disgust.

However, later in the prison in Siberia, Raskolnikov once again relapses into denial of his guilt saying that he had failed, "This was the sole sense in which he acknowledged his crime, that he had not succeeded and that he had confessed" (521).

Nevertheless, "he already felt in his heart that there was something profoundly false in himself and his beliefs. He did not understand that that feeling might have been the herald of...his coming resurrection, of a future new outlook on life" (521).

Whether or not the readers receive an actual confession from Raskolnikov, stating that he acknowledges his sin, the author tells the audience that this is what eventually happens.

Finally, Raskolnikov, ill in the Siberian hospital, dreams a dream of men who are infected with a consuming certainty of their own rightness and rigid belief in his own perception of truth (523-524). This dream has great implications for Raskolnikov, and he deliberates for quite some time over his dream. I believe that at this point in time, he finally recognizes that he was wrong, just as the people in his dream were wrong.

However, his repentance was not completed; he had recognized his wrongdoing, but his life had not come to the point of change. This occurs when he and Sonya reunite after their illnesses, and Raskolnikov "cast[s himself] at her feet. He clasp[s] her knees and [weeps]...But at once, in that instant, she [understands]" (526).

This is the moment when we can know that Raskolnikov has experienced a change of heart and that the direction of his life has changed and that he has repented and turned from his nagging sin.

Therefore, Raskolnikov, although at first unwilling to admit to his moral guilt (as opposed to his legal guilt), gradually acknowledges his own sin and repents of it, a necessary step in the process of redemption.

Quotes from "Mere Christianity"

"Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither" (134).

"The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether" (125).

"...every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before" (92).