Crime and Punishment

What is insanity? Is selflessness a type of love? Does man crave tragedy?

These are a few of the questions proposed by Dostoyevsky in Crime and Punishment. On the surface level, this novel seems to propose that Roddy is mentally instable and may suffer from bout of insanity. But his hunger for power, his self-delusions, and his inability to process failure remains starkly familiar in the human condition. This realization and Roddy’s immediate but disturbing commonalities with the reader suggest that his initial appearance of lunacy is merely a façade. Leaving the reader questioning as to whether morality is a truer source of insanity. Sonia cares for Roddy on a level that remains immensely incomprehensible. Her preserved morality despite the depravity of her situation sharply juxtaposes Roddy’s lack-there-of. She commits herself to his revival and redemption. But it remains vastly unclear as to whether this selflessness equates love, or merely a desire for duty. This novel arises some excellent questions concerning the abilities and privileges of men, and again confirms the idea that an absolute remains difficult to find, and harder to justify.