My Four Theses for Crime and Punishment

The first idea for a thesis that I had for Crime and Punishment is to compare the different aspects of Dostoyevsky’s personality were present in both the Underground Man and Raskolnikov. Seeing as both these books seem to be trying to prove some point or enlighten others on Dostoyevsky’s personal beliefs and philosophies. Basically, I feel that these books are a much more artfully crafted and presented form of Atlas Shrugged, for example, Raskolnikov’s idea of “great men” seems to be one of the key philosophies driving many of the forces and examples in Crime and Punishment. Also, seeing as it’s the books title, Crime and Punishment seems to question many of society’s perceptions on crime and punishment and Dostoyevsky seems to be trying to make a point towards these ideas within society.

Another thesis I came up with for Crime and Punishment is trying to determine if Raskolnikov thought of himself as a truly “great man.” Raskolnikov certainly acted as though he were a “great man” in his pursuit of his goals, yet he seems to lose sight of his goal and it becomes unclear if he actually believes in his theory any more. Raskolnikov’s idea of a great man is someone who had a defined set of goals and would do anything to accomplish them, therefore I would have to find if Raskolnikov had any truly great goals that he strove for, or if his actions were completely irrational.

Another thesis based off of a similar idea would be to try to find “the wall” in crime and punishment. Because Dostoyevsky put a large emphasis of his philosophy on this concept in “Notes from the Underground,” there is no way that “the wall” does not exist in some form in Crime and Punishment. The wall does not necessarily have to have a concrete form or directly exist as some sort of goal within the book. The wall would have to exist in some sort of a force and a general will for certain characters to act in a certain way. It will manifest itself in the characters actions and decisions throughout the book and would influence certain characters to act towards an end, even though they might not know it. The wall might also manifest itself in the fact that certain characters are trying to break down the wall, or form the wall, by searching for explanations for things.

My final idea for a thesis in Crime and Punishment would be analyzing the role that generosity played throughout the book. Raskolnikov seemed to be hell-bent on being as generous as possible, even though every time he was generous he immediately regretted what he did. Yet, it seems that Raskolnikov’s generosity might have had a little bit more of a malicious intent in that he felt the need to be in control of others fortune, or misfortune, as it gave him some sort of a power high. This then begs the question, was Raskolnikov giving to benefit others, or was he trying to benefit himself in the pursuit of an action that was clearly against his immediate self-interests.