Saturday, January 19, 2019
¿crime and punishment?
This past semester I took philosophy with Father Millican and during the class one day he recommended "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. So I stopped by Barnes and Nobles and picked up the book. I haven't finished it yet, but I have noticed a common thread in Dostoyevsky's works. He seems to always be focused on the phycological effects of actions and how individuals think. In "Notes from the Underground," we see the mind of the underground man and we see how his past actions influence his thoughts. Well in "Crime and Punishment," the same thing happens. In the book, the main character commits a perfect murder because he believes he is of higher intelligence and thinks he can pull off the perfect crime. Well after the crime he gradually goes to madness from the phycological effects of murder. Same as from Notes, Crime and Punishment examines the mental effects of past actions, which is something I'm guessing Dostoyevsky was interested and curious about.
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2 comments:
Nice connection Ritchie. The effects past actions have on our present thinking is definitely something Dostoyevsky examines in his works. Not only how it affects our current state, but also the choice we make and how that can change our future. In the Underground man, his life as an orphanage/abandonment by his parents and also his loneliness/lack of connection shapes him into a very odd characracter that loathes socializing and interacting with people he doesn’t like. This creates an image in his mind that he’s an outsider, but then copes with this my thinking he is superior. He tends to over think things way too much. This is just one example we talk about exclusively about how a past life can mold our future character.
It is truly interesting how Dostoevsky focuses mainly on the affects of psychological forces on characters in his work. (heck, maybe I’ll pick up “Crime and Punishment” myself, it sounds good!) it only makes sense if you think about it because Dostoevsky was an author of the enlightenment era. While everyone was focusing on the advancement of mankind in areas such as science, math, and literature, Dostoevsky sort of took an approach that combined both science and literature by focusing on psychological affects of characters in his works. In Notes From Underground, we discover how abandonment and loneliness can affect the way a person towards other people. The Underground Man’s loneliness causes him to despise others and think most of everyone is inferior to him. In Crime and Punishment, as you describe, readers discover the affects of murder on a person’s sanity. Therefore, Dostoevsky manages to make two completely fictional works while at the same time he is able to make various analyses on the mindset of mankind. That is a truly amazing way of thinking if you ask me.
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