MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Is there any crime or punishment in Crime and Punishment? 👮 

Crime and Punishment is a novel written by the famous Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, published in 1866. It focusses on Raskolnikov, who lives in St Petersburg, has given up his studies, and lives an impoverished, lonely life. He plans to murder Alyona Ivanovna, an untrustworthy pawnbroker, for money. He tries to convince himself that this murder would be justified, as she was unfair to her customers, and he would give some of the stolen money to charity. He believes himself to be a superior being who exists above the morality of contemporary society, but ends up wrought with guilt, leading to a mental breakdown as his previous justifications for the murder shatter before him.

💡 Things to consider

• What are crime and morality?: The notions of crime and morality are social constructs – whilst you might argue that people may have an innate sense of morality, the perception of certain actions as moral or immoral is something that is heavily influenced by your society. So, if you view crime as a term that describes an immoral action, then this is also a notion imposed by our society. Dostoevsky suggests throughout Crime and Punishment that a collective understanding of morality can only be applied to people who share this understanding, and who feel that they belong to the society that imposes these moral and criminal judgements. Therefore, Dostoevsky would argue, the murder that Raskolnikov commits may not necessarily be criminal/immoral. Raskolnikov believes (at least initially) that it can be justified, according to his own sense of morality, so Dostoevsky makes us question this perspective – whether we can see how, for Raskolnikov, who is almost completely isolated from society, the moral codes of this society just don’t apply to him.

  

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

• Can you unsubscribe from a society and its moral code?: According to Raskolnikov, you can! He perceives himself to be a sort of ‘Napoleonic superhero’, believing that he is superior to the ordinary human, so is beyond the judgement of these inferior beings. As such, it seems that Raskolnikov simply unsubscribes from the moral codes of contemporary Russian society, as he doesn’t see himself as a part of the society that governs these codes. Moreover, unusually for the time, the Raskolnikov of the start of the novel is an irreligious figure, meaning that he does not have the Christian interpretations of crime and sin that most members of the largely Orthodox society would have. So, from Raskolnikov’s perspective, it really seems that there is no crime or punishment, as he doesn’t believe he has committed a crime, and thus views his punishment (exile and manual labour) as nothing more than an inconvenient legal formality. At least, until his mental breakdown and intense onset of guilt – but that’s for another day.

  

  Should you?

• Lost in translation: So, if there isn’t even necessarily any crime or punishment in Crime and Punishment, why did Dostoevsky give the novel this title? We need to consider that the novel’s original title wasn’t the English Crime and Punishment, but Prestuplenie i nakazanie. And this is where it gets interesting. The Russian language has no articles (words for ‘the’ or ‘a’), so perhaps there are some missing in the English translation: if it were The Crime and the Punishment, would that change our perception? I think so, as it pinpoints them as specific incidents, rather than broad philosophical concepts.

  

  “A” crime or “the” crime?

  Moreover, I’m not convinced that ‘Crime’ is the best translation of ‘Prestuplenie’. If we pick this word apart, we get something like ‘across-step-action’. We can’t do this with the word ‘crime’. But, we can with the word ‘transgression’, when considering its Latin roots. So, we get a sense not just of a legal ‘crime’, but of the crossing of some kind of border – the border of morality. This makes a lot more sense considering what we know of the novel, which focusses on whether you can cross a moral border even if you don’t agree that the border exists in the first place. Therefore, I suggest that the reason there may not truly be any crime or punishment (in a general, conceptual sense) in Crime and Punishment is because this is not what the novel is actually called: it is The Transgression and the Punishment.

🔎 Find out more

• Criminality, Morality, and Guilt

• Crime and Punishment: A Timeless Exploration of Morality, Guilt, and Redemption

• Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky's Warning to Big Dreamers (YouTube)

🍒 The cherry on top

• 🌍 The Evolution of Earth’s Continents: Plate tectonics is the theory that explains the movement of Earth's continents, including the formation of mountains and volcanoes. This article takes a deep dive into how the continents shifted over millions of years, and what it means for our planet today. Perfect for those into Geology or Earth Science.

• 🏛️ Ancient Engineering Wonders: How are some of Rome’s oldest monuments still standing? How and why have they maintained such impressive structural integrity? This article explores some of the greatest engineering feats from ancient times. A fascinating read for fans of History, Architecture, or Engineering.

• 🏙️ The Psychology of Urban Spaces: How do cities affect our mental and emotional wellbeing? This online lecture explores the impact of urban environments on our daily lives. Ideal for those into Psychology, Urban Planning, or Sociology.

👀 Keep your eyes peeled for…

• Wednesday 17th December

  • Bangor University Christmas History Webinar

  • University of Law Online Lecture

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