The Power And Punishment And Notes From The Underground

One word that has come to represent the mid-18th century Enlightenment movement is “Reason”. The French philosophes believed that reason could provide critical, informed, scientific solutions to social issues and problems, and essentially improve the human condition. Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground is one of the most famous anti-Enlightenment novels for its rejection of these very notions. Through this novel he showed what he believed were gaps in the idea that the mind could be freed from ignorance through the application of reason, and the rejection of the idea that humankind could achieve a utopian existence as a result.

During the 1800s, crime and punishment began to rise. You were punished for major offences and minor offences. The minor offences normally were given the death sentence, usually given out for stealing. The crimes were most likely committed by the people in need, because most families in the 1800s lived in poverty. As time passed some communities believed that some of the punishments for crime were too harsh, so changes began to be made. The amount of punishments received for minor crimes reduced. Some of the crime they saw in the 1800s we still see today along with a few of the punishments.

Crime and punishment in the 1800’s was very unlike today. Punishments were much more violent and severe back then with crime rates being high. However, a lot of the crime was unaccounted for due to how easy it was to get away with crimes back then. Compared to today, where as crime rates are increasing daily. As such, crime rates today surpass the rates in the 1800s. However, punishments are not as fatal today compared to the past. Almost all criminals in the 1800s were penalized with death in some way, typically by hanging. According to Gooii, some crimes, such as treason or murder, were considered serious crimes, but other ‘minor’ offences, such as picking pockets or stealing food, could also be punished with the death sentence.

The room is as shabby as it is small--not a seemingly likely place for posing intellectual questions of great significance. But Dostoevsky is a writer fond of achieving great things with equally great economy. Just as he stretches a two-week period into a hefty novel, Dostoevsky makes a dingy student's apartment more important than a grand palace. Raskolnikov's room becomes a nexus for the story. It is there Raskolnikov cowers, broods and slips into depraved and fitful slumber. Almost all of the major characters in the book pay a visit to the room, and sometimes it even seems as if they are all stuffed into the tiny space at once. Yet the room is more than just a meeting place, more than a central location. It takes on a character of its own, illustrating Raskolnikov's mental turmoil, becoming an image of him to others and perhaps even doing much to induce or at least enforce his degenerate state.

Throughout the history of mankind, many genocides have occurred around the world because there is much hatred among specific kinds of people. A genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. An example of a genocide in Germany is the Holocaust where Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, showed the Jews’ experience from the horrors, tortures, and killings in the death camps. At the same time, a mass execution was happening in Nanjing, China, where the Japanese soldiers were slaughtering and torturing thousands of the Chinese. Both the Jews from Night and the Chinese in the “Nanking Massacre” had suffered the elements of cruelty from execution methods and their torture such

According to Foucault, power does not belong to the individual, but to the system, to the institution. In his essay on Discipline and Punish, Foucault presents his idea of the panopticon mechanism, a mechanism in which visibility is a trap. With little importance over the actual individual in the role of the observer or of the observed, the object of the system is total power over the observed. Due to the unique shape of the panopticon, there are no corners and thus no blind spots for the observed to hide in. The private space is replaced by the public one. Furthermore, as final evidence of total control, the observed never knows for sure if they are being watched or not, as they can’t see the observer (Foucault 200-205). Foucault further argues that this system is followed by any government institution, placing the society under permanent observation. Individuals might try to evade the system, but achieving liberation and freedom is not something that anyone could do. Dostoevsky’s famous novel, Crime and

Dostoevsky’s believes in existentialism, and the idea that individual freedom is essential to the development of the mind (Copleston 165). He speaks through his characters by presenting them as “continually defeated as a result of their choices” ( “Existentialism”). Though Raskolnikov is allowed to make his own decisions he ended up making the wrong ones. He is forced to face his consequences of the murders he committed. Dostoevsky’s blend of philosophy with the novel allows

o This is highly improbable due to the fact that Raskolnikov has acted very strange on multiple occasions when the crime was brought up in conversation o Shows that he doesn’t want to bust Raskolnikov but let him come to terms with it himself 5. List contradicting behaviors apparent in Raskolnikov. • It is apparent from the first chapters of the novel that Raskolnikov is having an internal struggle. •

What is the meaning of spite? Spite is a desire to harm, anger, or defeat another person especially because you feel that you have been treated wrongly in some way. (Merriam-Webster) In the Notes From the Underground, the author starts the novel with, “I am a sick man…. I am a spiteful man.” (pg. 1) From the beginning, the word spiteful is used many times, it foreshadows what the author is trying to convey to the readers. The author, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, was a Russian writer, who changed with the era. Through his imprisonment in a labour camp in Siberia, his views on a utopian society changed. Before his imprisonment, he believed in utopian societies, yet after ten long years of labour his views drastically changed and became suspicious in utopias. Through his later novels, the reader sees through Dostoyevsky’s lens and gains an understanding on why he no longer

Dostoyevsky most likely modeled Crime and Punishment after his own experiences. Since the two men's lives had striking similarities, many people believed that was evidence to prove their thinking. As Raskolnikov was overcome with tremendous suffering, sent to Siberia, and fell madly in love with a beautiful woman; so did Dostoyevsky within his lifetime. "I do believe that the character (Raskolnikov) was the epitome of Dostoyevsky's life." (Timoney)

In this paper, I plan to explain Dostoevsky’s criticism of Western Individualism. Dostoevsky’s first criticism resides in the idea to “love life more than the meaning of it, “which is presented by the character Alyosha (Dostoevsky 3). Allowing this character to discuss this topic, along with the commentary of Ivan, demonstrates their mindset to solely focus on their own lives, opposed to caring for others. This leads to them living for the now, and not focusing on how their decisions will affect their future or others. Dostoevsky disapproves of this notion because living by this mentality encourages the guidance of logic, which is dangerous because it could tell you to kill yourself. From Dostoevsky’s Eastern Orthodox background, he believes that the only way from living from this situation is to deny it. By denying this way of living, the focus toward life will not be directed toward yourself, but toward the way you can impact the environment around you. Ivan clearly does not believe in these values, due to his intentions to commit suicide at the age of thirty. As said before, living by the idea to “love life more than the meaning of it” leads to death, and Ivan indulges in this to the fullest (Dostoevsky 3).

If I could meet Dostoevsky I would ask him what his inspiration for Crime and Punishment was. Sometimes I wonder if the novel was written to give us insight to how Dostoevsky felt about the world. Maybe he is using the character Raskolnikov to portray a part of him who feels alienated from the world, and is torn apart

Rodchenko overlaps planes of colour, form and texture in an architectural way. His design includes a large clock signifying the importance the Revolution placed on precision and efficiency, as well as a speaker’s rostrum, a huge billboard and a space to sell books and newspapers. Rodchenko became an indisputable supporter of the Bolsheviks after the revolution and held roles within the newly formed Fine Art Department of the People’s Commissariat of Enlightenment. El Lissitzky was a Suprematist and therefore his goal was to create work that embodied utopian ideals and values. His work was more transcendental and he sort to manipulate space and perspective to shape the new world. El Lissitzky developed Prouns (an abbreviation of Russian words meaning ‘project for the establishment of new art’). These images were meant to move and inspire the masses. El Lissitzky described the ‘Proun’s power is to create aims, this is the artists’ freedom, denied to the scientist’ (Margolin 1997, p. 33). He aimed to create works that would be clear to everyone in an attempt to build a classless society. Despite the isolation of Russia from the rest of the world as a result of the Revolution, El Lissitzky still believed in a utopian world. He chose to recreate form and space from scratch. The Proun brought together architecture and painting. Proun 1 E, The Town (see figure 2), closely models a town plan. There is volume to the shapes he uses which indicate the form of

Before the interactive oral, I noticed the numerous dreams and hallucinations in the novel Crime and Punishment, but I was not quite able to grasp the deeper meaning of some of the dreams and hallucinations. After this interactive oral, I see how important dreams are in this novel. They serve to illuminate the state of a character in a way that would not otherwise be clear.

In the novel “Crime and Punishment”, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Dostoevsky expresses his disapproval of the Ubermensch theory by using his main character; Raskolnikov who tries to become an extraordinary person but fails to do so. Raskolnikov is put in a group where people maintain the idea that man is not actually equal but are divided into two separate groups which are; the ordinary people who are locked within the laws and tradition of society by only reproducing their own kind, and the extraordinary who believe that people should have the moral right to break laws if their violation is for the greater society.