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Theme Of Suffering In Crime And Punishment

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The paradigm of suffering functions as one of the foremost features of the human condition. In response, humanity immediately desires rationalization, and seeks a certain purposefulness in their suffering. Though universal and inevitable, this suffering may often appear unmerited or unjust. Throughout time, many have claimed a monopoly on this answer. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find a religion or a philosophy that neither addresses nor justifies human suffering. It is in this space that Dostoevsky’s intensely penetrating novel, Crime and Punishment, operates. Throughout Crime and Punishment, suffering persists as a recurring motif that extends itself through many characters, and is inextricably connected to the characters’ inert …show more content…

Dostoevsky contrasts Katerina sharply against Marmeladov’s gluttony. Katerina’s suffering derives from her ego, as her once lofty shelf on the social hierarchy has been reduced to extreme poverty. Now forced by pride to serve her family in a depressed yet unrelenting and indefatigable fashion. Eventually, like Marmeladov, her suffering lead to her death, rather than fully-realized redemption. In the novel, the imagery and dialogue surrounding Katerina’s death bed renders a Martyr-like feel; “A priest? I am not in need of one. My conscious is free from sin! And, even were it not, God must forgive me. He knows how I have suffered.” (Dostoevsky, 366) In this quote, one can see once more Katerina’s ego at play. Her desire to live a life with some remanence of importance or dignity sustains her suffering throughout the novel. As Kelly M. Kramer writes in her article One Big Thing, “like her husband, [Katerina’s] suffering ultimately kills her because it is selfish rather than selfless, gratifies her own vanity, and stems from a refusal to accept reality.” (Kramer, 2) Furthermore, her egotistical refusal to accept her position in life has led her to attempt to find meaning in her suffering. From this, she asserts her Martyrdom, that she has no faults worth recognizing, and that she should be accepted into the company of God without

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