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Angry Men and The Mass Murderer Mentality: A Modern Analysis of Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
“For men who desire admiration and favor from society, the only path to achieve these adornments is self-work of the most uncomfortable sort.”
A novel for the faint of heart
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”, a novel completed by the extremely adept Russian writer some time in 1866, spans more than 400 pages, and is a work that requires considerable time to digest. The reward one receives after completing it manifests as a continuous evolution of thought around what is required to transform one’s life for the good. The book could be considered an enabling technology for self-improvement.
The story centers around Dostoevsky’s main character, Raskolnikov, a young sullen manic depressive ex-university student, brilliant in mind, but entitled in spirit. Raskolnikov, in a moment of bitter agitation and lesser clarity, decides to murder, by axe, two women, one an old haggard pawn broker, the other, her beautiful doting younger sister.
Although the reason is never explicitly stated, it is clear that Raskolnikov views the pawnbroker as a representation of capitalist greed and oppression…
