Guilty Conscience In "Crime And Punishment"
Guilty Conscience
Fyodor Dostoevsky is a renowned Russian author. His most notorious book, Crime and Punishment, was written in the 1860's. Through the story of Rodion Raskolnikov, Dostoevsky shows his belief that through suffering, man can compensate for his sins. Raskolnikov is struck with immense guilt when he murders a pawnbroker and her sister in an attempt to help the poor. What compels a person to feel guilty? Guilt exists in the personal feeling of remorse for ones actions and surfaces when a committed act cannot be justified by ones personal beliefs. These values are defined by religious viewpoints in the setting of the novel. Dostoevsky follows the psychology of Raskolnikov, illustrating that his increasing belief in religion causes his conscience feelings of guilt to mature, ultimately driving him to confession and punishment.
The human conscience compels or inhibits ones actions. Based off of moral and ethical principles, it builds the individual beliefs of people and society. Walter Goodnow Everett, a professor of philosophy and ethics, explains this idea. Laws and rules do not change beliefs because "morality has often been regarded almost exclusively from a religious point of view" (Everett 394). Therefore, what a person believes is right and wrong in their religion, is what they will base their morals off of.
Morality can be defined as a code of conduct set by society's value. The beliefs of what humanity sees as right and wrong build the moral code. The religious beliefs of society create a framework of ethics. Everett clarifies how the two are connected. Religion and morality "have grown up together in close union, and they still constitute, for most people, a single whole which the two factors are not regarded as distinct or separable" (Everett 379). The two abstracts are intertwined, and "when one enters the realm of law and order, one does not leave the world of religion" (378). Affecting one of the ideals will...
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