Style Analysis- Crime and Punishment

Chose a character who might-- on the basis of the character’s actions alone-- be considered evil or immoral. Explain both how and why the presentation of the character makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. In Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the character of Raskolnikov is one who may be considered evil or immoral for his actions, however his portrayal by the author is one that instills sympathy in the reader for …

…his character’s actions, only to shift responsibility for Raskolnikov’s mental state on the society that for so long put him down and allowed theories and ideas of getting out of destitution to run rampant in his mind. The irony comes when that same society accepts and understands his cause for wanting to again be normal and function as an effective person. Works Cited Dostoyevsky, Fydor. Crime and Punishment. Wordsworth Editions Limited. Ware, Hertfordshire. 1993.