The Role of Poverty in Crime and Punishment: How Economic Hardship Influences the Characters’ Actions and Decisions, Especially Raskolnikov’s Crime
The Role of Poverty in Crime and Punishment: How Economic Hardship Influences the Characters’ Actions and Decisions, Especially Raskolnikov’s Crime
In Crime and Punishment, poverty is not merely a backdrop for the characters’ actions but a driving force that shapes their decisions, motivations, and moral conflicts. Economic hardship permeates the lives of nearly all the characters, influencing their behavior and the choices they make. Raskolnikov’s crime, in particular, is deeply rooted in his poverty and the desperate circumstances he faces. Dostoyevsky uses poverty as both a personal and societal force, revealing how it can lead individuals to make morally questionable decisions and question the fairness of social structures.
At the start of the novel, Raskolnikov is a penniless student living in a small, cramped apartment in St. Petersburg. His financial struggles are acute, and he is constantly grappling with his inability to provide for himself. Raskolnikov’s economic situation contributes to his feelings of alienation, frustration, and disillusionment with society. It is in this context that Raskolnikov formulates his theory of the “extraordinary man,” a philosophy that allows him to rationalize the idea of murder as a means to escape his dire financial circumstances. He believes that by killing Alyona Ivanovna, a wealthy pawnbroker, he can use her money to improve his situation and help his family. In his mind, this would be a justified act, one that could lift him out of poverty and allow him to fulfill his potential.
However, Dostoyevsky also uses poverty to highlight the broader social and moral decay present in 19th-century Russian society. The economic hardship experienced by Raskolnikov and other characters, such as Sonia, who works as a prostitute to support her family, reflects the deep inequalities and injustices of the time. Poverty forces characters into difficult moral positions, where survival often takes precedence over ethical considerations. For Sonia, for example, her poverty and the desperation it breeds lead her to sacrifice her own dignity to provide for her family. Similarly, Raskolnikov’s crime is the result of his belief that his poverty justifies extreme actions.
Dostoyevsky does not simply portray poverty as a social condition but as a force that shapes character and behavior. Through Raskolnikov’s crime, the novel critiques a society that forces individuals into positions where they feel they have no choice but to compromise their moral integrity in order to survive. The novel’s exploration of poverty demonstrates how economic hardship can create moral ambiguity and contribute to personal and societal decay.
