Review: Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Crime and Punishment” may appear depressing at a first glance, but actually I think Dostoevsky’s view of human nature is rather optimistic here. Among the many subjects tackled by this book, I could see a couple of ideas that seem to pop up repeatedly in different characters’ stories:

1) Everyone can be a master of their own destiny, as long as they have the determination, faith and courage to endure some suffering along the way. (view spoiler)

2) However, nobody can control another person’s destiny; if they try, they will fail. (view spoiler) What’s interesting is that, ultimately, their failure is not caused by some external factor, deus ex machina or whatever. They personally set themselves up for failure – they make mistakes and fail even though they have the intelligence and power to carry out their plans perfectly. It’s as if people are genetically wired to mess up when doing something that they, deep inside, know is wrong.

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