While Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky revolves around a murder of two poor women yet the novel focuses on the repercussions for the murder rather than the crime against the women. Why does Dostoevsky write about such a heinous act of murder and such a universal topic as death and then ignore both issues as he continues his novel?
Because one of the women, Alyona Ivanovna, is an evil and decrepit pawn broker, Dostoevsky’s dismissal of the severe action against her can be seen as permissible. In life, just as in Crime and Punishment, those who cheat others and are frugal with compassion are not well remembered, and only if their deaths are dramatic will they have the pleasure to be remembered as victims. Dostoevsky lacks emphasis on Alyona Ivanovna’s death to serve as a warning against those who hideaway like hermits in order to avoid connecting with others. Ignoring humanity and being caught up in greed will only keep one alive for as long as people are offended by them.
While Dostoevsky understandably negates compassion from Alyona, he also does not seem to provide her younger sister, Lizaveta, with the eulogy such a kind and gentle character deserves. Lizaveta lives her life as a servant to all, especially her sister. However, at the same time, she provides hope to people like Sonia, who she teaches about faith and scripture. Sonia remembers Lizaveta well due to their time spent uplifting one another. Simply Lizaveta’s attention towards the young girl stamps her into Sonia’s heart forever. With this, Dostoevsky demonstrates the power that comes with heart-to-heart conversations and the love that can grow out of small gestures of compassion.
Lizaveta’s death is also the murder that Raskolnikov regrets causing. While he can live with murdering an unloved recluse, he pains over his killing of Lizaveta. Because Lizaveta’s death was unexpected and uninvited, she has become the focus of the crime rather than Alyona (who is the reason for it). Dostoevsky shifts attention to Lizaveta in order to remark on the influence of character in such a tragic event. While neither victim is truly deserving of being murdered, only the one that was kind to others is missed.
Crime and Punishment reveals the societal response to the greatest of crimes through time as uninterested if there is reason to understand its motives. When the victim has by any means called for such an act, society seems to forget and forgive; however, when murder is unjust and unexpected, society feels its memory of the victim burned into its heart. Lizaveta’s name is not shouted and paraded through the streets because Lizaveta was not strong enough to break away from her sister, but because she was kind and compassionate she is carried quietly in the minds of those who knew her.
