Alisha McCormick

C&P Essay (topic one)

5AP
12 January 2015
Crime and Punishment was not written out of enjoyment or for Fyodor Dostoevskys
relaxation or leisure. The novel was written to portray thoughts and ideas that the Russian
government would have otherwise killed a citizen for thinking. Dostoevsky wrote Crime and
Punishment, and many other works, as forms of propaganda. Many historians say that history
tends to repeat itself; for Russia this seems to be very true. Throughout Russian history there
have been many wars all occurring for the same reason, deaths of rulers and new rulers coming
to power, a society that continues to evolve and industrialize as the country grows in population.
Three historical events that particularly affected Dostoevsky were the death of Tsar Nicholas in
1855, the new code of law in 1835, and the murders committed by Pierre Franois Lacenaire in
1834. The history of Russia, before and during Dostoevskys life, is crucial to the propaganda
contained in not only one of his most famous works, Crime and Punishment, but in each and
every one of his works.
The death of a beloved ruler leads to new rulers which tends to lead to new laws and way
of life. Throughout Dostoevskys life there have been leaders that rose and fell, laws passed and
denied, almost always changing every day life in Russia; sometimes drastically, and sometimes
only a small amount.
In 1835 the new code of law was set into place. One of which gave more respect to the
Jewish. Raskolnikov, the main character in Crime and Punishment, attempts to find a religion

and repent for his sins, committing two brutal murders. This accompanies the new found respect
for the Jewish during the same time period.
In 1855 Tsar Nicholas dies of pneumonia after refusing medical treatment during the
Crimen War. Though his death was medical related there were rumors of Tsar Nicholas
committing suicide. Dostoevskys main character, Raskolnikov, obtains and illness shortly after
committing his crimes; literally worrying himself into an illness. This may be Dostoevsky using
his writing and characters behavior to refer to the rumors of the Tsars suicidal state of mind.
The murders committed by Pierre Franois Lacenaire in 1834 fascinated Dostoevsky; to
the point of obsession. In the novel, Crime and Punishment, the main character Rodion
Romanovich Raskolnikov, commits two brutal murders, one of which was a principle and the
other an innocent and kind young woman. The murders committed by Lacenaire were almost an
exact match to the murders committed by Raskolnikov; down to the murder weapon, a
hatchet/axe, and the victims description, an old woman. Dostoevsky portrays the life of Alonya
Ivanova; to be a greedy, self-centered, and inconsiderate woman, who cheats citizens out of their
money and enslaves her sister. These qualities Dostoevsky instills in Alonya gives the unstable,
and possibly mentally ill, Raskolnikov, a seemingly good motive for murdering this woman.
Writers tell their true thoughts through what they write. Dostoevsky, making the rich old
woman the way she was in reality represents Mother Russia and how Russia takes the lower
classs money and hoards it for themselves showing one of Dostoevskys many uses of
propaganda against Mother Russia.
The history and present day, during Dostoevskys life, affected him tremendously. The
reader can piece together multiple forms of propaganda from his many works. In Crime and
Punishment Doestovskys main being he instilled propaganda into was Raskolnikov. In each of

these three events; the death of Tsar Nicholas in 1855, the new code of law in 1835, and the
murders committed by Pierre Franois Lacenaire in 1834, Raskolnikov experiences some similar
event in his life. Propaganda is used in various forms in order to give the public the authors
opinion in a way the government can not penalize the author for; Dostoevsky used propaganda in
this form a great deal of times in the novel Crime and Punishment.