Crime And Punishment

"Crime And Punishment" is probably one of the best known pieces of world literature. It has been studied by literary scholars, disciples of psychology or by simply those who just love reading a good novel. It is evident that the intriguing topic of the novel could be discussed in hundreds of pages. Here, I only want to mention some points I find very interesting in this novel. There is the unfortunate fate of the innocent bystander for one. This is an interesting point since Raskolnikov was motivated and felt justified to kill the old pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, who lived from exploiting him, among others. But with Lizaveta, whose only "crime" was to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, it was a different matter. He summoned up courage to murder someone he hated, and carried away by the same momentum, he killed someone he did not want to. Whatever we do, it is rarely focused on only the object of our actions, and crime is no exception. It is the involuntary nature of the second murder, that it lacked any personal motive, and was simply forced by the circumstances that makes Raskolnikov's deed really terrible, even for himself. The second and larger half of the novel than deals with the consequences of the murder, how Raskolnikov struggles with recurring memories, how he is finally driven to the point of confession, and finds religious comfort and peace from his menacing consciousness.

Woody Allen's "Match Point" (2005) is based heavily on some of these motifs. It paraphrases the story from a modern point of view. The bystander is a part of the plan from the beginning, a necessary obstacle on the way to the intended murder. The murder is not committed out of need, or to justify some higher moral cause, only to eliminate a person once beloved who is now being reduced to a factor preventing success in life. It would be appropriate to call Allen's work "Crime And Consequences", as it is the very lack of punishment and the consequent mental peace, the absence of "meaning" and the realisation that the world is such a place where one can get away with this deed, which is the disturbing thought that the murderer has to live with. The irony of the modern feeling of life is that one can actually live with it...

Brad Anderson's "The Machinist" (2004) is another modern day paraphrase of Dostoyevsky's novel. Here, we have only a bystander, there is no intent in murder, but neither there is for confession. It is the lack of intent that fuels the struggles against an unwanted reality, and it is the quest for courage to face the truth and suffer the consequences that eventually leads to relief from a much worse alienation. Punishment seems to serve a similar purpose here as for Raskolnikov, it makes it possible for one to find peace with oneself.