Crime and Punishment

In his book "Crime and Punishment", Dostoevsky explores the path of Raskolnikov who has many problems and obstacles throughout his life. He commits murder and is faced with the long and mentally extremely painful journey of seeking redemption. Raskolnikov believes that by a law of nature men have been "somewhat arbitrarily" divided into two groups of "ordinary" and "extraordinary". Raskolnikov believes that the duty of the ordinary group is to just exist, in order to …

…show is that although Raskolnikov believes he is an "extraordinary" human being and thus commits the murders, he is no better or worse than an ordinary man. He cannot escape the consequence of his crimes, and he is not above the common human. On the one hand, Raskolnikov thinks of himself as a sort of superior human. On the other hand, he realizes as the novel progresses he is just a part of common humanity.