Topic > The Brothers in Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

If the different types of motivation were considered on a spectrum, there would be some distance between instinct and reason. While instinct denotes an animalistic impulse, reason involves careful deliberation, a process that involves using logic to form judgments. In Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment, instinct and reason are both present, but operate on different levels to serve as forms of motivation for the siblings Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov (or Rodya) and Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikov (or Dunya). While Rodya tries to convince himself that his actions are the result of meticulous calculation, animalistic impulses are what ultimately trigger his actions. Dunya's actions appear to be motivated by an innate instinct to care for her brother, but she does not carry out her actions without supporting them with careful reasoning. Dunya repairs her reputation as an instinctive nature by bringing her merits to light, repairing the damage inflicted on her by Rodya's actions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Initially, Rodya's plan to kill the pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, seems to be a well-thought-out plan: he goes to her house to get a sense of the setting, tries to find out when her sister won't be home and devises a method to distract her while he prepares the axe. Although his rationality appears briefly when he realizes that he could never live with the guilt that would accompany the act, as the time before the planned murder decreases, it is clear that Rodya is behaving more like an animal than as a rational human being. External cues such as hearing Lizaveta tell the street vendor that she won't be home that night and the men in the tavern speculating about the pawnbroker's murder do not primarily serve as information to better flesh out her plan; these instances are more like pungent urges that drive him to commit murder before he is ready, as if he were “a man condemned to death” (Dostoevsky 51). The act of murder does not become an act of rationality, but an act imposed on him. However eloquently he manages to justify the act of murder, when he explains that certain men have the right to overcome "certain obstacles, and only in the case in which this is essential for the practical realization of his idea (sometimes, perhaps, of benefit all humanity” (206), the motive behind the murder he committed lacks such a noble purpose at the time of his execution His actions cast the instinctive nature in an unfavorable and barbaric light The reader comes to initially presented to Dunya indirectly through Raskolnikov's reaction to the news of her engagement. Her agreement to marry Luzhin is seen as an act of pure altruism for the sake of receiving money to help her brother, because “to save her own life she would not sell herself. , but for someone. Otherwise it does” (36). Likewise, Dunya seems to instinctively accept the requests contained in Svidrigailov's letter about Raskolnikov's crime, as if she did not take into account the probability that Svidrigailov is dangerous to her. However, Dunya backs her decision to perform these altruistic actions with well-established reasons. She does not immediately agree to marry Luzhin, but carefully deliberates in advance, “walking up and down the room all night; at the end he knelt before the icon and prayed long and fervently” (30). Although the reader does not have access to Dunya's thoughts during her deliberation, it is obvious that she spends hours weighing the costs and benefits of accepting marriage. Later, she clarifies her motives when she tells Rodya "I'm marrying Pyotr.