A central theme in Crime and Punishment is Raskolnikov’s struggle between good and evil. Indeed, the true battles of this world are not fought on bloodied fields or tarnished shores, but rather in the hearts and souls of men like Raskolnikov who are rioted against themselves. In this war, Raskolnikov’s rebirth in Crime and Punishment is a testament to the strength of good and the fragility of evil. Moreover, his realization in the thirteenth chapter reveals the importance of living, regardless of how difficult life may be:
“Where is it I've read that someone condemned to death says or think, an hour before his death, that if he had to live on some high rock, on such a narrow ledge that he'd only room to stand, and the ocean, everlasting darkness, everlasting solitude, everlasting tempest around him, if he had to remain standing on a square yard of space all his life, a thousand years, eternity, it were better to live so than to die at once! Only to live, to live and live! Life, whatever it may be!”
Thus Raskolnikov discovers the significance of perspective, the indescribable worth of realizing that it is better to live in a world full of both iniquity and decency than to not live at all.
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