Fyodor Dostoyevskys stories are stories of a sort of rebirth. Heweaves a tale of suffering and how each character attempts to deliverthemselves from this misery. In the novel Crime and Punishment, hetells the story of Raskolnikov, a former student who murders an oldpawnbroker as an attempt to prove a theory. In Notes from theUnderground, we are given a chance to explore Dostoyevskys opinion ofhuman beings. Dostoyevskys characters are very similar, as is his stories. He putsa strong stress on the estrangement and isolation his characters feel.His characters are both brilliant and sick as mentioned in each novel,poisoned by their intelligence. In Notes from the Underground, thecharacter, who is never given a name, writes his journal from solitude.He is spoiled by his intelligence, giving him a fierce conceit withwhich he lashes out at the world and justifies the malicious things hedoes. At the same time, though, he speaks of the doubt he feels at thevalue of human thought and purpose and later, of human life. Hebelieves that intelligence, to be constantly questioning andfaithless(ly) drifting between ideas, is a curse. To be damned to seeeverything, clearly as a window (and that includes things that arentmeant to be seen, such as the corruption in the world) or constantlyseeking the meaning of things elusive. Dostoyevsky thought that humansare evil, destructive and irrational....
