Body Paragraph : Superiority

If one had to choose between a single person being killed or a thousand people getting killed, usually one would feel morally obligated to choose the single person. However, things get more complicated if that single person was someone like Albert Einstein or George Washington. It proves that humans are valued differently based on their “productivity” or conceived importance even though in the end all people die. Raskolnikov was dealing with a great internal conflict if he was important enough to be able to live even though others had to die. He continuously compared himself to Napoleon, because he viewed Napoleon as one of the people who’s single life was worth more than other’s lives. In one of Raskolnikov contemplations he said, “I didn't kill a human being, but a principle!” (page 261), which shows that when he killed Alyona Ivanova, he wasn't completely doing it for money or because he was mentally ill. He did it to prove something to himself that there is superiority when it comes to human lives, and he is more superior than other people. However, like the narrator from Notes From the Underground, Raskolnikov is conflicted as to if he really is superior or not. On page 261 he says, “is it that I am perhaps viler and more loathsome than that the louse I killed” because he is no longer sure that he can justify his murder, even though he tried to “pick out the most useless one”, referring to Alyona Ivanova. There is a concept of “bloodshed in the name of consciousness” that Porfiry brought up from one of Raskolnikov’s controversial articles that Raskolnikov was previously sticking to and giving his life up for. Like the narrator from NFTU Raskolnikov sees himself as both inferior and superior, or how Raskolnikov put it “ordinary and extraordinary” (page 247). By being extraordinary, one has rights that the ordinary men do not have simply because of their titile. The extraordinary people “have a right to commit any crime and transgress the law in any way” (page 247). This is how Raskolnikov justifies his right to kill Alyona Ivanova because he is simply “extraordinary” and she is “ordinary”. There are many times when people hear of celebrities or extremely wealthy people have less severe  punishments than regular everyday people. Whether one thinks that it is due to those people being able to get better lawyers or really the legal system is less harsh on more “important” people, its not a phenomenon that is far from reality. Raskolnikov thought it was okay to kill Alyona Ivanova to create that separation that he is an extraordinary person and that she was ordinary, and that should make the murder valid and not worthy of a punishment.