Moral Ambiguity What is a morally ambiguous character? It is a character whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely good or purely evil. In the 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 painful journey of seeking improvement. Dostoevsky conveys moral ambiguity in Raskolnikov by demonstrating how his actions are and moral and immoral. Raskolnikov overhears a man at the bar, “I could kill that damned old woman and make off with her money, I assure you, without the faintest conscience-prick” (Dostoevsky). Raskolnikov had “the very same idea” (Dostoevsky). His conscious told him to confess the murder, while his heart was unsure if he was ready to give himself up. Raskolnikovs’ indecisiveness and guilt caused him illness: depression, and slight delirium. They became his character. He “was crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weight him down” (Dostoevsky). While both sides of his situation were very comprehensible, his uncertainty in his actions was the result of the biggest incidence, the murder of two innocent women. He mentally surfers thought the book. Raskolnikov’s suffering has a direct relationship with his guilt over his crimes. Raskolnikov tries to help people also. He's completely devoted to the Marmeladov family and tries to help them any way he can. Raskolnikov meets Katerina and sees firsthand the squalid conditions in which they live. Marmeladov was a heavy drinker as he says "I drink so that I may suffer twice as much” (Dostoevsky). On Raskolnikovs way back home, he discovers that Marmeladov has been run over by a carriage. Raskolnikov helps to carry him back to his apartment, where Marmeladov dies. At the apartment, he meets Sonya and gives the family twenty rubles that he received from his mother. He cares a lot for their family, later on confesses to giving all his money to the Marmeladovs. This was a very generous act of Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov meets the man, Svidrigailov. Svidrigailov is a figure whose presence throws Raskolnikov’s mental split into sharp relief by his own firm purpose and seems immune to moral responsibility. As Raskolnikov tells him, “I fancy indeed that you are a man of very good breeding, or at least know on occasion how to behave like one” (Dostoevsky). However, this “good breeding” is a rather thin costume for a character so absorbed with his own comfort and pleasure that he has become completely immoral. He is calm and rarely loses his temper, but his composure often hides plotting and conniving. He has committed several murders over the space of many years. But in accordance with the idea that the extraordinary man would merit no temporal or mental punishment, he is completely remorseless. Moreover, he is above human law, because the nature of his crimes is such that they can never be proven. Raskolnikov’s character is an interesting mix of good and bad traits; his generosity, compassion, and love for justice contrast sharply with his sullenness, morose attitude, and pride. The better side of his character makes it impossible for him to escape this guilt; however, the only conclusion he will admit is that he is not an extraordinary man. The idea that his theory may be wrong is intolerable to his pride even if he is one of the “worms” of the world, assured by moral laws and human regulations, his idea at least must be right.