Human Nature in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

One of the central themes of Crime and Punishment is human nature. Raskolnikov formulates his own theory about human nature. He thinks that some people have an extraordinary nature that permits them to do extraordinary things, such as commit murder. However, it is Raskolnikov's own very ordinary nature that leads to his demise. Human nature compels Raskolnikov to circle around the inescapable effects of his crime.

To a casual reader, Porfiry's statement that Raskolnikov will not run away may look like nothing more than a simple trick intended to convince him that there is no point in trying to escape, as sort of statement of "you can run, but you can't hide". However, there is much more to the story than that. All of Porfiry's rhetoric and cunning could never make him confess. Even when Porfiry finally confronts him with all of his infallible evidence, Raskolnikov, full of hatred and defiance says "but I did not confess anything... remember that" (462). Even Porfiry's continuous insinuations that Raskolnikov cannot escape do not compel him to confess. In this quote Porfiry makes it clear that the criminal, whoever it is, is too much of an intellectual to ever attempt escape. Much later, Porfiry says the same thing about Raskolnikov specifically. Porfiry knows that Raskolnikov will never run away. "You won't. A peasant would run away, a fashionable sectarian would run away...But you no longer believe your own theory- what would you run away on?" (461). Porfiry knows Raskolnikov's nature quite well, and he knows that there is nothing left for Raskolnikov to do. It takes the realization that he is a normal, ordinary human, one that cannot be the basis for an extraordinary theory before Raskolnikov can hope for confession and redemption.