Anyone who has had any experience with theater has heard at least once the colloquialism "there are no small parts, only small actors". Some may scoff at this banality, pointing out the fact that, of course, there are small parts; Most literary works contain several "small parts". But the root of this statement is true: no matter how "small" a character's part may be, that character makes a contribution, large or small, to the story. And in Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic work, Crime and Punishment, a central character who provides a key turning point has only two brief appearances. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Alyona Ivanovna is a pawnbroker and loan shark. This acceptable existence, vaguely embarrassing for a woman, leads at the beginning of the novel to wanting to ignore her first and foremost as a mere surface character. But as the story develops, it becomes quite clear that both Alyona Ivanovna and her despicable character are a vital part of Raskolnikov's plan to achieve extraordinary status. To begin with, Alyona Ivanovna first presents a problem for Raskolnikov with her murder, albeit quite indirectly. While beating Alena Ivanovna with the butt of an axe, her sister Lizaveta returns from an errand and comes across the horrific scene. Surprised by her arrival, Raskolnikov turns on her and kills her too. This event presents Raskolnikov with two dilemmas: he killed not just one woman, but two, of which he had no intention of hurting the second, and the fact that he killed Lizaveta could ruin his theory of the Extraordinary Man, of the Ubermensch . As a result of this possibility, Raskolnikov comes to more or less ignore Lizaveta's murder. As Raskolnikov's experience progresses, several holes in his theory lead the reader to believe that Raskolnikov is not, in fact, an extraordinary man. These can be directly linked to Alyona Ivanovna or her murder. It becomes apparent that perhaps Alyona Ivanovna wasn't quite the despicable, evil character she first appeared to Raskolnikov to be, or at least not worth killing. While in her mind she was an evil miser who withheld money from the destitute of St. Petersburg, she too was one of the destitute. She was not a powerful money collector who robbed the poor who needed to be destroyed. She was simply "a louse". from starvation, or perhaps to continue their education, ultimately improving the lives of many others. But in the panic after the murders, he seizes almost no money and can't even see how much he took or the value of the items he took. Instead he hides them under a rock in a side alley. In this way it fails to achieve its original purpose. Finally, Raskolnikov destroys his chance to be extraordinary right at the scene of Alyona Ivanovna's murder, directly violating one of the limits he himself imposed on the Ubermensch: the extraordinary man must not make mistakes in the implementation of his mission. Unlike his Ubermensch, Raskolnikov neglects several aspects in carrying out his "courageous" act. From the start he is behind his time limit, arriving at Alyona Ivanovna's apartments long after expected. Secondly, not only did he not lock the door, but he didn't even lock it properly, practically asking Lizaveta to come in for his dastardly act. Furthermore, it did not even achieve its original goal of helping the suffering majority of St. Petersburg, recovering almost no money from the trunk of..