Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was published in 1866. Crime and Punishment centers on Raskolnikov, a poor former university student in St. Petersburg.
At the beginning of the novel, Raskolnikov is brooding about his poverty and ill health. To get money, he murders an old woman pawnbroker he considers unfit to live. He also kills the pawnbroker’s sister after she surprises him in the attack. Raskolnikov justifies his crime to himself by insisting that he needed the money to help his family and to benefit humanity. Raskolnikov also claims that by committing murder he has displayed a superior nature that places him above the law. In his own mind, he considers himself equal to the French leader Napoleon I.
After the crime, Raskolnikov is overcome with anxiety and fear. As his conscience tears at him, Raskolnikov comes to hate his crime and gains consolation only from a young prostitute named Sonya, whose family he tries to help with some of the stolen money. He confesses to Sonya and she urges him to turn himself in to the authorities.
Police inspector Porfiry Petrovich already suspects Raskolnikov of the murders and awaits the confession he is certain Raskolnikov will make. Raskolnikov finally confesses, though he refuses to admit sorrow for killing the pawnbroker. He is sentenced to imprisonment in Siberia, where the devoted Sonya follows him. During his imprisonment, Raskolnikov finds the humility and peace he needs to make a sincere repentance.
Crime and Punishment is typical of Dostoevsky’s finest fiction in portraying an intensely individual and highly complex character caught up in an extremely dramatic plot. The author explores the struggle between good and evil for dominance of the human soul. Dostoevsky attempts to resolve this struggle by leading Raskolnikov to salvation through purifying suffering.
See also Dostoevsky, Fyodor.
