Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, that was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments in 1866, and was later published as a novel. Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished St. Petersburg student who formulates and executes a plan to kill a hated, unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money, thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time, he argues, ridding the world of evil. Written at fever-heat, Crime and Punishment is considered by many as the first of Dostoevsky's cycle of great novels, which would culminate with his last completed work, The Brothers Karamazov, shortly before his death.

 

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Easton Press Editions

  Crime and Punishment - 100 Greatest Books Ever Written - 1980

 

Franklin Library Editions

  Crime and Punishment - 100 Greatest Books of All Time - 1975
  Crime and Punishment - World's Best Loved Books - 1978

Summary

The novel portrays the murder of a miserly, aged pawnbroker and her younger sister by a destitute Saint Petersburg student named Raskolnikov, and the emotional, mental, and physical effects that follow.

After falling ill with fever and lying bedridden for days, Raskolnikov is overcome with paranoia and begins to imagine that everyone he meets suspects him of the murder; the knowledge of his crime eventually compromises his sanity. However, he falls in love with the prostitute Sonya along the way. This relationship can be interpreted as an allegory of God's love for fallen humanity—and the redemptive power of that love—but only after Raskolnikov has confessed to the murder and been sent to imprisonment in Siberia.

Apart from Raskolnikov's fate, the novel, with its long and diverse list of characters, deals with themes including charity, family life, atheism, alcoholism, and revolutionary activity, with Dostoevsky highly critical of contemporary Russian society.

Raskolnikov believed that he was a "super-human," that he could justifiably perform what society considered a despicable act—the killing of the pawn broker—if it led to his being able to do more good through the act. Throughout the book there are examples: he mentions Napoleon many times, thinking that for all the blood he spilled, he was not morally culpable, as he was "above" the conventions of society. Raskolnikov believed that he could transcend this moral boundary by killing the money lender, gaining her money, and using it to do good. He argued that had Isaac Newton or Johannes Kepler needed to kill one or even a hundred men in order to enlighten humanity with their laws and ideas, it would be worth it. Thus he is thrown into a moral existential confusion over the death of the pawnbroker's sister. Never at any time in the novel is he repentant over the death of the pawnbroker.

Raskolnikov's real punishment is not the labour camp he is condemned to, but the torment he endures throughout the novel. This torment manifests itself in the aforementioned paranoia, as well as his progressive realization that he was not justified in his actions and he could not cope with what he had done. It is the resolution of the inner battle within himself - between his inhuman philosophy and his distinctly human character - that allows his redemption.

Structure

Crime and Punishment is divided into six parts, with an epilogue. The notion of duality in Crime and Punishment has been commented upon, with the suggestion that there is a degree of symmetry to the book. The novel has 6 parts, and "certain key episodes" are distributed in one half of the novel, and then again in the other half. Edward Wasiolek has likened the structure of Crime & Punishment to a "flattened X", saying:

“Parts I-III [of Crime and Punishment] present the predominantly rational and proud Raskolnikov: Parts IV-VI, the emerging "irrational" and humble Raskolnikov. The first half of the novel shows the progressive death of the first ruling principle of his character; the last half, the progressive birth of the new ruling principle. The point of change comes in the very middle of the novel.”

Crime and Punishment is written from a third-person omniscient perspective. It is told primarily from the point of view of Raskolnikov, however it does switch to the perspective of Svidrigailov, Razumikhin, and Dunya throughout the novel.

The Dreams

Rodya's dreams always have a symbolic meaning, which suggests a psychological view. In the dream about the horse, the mare has to sacrifice itself for the men who are too much in a rush to wait. This could be symbolic of women sacrificing themselves for men, just like Rodya's belief that Dunya is sacrificing herself for Rodya by marrying Luzhin. Some critics have suggested this dream is the fullest single expression of the whole novel, containing the nihilistic destruction of an innocent creature and Rodion's suppressed sympathy for it (although the young Rodion in the dream runs to the horse, he still murders the pawnbroker soon after waking). The dream is also mentioned when Rodya talks to Marmeladov. He states that his daughter, Sonya, has to sell her body to earn a living for their family. The dream is also a blatant warning for the impending murder.

In the final pages, Raskolnikov, who at this point is in the prison infirmiary, has a feverish dream about a plague of nihilism, that enters Russia and Europe from the east and which spreads senseless dissent (Raskolnikov's name alludes to "raskol", dissent) and fanatic dedication to "new ideas": it finally engulfs all of mankind. Though we don't learn anything about the content of these ideas they clearly disrupt society forever and are seen as exclusively critical assaults on ordinary thinking: it is clear that Dostoevsky was envisaging the new, politically and culturally nihilist ideas which were entering Russian literature and society in this watershed decade, and with which Dostoevsky would be in debate for the rest of his life (cp. Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done?, Dobrolyubov's abrasive journalism, Turgenev's Fathers and Sons and Dostoesvsky's own The Possessed). Just like the novel demonstrates and argues Dostoevsky's conviction that "if God doesn't exist (or is not recognized) then anything is permissible" the dream sums up his fear that if men won't check their thinking against the realities of life and nature, and if they are unwilling to listen to reason or authority, then no ideas or cultural institutions will last and only brute barbarism can be the result. Janko Lavrin, who took part in the revolutions of the WWI era, knew Lenin and Trotsky and many others, and later would spend years writing and researching on Dostoevsky and other Russian classics, called this final dream "prophetic in its symbolism".

The Cross

Sonya gives Rodya a cross when he goes to turn himself in. This cross represents suffering. He takes his pain upon him by carrying the cross through town, like Jesus; in an allusion to the account of the Crucifixion, he falls to his knees in the town square on the way to his confession. Sonya carried the cross up until then, which indicates that, as literally mentioned in the book, she suffers for him, in a semi-Christ-like manner. Sonya and Lizaveta had exchanged crosses and become spiritual sisters, originally the cross was Lizaveta's - so Sonya carries Lizaveta's cross, the cross of Rodya's innocent victim, whom he didn't intend to kill. Also, Rodya sees that the cross is made of cypress, which is a cross that symbolizes the ordinary and plain population, and by taking that particular cross he then admits that he's a plain human being, not a Nietzschean übermensch (although this specific concept had yet to be developed by Nietzsche). Finally, the name Rodya itself resembles the English word "rood," still used for "cross" at the time the novel was written.

St. Petersburg

This could be a symbol for Rodya's mind or his mental state. It is very confusing, dirty and disgusting. Even Rodya gets disgusted by the sight of it. The city is filled with prostitutes, symbolizing its utter social decadence. Sidney Monas likened its appearance to imagery found in T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, another example of its grotesque demeanor. Indeed, the city plays such an important part in the novel that it is almost a character in itself.

Many of the characters in the novel might be said to be symbolic doubles of Raskolnikov: they share some of his personal traits or something in his situation: his pride and sense of ambition (Dunya), his ongoing moral dilapidation (Svidrigailov), the threat of sinking into destitution and going under (Marmeladov), the loyalty to one's family (Sonya; this feeling is undermined in him by the crime, but the opening scene when Rodion reads the letter from home makes it clear that the bond between him and his mother and, in particular, his sister, has always been a strong one, and Dunya is, after Sonya, the second person to whom he confesses his crime).

Characters

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, variously called Rodya and Rodka, is the protagonist from whose perspective the story is primarily told. He was a student, but due to his abject poverty, had to leave the university. He resides in a small and squalid top-floor flat in the slums of Saint Petersburg. Despite the name of the novel it does not so much deal with his crime and its formal punishment as with Raskolnikov's internal struggle. In the main, his punishment results more from his conscience than from the law. He commits the murder in the belief that he possesses enough intellectual and emotional fortitude to deal with a murder [based on his paper/thesis, "On Crime"], that he is a Napoleon, but his paranoia and guilt soon engulf him. It is only in the epilogue that his formal punishment is realized, having decided to confess and end his alienation. His name derives from the Russian word raskolnik, meaning “schismatic” or “divided,” an allusion to Raskolnikov's self-imposed schism from Russian society, as well as his own split personality and constantly changing emotional state.

Sonya Semyonovna Marmeladova

Sonya Semyonovna Marmeladova, variously called Sonia and Sonechka, is the daughter of a drunk, Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, whom Raskolnikov meets in a tavern at the beginning of the novel. It is not until Semyon's death, and Sonya's thanks for Raskolnikov's generosity, that the two characters meet. She has been driven into prostitution by the habits of her father, but she is still strongly religious. Rodion finds himself drawn to her to such an extent, that she becomes the first person to whom he confesses his crime. She supports him even though she is friends with one of the victims (Lizaveta). For most of the novel, Sonya serves as the spiritual guide for Raskolnikov; she encourages him to take up faith and confess. He does, and after his confession she follows him to Siberia where she lives in the same town as the prison; it is here that Raskolnikov begins his spiritual rebirth.

Other characters

Porfiry Petrovich

The detective in charge of solving Raskolnikov's murders who, along with Sonya, guides Raskolnikov towards confession. Despite the lack of evidence he becomes certain Raskolnikov is the murderer following several conversations with him, but gives Raskolnikov the chance to confess voluntarily. He is very interested in the psychology behind the motives of criminals. After the heinous double murder, Raskolnikov is terribly disturbed by bouts of illness and fainting, his recurrent nightmares, the smell of fresh paint, and the memory of the blood-spattered crime scene. His weakness and suffering after the crime makes him realize that he is not the superior or extraordinary person he thinks he is. Porfiry's eyes are his most expressive part, squinting, dripping, menacing and even winking, which drives Raskolnikov insane with guilt and eventually leads him to his confession.

Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova

Raskolnikov's strong willed and self-sacrificing sister, called Dunya, Dounia or Dunechka for short. She initially plans to marry the wealthy, yet somewhat smug and self-possessed, Luzhin to save the family from financial destitution but is followed to St. Petersburg by the disturbed Svidrigailov, who seeks to win her back through blackmail. She rejects both men in favour of Raskolnikov's loyal friend, Razumikhin.

Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov

Sensual, depraved, and wealthy former employer and current pursuer of Dunya, suspected of multiple acts of murder, who overhears Raskolnikov's confessions to Sonya. With this knowledge he torments both Dunya and Raskolnikov but does not inform the police. When Dunya tells him she could never love him (after attempting to shoot him) he lets her go and commits suicide. Whereas Sonya represents the path to salvation, Svidrigailov represents the other path towards suicide. Despite his apparent malevolence, Svidrigailov is similar to Raskolnikov in regard to his random acts of charity. He fronts the money for the Marmeladov children to enter an orphanage (after both their parents die) and leaves the rest of his money to his juvenile fiancée.

Dmitri Prokofich Razumikhin

Raskolnikov's loyal, good-natured and only friend. Raskolnikov repeatedly entrusts the care of his family over to Razumikhin, who lives up to his word. He can be seen as a foil to Raskolnikov, they both studied at the university together; however, Razumikhin is energetic and optimistic in contrast to Raskolnikov's nihilism. He and Dunya ultimately fall in love and marry.

Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladov

Semyon Marmeladov's sick and (understandably) ill-tempered (second) wife, step-mother to Sonya. She drives Sonya into prostitution in a fit of rage, but later regrets it. Following Marmeladov's death she becomes insane and dies shortly after.

Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov

Hopeless but amiable drunk who indulges in his own suffering, and father of Sonya. In the bar he informs Raskolnikov of his familial situation and how he feels incapable of helping them. When Marmeladov is run over by a carriage and killed, Raskolnikov identifies the man's body in the street; Raskolnikov also donates all of his money (which was obtained by his mother as a loan for her pension and sent to Raskolnikov just prior to her arrival to Petersburg) to Marmeladov's family to help with funerary expenses. Marmeladov could be seen as a Russian equivalent of the character of Micawber in Charles Dickens' novel, David Copperfield.

Pulkheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov's relatively clueless, hopeful mother. She informs him of his sister's plans to marry Luzhin. Following Raskolnikov's sentence, she falls ill (mentally and physically) and eventually dies. She hints in her dying stages that she is slightly more aware of her son's fate, which was hidden from her by Dunya and Razumikhin.

Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin

Despicable man who wants to marry Dunya so she'll be completely subservient to him. Raskolnikov does not take kindly to him and Luzhin is embittered. He embodies the evils of monetary greed, and after attempting to frame Sonya for theft, leaves St. Petersburg in shame.

Andrey Semyenovich Lebezyatnikov

Luzhin's utopian socialist roommate who witnesses his attempt to frame Sonya and subsequently exposes him.

Alyona Ivanovna

Old pawnbroker who is not particularly kind. She is Raskolnikov's intended target for murder.

Lizaveta Ivanovna

Alyona's simple, innocent sister who arrives during the murder, and is subsequently killed. She was a friend of Sonya's.

Zosimov

A friend of Razumikhin and a doctor who cared for Raskolnikov.

Nastasya Petrovna

Raskolnikov's landlady's servant and a friend of Raskolnikov.

Nikodim Fomich

The amiable Chief of Police.

Ilya Petrovich

A police official and Fomich's assistant, often referred to as "Lieutenant Gunpowder" in regards to his short temper. He is also the officer delibrately chosen by Raskolnikov to confess to.

Alexander Grigorievich Zametov

Corrupt head clerk at the police station and friend to Razumikhin. Raskolnikov arrouses Zametov's suspicions by explaining how he, Raskolnikov, would have committed various crimes. This scene illustrates the argument of Raskolnikov's belief in his own superiority as übermensch.

Nikolai Dementiev

A painter and sectarian who admits to the murder, since his sect holds it to be supremely virtuous to suffer for another person's crime.

Polina Mikhailovna Marmeladova

Ten-year-old adopted daughter of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov and younger step-sister to Sonya, sometimes known as Polenka.


Source and additional information: Crime and Punishment