Crime And Punishment

Crime and Punishment (Преступление и наказание) is a novel written in 1866 by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Along with War and Peace, this novel is amongst the best known and most influential Russian novels of all time. The novel gives expression to Dostoevsky's existentialist views.

Plot

The novel portrays the carefully planned murder of a miserly, aged pawnbroker by a destitute Saint Petersburg student named Raskolnikov, followed by the emotional, mental, and physical effects of that action. 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 drives him mad. Along the way, however, he meets the prostitute Sofya Semyonovna, with whom he falls in love. Dostoevsky uses this relationship as an allegory of God's love for fallen humanity, and that love's redemptive power: 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 Russian revolutionary activity, with Dostoevsky highly critical of contemporary Russian society. Although Dostoevsky rejected socialism, the novel also appears to be critical of the capitalism that was making its way into Russian society at that time. Raskolnikov believed that he was a "superhuman," that he could justifiably perform a scrofulous act—the killing of the money lender—if it led to him being able to do a lot of good. Throughout the book there are examples: he mentions Napoleon many times, thinking that for all the blood he spilled, he did good. 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 Newton or Galileo had to kill one or even a hundred men in order to enlighten humanity with their laws and ideas, it would be worth it. Raskolnikov's real punishment is not the labour camp he is condemmed to, but the torment he endures throughout the novel. This torment manifests itself in the aforementioned paranoia, as well as his progressive belief that he is not a "superhuman", as he could not cope with what he had done. See also: Russian literature.

Characters

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, variously called Rodya and Rodka, is the protagonist from whos perspective the story is primarily told. The reader is told that he was a student, now fallen out, who is living in abject poverty in the a top-floor flat in the slums of Saint Petersburg. Despite the name of the novel it does not deal with his crime and its formal punishment but with Raskolnikovs internal struggle and failing justification of his actions. The murder is committed in the belief that he is strong enough to deal with a murder, that he is a Napoleon, but his paranoia and guilt soon engulfs him. It is only in the epilogue that his formal punishment is realised, having decided to confess and end his alienation.

Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova

Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova, variously called Sonya and Sonechka, is the daughter of a drunk, Semyon Zakharovich, 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, despite which she is strongly religious. Rodion finds himself drawn to her to such an extent she is the first person to which he confesses his crime. Despite one of the victims, Lizaveta, being a friend of hers she supports him—encouraging he take up faith and confess. After his confession she follows him to Siberia where she lives in the same town as the prison - it is here that Rodion finally falls in love with her.

Other Characters

  • Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova
  • Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov
  • Dmitri Prokofych Razumikhin
  • Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova
  • Porfiry Petrovich
  • Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov
  • Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova
  • Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin
  • Andrei Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov
  • Alyona Ivanovna
  • Lizaveta Ivanovna
  • Zossimov
  • Nastasya Petrovna
  • Ilya Petrovich
  • Alexander Grigorievich Zamyotov
  • Nikolai Dementiev
  • Polina Mikhailovna Marmeladova

Structure

The novel is divided up into six parts with an epilogue. Each part contains between five and eight chapters and the epilogue has two. The entire novel is written from a third person past tense omniscient perspective chiefly from Raskolnikov's point of view though it briefly switches to Dunya, Svidrigailov and Sonya during its course.

Movie versions

There have been literally dozens of film adaptions of the novel. Some of the best-known are:

External links

 

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