Crime and Punishment

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This article is about the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky; for the television show, see Crime & Punishment, for the Commodore 64 computer game, see Crime and Punishment (computer game).

Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступление и наказание) is a novel written and published in 1866 by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. First published as a series in a Russian magazine and published in book form in 1867.

Along with Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, the novel is considered one of the best-known and most influential Russian novels of all time. The novel expresses Dostoevsky's religious and existentialist views, along with his views on past psychological question and isolation, with a predominant focus on the theme of attaining salvation through Jesus Christ or suffering.

Contents

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Structure

The novel is divided into six parts with an epilogue. Each part contains between five and eight chapters, while the epilogue has two. The entire novel is written from a third person past tense limited perspective, chiefly from Raskolnikov's point of view. However, the point of view does shift briefly to that of Dunya, Svidrigailov and Sonya throughout the novel.

In 1971, an unpublished scene written in first person perspective from Raskolinkov's point of view was released with Dostoevsky's annotated manuscript of the Russian Literary Monuments series. A translation of that scene is available in most modern editions of the novel.

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Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The novel portrays the haphazardly planned 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 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 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. 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 "super-human," that he could justifiably perform a despicable act—the killing of the money lender—if it led to him 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 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 Kepler 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 condemned to, but the torment he endures throughout the novel. This torment manifests itself in the aforementioned paranoia, as well as his progressive realisation that he is not a "super-human", as he could not cope with what he had done.

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Characters

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Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, variously called Rodya and Rodka, is the protagonist from whose 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 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 Raskolnikov's 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 [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 realised, 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.

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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, but she is still strongly religious. Rodion finds himself drawn to her to such an extent she is the first person to whom he confesses his crime. She supports him even though she is friends with one of the victims (Lizaveta). 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.

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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 come clean of his own accord.
  • Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova - Raskolnikov's sister, called Dunya for short, who plans to marry the wealthy, yet morally depraved, Luzhin to save the family from financial destitution. She 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. 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 rather young fiancée.
  • Dmitri Prokofych 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 and Dunya ultimately fall in love and marry.
  • Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova - Semyon Marmeladov's sick and (understandably) ill-tempered wife. 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 most of his money 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.
  • Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova - Raskolnikov's relatively clueless, hopeful mother. She informs him of his sister's plans to marry Luzhin.
  • 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.
  • Andrei Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov - Luzhin's radically 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.
  • Zossimov - A friend of Razumikhin and a doctor who cared for Raskolnikov.
  • Nastasya Petrovna - Raskolnikov's landlady's servant and a friend of Raskolnikov.
  • Ilya Petrovich - A police official.
  • 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 uber-mensch.
  • Nikolai Dementiev - A painter who admits to the murder.
  • Polina Mikhailovna Marmeladova- 10 year old daughter of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov and younger sister to Sonya, sometimes known as Polenka.
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Analysis

The behavior of Raskolnikov throughout the book can also be found in other works of Dostoevsky, such as Notes from Underground and The Brothers Karamazov, (his behavior is most similar to Ivan Karamazov from The Brothers Karamazov). He creates suffering for himself by killing the pawnbroker and living so destitutely despite his ability to get a good job. Razumikhin was in the same situation as Raskolnikov and lived to a large degree better, and when Razumikhin offered to get him a job, Raskolnikov refused; he led on the police that he was the murderer, even though they had no evidence of it. He constantly tries to reach and defy the boundaries of what he can or cannot do (throughout the book he is always measuring his own fear, and mentally trying to talk himself out of it), and his depravity (referring to his irrationality and paranoia) is commonly interpreted as an affirmation of himself as a transcendent conscience and a rejection of rationality and reason. This is a theme common in existentialism; interestingly enough Friedrich Nietzsche, in Twilight of the Idols praised Dostoevsky's writings despite the theism present in it, "Dostoevsky, the only psychologist, by the way, from whom I had anything to learn; he is one of the happiest accidents of my life, even more so than my discovery of Stendhal." Walter Kaufmann considered Dostoevsky's works to be the inspiration for Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Raskolnikov believes that only after defying morality and the law through killing some one can he be one of the greats, like Napoleon (he left most of the money in the pawnbroker's house). Dostoevsky also uses Sofya to show how only belief in God can cure man's depravity, which is where Dostoevsky differs from many other existentialists. Though this particular philosophy is unique to Dostoevsky, because of its emphasis of Christianity and existentialism (whether or not Dostoevsky was a true existentialist is debated), similar themes can be seen in writings by Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Herman Hesse and Franz Kafka.

The novel's epilogue contains several references to stories from the New Testament, including the story of Lazarus, whose death and rebirth parallel Raskolnikov's spiritual death and rebirth; and the Book of Revelation, mirrored in a dream Raskolnikov has of an nihilstic plague turning into a world-wide epidemic.

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Themes

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Salvation through suffering

Crime and Punishment illustrates the theme of attaining salvation through suffering, a common feature in Dostoevsky's work. This is the (mainly Christian) notion that the act of suffering has a purifying effect on the human spirit allowing for salvation in God. A character who embodies this theme is Sofya, who maintains enough faith to guide and support Raskolnikov despite her own immense suffering. While it may seem grim, it is a relatively optimistic notion in the realm of Christian morality. For example, even the originally malevolent Svidrigailov is able to perform extreme acts of charity following the suffering induced by Dunya's complete rejection. Dostoevsky holds to the idea that salvation is a possible option for all people, even those who have sinned grievously. It is the realization of this fact that leads to Raskolnikov's confession. Although Dunya could never love Svidrigailov, Sonya loves Raskolnikov and exemplifies the trait of ideal Christian forgiveness, allowing Raskolnikov to confront his crime and accept his punishment.

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Christian existentialism

A central idea in Christian existentialism is defining the moral boundaries of human action within a God ruled world. Raskolnikov examines the set boundaries and decides that an ostensibly immoral act is justifiable under the condition that it leads to something incredibly great. However, Dostoevsky rules against such ambitious thinking by having Raskolnikov crumble and fail in the aftermath of his crime.

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Symbols

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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. It is also mentioned when Rodya talks to Mermeladov. 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.

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The Cross

Sonya gives Rodya a cross when he goes to turn himself in. This cross is suffering. He takes his pain upon him by carrying the cross through town, like Jesus. 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. 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 overman.

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St. Petersburg

This could be a symbol for Rodya's mind or his mental state. It's very confusing, dirty and disgusting. Even Rodya gets disgusted by the sight of it.

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English translations

There have been several translations of Crime in Punishment into English.

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Movie versions

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

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External links

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