Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a psychological novel about crime and inner conflict. Were Raskolnikov’s choices justified, and can his sins be forgiven?
Crime and Punishment plot
Raskolnikov, a young man living in a dilapidated boarding house in Pedersburg, contemplates murdering an old woman who pawns nearby. But he’s not brave enough to follow through. He meets and drinks with Marmeladov, a retired bureaucrat and Sonya’s father, at a bar. Marmeladov is an alcoholic and unemployed. Raskolnikov supports the drunken Marmeladov and drives him home, but is criticized by Marmeladov’s wife, Katerina, for drinking with her husband. Raskolnikov takes the money and leaves it on the window sill of Marmeladov’s room. The next morning, Raskolnikov receives a letter from Nastya, the boardinghouse maid, telling him that his sister Dunya is getting married. Raskolnikov is furious that Dunya is marrying Ruzin, an older lawyer, for the sake of the family. Angry, he takes to the streets to find his friend Razumihin, but he wanders around in a daze and returns to the boarding house. After a short nap, Raskolnikov has a nightmare in which he is surrounded by drunken men and a horse pulling a caravan and is being beaten. He wakes up distressed and takes to the streets again. In a market alley, Raskolnikov overhears a conversation between a merchant and Lizavetti, the sister of a pawnbroker. Lizavetti makes an appointment to meet the merchant at the market tomorrow evening at 7:00 pm. Lizavetti is the only sister who lives with the old woman, and if Lizavetti is at the market at 7:00, the old woman will be the only one in the pawnshop during that time. Raskolnikov takes this as a sign from God, and the next day, he hides the axe in his coat and visits the pawnbroker. Raskolnikov pretends to pawn the goods and kills the old woman with the axe. He then finds the key in her pocket, opens the trunk under the bed, and pockets the gold in it. Just then, Lizavetti, the old woman’s sister, enters the pawnshop and sees the murdered woman. Panicked, Raskolnikov kills Lizavetti with an axe and hurries out of the pawnshop.
The next day, Raskolnikov returns home and hides the items he stole from the pawnshop under the wallpaper in a corner of the house. As he is about to throw away the bloody clothes, he gets a chill and goes to bed. A short time later, he receives a summons to appear at the police station. Raskolnikov heads to the police station in despair. However, contrary to his expectations, the summons is for a boarding house bill that has nothing to do with the pawnshop murder. As Raskolnikov leaves the police station, he overhears the police chief and an officer discussing the pawnbroker’s murder. As Raskolnikov listens to them, he faints. When Raskolnikov regains consciousness, the officer immediately asks him what he was doing at the time of the pawnbroker’s death. The police chief feels sorry for Raskolnikov, who looks so weak, so he tells the officer to stop and sends Raskolnikov home. After returning home, Raskolnikov hides the items he stole from the pawnshop near a deserted river, fearing that his home will be searched. He then visits his friend Rajumihin. Raskolnikov rambles in front of Razumihin and then returns to the boarding house. Raskolnikov’s behavior is strange, and Razumihin follows him. Raskolnikov falls unconscious for three days after entering the house, during which time he is cared for by Razumihin and medical student Zosimov. When Raskolnikov wakes up, he is anxious and asks Razumihin if he spoke nonsense in his sleep. Razumihin discusses the murder of the pawnbroker’s old woman with medical student Zosimov, who is beside him. After dismissing them, Raskolnikov visits the pawnshop again, and after looking into the old woman’s room, he goes out into the street. Raskolnikov finds Marmeladov, who has been hit by a carriage, and takes him home, where he meets Marmeladov’s daughter, Sonya. Marmeladov eventually dies, and Raskolnikov gives 25 roubles to Sonya’s sister Katerina and leaves Sonya’s house. At this point, Raskolnikov meets again with the police chief, who has come to handle Marmeladov’s case. After leaving the house, Sonya’s sister asks Raskolnikov for his address and name, saying that Sonya told her to ask him. She then tells him that she will pray for him for the rest of her life. This gives Raskolnikov a sense of pride. Now Raskolnikov begins to justify the old woman’s murder.
When Raskolnikov returns home, he sees his sister Dunya and his mother, who have come to discuss their marriage. Raskolnikov says he doesn’t want Dunya to marry Luzhin. Razumihin, who is present, is angry with Raskolnikov for speaking harshly to Dunya. Razumihin takes Raskolnikov’s mother and sister back to the inn where they are staying. The next day, Dunya and her mom visit Raskolnikov again. Feeling better than yesterday, Raskolnikov is happy to see them. After a while, Sonya visits Raskolnikov, who asks him to attend her father’s funeral. Raskolnikov agrees and asks Sonya to give him her home address. Sonya points to the address and leaves Raskolnikov’s house. Sonya is attracted to Raskolnikov. When Raskolnikov hears that the preliminary judge is investigating people who pawned items, he decides to meet with the preliminary judge himself. When Raskolnikov realizes that his friend Razumihin is related to him, he goes with him to Porfiry’s house. Raskolnikov meets Porfirin and tries to explain himself, but Porfirin has already done his research on Raskolnikov. He tells Raskolnikov that he was impressed with an article Raskolnikov had written two months earlier called Crime. It was about how extraordinary people don’t become criminals. Porfiry expresses interest in Raskolnikov’s paper and asks what he was doing at the time of the pawnshop murder. Razumihin tells him that Raskolnikov went to the pawnshop before the murder and leaves Porfiry’s house. Later that day, Raskolnikov is tormented by nightmares of murdering the pawnbroker’s old lady. One day, a man comes to Raskolnikov’s house. It is Svidrigailov, the owner of the house when Dunya was a tutor in the family home. Svidrigailov asks Raskolnikov to let him see Dunya and then leaves. Later, Razumihin comes to visit, and Raskolnikov goes to see his mother and sister, Dunya, who are staying at the inn. Raskolnikov tells Dunya that Svidrigailov and his wife have left him money, but Dunya refuses to take it, saying that she will marry Luzhin. Raskolnikov objects to the idea of marrying the older Ruzin, and when Ruzin, who is nearby, curses at his brother in front of Dunya, his mother and Dunya are disappointed in Ruzin and throw him out of the inn. Dunya swears to Raskolnikov that she will never see Luzhin again. Raskolnikov tells Doña and her mother that he has done his duty, asks Razumihin to take care of her, and leaves. Raskolnikov goes to see Sonya. He asks her to read the part of the Bible where Lazarus is raised from the dead. When Sonya finishes reading, Raskolnikov seems to have made up his mind and leaves Sonya’s house with a hint about the pawnbroker’s murderer. However, Svidrigailov, who is staying at Sonya’s house, overhears their conversation. The next day, Raskolnikov visits the office of Porfiry, the pretrial judge. Raskolnikov shouts at Porfirin to make a proper arrest if he is convinced that he is the murderer. Just then, Nikolai, who has been mistaken for the old woman’s killer, enters the office, drops to his knees, and confesses to Porfirin that he killed the old woman. Raskolnikov is stunned. After being cleared of murder, Raskolnikov visits Sonya and tells her everything, including that he killed the old woman. Sonya encourages Raskolnikov to turn himself in. After returning home, Raskolnikov thinks about it for a few days and says goodbye to Dunya, who comes to visit him and wishes him well with Razumihin. Later that night, while walking through the streets, Raskolnikov finds Katerina lying on the side of the road, and he and Sonya take her to Sonya’s house. Katerina apologizes to Sonya and asks for the children, and dies. At the same time, Svidrigailov, who is outside the door, tells Raskolnikov that he knows everything about the pawnshop murder and blackmails him into allowing him to continue his meeting with Doña. A short time later, Porfirin, the pretrial judge, arrives and tells Raskolnikov that the murderer is you and that he will give Raskolnikov time to turn himself in. Meanwhile, Svidroilgarov calls Dunya to tell her her brother’s secret. Svidroilgarov tells her that Raskolnikov murdered the old woman and offers to help her flee the country if she will join him. However, Dunya does not accept his offer. Instead, she shoots at Svidroilgarov as he approaches her. The bullet misses him, but Svidroilgarov realizes that he cannot change Dunya’s mind, so he shoots himself with a pistol as soon as Dunya leaves the room. Raskolnikov visits his mother and begs her forgiveness, then takes to the streets to find Sonya’s house, asking her to say a final prayer before heading out into the street. After kissing the earth, Raskolnikov goes to the police station and turns himself in. His sentence is reduced and he is sentenced to eight years in prison. Raskolnikov is sent to a penitentiary in Siberia, and Sonya follows him. After eight years, Raskolnikov will start a new life with Sonya.
Crime and Punishment review
Tostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, a classic of 19th-century Russian literature, is an epic psychological novel that follows a young man named Raskolnikov who murders an old pawnbroker. The novel can be divided into four parts, but it can also be divided into three parts based on Raskolnikov’s emotions. The first is Raskolnikov’s emotions leading up to the scene where he murders the old woman, the second is his feelings of guilt after killing the old woman and justifying the murder, and the third is his decision to admit everything and turn himself in. When we see Raskolnikov leading up to the murder of the old woman, we see that Raskolnikov has a deep internal conflict before he carries out the murder. The author attributes this to his hatred of the person who killed the old woman and his strong narcissism. So the author places two episodes. One is Raskolnikov’s meeting with Marmeladov. Marmeladov is tormented by his alcoholism and the fact that he left his daughter, Sonya, on the streets. Seeing Marmeladov, Raskolnikov feels pity for the poor. The other is his sister, Dunya. She wants to marry the wealthy Ryuzin for the sake of her family. Raskolnikov is opposed to Dunya’s marriage because he doesn’t want to be a slave to money. The idea of his sister marrying for money is something he can’t stand as a proud man. These two episodes inspire Raskolnikov to commit murder.
After killing the old woman, Raskolnikov also experiences a very intense internal conflict, and the rest of the drama plays out in a way that maximizes his internal conflict. After waking up from the murder, he receives a summons from the police station. When he shows up with trepidation, he realizes that it’s not about the pawnshop murder, but about an unpaid boarding house bill. This is where the suspense begins. The reader knows that Raskolnikov is guilty. But the other party-the police chief and the officer-don’t. This creates suspense: what will happen if the other side finds out? This suspense is heightened by the arrival of the pretrial judge, Mr. Porpoise. As you can see, Crime and Punishment is more tightly plotted than any other masterpiece of fiction. It’s like watching a movie story, and it’s hard to look away until the final chapter. The drama that follows the murder moves from Raskolnikov being tormented by guilt to turning his guilt into justification. This is why the episode in which Marmeladov is run over by a carriage is so important. Marmeladov’s death brings Raskolnikov into contact with Sonya. He hands her sister a small sum of money, and unexpectedly, she tells him that she will pray for him. This event restores Raskolnikov’s confidence, as he has never been acknowledged by anyone before, and meeting Sonya gives him the will to be happy, which justifies his crimes. Still, guilt and fear grip him, which is why he visits the preliminary judge. When he hears that the preliminary judge is investigating the pawnbroker, he hopes to be exonerated and free of his fears. However, when he meets the preliminary judge, Raskolnikov’s fears are only exacerbated. The pretrial judge seems to be able to see right through Raskolnikov’s mind. After meeting with the pretrial judge, Raskolnikov gradually admits to the crime, and Sonya plays an active role in changing his feelings. Sonya may be selling her body, but she’s honest and beautiful. Looking at her, Raskolnikov can’t accept himself for lying to her, so in the end he goes to her and tells her all his secrets, even though he confesses to being the murderer. The protagonist may have committed murder, but he has a will for good inside him.
At the end of the novel, Raskolnikov turns himself in and receives a reduced sentence because of his remorse and because he was mentally and physically weak at the time of the murder. This ending shows the author’s love for his protagonist. When Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment, he was in a very difficult financial situation. He had wasted his life on gambling, and through this novel, he is perhaps asking for forgiveness for his behavior up to this point. The main plot is the drama between Raskolnikov and Sonya. However, the novel devotes just as much space to subplots as it does to the main plot. The main subplot dramas are the drama between Dunya, Ryuzin, and Svidroilgarov, and especially the drama between Dunya and Svidroilgarov, where Svidroilgarov’s death serves as a release for Raskolnikov’s inner conflict.
Dostoevsky wrote great novels, starting with Poor Folk in 1846, followed by Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov, but Crime and Punishment is arguably his best work.
