Crime and Punishment | 

Discussion Questions 1 - 10
1. How does the city of Saint Petersburg set the mood in Part 1, Chapter 1,
of Crime and Punishment?
As Raskolnikov walks the streets of Saint Petersburg, he feels "the airlessness, the
bustle and the plaster, scaffolding, bricks, and dust all about him." It is a crowded
city with a wide variety of inhabitants, and, like other cities of its size, it has some
unsavory areas. Raskolnikov's neighborhood is packed with taverns and drunks.
The seedy Hay Market square is frequented by prostitutes. Many of the people
Raskolnikov passes on the street are poor and wear ragged clothes, like himself.
The July air is hot and stifling, and Raskolnikov smells the stench of a city in
summer without modern sanitation. This description of Saint Petersburg creates a
disordered and oppressive mood.

2. How does the symbol of Raskolnikov's garret in Part 1 of Crime and

Punishment foreshadow his crime?
Raskolnikov's room on the top floor of a boardinghouse is dirty and disorganized.
Since withdrawing from the university weeks before, he has shut himself up in this
cramped and dingy place, alienating himself from the world. This isolation has
helped him separate himself from society and its rules, which he needs to do to
carry out his crime. The oppressiveness of the cramped room has affected his mind,
and he is trapped in his own obsessive thoughts. The garret's location above the
rest of the house also symbolizes Raskolnikov's unfounded arrogance. From his
high perch, he looks down on the rest of the world, even though there is nothing
elevated about his situation. His sense of superiority will allow him to justify the
two murders he commits.

3. What clues to the crime Raskolnikov plans appear in Part 1, Chapter 1,

of Crime and Punishment?
Raskolnikov's first mention of this plan ("I want to attempt a thing like that and
am frightened by these trifles") indicates that it is serious, certainly risky enough to
scare him. He calls it a dream of "hideous but daring recklessness," and, after the
rehearsal of the crime at the pawnbroker's, he is disgusted by his "atrocious,"
"filthy," and "loathsome" thoughts about it. It seems likely he is pursuing something
illegal. This is supported by details that indicate he doesn't want to be noticed. He is
afraid his hat is too conspicuous. He is relieved to find that Alyona has no
neighbors because the apartment across from hers is empty and asks her if she is
always home alone. He also focuses on minute physical details during his visit,
counting the steps to the tenement building, remembering the arrangement of
rooms in the pawnbroker's apartment, and noting where she keeps her keys and
money. It seems likely he is going to try to rob her.
4. How do the members of the Marmeladov family help develop the theme of
suffering in Crime and Punishment?
Marmeladov's alcoholism creates a vicious cycle of suffering. His drinking
impoverishes his family, causing starvation and illness. His guilt over the pain he
causes them makes him drink, resulting in even more suffering. He hopes his
suffering will somehow redeem him in the next life. A probable suicide, he leaves
his wife and children behind to continue to struggle with their circumstances.
Marmeladov's wife, Katerina Ivanovna, suffers starvation, illness, insanity, and
eventually death as a result of her husband's drinking. She fantasizes that her
situation will improve, but it only gets worse, and she cannot escape the horrible
reality of her family's situation. The young Marmeladov children suffer from
starvation, lack of clothing, and their mother's temper and eventual mental
breakdown. Sonia, the eldest, is forced into prostitution to support the family
because of her father's drinking. By the end of the novel, they are all orphans.
Sonia's relationship to suffering differs from her parents', however. In the end her
outcome is not tragic. Her suffering, and her ability to take on the suffering of
others, brings about good in the world and hope for a better future for herself and
Raskolnikov.

5. What do Raskolnikov's statements about work in Part 1, Chapter 3, of Crime

and Punishment suggest about his crime?
In Part 1, Chapter 3, Raskolnikov states that he is sick of teaching lessons for a few
coins; he wants much more. This suggests that he has a financial motive for the
potential crime he is considering. Stealing from someone like a rich and greedy
pawnbroker would be a quick way to get some much needed cash. Raskolnikov's
comments also imply that he expects more out of ordinary life than it provides and
is in fact above the usual obligations of the everyday world. Why use his superior
intellect to teach lessons for little money when he could plot a clever crime with a
bigger payoff? His egotism winds up playing a large part in his crime and his
supposedly clever attempts to cover it up.

6. Compare and contrast the characters of Raskolnikov and Razumihin

in Crime and Punishment. How do they represent different moralities?
In some ways Raskolnikov and Razumihin are very similar. Physically, they are
both tall and dark-haired. Both are highly intelligent former university students
who have had to withdraw because of their poverty. But they are defined by their
differences. Razumihin works hard to support himself, whereas Raskolnikov
decides to take a shortcut out of his financial difficulties by committing a crime.
Razumihin, although he appears messy and uncouth, represents practicality,
reliability, and good sense. He argues against new intellectual ideas of morality in
favor of traditional morality based in religious concepts. He is warmhearted and
friendly, caring for Raskolnikov even when his friend is at his most hostile and
exasperating. Raskolnikov, handsome and refined in appearance, represents
intellectualism and the downfalls of the new morality, which he uses unsuccessfully
to rationalize his crime. Unlike Razumihin, he is moody, alienated, and arrogant.
Only after a very long time is he able to redeem himself through traditional
religious morality, love, and suffering.
 7. How does Raskolnikov's dream about the horse being beaten in Part 1,
Chapter 5, of Crime and Punishment relate to his murder of Alyona and
Lizaveta?
Raskolnikov's dream foreshadows the disturbing violence of the murder
Raskolnikov will commit. As Mikolka, the horse's owner, is viciously beating the
nag, a bystander yells out, "Fetch an axe to her! Finish her off." This is the same
weapon Raskolnikov will use in the murders. The dream connects Raskolnikov to
Mikolka as well. Both men believe they have the right to kill: Mikolka believes he
has a right to kill the horse because she is his property. Raskolnikov believes he has
the right to kill the pawnbroker because he is doing so on principle, for the good of
society. Alyona and Lizaveta, like the horse, are innocent victims. In his dream
Raskolnikov is a small boy who knows that cruelty and killing are wrong. His
father and the horse's owner, whose actions prove that he is "not a Christian,"
represent Raskolnikov's adult self that has become separated from that moral
judgment. Therefore, the dream symbolizes the conflict that Raskolnikov
experiences about whether or not his crime is justified.

8. How does the mood of Crime and Punishment change after Raskolnikov's

dream in Part 1, Chapter 5?
At first the mood is dark and disturbing. After he awakens from his dream,
Raskolnikov is horrified. "He felt utterly broken: darkness and confusion were in
his soul." The dream forces Raskolnikov to consider how terrible the crime he is
contemplating actually is. He renounces his "accursed dream" to kill Alyona,
reconnecting with his religious morality by praying. The mood lightens
considerably once he makes this decision. His obsession seems banished as he
calmly and quietly watches the sun set over the river. For a minute he is simply
able to breathe, and the mood is peaceful and calm.

9. What reasoning in Part 1, Chapter 6, of Crime and Punishment does

Raskolnikov use to justify committing murder?
Raskolnikov follows the same logic as the student he overhears in the tavern in
Part 1, Chapter 6: that to kill Alyona would be morally just. Alyona treats her
customers unfairly. She pays less than the items they pawn are worth. She charges
high interest on loans and is merciless about the due dates for payments. The
murder would also allow Alyona's money to be used to help perhaps hundreds of
people rather than the monastery for which she intends it. The murder would also
save her half-sister, Lizaveta, from Alyona's physical and mental abuse. Like the
student, Raskolnikov reasons that the good of helping so many people would
outweigh the harm done to one bad person to accomplish it.

10. Contrast the characters of Alyona and Lizaveta in Crime and

Punishment. How does each character affect Raskolnikov's crime?
Although they are half-sisters, Alyona and Lizaveta couldn't be more different.
Alyona is greedy and miserly, charging extremely high interest on pawned items
and hoarding her money. Although Alyona is older than Lizaveta and smaller in
physical stature, she beats her sister freqently. Lizaveta is meek and subservient to
Alyona, although physically she towers over her. In her business Lizaveta is known
to be honest, setting fair prices and sticking to them. Alyona's lack of redeeming
qualities and abundance of money allows Raskolnikov to reason that killing her
benefits society, providing him with a moral justification for his crime. That
rationalization is challenged directly when he also kills Lizaveta, an act he cannot
justify as benefiting society.

11. How do coincidences enable Raskolnikov to commit the crime in Part 1

of Crime and Punishment?
Several coincidences occur before the murders. Raskolnikov sees them as fate,
encouraging him to carry out his plan.The student in the tavern talks about how
murdering Alyona would be morally justified, right after Raskolnikov has visited
her and is having similar thoughts. Immediately after he abandons the plan, the
perfect opportunity for the murder presents itself when he hears that Lizaveta is
going out, leaving Alyona home alone. Finding another axe when the one in the
kitchen is unavailable keeps his plan in motion. After the murders Raskolnikov only
escapes undetected due to a series of lucky coincidences. The man waiting outside
the door for the porter gets impatient just in time for Raskolnikov to exit Alyona's
apartment unseen. The second-floor apartment just happens to be empty at the
exact moment he needs to hide from the porter. At Raskolnikov's boardinghouse,
the porter's room is open but empty, allowing him to return the axe unseen.

12.What is the significance of the girl Raskolnikov tries to help in Part 1, Chapter
4, of Crime and Punishment?
The girl Raskolnikov tries to help in Part 1, Chapter 4, is one of several vulnerable
adolescent young women who appear in the novel, including Sonia, Dounia, and
several of Svidrigaïlov's victims. She appears drunk, has likely been violated once,
and is probably about to be again when Raskolnikov steps in to protect her. The
girl helps readers understand different sides of Raskolnikov. Like him, she is in a
deeply confused state brought on by intense suffering. She also provides an
opportunity for Raskolnikov to demonstrate his ability to respond to suffering,
morally and compassionately. His treatment of her gives readers hope for
Raskolnikov. However, she is likely the victim of a crime, and he is a budding
criminal, about to take advantage of a woman. His encounter with the drunken
girl also reveals one of Raskolnikov's biggest flaws. After he intercedes and
convinces the policeman to help her, he suddenly tells the policeman to leave
because he thinks the girl is doomed. No longer a human being, she has become
part of a philosophical debate in his mind. Fortunately the policeman disregards
Raskolnikov and goes off to help the girl.

13.Why does Raskolnikov faint in the police station in Part 2, Chapter 1,

of Crime and Punishment?
Since the murders the night before, Raskolnikov hasn't really slept, and he has been
feeling like he has a fever. When he gets the summons to the police station, he can't
help but think it is about the murders, putting him under increased pressure. When
he gets there and learns he was summoned for a debt, he feels great relief.
However, his feelings of guilt still nearly overwhelm him, and he badly wants to
confess. Just when he is on the verge of doing so, he learns that the police have a
piece of accurate information about the murder. They realize the killer was in the
apartment when the two men arrived. After swinging between stress and relief,
and in an already weakened state, Raskolnikov's repressed guilt overwhelms him
and he faints.

14.What does Raskolnikov do with the stolen items in Part 2, Chapter 2, of Crime
and Punishment? How does this relate to the theme of morality?
In Part 2, Chapter 2, Raskolnikov hides the stolen items under a stone in a hidden
courtyard. Afterward he wonders why he did not open the purse or look at the
jewelry, but he realizes that he had never really intended to do so. This creates a
moral dilemma for Raskolnikov. He was supposed to have used the money to do
great things, to justify his crime. Now this appears to have been an excuse for his
crime rather than a credible justification. Perhaps his actions indicate he may have
had immoral motives for the murder to begin with but can't face them. It also
indicates he cannot escape the traditional morality that says profiting from a
murder is wrong. Ironically, his hiding the stolen items later becomes justification
for a lesser criminal sentence because his jury sees it as proof he was feverish and
perhaps insane.

15.Explain the symbolism of the coin Raskolnikov throws in the river in Part 2,
Chapter 2, of Crime and Punishment.
After seeing Raskolnikov whipped in the street, a woman gives him a coin "in
Christ's name." The coin is a symbol of religion and faith and also demonstrates the
woman's compassion for Raskolnikov's suffering. By throwing it in the water, he
rejects religious morality in favor of his justification of the crime. This makes him
feel he did nothing wrong. In addition, Raskolnikov's gesture is also a rejection of
the woman's compassion for him. This symbolizes his alienation from the rest of
humanity: as he throws away the coin, he cuts himself off "from everyone and from
everything at that moment." His crime, and his justification for it, alienate him
from the rest of society.

16.What is the significance of Raskolnikov's illness in Part 2, Chapter 3, of Crime

and Punishment?
The moral conflict between rationalization and conscience finally affects
Raskolnikov's body, causing fever and delirium. The illness keeps his crime at bay,
which provides some relief, but only temporarily. It also provides a convenient
opportunity for Raskolnikov to be even more isolated from the world than he
already is. The fever and delirium cut him off from everyone, which is often what
he claims to prefer. Below the surface of his illness, however, the memory of his
crime lingers: "But of that—of that he had no recollection, and yet every minute he
felt that he had forgotten something he ought to remember." Underneath it all
Raskolnikov still worries about having to cover up his crime, and he is horrified to
find out he has been raving about his bloody sock when there was a policeman in
the room. There is no escape from what he has done.
17.Compare the characters Luzhin and Svidrigaïlov in Crime and Punishment.
Both Luzhin and Svidrigaïlov are fairly wealthy and fashionable men. In addition,
they share a desire to control or manipulate women, and both are deeply immoral.
Luzhin hopes to marry Dounia because she will not only increase his status with
her beauty and intelligence but also be indebted to him because she has little
money. Svidrigaïlov's sexual escapades often involve very young women or
housemaids, women who he can dominate through social status and power. Both
men are schemers too. Luzhin plants money on Sonia to make her look like a thief.
Svidrigaïlov tricks Dounia into his rooms, then locks the door on her, threatening
to rape her. One significant difference between the two men, however, is that
Luzhin appears to lack generosity and conscience. Svidrigaïlov gives money to
Marmeladov's children and is haunted by guilt for his crimes against women.

18. Why does Raskolnikov return to the scene of his crime in Part 2,
Chapter 6, of Crime and Punishment?
Raskolnikov has lived in fear that his crime will be discovered, but he returns to the
scene of the crime in Part 2, Chapter 6. For someone so afraid to be found out, he is
taking a huge risk. Once there he rings the doorbell of Alyona's former apartment
like a madman. Workers are fixing up the apartment where the blood on the floors
were, and he demands they take him to the police. Raskolnikov is shocked because
"he somehow fancied that he would find everything as he left it, even perhaps the
corpses in the same places on the floor." The apartment is being redecorated for a
new tenant, but for Raskolnikov it is frozen in time at the moment of his crime. His
thoughts and actions suggest how deeply guilty he feels and how desperate he is to
be caught. He is doing everything but blurting out a confession. In addition, his
return to Alyona's apartment reveals how mentally unstable he continues to be.

19.What is the significance of Marmeladov's death in Part 2, Chapter 7, of Crime

and Punishment? How does it relate to the theme of suffering?
Marmeladov is a probable suicide, suggesting that the intensity of his suffering
likely played a role in his death. His death foreshadows how a number of
characters in the novel, including Raskolnikov, Sonia, and Svidrigaïlov, will
consider suicide as an escape from their pain. Marmeladov's death brings out the
best in some characters. Raskolnikov responds to the situation with empathy and
kindness rather than his usual arrogance and alienation. Sonia expresses intense
compassion for her dying father. In Part 1, Chapter 2, Marmeladov spoke of his
belief that he would find redemption through God's love in the afterlife. His death
creates a powerful scene of forgiveness between him and Sonia, setting the stage
for Sonia's forgiveness of Raskolnikov in Part 4, Chapter 4, and Raskolnikov's own
redemption.

20. In Crime and Punishment why does Raskolnikov try to make people

guess about his crime instead of confessing?
Raskolnikov repeats a pattern of trying to confess by making people guess the
truth. This starts in Part 2, Chapter 2, when he hypothetically confesses to
Zametov, and continues as he revisits Alyona's apartment in Part 2, Chapter 6,
ringing the bell, talking about blood, and asking people to take him to the police. In
Part 4, Chapter 3, he manages to convey the truth to Razumihin without saying a
word about the murders, simply by staring intently at him. When Raskolnikov
finally confesses to Sonia in Part 5, Chapter 6, he does so by revealing details only
the murderer would know and again staring intently at her. The fact that
Raskolnikov dares people to guess his crime rather than admitting it outright
shows how conflicted he is. He wants to hide his crime, but at the same time he
secretly wants to get caught. However, having someone guess what he has done
suggests he wants to avoid taking full personal responsibility by not saying the
words out loud. Raskolnikov is also proud of his intellect. By getting someone to
guess his crime, it is as if he is playing a mental game in which only he knows the
true answer.

21. How does Razumihin's observation that "it's as though he

were alternating between two characters" apply to Raskolnikov
in Crime and Punishment?
Raskolnikov is full of contradictions. According to Razumihin, his friend "has a
noble nature and a kind heart" but is also "morose, gloomy, proud and haughty."
Raskolnikov's thoughts and actions are erratic, shifting wildly between opposing
thoughts and actions, sometimes within the same paragraph. Should he commit the
murder or not? Should he confess or not? Does he want to be around other people
or remain completely isolated? He "kills for a principle," but he often responds to
the suffering of others with surprising generosity. Sometimes he seems sane; at
other times, insane. Raskolnikov's crime pulls him between opposing views of
morality. In fact, the entire arc of his story involves his transition between
opposing sides: from cold intellect to warm heart, from alienation to redemption.

22. How does Raskolnikov's crime alienate him from family and
friends in Crime and Punishment?
After committing the murders, Raskolnikov finds himself separated from his
friends and family by the secret he is keeping. Starting in Part 2, he shows little
interest in conversations with his friends, except when the murders come up. In his
guilt and shame, at various points he actively tries to drive his mother, his sister,
and Razumihin away. Raskolnikov commits the murder in part because he believes
his superior intellect makes him an "extraordinary man." His theory, the
justification for his crime, dismisses most of the rest of humanity as beneath him.
Raskolnikov's pride in his crime alienates him from others. His confessions alienate
him in a different way, changing family's and friends' perceptions of him. But with
the secret revealed, he is finally able to reconnect emotionally with his mother and
sister in Part 6, Chapter 7. He is also able to end his alienation from himself,
finding love with Sonia in the Epilogue.
 23. In Part 3, Chapter 3, of Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov
says that "to act sensibly, intelligence is not enough." How does
this statement apply to Raskolnikov?
With this statement Raskolnikov, a man exceedingly proud of his own brain power,
points out the limitations of intelligence. Just because someone is intelligent does
not guarantee that that person's actions will be logical or moral. Raskolnikov
originally made this statement about Luzhin, but it is certainly true of Raskolnikov
himself. He uses his intelligence to create his misguided theory of the extraordinary
man, with disastrous results. Applying his considerable intellect to trying to
conceal his crime nearly drives him insane, and he relies too often on his own
cleverness to create excuses for his immoral actions. Raskilnikov's intelligence also
alienates him from other people because he believes he is mentally superior. In the
end his intelligence is not enough, and he must turn to the worlds of emotion and
belief in order to "act sensibly."

24. How do Dounia's and Pulcheria's attitudes toward Sonia

differ in Part 3, Chapter 4, of Crime and Punishment?
Because of her role as a prostitute, Sonia is considered "immoral" and therefore
deemed a social outcast. Having heard of Sonia's negative reputation before they
are introduced in Part 3, Chapter 4, Pulcheria cannot help but be disapproving of
Raskolnikov's respectful opinion of Sonia, whom he treats with respect. Solely
because of her reputation, she suspects that Sonia is the cause of her son's illness
and irritability, not realizing that he has brought that problem on himself. Dounia
looks past rumors and reputation to try to see the person underneath. Sonia's
kindness and gentleness win Dounia over. As a result she ends up valuing Sonia
highly, just as her brother does.

25. How does Raskolnikov's dream about the pawnbroker reveal

his state of mind in Part 3, Chapter 6, of Crime and Punishment?
Dreams are often a key to the dreamer's true state of mind, conveying anxieties
and fears that normally remain hidden because the person might not be able to
handle them in waking life. In Raskolnikov's dream the man who called him a
murderer stands in for Raskolnikov's conscience, leading him back to the scene of
the murders. At first Raskolnikov thinks the pawnbroker seems scared of him as he
approaches. But, when he strikes Alyona with an axe, she does not move, then
shakes "with noiseless laughter." The more he strikes her, the harder she laughs. He
cannot make her stop. Raskolnikov's dream occurs shortly after he begins to realize
that his crime has failed to make him an extraordinary man. The joke is on him: he
is "perhaps viler and more loathsome than the louse he killed." Clearly haunted by
what he's done, Raskolnikov's dream reveals his horror at how absurd his crime
really is.
 26. Based on Raskolnikov's theory in Crime and Punishment,
what is the difference between an ordinary and an extraordinary
person? How does this relate to the theme of morality?
In Part 3, Chapter 5, Raskolnikov posits to Porfiry that there are two types of
people. Ordinary people exist to reproduce, they enjoy being obedient, and they like
things the way they are. They represent the present and account for most of the
population. Extraordinary people, on the other hand, such as Napoleon, have new
ideas, are willing to transgress moral boundaries, and want to destroy the
established order, replacing it with something better. They represent the future,
and they are a very exclusive club. Raskolnikov has invented his own moral code,
and, unsurprisingly, he identifies with the extraordinary people. For Raskolnikov,
ordinary people are like cows in a field content to chew their cud. Exceptional
people are men of action, and they favor the notion that the end justifies the means,
even if they have to shed blood. This view of morality stands in opposition to
traditional moral values in which God embraces all humankind and the shedding
of innocent blood is a crime. The only crime an extraordinary man might commit is
not being truly extraordinary.

27. How does Raskolnikov's "extraordinary man" theory conflict

with his religious beliefs in Part 3, Chapter 5, of Crime and
Punishment, and how does this relate to his suffering?
Raskolnikov's "extraordinary man" theory, which he explains in Part 3, Chapter 5,
is an exercise in the new logical morality, justifying killing, forbidden in religious
morality, as moral. It is a variation on the theme of the "greatest good for the
greatest number," justifying harm to individuals for the good of the world.
However, Raskolnikov tells Porfiry he believes quite literally in the story of
Lazarus, the miracle of a man being raised from the dead, suggesting he believes in
religious morals that conflict with the morality of his theory. This conflict causes
his mental turmoil throughout the novel. Even before the murders, part of him
knows they are wrong, and after the murders his guilt manifests in numerous
powerful ways.

28. What is Razumihin's criticism of socialist thinking in Part 3,

Chapter 5, of Crime and Punishment?

Razumihin argues that socialist doctrine completely ignores human nature.

Socialists believe that, if they just find the right organization for society, all sin will
disappear "in an instant," when humans have not been able to achieve that goal in
millennia. Nor does socialist doctrine further any deeper understanding of human
actions, such as crime, which it reduces to a single motivation: "Crime is a protest
against the abnormality of the social organization and nothing more." Razumihin
equates human nature with the soul, another religious concept. In essence he is
arguing Dostoevsky's point of view that religious morality is a better guide for
society than socialism's radical ideas of a new social organization that will
magically fix everything.
 29. How does the character of Svidrigaïlov contribute to the
theme of crime in Crime and Punishment?
Svidrigaïlov's's crimes have different consequences than Raskolnikov's.
Svidrigaïlov is the more consistent criminal, being a chronic sexual abuser and
likely murderer. However, he faces few consequences for his crimes, partly because
of his (or Marfa Petrovna's) money and position and arguably because he is a
more effective criminal than Raskolnikov, who can barely hold himself together
after just one crime. Unlike Raskolnikov's, Svidrigaïlov's crimes are more
traditionally criminal as well, being grounded in personal pleasure and gain
rather than a need to prove a theory. At first Svidrigaïlov appears to be the
extraordinary man about whom Raskolnikov theorized. He commits innumerable
crimes without any apparent remorse. But his behavior identifies one large gap in
Raskolnikov's theory: Svidrigaïlov is not bettering the world. Still, Raskolnikov
fears that Svidrigaïlov is better than him even as he denounces him. Svidrigaïlov,
however, is not able to escape his conscience. He believes in divine retribution and
fears the consequences he will face in the afterlife. Trying to assault Dounia brings
him face to face with his depraved nature. When she tells him she can never love
him, he is crushed. A combination of a broken heart and a guilty conscience drive
him to kill himself. His suicide is perhaps the final nail in the coffin of Raskolnikov's
theory.

30. How does Raskolnikov's belief that "power is only

vouchsafed to the man who dares to stoop and pick it up" apply to
Luzhin in Crime and Punishment?
As a well-off lawyer, Louzhin certainly seems powerful. But his attempts to gain
power by taking it don't fare very well. For example, in Part 3, Chapter 3, Luzhin
tries to gain power over Dounia through marriage. Because she comes from a
financially struggling family, he thinks she will be so grateful to marry a man with
money that she will become subservient to him. Luzhin also uses lies to "take
power," pretending that Raskolnikov has given money to Sonia. When Luzhin's
own letter reveals his manipulative character, Dounia breaks off the engagement.
Infuriated, he plots another manipulative power grab to humiliate Raskolnikov by
framing Sonia as a thief in Part 5, Chapter 3. But his plot only works up to point.
Unmasked by a socialist who proves Sonia's innocence, the wealthy Luzhin's
attempt to "take" power reveals how weak he really is. This philosophy of taking
power does not work out well for Raskolnikov either, who becomes obsessed with
fulfilling it through his crime.

31. In Part 5, Chapter 4, of Crime and Punishment, what is the

significance of Sonia's exclamation "What have you done—what
have you done to yourself?"
Sonia says these words to Raskolnikov just after her realization that he is a
murderer. Her exclamation is divided into two parts. First, saying "what have you
done" emphasizes Raskolnikov's crime, his murder of the two women. She is
horrified by what he has done to his victims and is likely struggling to understand
how and why the crimes occurred. The second part of the exclamation is about a
different aspect of the crime: what Raskolnikov has done to himself. Raskolnikov
has caused himself great suffering, as Sonia compassionately acknowledges. The
first part of the equation (the crime against others) inevitably leads to the second
(the crime against himself).

32. How does Sonia represent religious morality in Crime and

Punishment?
Sonia is the most purely religious character in Crime and Punishment, and it is
through her that Raskolnikov reconnects with religious morality after his
experiment in rational morality. Sonia is a sincere believer, almost fanatical in her
faith, with a pure soul despite the profession she has been forced into. Her deep
faith supports her through everything she endures. Sonia also represents
redemption through suffering, an allusion to Christ and his crucifixion when he
died for the sins of humankind. Throughout the novel she suffers for other people,
going into prostitution to support her family, enduring abuse from a suffering
Katerina Ivanovna, and ultimately helping to carry Raskolnikov's suffering about
his crime. Raskolnikov recognizes Sonia for this in Part 4, Chapter 4, bowing to her
and saying, "I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity." She also offers hope
for redemption to Raskolnikov, showing him a path to a new life that he likely
would not have found without her. Before he goes to confess, he comes to her to get
a cross to help him on his way.
33. How does Porfiry use psychology to question Raskolnikov in
Part 4, Chapter 5, of Crime and Punishment?
Porfiry is at his trickiest in his second conversation with Raskolnikov, at his office
in Part 4, Chapter 5. With no concrete evidence against Raskolnikov, he sets out to
push his psychological buttons to elicit a confession. Porfiry irritates Raskolnikov
by making trivial conversation and laughing, possibly at him. Speaking mostly
hypothetically, he first implies that he is toying with Raskolnikov and then that he
is concerned Raskolnikov will confess out of delirium, not guilt. His insights
sometimes seem as if he has the ability to read Raskolnikov's mind, and an anxious
Raskolnikov completely loses his temper, demanding to know if he is a suspect.
When Porfiry says he has a witness behind his office door, Raskolnikov is on edge.
If Nikolay had not burst in and confessed at that moment, it is possible Porfiry's
plan would have worked and Raskolnikov would have confessed.

34. In Crime and Punishment how does Nikolay's confession to

the murders develop the theme of suffering?
In Crime and Punishment Nikolay represents the redemptive value of suffering
taken too far. He feels so much guilt for lying about where he found the earrings
and selling them rather than turning them in that he enters a downward spiral
that leads to attempting suicide, another thing to feel guilty about, then confessing
to the murders. Although none of his sins are crimes, Nikolay feels such
overwhelming guilt for them that he feels he needs external punishment. His
upbringing in a religious sect that emphasized suffering as not just redemptive but
inevitable encouraged him to seek out suffering out of proportion to his sins. He
enacts the same type of martyrdom as Sonia and Dounia, who sacrifice themselves
to men to save their families but without the promise their families will in fact be
saved.
35. In Part 4, Chapter 4, of Crime and Punishment, Sonia reads
Raskolnikov the story of Lazarus. What does Lazarus symbolize
about Raskolnikov in the story?
In the New Testament of the Bible, Lazarus is a man whom Christ raises from the
dead. Before he does so, Lazarus's sister makes a declaration of faith. In Crime and
Punishment this story is a symbol of new life through faith. When Raskolnikov tells
Porfiry in Part 3, Chapter 5, that he believes literally in the story of Lazarus, he is
foreshadowing his own eventual return to faith and religious morality. Sonia's
ecstatic reading of the story of Lazarus in Part 4, Chapter 4, marks the beginning
of Raskolnikov's movement from the spiritual death of crime and alienation
toward confession, redemption, and rebirth.
36. In Crime and Punishment why does Raskolnikov periodically
hate his mother and sister?
After the murders Raskolnikov experiences contempt, loathing, and revulsion for
others but primarily for himself. However, he cannot allow himself to acknowledge
them because, according to his theory, he is not guilty of his crime; it was justified
by his status as an extraordinary man. In addition, his hidden guilt and shame
cause him to feel unworthy of love or understanding. This places him in a nasty
bind. With no other outlet, he projects these feelings of hatred outward onto the
people in his life who love him and might understand him, such as Dounia and
Pulcheria.

37. How does Dostoevsky criticize socialism and other new ideas
of the time through the character of Lebeziatnikov in Crime and
Punishment?
In Part 5, Chapter 1, Lebeziatnikov is described as good-natured but stupid, a
follower of the latest ideas who doesn't really understand them. He spouts
ridiculous opinions at the slightest provocation. He advocates the value of
propaganda over respect and kindness, claiming he would attend Marmeladov's
funeral dinner, not in remembrance of the dead man, but only if a priest were
attending, as an objection to organized religion. He thinks Sonia's job as a
prostitute is also a form of social protest rather than a harsh reality. His words
belie his claim to have abandoned all traditional moral values when he calls
Luzhin's "generosity" to Sonia "honorable," a concept that, as a socialist, he is
supposed to despise.

38. Why does Raskolnikov see the face of Lizaveta when he looks
at Sonia in Part 5, Chapter 4, of Crime and Punishment?
This strange effect occurs when Raskolnikov asks Sonia to guess that he killed
Alyona and Lizaveta, and she realizes what he has done. There are important
connections between Sonia and Lizaveta. Lizaveta and Sonia were friends, both
devout Christians who traded crosses. When Sonia reads the story of Lazarus to
Raskolnikov in Part 4, Chapter 4, it is from a Bible that Lizaveta left behind. Both
women are good people but suffer because of the way their families treat them.
When he sees the two women's faces superimposed, the truth of Raskolnikov's
crime is revealed to him. It is as if Lizaveta were in front of him in the room. He
can see the terror and suffering he caused his defenseless victim, now channeled
through Sonia's horrified expression. In the end this recognition will lead to
Raskolnikov's redemption. Significantly, it is not Alyona's face he sees blend with
Sonia's. Lizaveta's murder was the one he did not plan, creating a moral crisis for
Raskolnikov because he can never defend her death as promoting the common
good.

39. How does the type of narrative in Crime and

Punishment contribute to the story?
The third-person omniscient narrator reveals Raskolnikov's thoughts and feelings
but doesn't offer much objective interpretation of them, leaving the reader to
slowly discover the reasons behind what he does, says, and thinks. Readers are
stuck in Raskolnikov's madness with him and don't know any better than he does
whether or not he is going to carry out his plan or confess what he has done to the
police, creating much of the tension and suspense in the novel. The third-person
omniscient narrator also allows readers access to the thoughts and feelings of
multiple characters. Dostoevsky can thus compare and contrast characters'
responses to a variety of themes. For example, Svidrigaïlov and Raskolnikov, while
they are both criminals with guilty consciences, end up taking very different paths
in response to their crimes. The narrator provides readers with the ability to gain
inside knowledge about these two characters. Through the narrator readers are
immersed in these characters' most private thoughts and feelings, even their
dreams.

40. Why does Raskolnikov confess to Sonia first in Part 4,

Chapter 4, of Crime and Punishment?
Raskolnikov confesses to Sonia first because he feels she is the only person who will
understand what he has done. He feels they are both sinners who have crossed a
line and are "accursed." His mother and sister love him, and Razumihin is a loyal
friend, but they have not crossed any moral lines and therefore cannot understand
what it means to do so. Despite being labeled a "great sinner" by Raskolnikov (a
label he gives her for sacrificing herself to her family instead of being true to her
own nature, not because she is a prostitute), Sonia's soul is pure and her faith is
strong, allowing her to lead Raskolnikov to redemption. He may also confess to
Sonia because she is the most compassionate of all the characters in the novel.

41. What does the fresh air that Svidrigaïlov and Porfiry
recommend for Raskolnikov represent in Crime and Punishment?
Fresh air is recommended to Raskolnikov by two characters, Svidrigaïlov and
Porfiry, who know he is guilty of murder. In Part 6 fresh air represents freedom
from the oppression of Raskolnikov's guilt for the crimes. Porfiry also expresses a
hope in Part 6, Chapter 2, that a storm will "freshen the air," implying that
Raskolnikov's only way to find this freedom is through the storm of confession and
suffering. "Fresh air" may also refer to the more rural landscape of Siberia, where
Raskolnikov serves his prison sentence, far from Saint Petersburg's crowded
metropolis. Significantly, when Raskolnikov realizes he loves Sonia in Part 2 of the
Epilogue, they are standing near a river with a view of the countryside. Finally,
fresh air is a Christian symbol of both the soul and redemption.

42. How does Porfiry's evaluation of the case in Part 6, Chapter

2, of Crime and Punishment express Dostoevsky's point of view
about the new morality?
In Part 6, Chapter 2, Porfiry describes the murders as "a modern case, an incident
of to-day when the heart of man is troubled, when the phrase is quoted that blood
'renews,' when comfort is preached as the aim of life." Porfiry's description refers
to two socialist ideas during the time the novel is set. First, comfort is the primary
value for which to strive, rather than good. Second is the need for a radical
overhaul, or "renewal," of society through bloody revolution. This clearly expresses
Dostoevsky's disapproval of the new morality that was becoming popular at the
time. He felt that these new ways of thinking were dangerous to society. In
Raskolnikov's case they inspire an otherwise good young man to commit a heinous
crime.

43. How is Svidrigaïlov's suffering in Part 6, Chapter 6, of Crime

and Punishment similar to Raskolnikov's throughout the novel?
The night before Svidrigaïlov's suicide in Part 6, Chapter 6, he experiences many of
the same symptoms that Raskolnikov has throughout the novel, including loss of
appetite, fever, annoyance at small things, and the inability to keep his mind from
racing. Like Raskolnikov, he has vivid fever dreams that are hard to tell from
reality. In their dreams both men are haunted by the victims of their crimes.
Raskolnikov dreams that he tries to kill Alyona again but she will not die. Instead
she laughs at him. Svidrigaïlov dreams of a young girl in a coffin whose suicide he
caused. "Svidrigaïlov knew that girl; there was no holy image, no burning candle
beside the coffin; no sound of prayers: the girl had drowned herself. She was only
fourteen, but her heart was broken."

44. What feelings toward his crimes are revealed by

Svidrigaïlov's dreams the night before his suicide in Part 6,
Chapter 6, of Crime and Punishment?
Svidrigaïlov has three distinct dreams the night before his suicide, all of which
address his feelings of guilt for his crimes. The first dream, of a mouse running
over him in bed, is reminiscent of his unpleasant vision of the afterlife as a room
crawling with spiders, suggesting he is afraid of suffering in the afterlife for his
crimes. His second dream starts as a beautiful vision of a cottage covered inside
and out with flowers, but it ends with him face to face with one of his victims in a
coffin, symbolically confronting him with his guilt. In the third dream, he finds a
lost child in the hall and tries to protect her, only to have her face turn into the face
of a depraved harlot. This suggests he is horrified by his corrupting influence on
innocent girls.

45. What does Svidrigaïlov's reference to America symbolize in

Part 6, Chapter 6, of Crime and Punishment?
Svidrigaïlov's last words to the guard who is about to witness his suicide are
"When you are asked, you just say he was going, he said, to America." Because
America is so far from Russia, a trip there would usually be one way, making it an
appropriate symbol for the one-way trip to death and the unknown Svidrigaïlov is
about to take. Svidrigaïlov's reference to America may also be a fantasy of escape
from his present suffering. A journey to a faraway country, with a new language
and culture, often represents the dream of reinventing one's self.

46. In Part 6, Chapter 8, of Crime and Punishment, why does

Raskolnikov bow down and kiss the ground before entering the
police station?
Sonia advises Rakolnikov to bow down and kiss the ground in Part 5, Chapter 4:
"Stand at the cross-roads, bow down, first kiss the earth which you have defiled
and then bow down to all the world and say to all men aloud, 'I am a murderer!'"
He does not do this until Part 6, Chapter 8, and even then, not completely. He kisses
that "filthy earth with bliss and rapture," but he does not fully confess until his
second trip into the police station. Nonetheless, when he bows down and kisses the
ground, it is a huge step forward in his spiritual journey, and for the first time he
experiences religious feelings of "bliss and rapture." He is humbling himself by
kissing "that filthy earth," coming down from the heights of his superiority and, no
longer alienated, able to join the world again. Significantly, he performs this action
in a public square, unashamed and surrounded by the humankind he once claimed
to loathe.

47. Why does Raskolnikov feel suffocated as he leaves the police

station in Part 6, Chapter 8, of Crime and Punishment?
In Part 6, Chapter 8, after hearing of Svidrigaïlov's suicide, Raskolnikov leaves the
police station without confessing. The knowledge that Svidrigaïlov can no longer
reveal Raskolnikov's secret is a relief to him, but it does not mean his problems are
over. Suffocation is the opposite of the fresh air that Porfiry and Svidrigaïlov
recommended for him. By turning away from confession, he is stepping off the
path to the fresh air of freedom and continuing his claustrophobic suffering. The
feeling of suffocation also recalls Raskolnikov's cramped, stuffy garret where he
holed up and hatched his plan to kill the pawnbroker. Raskolnikov has spent much
of the novel being figuratively unable to breathe as his guilt closes in around him.
 48. In Crime and Punishment compare Pulcheria's illness in Part
1 of the Epilogue to Katerina Ivanovna's illness. What does this
reveal about the theme of suffering?
Pulcheria's illness, described in Part 1 of the Epilogue, is characterized by fantasies
that help her escape from brutal facts. She pretends Raskolnikov is leading a
successful life. In fact, he is in a Siberian prison camp serving a sentence for
murder. This is similar to Katerina Ivanovna's tendency to spin fantasies
exaggerating the importance of an acquaintance or good things that she wants to
happen in the future. Both women's delusions stem from a sort of cognitive
dissonance in which their deeply held beliefs about the world conflict too
profoundly with reality to be reconciled. Katerina Ivanovna believed that her
father's social status should give her greater respect than she received, but her life
constantly proved otherwise. Pulcheria's deep faith that her son is a great man
conflicts with her knowledge that he is a murderer. The suffering of these
discrepancies, created by family and society, proves too much for both women to
hold on to sanity or, ultimately, survive.

49. How does Raskolnikov's alienation continue in the Epilogue

of Crime and Punishment?
The setting of the Epilogue, a Siberian prison, is built for alienation: it is isolated
geographically and socially. The setting thus increases Raskolnikov's alienation
from his family members, who are far away in Saint Petersburg. As a prison its
role is to create a kind of social alienation as well, cutting off criminals from the
rest of society. Raskolnikov can create plenty of alienation of his own, of course.
For most of the Epilogue, he tries to push Sonia away. He also alienates his fellow
prisoners to the point that they try to attack him. Most importantly, he continues to
be alienated from himself by refusing to stop rationalizing his crime. He prolongs
his own suffering because he refuses to allow himself to face what he has done and
heal. This alienates him from compassion, love, and redemption.

50. In Crime and Punishment's Epilogue, Part 2, how does

Raskolnikov begin a new life?
Like Lazarus, Raskolnikov's path to new life begins with an illness. After being sick
for a long time, Raskolnikov's defenses begin to break down. He stops being so
absorbed with hating himself and starts opening up to the world around him. He
begins to see the humanity of his fellow prisoners, and he opens himself to the
beauty of nature, which he hasn't been able to enjoy since early in the novel. When
he sees Sonia, Raskolnikov is finally able to accept her love and express love for her
in return. He begins to consider faith again. Although the narrator tells the reader
this is just the beginning of his journey, he has taken the first step toward a new
life.

Crime and Punishment | Character Analysis

Raskolnikov
Raskolnikov is a poverty-stricken, 23-year-old former law student. Conflicted in
almost every way, he is handsome and intelligent but also egotistical and
obsessive, often overvaluing his mental abilities. His thoughts and actions can
swing suddenly between extremes, startling and confusing others, who often
question his sanity. However, while deeply alienated from the world around him,
he often steps in to help others who are suffering or in distress. The crime he
commits pushes him to the breaking point, and he is haunted by what he has done.
His response to his crime makes him a litmus test for deciding which is greater, the
need for power or the power of love.

Sonia
Just 18, Sonia is forced into prostitution to support her alcoholic father, tubercular
stepmother, and three young stepsiblings. Although this forces her to live apart
from her family and hurts her reputation, she endures without complaint. Sonia is
shy on the outside, but she has great inner strength. Far from being corrupted by
her situation, she remains a pure soul, with boundless compassion for the suffering
of others, including the most guilty or deeply flawed, such as Raskolnikov. Acting
as the novel's moral compass, she represents suffering, faith, redemption, and the
power of love.

Alyona
Sixty-year-old Alyona gouges her customers any way she can, then selfishly hoards
the profits. She abuses her gentle younger half-sister, Lizaveta, beating her and
treating her like a slave. She is a portrait of faith without works: she may wear two
crosses and plan to leave her money to a monastery, but she is devoid of
compassion, charity, or any other Christian ideals.

Dounia
A few years younger than Raskolnikov, Dounia strongly resembles her brother.
Their mother, Pulcheria, notes that they are both "morose and hot-tempered, both
haughty and both generous." But Dounia is not as alienated or self-involved as
Raskolnikov. She loves her brother and is willing to make great sacrifices for him,
but she does not excuse his every fault. Scrupulously fair, she has an unshakable
sense of integrity and is not afraid to say what she thinks. Strong and beautiful, she
fascinates a number of the men in the novel.

Luzhin
Luzhin has spent his life amassing a fortune and cares far more about social
appearances than deeper considerations such as truth or love. He longs for a wife
who is attractive and educated but poor, so she will look up to him. Luzhin
attempts to use his money and social position to control others, but his actions
often give him away, revealing him as a manipulative liar.
Razumihin
A former college friend of Raskolnikov, he differs from him in striking ways. In
contrast to Raskolnikov's pessimistic view of existence, Razumihin looks at life
constructively, with hope for the future. He befriends everyone. Even when
Raskolnikov pushes him away, he remains a loyal friend, caring for him at his
lowest moments. He also steps in to watch over Raskolnikov's mother and sister
when Raskolnikov cannot. Often the novel's voice of reason, he sees Raskolnikov
and the society they live in with remarkable clarity. The only thing he can't see
clearly is that Raskolnikov is a murderer.

Svidrigaïlov
A 50-year-old former gambler who has spent time in prison for debts, he is driven
by his appetite for women and fast living. His handsome face is a mask that hides
his depravity. He has committed terrible crimes, including sexual assault, and is
rumored to have killed his wife. Now he has designs on Raskolnikov's sister,
Dounia. He is perceptive and charming but also slippery and highly manipulative.
Svidrigaïlov is also surprisingly generous, giving money to the vulnerable and
innocent. Below the surface, his conscience tortures him.

Crime and Punishment | Symbols

Garret
Raskolnikov's garret represents his poverty, as well as his alienation, arrogance,
and claustrophobic state of mind. The tiny fifth-floor room is messy and cramped;
he cannot stand up straight in it or stride across it. It has little light or air. The
room's location at the top of the house also represents the heights from which he
views nearly everything and everyone around him, looking down in contempt at
others. His self-imposed isolation in the room allows him to plot obsessively the
murders he commits.

Cross
A symbol of Christianity, Christ's death, and salvation, the cross represents both
faith and suffering. Displaying the cross can be a sincere or hollow
gesture. Alyona's faith is hollow. She wears two crosses but lacks any Christian
compassion. Raskolnikov uses the sign of the cross to trick her into believing his
tightly wrapped package is a more valuable object to pawn, distracting her with
greed and providing him the opportunity to kill her. Nikolay, the house painter,
trades his cross for a drink, symbolically rejecting his religion before he tries to
commit suicide. Sonia gives Raskolnikov a cross before he confesses, symbolizing
both the burden of their shared suffering and the redemption promised by
surrendering to faith. By accepting Sonia's cross, Raskolnikov begins the process of
acknowledging his burden of responsibility and accepting the suffering of his
punishment.
Napoleon
Rising to power in the wake of the French Revolution, Napoleon conquered most of
Europe and achieved the title of emperor in the service of personal ambition.
Although his military campaigns killed hundreds of thousands, he was regarded
through most of the 19th century as a great leader. Raskolnikov uses him as a
prime example of the "extraordinary man" who is so brilliant and daring he has
the right to shed blood. Raskolnikov's crime is an attempt to be this kind of man,
but he conveniently forgets the crimes of which Napoleon was guilty and the exile
in which he spent his final years.

Lazarus
In a story from the New Testament of the Bible, Christ brings Lazarus back to life
after he has been dead for days. Sonia reads the story to Raskolnikov on his first
visit to her room. The two main excerpts she reads focus on Lazarus's sister's
declaration of faith in Christ as the son of God, an important prerequisite to raising
Lazarus from the dead. Raskolnikov is fascinated by this story, bringing it up more
than once—even declaring his literal belief in it to Porfiry, despite wavering on
religion in general. The story of Lazarus promises new life through faith.

Crime and Punishment | Themes

Alienation
Alienation takes many forms in this novel. Several characters struggle with being
isolated, or cut off, from themselves or from others.

Raskolnikov alienates himself from those around him physically, mentally, and

socially. As a student at the university "he kept aloof from everyone." After leaving
school he has been cooped up in his tiny attic room where his isolation feeds his
delusions and monomania. Arrogant, he sees himself as superior to others. His
alienation both contributes to and results from his crimes. After the murders he
finds he can no longer reach his loved ones across the gulf of his secret. Above all he
is deeply alienated from himself. Redemption for Raskolnikov is only possible when
he finally connects with Sonia in the Epilogue.
Many other characters face alienation through poverty. Sonia is alienated from
her family and from normal society after turning to prostitution to support her
family. Marmeladov and his wife, Katerina Ivanovna, an alcoholic and a
consumptive, are also social outcasts. Dounia is threatened with alienation
through Svidrigaïlov's overtures, a situation that Luzhin attempts to extort, but she
is rescued through her association with Razumihin.
The novel also abounds with suicides and attempted suicides, possibly the ultimate
form of alienation. Raskolnikov is minding his own business when a woman
standing next to him suddenly leaps into a canal, nearly drowning before she is
rescued. Nikolay also tries to commit suicide but fails. Both Sonia and Raskolnikov
consider suicide but decide to live, although Raskolnikov believes that, when he
commits the murders, he has symbolically killed himself. Marmeladov is a rumored
suicide, and Svidrigaïlov, who drives a young girl to suicide, ultimately dies by his
own hand.

Crime
Dostoevsky explores the title word crime in a broad sense, including crimes defined
under the law such as murder, social crimes such as poverty, and crimes against
humanity—bringing needless suffering upon oneself and others.
Two types of crime intersect in the character of Raskolnikov. He commits murder,
a legal crime. He has a theory that extraordinary men can commit crimes, or
violate moral boundaries, on their way to greatness without penalty. However,
once he puts his theory into action, he finds that either it or he is flawed. His
conscience tortures him. The murders he commits force him to recognize the
suffering he has caused himself and others, beyond the murders themselves.
Raskolnikov is often cruel to people who love him. He claims on numerous
occasions to loathe all humankind, but his actions undermine his words while
consistently demonstrating a hatred for himself. This is his psychological crime
and punishment.
Svidrigaïlov has also committed illegal acts, including rape and possibly murder.
He has spent time in prison for debts. But overall he suffers few external
consequences for his actions. Like Raskolnikov, some of his crimes do not fall under
the rule of law. His careless manipulation of others, such as his seduction of a
married woman with children, is often very damaging to them. Still his conscience
ultimately catches up with him, too, and is a major factor in his suicide.
Sonia's criminality is debatable. Prostitution fell in a gray area in mid-19th-
century Russia. Previously considered a serious crime, it began to be viewed with
greater tolerance once prostitution became regulated in 1843 via the "yellow
ticket." This licensing system for prostitutes provided governmental oversight of
prostitutes' health in order to curb the spread of venereal disease. However, an
unregistered or infected prostitute could be arrested and detained. Regardless of
whether it was a crime legally, it carried heavy societal consequences,
demonstrated by Sonia's suffering.
Technically Luzhin is an upright citizen, a lawyer even, but his criminality can
hardly be denied. He chooses Dounia to be his wife through her situation as Marfa
Petrovna's governess. She is thus doubly "blessed" in his eyes: her reputation has
been compromised by Svidrigaïlov's advances, and Marfa Petrovna has given
sworn assurances of her purity. As a triple benefit, Dounia is poor. For all of these
reasons, she is the perfect subject of his fantasies, a beautiful, righteous woman he
can grind underneath his heel. The tortures he intends for her are only hinted at in
the accusations of robbery he makes against Sonia.

Suffering
Dostoevsky sees suffering as a double-edged sword—it can destroy or redeem
depending on the circumstances. Suffering springs from a number of sources
throughout the novel: crime, illness and disease, poverty, cruelty, self-hatred,
alienation, rejection, and failure. These different types of suffering often overlap.
For Dostoevsky the way characters respond to their own suffering or the suffering
of others often defines them.
Suffering in the novel often has religious connotations. Marmeladov "tortures"
himself with alcohol in the hope of being forgiven by God in the afterlife, and
Nikolay seeks the punishment for murder to atone for lesser sins. Sonia, like Christ,
takes on the suffering of others through compassion. She is instrumental
in Raskolnikov's redemption in prison. It is only when Raskolnikov confesses and
submits himself to the suffering of punishment that his mental healing can begin.
His cycle of sin, struggle, confession, and redemption is at the core of Christianity.
Nearly every character in Crime and Punishment suffers from some degree of
poverty, often with physical and moral consequences. Marmeladov suffers from
uncontrollable alcoholism, forcing his family to suffer starvation, disease, and
homelessness. Sonia is forced to work as a prostitute to support them and suffers
the loss of her reputation. Raskolnikov barely has enough money to survive
throughout the novel, but he frequently shares what he has with others who have
even less.
In Crime and Punishment suffering is often psychological in nature: many
characters face inner conflicts, particularly Raskolnikov and Svidrigaïlov, who
struggle painfully with their consciences. Raskolnikov's suffering manifests itself in
many ways. His crime and its desperate aftermath are a map of his pain. His
dreams, such as the dream of the horse being beaten to death, reveal his terrible
struggles within himself. In his interior monologues readers hear every detail as he
obsesses in his own mind about how to cover up his crime or whether he should
confess. Other characters suffer mental breakdowns or opt to attempt suicide when
their suffering overwhelms them. Katerina's suffering eventually drives her mental
breakdown and death.

Morality
The conflict between traditional morality, defined by Orthodox Christianity in
Russia and based in faith, and the new "rational" concepts of morality
that Raskolnikov favors, based in logic and reason, appears in many forms
throughout the novel, with Dostoevsky clearly arguing in favor of religious
morality. "Rational" concepts of morality emphasized reason and logic as the best
paths for ethical and social change. Traditional Christian beliefs were based in
faith, suffering, sin, and redemption.
Razumihin primarily argues for traditional concepts of morality, favoring the
"living soul" over airless theories that lack humanity. However, Raskolnikov is torn
between the competing moralities: he forms and executes a theory based on the
new morality, based in rationality, but his conscience is rooted in the old morality,
based in religion. The conflict ends up mentally unbalancing him. His insistence on
living out his "extraordinary man" theory leads to a spectrum of suffering.
Traditional Christian morality, focused on redemption through suffering, is his
path to a new life.
The Criticism Of Socialism In The Novel Crime And Punishment

The novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky was known as an advocate for the impoverished in
Russian society, however he had strong criticisms to socialism and its implications.
Socialism is defined as a “political and economic theory of social organization
which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should
be owned or regulated by the community as a whole” (Oxford Dictionary). The
novel highlights the turmoil of the social exclusion of 19th century Russia’s lower
class, and seems to critique the utopian vision of fixing Russian society so that
everyone would be on equal footing. Dostoevsky frames his arguments throughout
much of the novel through one character, Raskolnikv, in order to illustrate the
reality of what it actually means to take a life rather than from the abstraction
about the ethics of trading one life for the betterment of society. In Crime and
Punishment, Dostoevsky critiques socialist St. Petersburg in his portrayal of
Roskolnikov’s crime and eventual atonement.

Dostoevsky does not seem to agree with the idea that actions taken in pursuit of a
better society are necessarily good. He sees in this seemingly innocent theory a
potential justification for violence. One of Raskolnikov’s arguments for committing
murder was that by killing Alyona he is benefiting others in society. He contends,
“Crime? What crime?…That I killed a vile, pernicious louse, a little old money-
lending crone who was of no use to anyone, to kill whom is worth forty sins
forgiven, who sucked the life-sap from the poor – is that a crime?” (Dostoevsky
518). Dostoevsky is illustrating that despite what Rasknolnkov believed, no one in
poverty benefited from the murder of the Ivanovna sisters. Dostoevsky is criticizing
the utilitarian idea that Raskolnikov is doing humanity the most good by
committing one simple crime. He displays this as he shows Raskolnikov grappling
back and forth with his true motives for committing the murders, as Raskolnikov
at one point admits, “It was not to help my mother that I killed – nonsense! I did
not kill so that, having obtained means and power, I could become a benefactor of
mankind. Nonsense! I simply killed – killed for myself, for myself alone – and
whether I would become anyone’s benefactor, or spend my life like a spider..should
at that moment have made no difference to me” (Dostoevsky 419). Dostoevsky is
pointing out that Raskolnikov’s act of violence makes no difference on the societal
structure of Russia at the time, and that this utilitarian mindset is not the solution
to fixing the operations of the government and class systems.

Aside from Raskolnikov, several other of the characters seem preoccupied with
their social class and status, notably Katerina Marmeladov. She embodies the
lower class’s jealousy of the elite’s material and extravagant lifestyle. Katerina was
born into a wealthy family and fell into a life of poverty, but seems to continue to
desire to prove her original noble social status. Following her husband’s death, she
spends an enormous amount on the funeral reception, which could have been spent
towards rent or food that her family desperately needs. Katerina wished “to show
all these ‘worthless and nasty tenants’ not only that she ‘knew how to live and how
to entertain’ but that she had even been brought up for an altogether different lot,
that she had been brought up ‘in a noble, one might even say aristocratic, colonel’s
house’ and was not at all prepared for sweeping the floor herself and washing the
children’s rags at night” (Dostoevsky 378). Despite her family’s obvious poverty,
she has a strong desire to show that she is still of a high social rank and status.
Dostoevsky demonstrates the twisted preoccupation with class throughout the
extravagant funeral feast scene, as Amalia demands that Katerina and her family
vacate their apartment because they are unable to pay rent. He displays that it is
impossible to fix or alter class structures by simple willpower, but rather they are
ingrained in the existing structure of society.

Another one of Dostoevsky’s major critiques of socialism begins with its atheism.
He believed that the spiritual nature of human beings must be addressed, while
socialism tends to concern itself with man’s material needs. He argues this point
while illustrating that Raskolnikov can only become truly redeemed through the
help of God. When Raskolnikov murdered Alyona he “flung the crosses on the old
woman’s body and rushed back into the bedroom.” He has a clear disregard for
God and the concept of religion, so Dostoevsky utilizes the character of Sonya to
help serve Raskolnikov’s path to rebirth and redemption. The concept of religion
strongly influences Sonya throughout the novel and helps her remain strong and
faithful through the horrific things she has faced throughout her life. She is
eventually able to help Raskolnikov identify some sort of faith to recognize his
wrongdoings and redeem himself. It is only when he reaches this place of faith and
religion that Raskolnikov is able to face his punishment to eventually return to
society. Dostoevsky is showing that individuals cannot reach a higher level in
society through violent actions or selfish motivations and interests. Raskolnikov
originally thought that he could help society by committing murder, but comes to
realize at the end of the novel that he can truly help society by living a life of faith
and love.

Throughout the novel, Dostoevsky takes several strong stances on his political
views and attitudes towards socialism. While he did believe that the impoverished
deserved access to higher economic status, he rejects the traditional socialist ideas
of how this is to be achieved. Through the portrayal of Katerina Marmeladov,
Dostoevsky illustrates his belief that socialists should not focus their attention on
material goods or social class, but rather the importance of the individual human
person and their spiritual development. The character Raskolnikov is able to
achieve spiritual redemption regardless of the crime that he committed.
Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment exhibits his views that a better society is not
achieved through materialism or an exactly equal distribution of class and money,
but rather through individual spiritual and emotional healing.

What's Up With the Title?

Isn't this the perfect title? It's simple, elegant, and straightforward. It's a concise
mini-summary of the novel, focusing on the two crucial ideas being explored on
every page.

It's actually kind of hard to talk about the title without sounding silly. It's so small,
so self-explanatory. Even most little kids have some idea what these three words
mean, and they translate fairly smoothly from the Russian, Prestuplenie i
nakazanie, into most languages.
We don't want to bore you, but we should point this out: the Third Edition of the
Norton Critical Edition of the novel notes that the Russian word "prestuplenie" is
more closely related to the English word "transgression" than it is to the English
word "crime."

But, really, what's the difference? They both mean to do, be, say, or even think
something the people in charge say is wrong. (The people in charge are political
figures, teachers, the community, family members, religious leaders, our peers,
etc.)

There is a small difference. "Transgression" makes us think of breaking rules

because they don't work anymore or, perhaps, never did. Whereas plain old crime
is senseless, crude, and doesn't do anybody any good.

But, wait. How do you know the difference? How do you know when an action is a
crime versus a transgression? This is pretty close to the conversation Raskolnikov
and Porfiry have about Raskolnikov's essay. What is crime? What is
transgression? Is there any difference? How do you know? These questions are
recycled over and over in the novel and never really answered—that's your job!

"Crime" and "punishment" make a cute couple, like Sonia and Raskolnikov.
Something about their combination enthralls us. It signifies a process that we've
come to expect: we do something bad, we get in trouble. Punishment follows crime.
Crime comes before punishment. If something in you is protesting, you aren't
alone. As the novel shows, sometimes, maybe even often, punishment comes before
crime. Especially if you are vulnerable and powerless, like many of the children in
this book. Some would say it's a cycle.

Realism in Crime and Punishment

The main literary movements with their outstanding characteristics are

romanticism, classicism, and realism. These literary schools received their
beginning in different epochs of literary development. Realism started developing
as a literary style in response to the society’s unspoken demands of that period.
Many narrators-realists from the entire globe enriched the world literature with
the literary works telling the truth about life in the countries. There is a row of
talented writers-realists such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Emile Zola, Ivan
Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy, and others. All of them had courage to share their
observations and thoughts about the world they lived in highlighting merits and
demerits of the contemporary surroundings and society .

Realism is a peculiar literary movement and style where narrators strive to depict
the actual life historically right, in vast variety of its contradictions and
complexities. The authors-realists consider literature as a textbook of life that is the
reason they are eager to comprehend the depth and meaning of life. They are more
preoccupied with a desire to understand a human being’s nature in different
aspects such as physiological, social, economic etc. The authors of Realism become
thoughtful and careful observers of the surrounding world, social conditions and
contemporaries. They scrutinize details of daily life, analyze and comprehend
people’s behavior penetrating inside human mind. Emile de Vogue, a French writer
of the XIX century, considers realism as the development of art of observation
rather than of imagination, which portrays everyday existence as it is in its
integrality and complexity with minor intervention from the author. The new
literary movement seeks for the tools to imitate nature. Searching new ways of
reflecting the actual life, the realists frequently used social conflicts, interpersonal
relations and disgusting, dark sides of the human nature.

The essay will focus on realistic tendency referring to Dostoyevsky’s Crime and
Punishment. Having given a definition and description of Realism, one will
specifies its certain peculiar distinguishing characteristics and their presence by
example of Crime and Punishment. Realism involves depiction of the character in
interaction with the surrounding community and world. It is attentive to details of
the interior environment. Realistic effect can be achieved by giving portraits and
landscapes for reflecting the age, the epoch of the described events. Furthermore,
the realists attract various characters typical to the epoch they write about. They
demonstrate characters’ portrayals and events in dynamic. Moreover, they refer to
historically concrete society and timing. There is always a conflict between a
personality and a society in the spotlight in the realistic narrative stories. The
abovementioned features are favorable to gain the realistic effect. Accuracy,
truthfulness and credibility become dominant factors of Realism. A person is
demonstrated in interplay with the surroundings and in certain environment
under certain circumstances. One can supervise and evaluate to which extent the
society may affect a person. The readers witness complex conflicts and dramatic
collisions that the characters face in the narrations. The protagonists and
circumstances interact with each other since the character is not only affected with
the circumstances but also feels amendments and transformation.

Dostoyevsky refers to all above-stated tools of realistic narration for writing Crime
and Punishment. The work is known as a drama of sin, guilt and redemption that
transmutes the horrible story of an old woman’s murder by a desperate young
man into the profoundest and most compelling philosophical and psychological
novel. Realism of Dostoyevsky starts developing in the period when the capitalistic
relations progress. Characters, ideas, thoughts, and idols of his novels date back to
the Russian social realm. An inclusive social environment of semi-educated, urban
post-reformed Russia becomes the basis of the author’s novels, and Crime and
Punishment is not an exception. Raskolnikov, Sonya Marmeladova, Razumikhin,
Svidrigaylov, Luzhin, Lizaveta and other are the characters born by the Russian
cruel reality of that time with a dramatic contrast of the society and its vividly
sharp division on the poor and the rich. Despite one may state Dostoyevsky is more
occupied with the internal world of the poor, the insulted and humiliated, the
author is more concerned with puzzling out the characters’ sufferings, moral
tortures, and emotional turmoil. Given the portraits of the characters’ line,
Dostoyevsky introduces society with its class discrepancies and contradictions
typical for the second half of the nineteenth century. The characters serve for
developing the plot; moreover, their presence is intended for conveying epoch signs
that confirms a realistic tendency in the novel.
The story of Raskolnikov’s crime and his internal moral struggle is spread over the
pages of the novel in the background of St. Petersburg’s life. One may notice the
images of drunken ex-clerk Marmeladov, his wife Katerina Ivanovna, who suffers
from tuberculosis, Raskolnikov’s mother and sister Dunya, who have had the
experience of being humiliated and have gone through difficulties of the poverty,
humiliation, scorn and negativity. The reader keeps a watch on the students, police
officials, numerous pubs, and street fellows. Dostoyevsky creates various pictures
of the psychological stresses of a poor person who is constantly in financial
difficulties. Raskolnikov, Sonya, Katerina Ivanovna, and Marmeladov
demonstrate the life of a person that is always at the edge of survival and struggle
for existence. Such a battle impoverishes them physically and morally to the great
extent and makes their lives unbearable and measurable.

Dostoyevsky’s characters live in St. Petersburg of the 60-ies in concrete streets

which remain recognizable for the contemporaries of that time as well as for the
readers nowadays. The main trade district of St. Petersburg called “Sennaya” is
surrounded with dreary streets and alleys where petty officers, traders,
moneylenders, and craftsmen reside. The narration portrays the life of boulevards,
snack bars, and taverns. Dark even mournful pictures of St. Petersburg transmit
further depressive mood of almost entire narration. The novel is full of multiple
concrete signs of that time. Its contemporaries could perceive many pages of the
book as almost physiological accurate description of 1865 year’s summer in St.
Petersburg. The readers could feel that unbearable heat and dusty sultry air, see a
plenty of taverns and cheap beerhouses in Sennaya district, shabby cab drivers,
drunken men, and German flat owners.

One may contemplate the habitual trivial life that even coincided with the topics of
St. Petersburg newspapers in 1865. In the novel, Raskolnikov is looking through
the periodicals referred to that time. In his speech, Lebezyatnikov reminds about
the book published in St. Petersburg in 1866 that was one of the newest editions.
Dostoyevsky has an idea to reflect and depict inimitable signs of the current
existing reality. Precise descriptions of St. Petersburg and variety of signs typical
for that time knitted inside the narrative allow immersing oneself into the
atmosphere of that time. Moreover, it serves as the demonstration of the
inextricable connection between the social and moral problems and the society of
the nineteenth century. The writer testifies that such a city sight with its traditions
and lifestyle can generate not only poverty and lawlessness but also fantastic
nightmarish illusions and awful ideas in human mind.

Dostoyevsky puts simple, distinctive and expressive facts of St. Petersburg’s daily
life. The author takes the readers to the city’s streets in order for them to wander
“along the embankment of the Ekaterininsky Canal” or Neva River, pass the
Yusupov Garden or the Summer Garden, and hurry up to Vasilevsky Island or
Sennaya Street. Dostoyevsky creates topographically accurate pictures of the city
realities where his characters live and suffer going through the pangs of remorse,
moral transformation and spiritual rebirth. The image of St. Petersburg is
organically integrated inside the characters’ destinies. Dostoyevsky considers the
life of St. Petersburg as the most fantastic and penetrative personification of all
contradictions existing in the Russian social life in the nineteenth century. Scenes
with St. Petersburg also serve for achieving realism in the descriptive parts of the
novel. Realistic effect is intensified due to authentic pictures of the Russian capital
of the XIX century.

The author brings characters interconnected with each other to different extent
though they are easily recognizable and understandable for the reader.
Raskolnikov and other characters exist in this world. There are many features in
Raskolnikov typical for an intellectual and intelligent youth of the second half of
the nineteenth century. He is a student forced to work along with his studies for his
living as well as for his family. Raskolnikov is contrasted by other narrative
options: his friend Razumikhin’s path of independent and common sense,
Svidridaylov’s dissipation and further suicide, Luzhin’s pragmatism, Sonya’s self-
sacrifice. Characters such as Sonya Marmeladova and Dunya Raskolnikova
represent a type of young women who constantly suffer from shortage of money,
become an object for humiliation and sexual abuses but in a different way, manage
to resist. Svidrigaylov and Luzhin belong to a wealthy class of society though with
mean moral values. Dostoyevsky strives to distinguish his characters by age from
different social classes.

All the characters of the novel agonize over the idea about sense of life, about one’s
mission. The author joins to the novel’s characters and seeks a reply to this
question together with them. Raskolnikov, Marmeladov, Sonechka, and
Svidrigailov experience their life puzzles, they make personal theories for choosing
this or that way out to justify their behavior and deeds. The novelist combines the
characters in certain groups of the society. Raskolnikov, Sonechka, Marmeladov,
Katerina Ivanovna, and other represent the lowest underclass whereas
Svidrigaylov, Luzhin, and Lebezyatnikov represent a class of wealthy people. The
characters accumulate the common features for various groups of the society
typical for that time and assist in reflecting an actual objective reality that is the
main aim of Realism.

Simultaneously with creation of various typical personalities, Dostoyevsky builds

up plot lines that contain conflicts between the characters and the society. Coming
back to Raskolnikov’s destiny in the novel, one may state that the protagonist
becomes an outrage in the society voluntarily not only due to his poverty but also
to disgusting and unreasonable committed crime. With a committed crime, he
hopes to find a solution and implementation of his theory and instead, he finds
himself in a trap of mental anguish. Raskolnikov works out a theory of crime
concluded in the idea that humanity is divided into two sections: the great people
who are allowed to commit their sets of crimes for a higher purpose. The second
category is represented by the common people, those who had to submit to positive
law and to the restrains of the social convention and morality.

Raskolnikov is naive to assume that he is capable to evaluate all details of the

crime, and that helps him to avoid punishment. He mistakenly thinks that the crime
will not change him and will not alter his attitude to the environment. His
confidence in his rightness makes him commit murder to clean the world from the
horrible pawnbroker and simultaneously grant him the desirable freedom and
power. Instead of his theory implementation, he terribly suffers from physical,
moral and mental torments. He is willing to accept a verdict from the society that
provoked him for overstepping the laws of humanity fearing to announce his one.
He is a victim and a judge joined in one person. Raskolnikov has a feeling to being
dissociated from to the society after committed murder. However, after he
identifies that his suffering is natural to lots of humanity, he reunites the society.
One may notice the conflict between a personality and the community and the
torturous internal conflict inside the human being. A story of Marmeladov is
typical for that time, and it demonstrates a conflict between a person and the
society. He blames the society for his alcoholism and squalid existence. Laws of this
society make him unemployed, desperate, homeless, and miserable. Together with
his job, Marmeladov loses his dignity, a feeling of security and social necessity.
Lacking strength of mind and being a weak-willed person, he obediently bends to
circumstances. He states: “poverty is no vice… drunkenness is also no virtue…but
destitution is a vice. In poverty you may still preserve the nobility of your inborn
feelings, but in destitution no one ever does”. Numerous life stories help
Dostoyevsky in reflecting the confrontation between people and society from
different angles. Dostoyevsky succeeds in manipulating the reader’s feelings and
consciousness causing compassion from the reading audience to the fallen
characters despite their mental instability or the dreadful nature of the crime.

To make the novel sound realistic and close to the reader, Dostoyevsky actively
uses endless continuing dialogues between the characters. The dialogue is
organically interlaced in the Crime and Punishment narration. One may hear the
voices of Raskonikov, Marmeladov, Sonechka, Svidrigaylov, Luzhin, and Porfiry
Petrovich sharing their thoughts and doubts that reflect one’s confused and
disturbed mind, pangs of remorse or conscience of guilt. Linguistically and tonally,
the dialogues reflect the human soul and serve for apprehending each character
and conceiving the consciousness. The reader comes to know about the characters,
their internal struggle and feelings through the dialogues. For example, listening to
Marmeladov’s drunken outpourings, one gets to know about Sonechka’s and
Katering Ivanovna’s life stories. Dialogues participate in the development and
discovering the novel’s plot. Dostoyevsky prefers to use dynamic form of
narration; he makes the reader travel from one place to another, following the
characters. One may see Raskolnikov’s stuffy room, a police station, outdoors, a
tavern, or Svidrigaylov’s apartment. It helps in expanding the framework of the
novel. Some scenes are shown in presence of the numerous casual bystanders and
strangers. The readers may almost feel the atmosphere of a big city, hear its noise,
movements, and voices. The bareness of many contradictions becomes trivial and
does not cause any sympathy never before had he seen or heard such unnatural
noises, such howling, screaming, snarling, tears, blows and curses, people coming
up, knocking, slamming doors, running.

In the course of writing the essay, one could come to know about a literary
movement of Realism. It is considered a truthful description and authentic
reflection of the actual environment. One highlighted the main distinct features the
realists refer to achieve the goal of the realistic narration and demonstrated their
practical usage in the novel Crime and Punishment. Therefore, Dostoyevsky
provides the readers with well-constructed set of portrayals of the complicated
“psychological and mental state of the criminal’s mind, by taking us through his
actions, interactions with other people, his inner monologues and rants during his
frantic walks” along St. Petersburg’s streets. Consequently, one may conclude that
Dostoyevsky masterfully constructs the plot lines and achieves the realistic effect
involving the pictures of the old St. Petersburg, creating typical images, and
interlacing various conflicts and characters inside the canvas of the novel. His
active use of dialogues creates polyphony multiple voices that energize the novel
and keep a reader in tense. Availability of the features specific for Realism may
allow one to consider Crime and Punishment a novel of Realism.

Peeling Away Insanity—Crime and Punishment’s Yellow Wallpaper

Reading Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper has completely changed my reading of my

favorite novel, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: Namely, that “yellow
wallpaper” is a theme of principle importance in Dostoevsky’s novel.  The
protagonist of Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov, is a poor student who lives in a
small attic room in St. Petersburg.  Early on in the novel, he murders the local
pawn broker as well as her sister (though only the first is premeditated).  The
question that scholars have grappled for years is, what was Raskolnikov’s motive
for murder?  I believe it can be argued that his yellow wallpaper is what drove him
to his crime.

In Crime and Punishment, all of the character’s rooms coincidentally have yellow
wallpaper: Raskolnikov’s; Aloyna Ivanovna’s, the pawn broker he murders;
Sonya’s, the prostitute who seeks to redeem him; and even the hotel rooms. 
Dostoevsky describes Raskolnikov’s room as having “yellow dusty wall-paper
peeling off the walls that gave it a wretchedly shabby appearance” (23).  Yellow
wallpaper is something the characters cannot escape.  And like Jane in The Yellow
Wallpaper, Raskolnikov is obsessed with wallpaper.

After committing murder and returning to his room, Raskolnikov immediately

stuffs what he has stolen into his wallpaper.  This causes him undue anxiety due to
its conspicuousness; he later removes the stolen goods and tosses them under the
bridge in the water, not really wanting what he had stolen in the first place.  What
struck me as significant after reading Gilman’s work is Raskolnikov’s strange
fixation on wallpaper.  For instance, when visitors come to visit Raskolnikov he
turns away from them on his bed and stares at the wall instead:

“Raskolnikov turned to the wall, selected one of the white flowers, with little brown
lines on them, on the yellowish paper, and began to count how many petals it had,
how many serrations on each petal and how many little brown lines. He felt his
arms and legs grow numb as if they were no longer there.  He did not stir, but
looked fixedly at the flower.” (Dostoevsky 114)

It seems here that Raskolnikov has become a victim to the wallpaper, as if it is

overtaking him.  The more he absorbs himself in it, the number he feels.  This
numbness does not seem to be comforting but excruciating—we see this when
Raskolnikov finally turns away from the wallpaper:

“[Raskolnikov’s] face, now that he had turned away from the engrossing flower on
the wallpaper, was extraordinarily pale and had an expression of intense
suffering, as though he had just undergone a painful operation or been subjected to
torture.” (Dostoevsky 122)

“The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but
the pattern is torturing.” (Gilman 9)

The wallpaper has a hypnotic but toxic quality.  Like a bee drawn to nectar,
Raskolnikov is drawn to the flower—it compels and traps him.  And like Jane, he
seems to become lost in the intricate haphazardness of its design.

Though yellow wallpaper causes Raskolnikov undue pain and suffering, for some
reason, he finds himself fond of it.  We see this when he returns to the flat of the
pawn broker he killed:

“[The workmen] were putting new paper, white, with small lilac-colored flowers,
on the walls, in place of the old, rubbed, yellow paper.  For some reason
Raskolnikov violently disapproved of this, and he looked with hostility at the new
paper, as though he could not bear to see it all changed.” (Dostoevsky 146)

This is an oddly strong reaction that Dostoevsky never explains.  Raskolnikov’s

attitude is comparable to Jane’s, who at one point states that she is fond of her
room “in spite of the wallpaper.  Perhaps because of the wallpaper” (Gilman 6).
Both characters are at first tormented by their wallpaper, but later come to enjoy it
as a source of familiarity.  Even though Raskolnikov commits the murder in order
to escape the yellow wallpaper that suffocates him, he comes to approve of it in the
end.  This all seems to illuminate the madness that wallpaper truly is.  For what is
wallpaper but a form of masking, of hiding what is really underneath?

Dostoevsky, Feodor. Crime and Punishment. Norton Critical 3rd Ed. Translated by
Jessie Coulson and edited by George Gibian. W.W. Norton & Company: 1989.

Crime and Punishment as a Psychological Novel

Crime and Punishment , written by Fyodor Dostoevsky deals with the crime
and psychological development of the character Raskolnikov. The novel is
psychological and deals with the human nature of self. The theory of
psychoanalysis tries to explore human self ad other human behavioural tendencies
as well human relationships.

As a psychological novel, it largely focuses much on the internal mind and function
of the character Raskalnikov. As a character, he possess a dual nature or dual self.
From a psychoanalytical lens, human beings have multiple selves meaning there
are outer appearance as well as inner appearances. Raskalnikov’s inner self is self-
centred and narcissistic in a sense that he thinks of himself as a phenomenal man
or an extraordinary man who is above the law. His outer self is completely refrain
from his inner self where he is submissive to his actions which is clearly seen in the
novel. He submits all of his crime and murder to Sonya and was imprisoned in jail
for it that made him to question his hypothesis and the reality of his existence.

It is interesting to note that the political turmoil of the age has consequently led to
the psychological writing of the novel. The Russian society was changing and
Dostoevsky tried to depict the psyche of the minds of the people during that time
where there were prevalent of nihilistic beliefs and its impact on the mind of the
people. The dream that Raskolnikov saw a peasant beating a person to death
during his childhood largely symbolizes the impact of nihilism on human psyche.
The act of murder that defies social institution by a peasant in killing a person
shows nihilistic behaviour of the people due to the ongoing social divisions of the
society and also shows the impact of such behavioural attitude on the psyche of a
children. This shows the development of Raskolnikov attitude in defining himself as
an extraordinary man where he can go above the law and order to commit any
wrongdoing to benefit the society.

However, his hypothesis was a result of his mere nihilistic belief that affected his
psyche during his childhood. One can see how his nihilistic belief in his mind led to
murder an old Pawnbroker. He committed a crime so that he can serve the benefit
or contribute to mankind in doing so by breaking the traditional morals of the
society. This blend of psyche is rooted due to the prevalent political and social
condition of the Russian society where the class divisions played a role as well as
the rising frustrations against the poverty. One can observe the similarity between
the murder Raskolnikov saw in his childhood and the murder he committed in
reality. The similitude is that the peasant who murdered a person to death was due
to monetary and Raskolnikov also committed a murder of old Pawnbroker due to
the monetary inequality. This monetary inequality may have perhaps agitated a
nihilistic behaviour among the masses of the Russians during those times.

As a psychological novel, Raskolnikov also possesses an oedipus complex.

Raskolnikov disliked Luzhin who was supposed to get engaged to his sister Dunya.
He disliked his disposition towards her and affronts him directly. This reflects his
oedipial characteristics where Luzhin seems to be a fatherly figure which he
despises and Dunya appears to be another which he tries to protect.

The psychological novels always portray dreams that it gives a meaning to the
novel. The dream that Raskolnikov’s mother saw was she saw Marfa Petrovna
where she saw her ”all in white”. From a psychoanalytical lens, the dreams projects
certain images, objects or events that has a meaning and the colour white could
represent the chastity of Marfa Petrovna or the idea of hope.

In addition to this, the dream of Svidrigailov, he dreams of flowers and funerals.

The flower in his dream could signify beauty but the moment he saw a cottage and
a coffin, he saw a girl lying dead and her hair was wet. This event is of a repressed
desire of Svidrigailov where his repressed desire is seen in the form of a dream.
According to Freud, the dreams are the royal road to unconscious mind. He
believed that repressed desires comes out in the form of a dream. His dream could
symbolically suggests his pedophilia and perverted nature which Raskolnikov have
also observed in his character. The storm before he went to visit a hotel could
signify his inner self or inner monster within him. The event of his dream is
symbolical that suggest his repressed desire to sleep with a girl and especially
young girls. The little child whom he saw in his dream trying to help indicates
nothing of his generosity but a pedophilia whom he thinks of her as a ”scarlet
woman” meaning harlots.

The last dream that Raskolnikov saw during his stay in prison clearly reflects his
idea of phenomenal man and nihilistic belief. He saw that entire city is being
destroyed with flood and climate catastrophe such as a disease with intelligent and
will. He thinks that only few men survive who survive are right and everyone else
is wrong. This whole concept is a nihilistic belief which perhaps a writer himself
believe during his stay in St. Petersburg. The novel also projects the writer own
belief system in the character of Raskolnikov. When Raskolnikov saw that there
were no men who exist to save the society , it clearly shows the breakdown of
nihilistic illusion and the atonement for his murder.