Crime and Punishment is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky published in 1866. In St Petersburg, a poor former student, Raskolnikov, murders an old pawnbroker, convinced that extraordinary men have the right to break moral laws. The novel follows his feverish inner struggle, his duel with a clever investigator and his path towards redemption.
The story
Raskolnikov kills the pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna with an axe, and then her sister Lizaveta, who arrives unexpectedly. He takes little and hides it.
Haunted by guilt and illness, he is drawn to Sonya, a young woman forced into poverty to support her family, and is closely watched by the magistrate Porfiry Petrovich.
The idea
Raskolnikov has written an article arguing that great men such as Napoleon may step over the law for a higher purpose.
The novel tests this theory and shows how the crime isolates him from everyone, including himself.
St Petersburg
Dostoevsky depicts the poor districts of the capital in summer: crowded rooms, taverns, dark staircases and oppressive heat.
The novel was serialized throughout 1866 in the journal The Russian Messenger and made Dostoevsky famous.
Anecdotes
Written under pressure
Dostoevsky wrote the novel while deep in debt. In the same year he dictated The Gambler in less than a month to a stenographer, Anna Snitkina, whom he later married.
Siberia
The epilogue takes place in a Siberian prison camp, which Dostoevsky knew from his own years of penal servitude after his arrest in 1849.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Raskolnikov?
A poor former student who commits murder.
Who is Sonya?
A poor, kind young woman who helps him find redemption.
When was the novel published?
In 1866.