Crime and Punishment

A detailed Summary of Crime and Punishment

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Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevsky has been hailed as the greatest literary work in the Western hemisphere. Crime and Punishment was written in pre-Communist Russia under the Tsar. Dostoyevsky's writing shows insight into the human mind that is at once frightening and frighteningly real. His main character, around who all other characters are introduced, is Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov.

Raskolnikov murders an old pawnbroker woman for seemingly no reason at all. His sister and mother move to St. Petersburg following his sister's engagement to a man whom Raskolnikov was extremely displeased. Raskolnikov undergoes severe mental trauma, and falls ill after the killing. The reader isn't sure why Raskolnikov killed the woman, indeed it appears that Raskolnikov didn't know himself. He is surrounded by friends and his family and draws in other characters to him during his illness. He befriends a woman, Sofya Seymonavitch, who prostitutes herself to support her mother and her drunken father. As the police come closer onto his trail Raskolnikov faces serious threats to his sister from her two suitors, one of which tries to rape her and kills

In a normal novel, there is a protagonist that the Western reader wants to identify with himself. Everyone wants to think of themselves as have some redeeming value in their lives, and for the most part, people usually think the good in them outweighs the bad. So how come in many Western novels the bad guy is thoroughly and totally corrupt and evil. The antagonist in Western literature today has become someone who the reader can look at and hate. Raskolnikov is definitely the protagonist, for clearly the action of the novel centers around him. But can he be called the "good guy"? He does terrible things on impulse, but his urge for doing good and kind acts is just as impulsive. He saves a family from certain destitution, and helps many people before he is sent to Siberia at the end of the novel. The reader wants to identify with Raskolnikov, but can't because of the murders. The reader also can't side against Raskolnikov and identify with Porifry Petrovitch, the detective on Raskolnikov's trail, because Raskolnikov has done so much good and has his mother, sister, and Sofya to live for. The reader is stuck in a dilemma, since he can't identify any of the characters as good or bad, he must accept them as what Dostoyevsky intended for them to be, humans.

In the story Dostoyevsky reinforces his point about his characters being human, having both condemning and redeeming values. Two of the most obvious of these characters were Marmeladov, and Svdrigailov.

When Douina came to Svidrigailov, he attempted to rape her, only to find that he could not bring himself to. He let her go free, and shot himself. We are at once revolted and then pity this man. Here is the character in the book who is possibly the most evil, but he cannot commit the act which would make him the clear and undoubtable antagonist. He finds out that a

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Approximate Word count = 1232
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics