Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment[a] is a novel by the Russian

Crime and Punishment
author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the
literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve
monthly installments during 1866.[1] It was later
published in a single volume. It is the second of
Dostoevsky's full-length novels following his return
from ten years of exile in Siberia. Crime and
Punishment is considered the first great novel of his
mature period of writing[2] and is often cited as one of
the greatest works of world literature.[3][4][5][6]

Crime and Punishment follows the mental anguish and

moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an
impoverished former law student in Saint Petersburg
who plans to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker, an old
woman who stores money and valuable objects in her
flat. He theorises that with the money he could liberate
himself from poverty and go on to perform great
deeds, and seeks to convince himself that certain
crimes are justifiable if they are committed in order to
remove obstacles to the higher goals of "extraordinary" 1956 Random House printing of Crime and
men. Once the deed is done, however, he finds himself Punishment, translated by Constance Garnett
wracked with confusion, paranoia, and disgust. His Author Fyodor Dostoevsky
theoretical justifications lose all their power as he
Original title Преступление и наказание
struggles with guilt and horror and is confronted with
both internal and external consequences of his deed. Language Russian
Genre Literary fiction
Publisher The Russian Messenger
Background (series)
Publication 1866; separate edition 1867
At the time, Dostoevsky owed large sums of money to date
creditors and was trying to help the family of his
Publication Russia
brother Mikhail, who had died in early 1864. After
place
appeals elsewhere failed, Dostoevsky turned as a last
resort to the publisher Mikhail Katkov and sought an Pages 527
advance on a proposed contribution.[7] He offered his OCLC 26399697 ([Link]
story or novella (at the time, he was not thinking of a [Link]/oclc/26399697)
novel)[8] for publication in Katkov's monthly journal Dewey 891.73/3 20
The Russian Messenger—a prestigious publication of Decimal
its kind, and the outlet for both Ivan Turgenev and Leo LC Class PG3326 .P7 1993
Tolstoy. Dostoevsky, having been engaged in
polemical debates with Katkov in the early 1860s, had Original text Преступление и наказание
never published anything in its pages before. In a letter at Russian Wikisource
to Katkov written in September 1865, Dostoevsky Translation Crime and Punishment at
explained to him that the work was to be about a young Wikisource
man who yields to "certain strange, 'unfinished' ideas,
yet floating in the air".[9] He planned to explore the moral and psychological dangers of the ideology of
"radicalism", and felt that the project would appeal to the conservative Katkov.[10] In letters written in
November 1865, an important conceptual change occurred: the "story" had become a "novel". From then
on, Crime and Punishment is referred to as a novel.[11]

In the complete edition of Dostoevsky's writings published

in the Soviet Union, the editors reassembled the writer's At the end of November much had
notebooks for Crime and Punishment in a sequence roughly been written and was ready; I burned
corresponding to the various stages of composition. As a it all; I can confess that now. I didn't
result, there exists a fragmentary working draft of the like it myself. A new form, a new plan
novella, as initially conceived, as well as two other versions excited me, and I started all over
of the text. These have been distinguished as the Wiesbaden again.
edition, the Petersburg edition, and the final plan, involving
the shift from a first-person narrator to Dostoevsky's — Dostoevsky's letter to his friend
Alexander Wrangel in February 1866[12]
innovative use of third-person narrative to achieve first-
person narrative perspectives.[13] Dostoevsky initially
considered four first-person plans: a memoir written by Raskolnikov, his confession recorded eight days
after the murder, his diary begun five days after the murder, and a mixed form in which the first half was
in the form of a memoir, and the second half in the form of a diary.[14] The Wiesbaden edition
concentrates entirely on the moral and psychological reactions of the narrator after the murder. It
coincides roughly with the story that Dostoevsky described in his letter to Katkov and, written in the form
of a diary or journal, corresponds to what eventually became part 2 of the finished work.[15][16]

Why Dostoevsky abandoned his initial version remains a

I wrote [this chapter] with genuine matter of speculation. According to Joseph Frank, "one
inspiration, but perhaps it is no good; possibility is that his protagonist began to develop beyond
but for them[,] the question is not its the boundaries in which he had first been conceived".[18]
literary worth, they are worried about The notebooks indicate that Dostoevsky became aware of
its morality. Here I was in the right— the emergence of new aspects of Raskolnikov's character as
nothing was against morality, and even the plot developed, and he structured the novel in
quite the contrary, but they saw conformity with this "metamorphosis".[19] The final version
otherwise and, what's more, saw traces of Crime and Punishment came into being only when, in
of nihilism ... I took it back, and this November 1865, Dostoevsky decided to recast his novel in
revision of a large chapter cost me at the third person. This shift was the culmination of a long
least three new chapters of work, struggle, present through all the early stages of
judging by the effort and the composition.[20] Once having decided, Dostoevsky began to
weariness; but I corrected it and gave rewrite from scratch and was able to easily integrate
it back. sections of the early manuscript into the final text. Frank
says that he did not, as he told Wrangel, burn everything he
— Dostoevsky's letter to A.P. Milyukov[17] had written earlier.[21]
Dostoevsky was under great pressure to finish Crime and Punishment on time, as he was simultaneously
contracted to finish The Gambler for the prominent Russian publisher Fyodor Stellovsky, who had
imposed extremely harsh conditions. Anna Snitkina, a stenographer who later became Dostoevsky's wife,
was of great help to him during this difficult task.[22] The first part of Crime and Punishment appeared in
the January 1866 issue of The Russian Messenger, and the last one was published in December 1866.[23]

Plot

Part 1
Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former law student, lives in extreme poverty in a tiny rented room in
Saint Petersburg. Isolated and antisocial, he has abandoned all attempts to support himself and is
brooding obsessively on a scheme he has devised to murder and rob an elderly pawnbroker. On the
pretext of pawning a watch, he visits her apartment, but he remains unable to commit himself. Later in a
tavern, he makes the acquaintance of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, a drunkard who recently
squandered his family's little wealth. Marmeladov tells him about his teenage daughter, Sonya, who has
become a prostitute in order to support the family. The next day, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his
mother in which she describes the problems of his sister Dunya, who has been working as a governess,
with her ill-intentioned employer, Svidrigailov. To escape her vulnerable position, and with hopes of
helping her brother, Dunya has chosen to marry a wealthy suitor, Luzhin, whom they are coming to meet
in Petersburg. Details in the letter suggest that Luzhin is a conceited opportunist who is seeking to take
advantage of Dunya's situation. Raskolnikov is enraged at his sister's sacrifice, feeling it is the same as
what Sonya felt compelled to do. Painfully aware of his own poverty and impotence, his thoughts return
to his idea. A further series of internal and external events seem to conspire to compel him toward the
resolution to enact it.

In a state of extreme nervous tension, Raskolnikov steals an axe and makes his way once more to the old
woman's apartment. He gains access by pretending he has something to pawn, and then attacks her with
the axe, killing her. He also kills her half-sister, Lizaveta, who happens to stumble upon the scene of the
crime. Shaken by his actions, he steals only a handful of items and a small purse, leaving much of the
pawnbroker's wealth untouched. Due to sheer good fortune, he manages to escape the building and return
to his room undetected.

Part 2
In a feverish and semi-delirious state Raskolnikov conceals the stolen items and falls asleep exhausted.
He is greatly alarmed the next morning when he gets summoned to the police station, but it turns out to
be in relation to a debt notice from his landlady. When the officers at the bureau begin talking about the
murder, Raskolnikov faints. He quickly recovers, but he can see from their faces that he has aroused
suspicion. Fearing a search, he hides the stolen items under a large rock in an empty yard, noticing in
humiliation that he has not even checked how much money is in the purse. Without knowing why, he
visits his old university friend Razumikhin, who observes that Raskolnikov seems to be seriously ill.
Finally he returns to his room where he succumbs to his illness and falls into a prolonged delirium.
When he emerges several days later he finds that Razumikhin has tracked him down and has been nursing
him. Still feverish, Raskolnikov listens nervously to a conversation between Razumikhin and the doctor
about the status of the police investigation into the murders: a muzhik called Mikolka, who was working
in a neighbouring flat at the time, has been detained, and the old woman's clients are being interviewed.
They are interrupted by the arrival of Luzhin, Dunya's fiancé, who wishes to introduce himself, but
Raskolnikov deliberately insults him and kicks him out. He angrily tells the others to leave as well, and
then sneaks out himself. He looks for news about the murder, and seems almost to want to draw attention
to his own part in it. He encounters the police official Zamyotov, who was present when he fainted in the
bureau, and openly mocks the young man's unspoken suspicions. He returns to the scene of the crime and
re-lives the sensations he experienced at the time. He angers the workmen and caretakers by asking
casual questions about the murder, even suggesting that they accompany him to the police station to
discuss it. As he contemplates whether or not to confess, he sees Marmeladov, who has been struck
mortally by a carriage. He rushes to help and succeeds in conveying the stricken man back to his family's
apartment. Calling out for Sonya to forgive him, Marmeladov dies in his daughter's arms. Raskolnikov
gives his last twenty five roubles (from money sent to him by his mother) to Marmeladov's consumptive
widow, Katerina Ivanovna, saying it is the repayment of a debt to his friend.

Feeling renewed, Raskolnikov calls on Razumikhin, and they go back together to Raskolnikov's building.
Upon entering his room Raskolnikov is deeply shocked to see his mother and sister sitting on the sofa.
They have just arrived in Petersburg and are ecstatic to see him, but Raskolnikov is unable to speak, and
collapses in a faint.

Part 3
Razumikhin tends to Raskolnikov, and manages to convince the distressed mother and sister to return to
their apartment. He goes with them, despite being drunk and rather overwhelmed by Dunya's beauty.
When they return the next morning Raskolnikov has improved physically, but it becomes apparent that he
is still mentally distracted and merely forcing himself to endure the meeting. He demands that Dunya
break with Luzhin, but Dunya fiercely defends her motives for the marriage. Mrs Raskolnikova has
received a note from Luzhin demanding that her son not be present at any future meetings between them.
He also informs her that he witnessed her son give the 25 rubles to "an unmarried woman of immoral
behavior" (Sonya). Dunya has decided that a meeting, at which both Luzhin and her brother are present,
must take place, and Raskolnikov agrees to attend that evening along with Razumikhin. To Raskolnikov's
surprise, Sonya suddenly appears at his door. Timidly, she explains that he left his address with them last
night, and that she has come to invite him to attend her father's funeral. As she leaves, Raskolnikov asks
for her address and tells her that he will visit her soon.

At Raskolnikov's behest, Razumikhin takes him to see the detective Porfiry Petrovich, who is
investigating the murders. Raskolnikov immediately senses that Porfiry knows that he is the murderer.
Porfiry, who has just been discussing the case with Zamyotov, adopts an ironic tone during the
conversation. He expresses extreme curiosity about an article that Raskolnikov wrote some months ago
called 'On Crime', in which he suggests that certain rare individuals—the benefactors and geniuses of
mankind—have a right to 'step across' legal or moral boundaries if those boundaries are an obstruction to
the success of their idea. Raskolnikov defends himself skillfully, but he is alarmed and angered by
Porfiry's insinuating tone. An appointment is made for an interview the following morning at the police
bureau.
Leaving Razumikhin with his mother and sister, Raskolnikov returns to his own building. He is surprised
to find an old artisan, whom he does not know, making inquiries about him. Raskolnikov tries to find out
what he wants, but the artisan says only one word – "murderer", and walks off. Petrified, Raskolnikov
returns to his room and falls into thought and then sleeps. He wakens from an eerie nightmare about the
murder of the old woman to find another complete stranger present, this time a man of aristocratic
appearance. The man politely introduces himself as Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov.

Part 4
Svidrigailov indulges in an amiable but disjointed monologue, punctuated by Raskolnikov's terse
interjections. He claims to no longer have any romantic interest in Dunya, but wants to stop her from
marrying Luzhin, and offers her ten thousand roubles. Raskolnikov refuses the money on her behalf and
refuses to facilitate a meeting. Svidrigailov also mentions that his wife, who defended Dunya at the time
of the unpleasantness but died shortly afterwards, has left her 3000 rubles in her will.

The meeting with Luzhin that evening begins with talk of Svidrigailov—his depraved character, his
presence in Petersburg, the unexpected death of his wife and the 3000 rubles left to Dunya. Luzhin takes
offence when Dunya insists on resolving the issue with her brother, and when Raskolnikov draws
attention to the slander in his letter, Luzhin becomes reckless, exposing his true character. Dunya tells
him to leave and never come back. Now free and with significant capital, they excitedly begin to discuss
plans for the future, but Raskolnikov suddenly gets up and leaves, telling them, to their great
consternation, that it might be the last time he sees them. He instructs the baffled Razumikhin to remain
and always care for them.

Raskolnikov proceeds to Sonya's place. She is gratified that he is visiting her, but also frightened of his
strange manner. He asks a series of merciless questions about her terrible situation and that of Katerina
Ivanovna and the children. Raskolnikov begins to realize that Sonya is sustained only by her faith in God.
She reveals that she was a friend of the murdered Lizaveta. In fact, Lizaveta gave her a cross and a copy
of the Gospels. She passionately reads to him the story of the raising of Lazarus from the Gospel of John.
His fascination with her, which had begun at the time when her father spoke of her, increases and he
decides that they must face the future together. As he leaves he tells her that he will come back tomorrow
and tell her who killed her friend Lizaveta.

When Raskolnikov presents himself for his interview, Porfiry resumes and intensifies his insinuating,
provocative, ironic chatter, without ever making a direct accusation. With Raskolnikov's anger reaching
fever pitch, Porfiry hints that he has a "little surprise" for him behind the partition in his office, but at that
moment there is a commotion outside the door and a young man (Mikolka the painter) bursts in, followed
by some policemen. To both Porfiry and Raskolnikov's astonishment, Mikolka proceeds to loudly confess
to the murders. Porfiry does not believe the confession, but he is forced to let Raskolnikov go. Back at his
room Raskolnikov is horrified when the old artisan suddenly appears at his door. But the man bows and
asks for forgiveness: he had been Porfiry's "little surprise", and had heard Mikolka confess. He had been
one of those present when Raskolnikov returned to the scene of the murders, and had reported his
behavior to Porfiry.
Part 5
Raskolnikov attends the Marmeladovs' post-funeral banquet at Katerina Ivanovna's apartment. The
atmosphere deteriorates as guests become drunk and the half-mad Katerina Ivanovna engages in a verbal
attack on her German landlady. With chaos descending, everyone is surprised by the sudden and
portentous appearance of Luzhin. He sternly announces that a 100-ruble banknote disappeared from his
apartment at the precise time that he was being visited by Sonya, whom he had invited in order to make a
small donation. Sonya fearfully denies stealing the money, but Luzhin persists in his accusation and
demands that someone search her. Outraged, Katerina Ivanovna abuses Luzhin and sets about emptying
Sonya's pockets to prove her innocence, but a folded 100-ruble note does indeed fly out of one of the
pockets. The mood in the room turns against Sonya, Luzhin chastises her, and the landlady orders the
family out. But Luzhin's roommate Lebezyatnikov arrives, and angrily asserts that he saw Luzhin
surreptitiously slip the money into Sonya's pocket as she left, although he had thought at the time that it
was a noble act of anonymous charity. Raskolnikov backs Lebezyatnikov up by confidently identifying
Luzhin's motive: a desire to avenge himself on Raskolnikov by defaming Sonya, in hopes of causing a rift
with his family. Luzhin is discredited, but Sonya is traumatized, and she runs out of the apartment.
Raskolnikov follows her.

Back at her room, Raskolnikov draws Sonya's attention to the ease with which Luzhin could have ruined
her, and consequently the children as well. But it is only a prelude to his confession that he is the
murderer of the old woman and Lizaveta. Painfully, he tries to explain his abstract motives for the crime
to uncomprehending Sonya. She is horrified, not just at the crime, but at his own self-torture, and tells
him that he must hand himself in to the police. Lebezyatnikov appears and tells them that the landlady
has kicked Katerina Ivanovna out of the apartment and that she has gone mad. They find Katerina
Ivanovna surrounded by people in the street, completely insane, trying to force the terrified children to
perform for money, and near death from her illness. They manage to get her back to Sonya's room, where,
distraught and raving, she dies. To Raskolnikov's surprise, Svidrigailov suddenly appears and informs
him that he will be using the ten thousand rubles intended for Dunya to make the funeral arrangements
and to place the children in good orphanages. When Raskolnikov asks him what his motives are, he
laughingly replies with direct quotations of Raskolnikov's own words, spoken when he was trying to
explain his justifications for the murder to Sonya. Svidrigailov has been residing next door to Sonya, and
overheard every word of the murder confession.

Part 6
Razumikhin tells Raskolnikov that Dunya has become troubled and distant after receiving a letter from
someone. He also mentions, to Raskolnikov's astonishment, that Porfiry no longer suspects him of the
murders. As Raskolnikov is about to set off in search of Svidrigailov, Porfiry himself appears and politely
requests a brief chat. He sincerely apologises for his previous behavior and seeks to explain the reasons
behind it. Strangely, Raskolnikov begins to feel alarmed at the thought that Porfiry might think he is
innocent. But Porfiry's changed attitude is motivated by genuine respect for Raskolnikov, not by any
thought of his innocence, and he concludes by expressing his absolute certainty that Raskolnikov is
indeed the murderer. He claims that he will be arresting him soon, but urges him to confess to make it
easier on himself. Raskolnikov chooses to continue the struggle.

Raskolnikov finds Svidrigailov at an inn and warns him against approaching Dunya. Svidrigailov, who
has in fact arranged to meet Dunya, threatens to go to the police, but Raskolnikov is unconcerned and
follows when he leaves. When Raskolnikov finally turns home, Dunya, who has been watching them,
approaches Svidrigailov and demands to know what he meant in his letter about her brother's "secret".
She reluctantly accompanies him to his rooms, where he reveals what he overheard and attempts to use it
to make her yield to his desire. Dunya, however, has a gun and she fires at him, narrowly missing:
Svidrigailov gently encourages her to reload and try again. Eventually she throws the gun aside, but
Svidrigailov, crushed by her hatred for him, tells her to leave. Later that evening he goes to Sonya to
discuss the arrangements for Katerina Ivanovna's children. He gives her 3000 rubles, telling her she will
need it if she wishes to follow Raskolnikov to Siberia. He spends the night in a miserable hotel and the
following morning commits suicide in a public place.

Raskolnikov says a painful goodbye to his mother, without telling her the truth. Dunya is waiting for him
at his room, and he tells her that he will be going to the police to confess to the murders. He stops at
Sonya's place on the way and she gives him a crucifix. At the bureau, he learns of Svidrigailov's suicide,
and almost changes his mind, even leaving the building. However, he sees Sonya (who has followed him)
looking at him in despair, and he returns to make a full and frank confession to the murders.

Epilogue
Due to the fullness of his confession at a time when another man had already confessed, and his state of
mind at the time of the murders, Raskolnikov is sentenced to only eight years of penal servitude. Dunya
and Razumikhin marry and plan to move to Siberia, but Raskolnikov's mother falls ill and dies. Sonya
follows Raskolnikov to Siberia, but he is initially hostile towards her as he is still struggling to
acknowledge moral culpability for his crime, feeling himself to be guilty only of weakness. It is only after
some time in prison that his redemption and moral regeneration begin under Sonya's loving influence.

Characters
In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky fuses the personality of his main character, Rodion Romanovich
Raskolnikov, with his new anti-radical ideological themes. The main plot involves a murder as the result
of "ideological intoxication," and depicts all the disastrous moral and psychological consequences that
result from the murder. Raskolnikov's psychology is placed at the center, and carefully interwoven with
the ideas behind his transgression; every other feature of the novel illuminates the agonizing dilemma in
which Raskolnikov is caught.[24] From another point of view, the novel's plot is another variation of a
conventional nineteenth-century theme: an innocent young provincial comes to seek his fortune in the
capital, where he succumbs to corruption, and loses all traces of his former freshness and purity.
However, as Gary Rosenshield points out, "Raskolnikov succumbs not to the temptations of high society
as Honoré de Balzac's Rastignac or Stendhal's Julien Sorel, but to those of rationalistic Petersburg".[25]

Major characters
Raskolnikov (Rodion Romanovitch) is the protagonist, and the novel focuses primarily on his
perspective. A 23-year-old former student, now destitute, Raskolnikov is described in the novel as
"exceptionally handsome, taller than average in height, slim, well built, with beautiful dark eyes and dark
brown hair." On the one hand, he is cold, apathetic, and antisocial; on the other, he can be surprisingly
warm and compassionate. He commits murder as well as acts of impulsive charity. His chaotic interaction
with the external world and his nihilistic worldview might be seen as causes of his social alienation or
consequences of it.
Despite its title, the novel does not
Character names
so much deal with the crime and its
formal punishment as with Russian
and romanization
Raskolnikov's internal struggle –
the torments of his own conscience, First name, nickname Patronymic Family name
rather than the legal consequences Родиóн Ромáнович Раскóльников
of committing the crime. Believing Rodión Románovich Raskól'nikov
society would be better for it, Авдо́тья, Ду́ня Рома́новна
Raskolnikov commits murder with Avdótya, Dounia Románovna Раско́льникова
the idea that he possesses enough Пульхери́я Алексáндровна Raskól'nikova
intellectual and emotional fortitude Pulkhería Aleksándrovna
to deal with the ramifications, but Семён Заха́рович Мармела́дов
his sense of guilt soon overwhelms Semyón Zakhárovich Marmeládov
him to the point of psychological
Со́фья, Со́ня, Со́нечка Семёновна
and somatic illness. It is only in the Sófya, Sónya, Sónechka Semyónovna
Мармела́дова
epilogue that he realizes his formal Marmeládova
Катери́на Ива́новна
punishment, having decided to Katerína Ivánovna
confess and end his alienation from
Дми́трий Проко́фьич Вразуми́хин, Разуми́хин
society. Dmítriy Prokófyich Vrazumíkhin, Razumíkhin

Sonya (Sofya Semyonovna Праско́вья Па́вловна Зарницына

Praskóv'ya Pávlovna Zarnitsyna
Marmeladova) is the daughter of a
drunkard named Semyon Арка́дий Ива́нович Свидрига́йлов
Zakharovich Marmeladov, whom Arkádiy Ivánovich Svidrigáilov
Raskolnikov meets in a tavern at the Ма́рфа Петро́вна Свидрига́йлова
beginning of the novel. She is often Márfa Petróvna Svidrigáilova
characterized as self-sacrificial, shy, Пётр Петро́вич Лужин
and innocent, despite being forced Pyótr Petróvich Lúzhyn
into prostitution to help her family. Андре́й Семёнович Лебезя́тников
Raskolnikov discerns in her the Andréy Semyónovich Lebezyátnikov
same feelings of shame and
Порфи́рий Петро́вич
alienation that he experiences, and Porfíry Petróvich
she becomes the first person to
Лизаве́та
whom he confesses his crime. Lizavéta
Ива́новна
Sensing his deep unhappiness, she Ivánovna
Алёна
supports him, even though she was Alyóna
friends with one of the victims
An acute accent marks the stressed syllable.
(Lizaveta). Throughout the novel,
Sonya is an important source of
moral strength and rehabilitation for Raskolnikov.

Razumíkhin (Dmitry Prokofyich) is Raskolnikov's loyal friend and also a former law student. The
character is intended to represent something of a reconciliation between faith and reason (razum, "sense",
"intelligence"). He jokes that his name is actually Vrazumíkhin – a name suggesting "to bring someone to
their senses".[26] He is upright, strong, resourceful and intelligent, but also somewhat naïve – qualities
that are of great importance to Raskolnikov in his desperate situation. He admires Raskolnikov's
intelligence and character, refuses to give any credence to others' suspicions, and supports him at all
times. He looks after Raskolnikov's family when they come to Petersburg, falling in love with and later
marrying Dunya.

Dunya (Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova) – Raskolnikov's beautiful and strong-willed sister who
works as a governess. She initially plans to marry the wealthy but unsavory lawyer Luzhin, thinking it
will enable her to ease her family's desperate financial situation and escape her former employer
Svidrigailov. Her situation is a factor in Raskolnikov's decision to commit the murder. In St. Petersburg,
she is eventually able to escape the clutches of both Luzhin and Svidrigailov, and later marries
Razumikhin.

Luzhin (Pyotr Petrovich) – A well-off lawyer who is engaged to Dunya in the beginning of the novel. His
motives for the marriage are dubious, as he more or less states that he has sought a woman who will be
completely beholden to him. He slanders and falsely accuses Sonya of theft in an attempt to harm
Raskolnikov's relations with his family. Luzhin represents immorality, in contrast to Svidrigaïlov's
amorality, and Raskolnikov's misguided morality.

Svidrigaïlov (Arkady Ivanovich) – Sensual, depraved, and wealthy former employer and former pursuer
of Dunya. He overhears Raskolnikov's confessions to Sonya and uses this knowledge to torment both
Dunya and Raskolnikov, but does not inform the police. Despite his apparent malevolence, Svidrigaïlov
seems to be capable of generosity and compassion. When Dunya tells him she could never love him (after
attempting to shoot him) he lets her go. He tells Sonya that he has made financial arrangements for the
Marmeladov children to enter an orphanage, and gives her three thousand rubles, enabling her to follow
Raskolnikov to Siberia. Having left the rest of his money to his juvenile fiancée, he commits suicide.

Porfiry Petrovich – The head of the Investigation Department in charge of solving the murders of
Lizaveta and Alyona Ivanovna, who, along with Sonya, moves Raskolnikov towards confession. Unlike
Sonya, however, Porfiry does this through psychological means, seeking to confuse and provoke the
volatile Raskolnikov into a voluntary or involuntary confession. He later drops these methods and
sincerely urges Raskolnikov to confess for his own good.

Other characters
Pulkheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova – Raskolnikov's naïve, hopeful and loving mother.
Following Raskolnikov's sentence, she falls ill (mentally and physically) and eventually dies.
She hints in her dying stages that she is slightly more aware of her son's fate, which was
hidden from her by Dunya and Razumikhin.
Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov – Hopeless drunk who Raskolnikov meets while still
considering the murder scheme. Raskolnikov is deeply moved by his passionate, almost
ecstatic confession of how his abject alcoholism led to the devastation of his life, the
destitution of his wife and children, and ultimately to his daughter Sonya being forced into
prostitution.
Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova – Semyon Marmeladov's consumptive and ill-tempered
second wife, stepmother to Sonya. She drives Sonya into prostitution in a fit of rage, but
later regrets it. She beats her children, but works ferociously to improve their standard of
living. She is obsessed with demonstrating that slum life is far below her station. Following
Marmeladov's death, she uses the money Raskolnikov gives her to hold a funeral. She
eventually succumbs to her illness.
Andrey Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov – Luzhin's utopian socialist roommate who witnesses
his attempt to frame Sonya and subsequently exposes him. He is proven right by
Raskolnikov, the only one knowing of Luzhin's motives.
Alyona Ivanovna – Suspicious old pawnbroker who hoards money and is merciless to her
patrons. She is Raskolnikov's intended target, and he kills her in the beginning of the book.
Lizaveta Ivanovna – Alyona's handicapped, innocent and submissive sister. Raskolnikov
murders her when she walks in immediately after Raskolnikov had killed Alyona. Lizaveta
was a friend of Sonya.
Zosimov (Зосимов) – A friend of Razumikhin and a doctor with a particular interest in
'psychological' illnesses. He ministers to Raskolnikov during his delirium and its aftermath.
Nastasya Petrovna (Настасья Петровна) – Raskolnikov's landlady's cheerful and talkative
servant who is very caring towards Raskolnikov and often brings him food and drink.
Nikodim Fomich (Никодим Фомич) – The amiable chief of police.
Ilya Petrovich (Илья Петрович) – A police official and Nikodim Fomich's assistant,
nicknamed "Gunpowder" for his very bad temper. He is the first to have suspicions about
Raskolnikov in relation to the murder, and Raskolnikov ultimately makes his official
confession to Gunpowder.
Alexander Grigorievich Zamyotov (Александр Григорьевич Заметов) – Head clerk at the
police station and friend to Razumikhin.
Praskovya Pavlovna Zarnitsyna – Raskolnikov's landlady (called Pashenka). Shy and
retiring, Praskovya Pavlovna does not figure prominently in the course of events.
Raskolnikov had been engaged to her daughter, a sickly girl who had died, and Praskovya
Pavlovna had granted him extensive credit on the basis of this engagement and a
promissory note for 115 roubles. She had then handed this note to a court councillor named
Chebarov, who had claimed the note, causing Raskolnikov to be summoned to the police
station the day after his crime.
Marfa Petrovna Svidrigaïlova – Svidrigaïlov's deceased wife, whom he is suspected of
having murdered, and who he claims has visited him as a ghost. In Pulkheria
Alexandrovna's letter to her son, Marfa Petrovna is said to have vigorously defended Dunya
against Svidrigailov, and introduced her to Luzhin. She leaves Dunya 3000 rubles in her will.
Nikolai Dementiev (Николай Дементьев), also known as Mikolka – A house painter who
happens to be nearby at the time of the murder and is initially suspected of the crime.
Driven by memories of the teachings of his Old Believer sect, which holds it to be supremely
virtuous to suffer for another person's crime, he falsely confesses to the murders.
Polina Mikhailovna Marmeladova (Полина Михайловна Мармеладова) – Ten-year-old
adopted daughter of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov and younger stepsister to Sonya,
sometimes known as Polechka and Polya.
 Name Word Meaning in Russian

a schism, or split; "raskolnik" is "one who splits" or "dissenter"; the verb

raskalyvat' means "to cleave", "to chop","to crack","to split" or "to break". The
former translations clarify the literal meaning of the word. The figurative meaning
Raskolnikov raskol
of the word is "to bring to light", "to make to confess or acknowledge the truth",
etc. The word Raskol is meant to evoke the ideas of the splitting of the Russian
Orthodox Church under Patriarch Nikon.

Luzhin luzha a puddle

Razumikhin razum rationality, mind, intelligence

Zamyotov zametit to notice, to realize

Lebezyatnikov lebezit to fawn on somebody, to cringe

Marmeladov marmelad marmalade/jam

a Lithuanian duke of the fifteenth century (the name given to a character rather
Svidrigaïlov Svidrigailo
by sound, than by meaning)

(perhaps) named after the Neoplatonic philosopher or after the Russian

Porfiry Porphyry
"порфира" ("porphyra") meaning "purple, purple mantle"
Sonya Sofya from the Greek meaning "wisdom"

Themes

Nihilism, rationalism and utilitarianism

Dostoevsky's letter to Katkov reveals his immediate inspiration, to which he remained faithful even after
his original plan evolved into a much more ambitious creation: a desire to counteract what he regarded as
nefarious consequences arising from the doctrines of Russian nihilism.[27] In the novel, Dostoevsky
pinpointed the dangers of both utilitarianism and rationalism, the main ideas of which inspired the
radicals, continuing a fierce criticism he had already started with his Notes from Underground.[28]
Dostoevsky utilized the characters, dialogue and narrative in Crime and Punishment to articulate an
argument against Westernizing ideas. He thus attacked a peculiar Russian blend of French utopian
socialism and Benthamite utilitarianism, which had developed under revolutionary thinkers such as
Nikolai Chernyshevsky and became known as rational egoism. The radicals refused to recognize
themselves in the novel's pages, since Dostoevsky pursued nihilistic ideas to their most extreme
consequences. Dimitri Pisarev ridiculed the notion that Raskolnikov's ideas could be identified with those
of the radicals of the time. The radicals' aims were altruistic and humanitarian, but they were to be
achieved by relying on reason and suppressing the spontaneous outflow of Christian compassion.
Chernyshevsky's utilitarian ethic proposed that thought and will in Man were subject to the laws of
physical science.[29] Dostoevsky believed that such ideas limited man to a product of physics, chemistry
and biology, negating spontaneous emotional responses. In its latest variety, Russian nihilism encouraged
the creation of an élite of superior individuals to whom the hopes of the future were to be entrusted.[30]

Raskolnikov exemplifies the potentially disastrous hazards contained in such an ideal. Contemporary
scholar Joseph Frank writes that "the moral-psychological traits of his character incorporate this antinomy
between instinctive kindness, sympathy, and pity on the one hand and, on the other, a proud and idealistic
egoism that has become perverted into a contemptuous disdain for the submissive herd".[31]
Raskolnikov's inner conflict in the opening section of the novel results in a utilitarian-altruistic
justification for the proposed crime: why not kill a wretched and "useless" old moneylender to alleviate
the human misery? Dostoevsky wants to show that this utilitarian style of reasoning had become
widespread and commonplace; it was by no means the solitary invention of Raskolnikov's tormented and
disordered mind.[32] Such radical and utilitarian ideas act to reinforce the innate egoism of Raskolnikov's
character, and help justify his contempt for humanity's lower qualities and ideals. He even becomes
fascinated with the majestic image of a Napoleonic personality who, in the interests of a higher social
good, believes that he possesses a moral right to kill. Indeed, his "Napoleon-like" plan impels him toward
a well-calculated murder, the ultimate conclusion of his self-deception with utilitarianism.[33]

The environment of Saint Petersburg

Dostoevsky was among the first to recognize the symbolic possibilities of city life and imagery drawn
from the city. I. F. I. Evnin regards Crime and Punishment as the first great Russian novel "in which the
climactic moments of the action are played out in dirty taverns, on the street, in the sordid back rooms of
the poor".[34]

Dostoevsky's Petersburg is the city of unrelieved poverty; "magnificence has no place in it, because
magnificence is external, formal abstract, cold". Dostoevsky connects the city's problems to
Raskolnikov's thoughts and subsequent actions.[35] The crowded streets and squares, the shabby houses
and taverns, the noise and stench, all are transformed by Dostoevsky into a rich store of metaphors for
states of mind. Donald Fanger asserts that "the real city ... rendered with a striking concreteness, is also a
city of the mind in the way that its atmosphere answers Raskolnikov's state and almost symbolizes it. It is
crowded, stifling, and parched."[36]

In his depiction of Petersburg, Dostoevsky accentuates the squalor and human wretchedness that pass
before Raskolnikov's eyes. He uses Raskolnikov's encounter with Marmeladov to contrast the
heartlessness of Raskolnikov's convictions with a Christian approach to poverty and wretchedness.[32]
Dostoevsky believes that the moral "freedom" propounded by Raskolnikov is a dreadful freedom "that is
contained by no values, because it is before values". In seeking to affirm this "freedom" in himself,
Raskolnikov is in perpetual revolt against society, himself, and God.[37] He thinks that he is self-sufficient
and self-contained, but at the end "his boundless self-confidence must disappear in the face of what is
greater than himself, and his self-fabricated justification must humble itself before the higher justice of
God".[38] Dostoevsky calls for the regeneration and renewal of "sick" Russian society through the re-
discovery of its national identity, its religion, and its roots.[39]

Structure
The novel is divided into six parts, with an epilogue. The notion of "intrinsic duality" in Crime and
Punishment has been commented upon, with the suggestion that there is a degree of symmetry to the
book.[40] Edward Wasiolek, who has argued that Dostoevsky was a skilled craftsman, highly conscious of
the formal pattern in his art, has likened the structure of Crime and Punishment to a "flattened X", saying:

Parts I–III [of Crime and Punishment] present the predominantly rational and proud
Raskolnikov: Parts IV–VI, the emerging "irrational" and humble Raskolnikov. The first half of
the novel shows the progressive death of the first ruling principle of his character; the last half,
 the progressive birth of the new ruling principle. The point of change comes in the very middle
of the novel.[41]

This compositional balance is achieved by means of the symmetrical distribution of certain key episodes
throughout the novel's six parts. The recurrence of these episodes in the two halves of the novel, as David
Bethea has argued, is organized according to a mirror-like principle, whereby the "left" half of the novel
reflects the "right" half.[40]

The seventh part of the novel, the Epilogue, has attracted much attention and controversy. Some of
Dostoevsky's critics have criticized the novel's final pages as superfluous, anticlimactic, unworthy of the
rest of the work,[42] while others have defended it, offering various schemes that they claim prove its
inevitability and necessity. Steven Cassedy argues that Crime and Punishment "is formally two distinct
but closely related, things, namely a particular type of tragedy in the classical Greek mold and a Christian
resurrection tale".[43] Cassedy concludes that "the logical demands of the tragic model as such are
satisfied without the Epilogue in Crime and Punishment ... At the same time, this tragedy contains a
Christian component, and the logical demands of this element are met only by the resurrection promised
in the Epilogue".[44]

Style
Crime and Punishment is written from a third-person omniscient perspective. It is told primarily from the
point of view of Raskolnikov, but does at times switch to the perspective of other characters such as
Svidrigaïlov, Razumikhin, Luzhin, Sonya or Dunya. This narrative technique, which fuses the narrator
very closely with the consciousness and point of view of the central characters, was original for its
period. Frank notes that Dostoevsky's use of time shifts of memory and manipulation of temporal
sequence begins to approach the later experiments of Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, and
James Joyce. A late nineteenth-century reader was, however, accustomed to more orderly and linear types
of expository narration. This led to the persistence of the legend that Dostoevsky was an untidy and
negligent craftsman, and to observations like the following by Melchior de Vogüé: "A word ... one does
not even notice, a small fact that takes up only a line, have their reverberations fifty pages later ... [so
that] the continuity becomes unintelligible if one skips a couple of pages".[45]

Dostoevsky uses different speech mannerisms and sentences of different length for different characters.
Those who use artificial language—Luzhin, for example—are identified as unattractive people. Mrs.
Marmeladov's disintegrating mind is reflected in her language. In the original Russian text, the names of
the major characters have something of a double meaning, but in translation the subtlety of the Russian
language is predominantly lost due to differences in language structure and culture. For example, the
original Russian title ("Преступление и наказание") is not the direct equivalent to the English "Crime
and Punishment". "Преступление" (Prestupléniye) is literally translated as 'a stepping across'. The
physical image of crime as crossing over a barrier or a boundary is lost in translation, as is the religious
implication of transgression.[46]
Reception
The first part of Crime and Punishment published in the January and February issues of The Russian
Messenger met with public success. In his memoirs, the conservative belletrist Nikolay Strakhov recalled
that Crime and Punishment was the literary sensation of 1866 in Russia.[47] Tolstoy's novel War and
Peace was being serialized in The Russian Messenger at the same time as Crime and Punishment.

The novel soon attracted the criticism of the liberal and radical critics. G.Z. Yeliseyev sprang to the
defense of the Russian student corporations, and wondered, "Has there ever been a case of a student
committing murder for the sake of robbery?" Pisarev, aware of the novel's artistic value, described
Raskolnikov as a product of his environment, and argued that the main theme of the work was poverty
and its results. He measured the novel's excellence by the accuracy with which Dostoevsky portrayed the
contemporary social reality, and focused on what he regarded as inconsistencies in the novel's plot.
Strakhov rejected Pisarev's contention that the theme of environmental determinism was essential to the
novel, and pointed out that Dostoevsky's attitude towards his hero was sympathetic: "This is not mockery
of the younger generation, neither a reproach nor an accusation—it is a lament over it."[48][49] Solovyov
felt that the meaning of the novel, despite the common failure to understand it, is clear and simple: a man
who considers himself entitled to 'step across' discovers that what he thought was an intellectually and
even morally justifiable transgression of an arbitrary law turns out to be, for his conscience, "a sin, a
violation of inner moral justice... that inward sin of self-idolatry can only be redeemed by an inner act of
self-renunciation."[50]

The early Symbolist movement that dominated Russian letters in the 1880s was concerned more with
aesthetics than the visceral realism and intellectuality of Crime and Punishment, but a tendency toward
mysticism among the new generation of symbolists in the 1900s led to a reevaluation of the novel as an
address to the dialectic of spirit and matter.[51] In the character of Sonya (Sofya Semyonovna) they saw
an embodiment of both the Orthodox feminine principle of hagia sophia (holy wisdom) – "at once sexual
and innocent, redemptive both in her suffering and her veneration of suffering", and the most important
feminine deity of Russian folklore mat syra zemlya (moist mother earth).[52] Raskolnikov is a "son of
Earth" whose egoistic aspirations lead him to ideas and actions that alienate him from the very source of
his strength, and he must bow down to her before she can relieve him of the terrible burden of his
guilt.[53][54] Philosopher and Orthodox theologian Nikolay Berdyaev shared Solovyov and the symbolists'
sense of the novel's spiritual significance, seeing it as an illustration of the modern age's hubristic self-
deification, or what he calls "the suicide of man by self-affirmation". Raskolnikov answers his question of
whether he has the right to kill solely by reference to his own arbitrary will, but, according to Berdyaev,
these are questions that can only be answered by God, and "he who does not bow before that higher will
destroys his neighbor and destroys himself: that is the meaning of Crime and Punishment".[55][56]

Crime and Punishment was regarded as an important work in a number of 20th-century European cultural
movements, notably the Bloomsbury Group, psychoanalysis, and existentialism. Of the writers associated
with Bloomsbury, Virginia Woolf, John Middleton Murry and D. H. Lawrence are some of those who
have discussed the work. Freud held Dostoevsky's work in high esteem, and many of his followers have
attempted psychoanalytical interpretations of Raskolnikov.[57] Among the existentialists, Sartre and
Camus in particular have acknowledged Dostoevsky's influence.[58]
The affinity of Crime and Punishment with both religious mysticism and psychoanalysis led to
suppression of discussion in Soviet Russia: interpretations of Raskolnikov tended to align with Pisarev's
idea of reaction to unjust socio-economic conditions.[59] An exception was the work of Mikhail Bakhtin,
considered by many commentators to be the most original and insightful analyst of Dostoevsky's work. In
Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics, Bakhtin argues that attempts to understand Dostoevsky's characters
from the vantage point of a pre-existing philosophy, or as individualized "objects" to be psychologically
analysed, will always fail to penetrate the unique "artistic architechtonics" of his works.[60] In such cases,
both the critical approach and the assumed object of investigation are monological: everything is
perceived as occurring within the framework of a single overarching perspective, whether that of the
critic or that of the author. Dostoevsky's art, Bakhtin argues, is inherently dialogical: events proceed on
the basis of interaction between self-validating subjective voices, often within the consciousness of an
individual character, as is the case with Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov's consciousness is depicted as a
battleground for all the conflicting ideas that find expression in the novel: everyone and everything he
encounters becomes reflected and refracted in a "dialogized" interior monologue.[61] He has rejected
external relationships and chosen his tormenting internal dialogue; only Sonya is capable of continuing to
engage with him despite his cruelty. His openness to dialogue with Sonya is what enables him to cross
back over the "threshold into real-life communication (confession and public trial)—not out of guilt, for
he avoids acknowledging his guilt, but out of weariness and loneliness, for that reconciling step is the
only relief possible from the cacophony of unfinalized inner dialogue."[62]

English translations
1. Frederick Whishaw (1885)
2. Constance Garnett (1914)
3. David Magarshack (1951)
4. Princess Alexandra Kropotkin (1953)
5. Jessie Coulson (1953)
1. Revised by George Gibian (Norton Critical Edition, 3 editions – 1964, 1975, and 1989)
6. Michael Scammell (1963)
7. Sidney Monas (1968)
8. Julius Katzer (1985)
9. David McDuff (1991)
10. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (1992)
11. Oliver Ready (2014)
12. Nicolas Pasternak Slater (2017)
13. Michael R. Katz (2017)
14. Roger Cockrell (2022)
15. David Petault (self published, 2024)
The Garnett translation was the dominant translation for more than 80 years after its publication in 1914.
Since the 1990s, McDuff and Pevear/Volokhonsky have become its major competitors.[63]
Adaptations
There have been over 25 screen adaptations of Crime and Punishment. They include:

Raskolnikow (aka Crime and Punishment, 1923) directed by Robert Wiene

Crime and Punishment (1935 French film) directed by Pierre Chenal, starring Harry Baur
and Pierre Blanchar
Crime and Punishment (1935 American film) starring Peter Lorre, Edward Arnold and
Marian Marsh
Crime and Punishment (1956 film) directed by Georges Lampin, starring Jean Gabin and
Robert Hossein
Crime and Punishment (1970 film) Soviet film directed by Lev Kulidzhanov, starring Georgi
Taratorkin, Tatyana Bedova, Vladimir Basov, Victoria Fyodorova
Crime and Punishment (1979 TV series) is a three-part 1979 television serial produced by
the BBC, starring John Hurt as Raskolnikov and Timothy West as Porfiry Petrovich
Crime and Punishment (1983 film) (original title, Rikos ja Rangaistus), the first movie by the
Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki, with Markku Toikka in the lead role. The story has been
transplanted to modern-day Helsinki, Finland.
Without Compassion (1994), directed by Francisco Lombardi, starring Diego Bertie and
Adriana Dávila Franke
Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (2000), an adaptation set in modern America and
"loosely based" on the novel
Crime and Punishment (2002 Russian film), starring Crispin Glover and Vanessa Redgrave
Crime and Punishment (2002 TV series), a 2002 television serial produced by the BBC,
starring John Simm as Raskolnikov and Ian McDiarmid as Porfiry Petrovich
Crime and Punishment (2007 TV series) (ru), a 2007 television serial directed by Dmitry
Svetozarov, starring Vladimir Koshevoy as Raskolnikov, which aired on Channel One Russia
Crime and Punishment (2024 TV series), a 2024 television serial directed by Vladimir
Mirzoyev, starring Ivan Yankovsky as Raskolnikov, which aired on streaming service
Kinopoisk

Notes
a. Pre-reform Russian: Преступленіе и наказаніе; post-reform Russian: Преступление и
наказание, romanized: Prestupleniye i nakazaniye, IPA: [prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje‿ɪ‿nəkɐˈzanʲɪje]

References
1. University of Minnesota – Study notes for Crime and Punishment ([Link]
uss/hpgary/Russ3421/[Link]) – (retrieved on 1 May 2006)
2. Frank (1995), p. 96.
3. "The 50 Most Influential Books of All Time" ([Link]
ed_the_world/). Open Education Database. 26 January 2010.
4. "The Greatest Books" ([Link] [Link].
 5. Writers, Telegraph (23 July 2021). "The 100 greatest novels of all time" ([Link]
[Link]/books/what-to-read/best-greatest-novels-of-all-time/). The Telegraph. Archived (htt
ps://[Link]/archive/20220111/[Link]
t-greatest-novels-of-all-time/) from the original on 11 January 2022.
6. "100 must-read classic books, as chosen by our readers" ([Link]
s/2018/100-must-read-classic-books/). Penguin. 26 May 2022.
7. Frank (1994), p. 168.
8. Frank (1994), p. 170; Peace (2006), p. 8; Simmons (2007), p. 131.
9. Miller (2007), p. 58; Peace (2006), p. 8.
10. Frank (1994), p. 179.
11. Miller (2007), pp. 58–9.
12. Miller (2007), p. 58.
13. Essays in Poetics ([Link] University of
Keele. 1981.
14. Rosenshield (1973), p. 399.
15. Carabine, Keith (2000). Introduction. Crime and Punishment ([Link]
s?id=bAtLzdTvzJcC). By Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Translated by Constance Garnett.
Wordsworth Editions. p. x. ISBN 978-1-84022-430-6.
16. Frank (1994), pp. 170–2; Frank (1995), p. 80.
17. Frank (1994), p. 185.
18. Frank (1994), p. 174.
19. Frank (1994), p. 177.
20. Frank (1994), pp. 179–80, 182.
21. Frank (1994), pp. 170, 179–80, 184; Frank (1995), p. 93; Miller (2007), pp. 58–9.
22. Frank (1995), p. 39; Peace (2006), p. 8.
23. Simmons (2007), p. 131.
24. Frank (1995), p. 97.
25. Rosenshield (1978), p. 76. See also Fanger (2006), p. 21.
26. Cox (1990), p. 136.
27. Frank (1995), p. 100.
28. Donald Fanger states that "Crime and Punishment did nothing but continue the polemic,
incarnating the tragedy of nihilism in Raskolnikov and caricaturing it in Lebezyatnikov and,
partially, in Luzhin" (Fanger (2006), p. 21; see also Frank (1995), p. 60; Ozick (1997),
p. 114; Sergeyev (1998), p. 26).
29. Frank (1995), pp. 100–1; Hudspith (2003), p. 95.
30. Pisarev had sketched the outlines of a new proto-Nietzschean hero (Frank (1995), pp. 100–
1; Frank (2002), p. 11).
31. Frank (1995), p. 101.
32. Frank (1995), p. 104.
33. Frank (1995), p. 107; Sergeyev (1998), p. 26.
34. Fanger 2006, p. 24.
35. Lindenmeyr (2006), p. 37.
36. Fanger 2006, p. 28.
37. Wasiolek 2006, p. 55.
38. Vladimir Solovyov quoted in McDuff (2002), pp. xiii–xiv; Peace (2006), pp. 75–6.
39. McDuff (2002), p. xxx: "It is the persistent tracing of this theme of a 'Russian sickness' of
spiritual origin and its cure throughout the book that justify the author's characterization of it
as an 'Orthodox novel'." Wasiolek (2006), pp. 56–7.
40. Davydov (1982), pp. 162–3.
41. "On the Structure of Crime and Punishment", in: PMLA, March 1959, vol. LXXIV, No. 1, pp.
132–33.
42. Mikhail Bakhtin, for instance, regards the Epilogue as a blemish on the book (Wellek (1980),
p. 33).
43. Cassedy (1982), p. 171.
44. Cassedy (1982), p. 187.
45. Frank (1994), p. 184; Frank (1995), pp. 92–3.
46. Morris (1984), p. 28; Peace (2006), p. 86; Hardy & Stanton (1999), p. 8.
47. McDuff (2002), pp. x–xi.
48. Jahn, Gary R. "Dostoevsky's Life and Career, 1865–1881" ([Link]
gary/Russ3421/[Link]). University of Minnesota. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
49. McDuff (2002), pp. xi–xii.
50. Solovyov commemorative speech (1881), quoted in McDuff (2002), pp. xii–xiii.
51. Cox (1990), pp. 14–5.
52. Cox (1990), p. 15.
53. Ivanov, Viacheslav (1957). Freedom and the Tragic Life. New York: Noonday Press. pp. 77–
78.
54. Cox (1990), pp. 15–6.
55. Berdyaev, Nicholas (1957). Dostoevsky. New York: Meridian Books. pp. 99–101.
56. Cox (1990), p. 17.
57. In "Raskolnikov's transgression and the confusion between destructiveness and creativity"
Richard Rosenthal discusses Raskolnikov's crime in terms of the projection of intrapsychic
violence: "Raskolnikov believes that frustration and pain can be evaded by attacking that
part of the mental apparatus able to perceive them. Thoughts are treated as unwanted
things, fit only for expulsion. Such pathological projective identification results in violent
fragmentation and the disintegration of the personality; the evacuated particles are
experienced as having an independent life threatening him from outside." From Do I Dare
Disturb the Universe (ed. James Grotstein) (1981). Caesura Press. p. 200.
58. Cox (1990), pp. 18–21.
59. Cox (1990), p. 22.
60. Bakhtin (1984), p. 9.
61. Bakhtin (1984), pp. 74–5.
62. Emerson, Caryl (1997). The First Hundred Years of Mikhail Bakhtin (1st ed.). Princeton
University Press. p. 152. ISBN 9780691069760.
63. "Raskolnikov Says the Darndest Things" ([Link]
[Link]?pagewanted=all&src=pm). The New York Times. 26
April 1992. Archived ([Link]
1992/04/26/books/[Link]?pagewanted=all) from the
original on 8 November 2020.
Text

Dostoevsky, Fyodor (1866). Crime and Punishment. Translated in English by Constance

Garnett ([Link]
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External links
Criticisms

University of Minnesota study guide ([Link]

[Link])
Text and Analysis at Bibliomania ([Link]
Text about Crime and Punishment ([Link] by Lev Oborin (in
Russian)
Online text

Crime and Punishment ([Link]

nishment/constance-garnett) at Standard Ebooks
Crime and Punishment ([Link] at Project Gutenberg
 Crime and Punishment ([Link]
Dostoevsky&reader=&keywords=&genre_id=0&status=all&project_type=either&recorded_la
nguage=&sort_order=catalog_date&search_page=1&search_form=advanced) public
domain audiobook at LibriVox
Full text ([Link] (in Russian)
Lit2Go audiobook version of the Constance Garnett translation ([Link]
c/[Link]).
Full text in old orthography (Russian) ([Link]
[Link])
Maps

Mapping St. Petersburg – Crime and Punishment ([Link]

1932/[Link]

Retrieved from "[Link]