How does Dostoevsky treat the problem of ‘crime’ and ‘punishment’ in his novel?What stand does the novelist take?

Dostoyevsky‘s Crime and punishment (1866) is based on the writer‘s terrifying experience with summary justice and the cruel penal system of Tzarist Russia. It is a tale set in the dingy tenements, backstreets and dram-shops of pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, and concerns the actions or inactions of a murderer,

Raskolnikov, who in setting himself in the role of a superman of Napoleonic and Nietzchean Hue, decides to commit murder as a matter of principle to pursue a higher purpose. The novel can be viewed as a detective novel but not one detecting the criminal, rather the motives behind the perpetration of the crime. It is also a novel that centres on psychological observations and analyses. Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky) deliberates the lives of many through the eyes of one who seems to serve as the other in contrast to the
many. The novel illustrates the inner dialogues and musings of a complex individual, Rodian Romanovitch Raskolnikov, during the 1800‘s. He is formed in light of the rebellion ideology that was developing after Tsar Alexander the second‘s regime.

The manner in which the novel addresses crime and punishment is not exactly what one would expect. The crime is committed in Part I and the punishment comes hundreds of pages later, in the Epilogue. The real focus of the novel is not on those two endpoints but on what lies between them—an in-depth exploration of the psychology of a criminal. The inner world of Raskolnikov, with all of its doubts, deliria, secondguessing, fear, and despair, is the heart of the story. Dostoevsky concerns himself not with the actual repercussions of the murder but with the way the murder forces Raskolnikov to deal with tormenting guilt.Indeed, by focusing so little on Raskolnikov‘s imprisonment, Dostoevsky seems to suggest that actual


punishment is much less terrible than the stress and anxiety of trying to avoid punishment. Porfiry Petrovich emphasizes the psychological angle of the novel, as he shrewdly realizes that Raskolnikov is the killer and makes several speeches in which he details the workings of Raskolnikov‘s mind after the killing. Because he understands that a guilt-ridden criminal must necessarily experience mental torture, he is certain that Raskolnikov will eventually confess or go mad. The expert mind games that he plays with Raskolnikov strengthen the sense that the novel‘s outcome is inevitable because of the nature of the human psyche.


Crime and Punishment is a novel symbolic of the drawbacks that society can have on individuals, specifically those who are at a disadvantage as a result of their class or mental state. When Dostoevsky penned this novel, the time was 1866. 19th century Russia was a transition period from medieval traditions to Westernization. During this transition, many people struggled to accommodate to the changing times. There was unrest in the streets, conflict amongst the classes, economic upheaval, and a lack of concern for those suffering by the government. Those who were of higher class were better able to navigate this complex transition, while those in poverty lacked the materials necessary to accommodate to the coming changes. Previously Westernized countries exhibited unrest from their populations while progressing in societal advancement. There was concern about this potentially translating into Russia‘s development. Russia was not exempt from these issues, and Dostoevsky was no help in assuring that peace would be maintained. Dostoevsky‘s work concerned people in power when he indirectly made an association between violence and societal progression, and how this may prompt the masses to revolt against their government. Localized current events, such as a rise in domestic violence and murder, also influenced this novel. Due to these reallife events that inspired Dostoevsky‘s work, it can be said that Crime and Punishment is an accuraterepresentation of its time period.

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