What drives someone to kill in cold blood?
What goes through the murderer’s mind?
And what kind of a society breeds such people?
Over 150 years ago
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky took these questions up
in what would become one of the best-known works of Russian literature:
"Crime and Punishment."
First serialized in a literary magazine in 1866,
the novel tells the story of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov,
a young law student in Saint Petersburg.
Raskolnikov lives in abject poverty,
and at the start of the story has run out of funds to continue his studies.
Letters from his rural home only add to his distress
when he realizes how much his mother and sister have sacrificed for his success.
Increasingly desperate
after selling the last of his valuables to an elderly pawnbroker,
he resolves on a plan to murder and rob her.
But the impact of carrying out this unthinkable act
proves to be more than he was prepared for.
Though the novel is sometimes cited as one of the first psychological thrillers,
its scope reaches far beyond Raskolnikov’s inner turmoil.
From dank taverns to dilapidated apartments
and claustrophobic police stations,
the underbelly of 19th century Saint Petersburg is brought to life
by Dostoyevsky’s searing prose.
We’re introduced to characters such as Marmeladov,
a miserable former official who has drank his family into ruin,
and Svidrigailov, an unhinged and lecherous nobleman.
As Raskolnikov’s own family arrives in town,
their moral innocence stands in stark contrast
to the depravity of those around them,
even as their fates grow increasingly intertwined.
This bleak portrait of Russian society
reflects the author’s own complex life experiences and evolving ideas.
As a young writer who left behind a promising military career,
Fyodor had been attracted to ideas of socialism and reform,
and joined a circle of intellectuals to discuss radical texts
banned by the Imperial government.
Upon exposure,
members of this group, including Dostoyevsky, were arrested.
Many were sentenced to death,
only to be subjected to a mock execution and last-minute pardon from the Tsar.
Dostoyevsky spent the next four years in a Siberian labor camp
before being released in 1854.
The experience left him with a far more pessimistic view of social reform,
and his focus shifted toward spiritual concerns.
In the 1864 novella "Notes from Underground,"
he expounded on his belief that utopian Western philosophies
could never satisfy the contradictory yearnings of the human soul.
"Crime and Punishment" was conceived and completed the following year,
picking up on many of the same themes.
In many ways,
the novel follows a common narrative thread
where a promising youth is seduced and corrupted by the dangers of urban life.
But its social critique cuts far deeper.
Raskolnikov rationalizes that his own advancement
at the cost of the exploitative pawnbroker’s death
would be a net benefit to society.
In doing so,
he echoes the doctrines of egoism and utilitarianism
embraced by many of Dostoyevsky’s contemporary intellectuals.
And in believing that his intelligence allows him to transcend moral taboos,
Raskolnikov cuts himself off from his own humanity.
Yet although the book is deeply concerned with morality,
"Crime and Punishment" never comes across as merely moralizing,
with each character given their own distinctive and convincing voice.
One of the most remarkable things about "Crime and Punishment"
is its ability to thrill
despite the details of the central murder being revealed in the first act.
Raskolnikov’s crime is clear.
But it’s only through Dostoyevsky’s gripping account
of the ensuing social and psychological turmoil
that we learn the true nature of his punishment–
and the possibility of redemption.