"Crime and Punishment"

Paper Summary:

This paper offers a review of Fyodor Dostoevsky's famous work, "Crime and Punishment". The author explains that "Crime and Punishment" is the story of a desperate young man, Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov, who plots the perfect crime. Raskolnikov, alternately called Rodya, Rodenka, and Rodka throughout the novel, is a handsome, but poor student who lives in a garret in the slums of St. Petersburg. He owes money to his landlady and uses the services of a pawnbroker as a way to pay back his landlady. He plans carefully to murder an unattached pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, an old woman loved by no one, whose conduct is despicable and completely unredeemed. He reasons carefully that it is just for a man of genius, such as himself, to commit such a crime and defy moral law because his action ultimately benefits humanity. He is disgusted by the thought of the murder, and yet he eventually kills the pawnbroker. He is ultimately convicted of the murder and sentenced to Siberia.

From the Paper:

"Like his other novels, Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" is heavily concerned with the psychological life of his characters. While Dostoevsky was alive, he suffered a great deal of criticism over the poor style of his novels, including their "hysterical and morbid nature", and lacking "balance, restraint, and good taste" (Terras, 4). In defense of Dostoevsky, Terras notes, "Dostoevsky's novels encompass antagonistic philosophies and value systems. He is an excellent 'devil's advocate'. Sophisticated readers have mistaken for his own ideas what Dostoevsky was in fact trying to refute"."

More papers on "Crime and Punishment":

• Essay # 46269 : "Crime and Punishment of the Medieval Period"
• Analytical Essay # 87194 : "Crime and Punishment"
• Comparison Essay # 73789 : "Trifles" and "Crime and Punishment"
• Essay # 86473 : "Youth Crime and Punishment"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: