Why you should read 'Crime and Punishment'

The book Crime and Punishment, written by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky is based on a random murder of an old moneylender by a former student of law. But the book is not a crime thriller, for the murder takes place in the first part in a seven-part long storyline. Regarded as Dostoevsky’s magnum opus and one of the best literary works of Russian literature, Crime and Punishment offers a view into Raskolnikov’s mind (the murderer and the protagonist). The novel can be best characterized as a psychological thriller. In his book, Dostoevsky grapples with questions like- what pushes a man into committing a hideous crime as murder in cold blood?  Unlike the ideal state of the human mind and soul, as is often depicted, Crime and Punishment shows the turbulent state of the mind of Raskolnikov and the contradictions within his soul- completely naked. In the plot, Raskolnikov, a bright young student, has to drop out of university because of the lack of money to support his studies. Sinking into an abyss of hunger and fever, he decides to murder and rob the moneylender to whom he pawns his valuable belongings. Having convinced himself that he has a ‘right to kill such a louse and old crone’, Raskolnikov puts the axe into the feeble body of his victim, without remorse or regret.

Staged like a play, the novel offers a holistic view of the city of St. Petersburg but underlying every scene are the thoughts of the murderer and his torn apart soul. Dostoevsky paints a very gloomy picture of the 19th century St. Petersburg, embellished with its stifling streets and abject poverty. In Crime and Punishment, the fictional suffering becomes almost palpable for the reader. Page by page, scene by scene the book reveals the character of Raskolnikov- a rational man, an egoist, who starts to think of himself as the benefactor of mankind. The book allows the reader to peek into the consciousness of the protagonist which starts to engulf him like fever even before he commits the heinous act. But the real art of Dostoevsky lies in combining the opposites in a perfectly balanced manner. Opposites like the oppressor and the victim combined in a single fictional character, harmoniously. The only drawback of Crime and Punishment that can be repulsive for the reader is the length of the novel (a massive account of 720 pages). But the effort in treading through the book is worth it. As even if the book is one hundred and fifty years old, it leaps out of its time and confronts us as if it has not yet said its final word. And so the magic of Crime and Punishment persists!

* picture credit: Spencer Baum

**picture credit: Robin R. Bates