Key Facts
Full Title: Crime and Punishment
Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
Type Of Work: Novel
Genre: Psychological drama
Language: Russian
Time And Place Written: 1865–1866, St. Petersburg, Russia
Date of First Publication: 1866; appeared serially in The Russian Messenger before being published in book form in 1867
Publisher: The serial edition was published by the editor of The Russian Messenger, Mikhail Katkov; the two-volume book version was published by Bazanov.
Narrator: Third-person omniscient
Climax: Raskolnikov’s confession in Part VI, Chapter VIII
Protagonist: Raskolnikov
Antagonists: Luzhin, Porfiry Petrovich, Svidrigailov, Raskolnikov’s conscience
Settings (Time): 1860s
Settings (Place): St. Petersburg and a prison in Siberia
Point Of View : The story is told primarily from the point of view of Raskolnikov but occasionally switches to the perspective of Svidrigailov, Razumikhin, and Dunya.
Falling Action: The Epilogue, in which Raskolnikov, imprisoned in Siberia, discovers that he loves Sonya
Tense: Past
Foreshadowing: In Part I, Chapter I, when Raskolnikov rehearses the murder of the pawnbroker; throughout the rest of the novel, whenever Raskolnikov considers confessing
Tones : Tragic, emotional, melodramatic, critical, despairing, fatalistic, confessional
Themes: Alienation from society, the psychology of crime and punishment, religious redemption, the importance of family, nihilism, the “superman”
Motifs: Poverty
Symbols: The city as a symbol of Raskolnikov’s internal state; the cross as a symbol of religious redemption
Context
Born
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Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
-11 November 1821-
Moscow, Moskovsky Uyezd, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire
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Died
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9 February 1881 (aged 59)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
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Occupation
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Military engineer
Novelist
Journalist
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Nationality
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Russian
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Education
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Military Engineering-Technical University, St. Petersburg
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Genre
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Novel
short story
journalism
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Subject
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Psychology
Philosophy
Christianity
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