Have you heard of the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky? This novel features Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a poor student and it is often regarded as Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece.
Raskolnikov is a young student living in extreme poverty in Saint Petersburg, who cannot even afford to pay the rent of the tiny garret that he lives in. He sleeps on a couch using old clothes as a pillow, and eats very rarely.
He is devoted to his mother and sister. Though he is handsome and intelligent -two qualities that attract people in college, he is disliked by many of his peers. The novel is a psychological analysis of this miserable hero.
In a turn of events, he murders a pawnbroker from St. Petersburg. This incident shakes our hero; Raskolnikov is hit by a tremendous wave of nightmarish guilt.
The story is told in a feverish, compelling tone which follows the twists and turns of Raskolnikov’s emotions; it elaborates his struggle with his conscience and his mounting sense of horror as he wanders the city’s hot, crowded streets. In the end, Raskolnikov realizes that happiness cannot be attained by a reasoned plan of existence, but must be earned by suffering.
Through Raskolnikov, Dostoyevsky portrays the struggle of living each day, trying to figure out the meaning of one’s existence. This novel is often cited as one of the supreme achievements in literature.
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