Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment is considered the first great novel of Dostoyevsky "mature" period of writing. It focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Over time he justifies his actions by believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose. Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer and philosopher whose literary works explore human psychology in the context of the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia.