Crime and Punishment

Description

Crime and Punishment follows the mental suffering and ethical conflicts of Rodion Raskolnikov, a poor former student in Saint Petersburg who contemplates murdering an extortionate pawnbroker, an aged woman who maintains both money and valuable objects within her flat. He theorises that with the money he could liberate himself from poverty and go on to perform great deeds, and seeks to convince himself that certain crimes are justifiable if they are committed in order to remove obstacles to the higher goals of ‘extraordinary’ men. Once the deed is done, however he finds himself wracked with confusion, paranoia, and disgust. It is for this reason that the theoretical justifications lose every bit of their potency as he is overcome with repentance and horror at the prospect of both the internal and external implications of his act.