Raskolnikov's transformation in crime and punishment.

Abstract

Crime and Punishment (1886), one of the most outstanding novels of the nineteenth century, depicts the moral dilemma and the state of confusion the main character, Raskolnikov Romanovitch, falls into after killing his pawnbroker in order to prove his theory of the superman and release others from her yoke of exploitation and dependency. In a rather confused state caused partly by his extreme poverty, he combines his theory with need for money, his desire to do good and his superstitious beliefs to devise a plan to kill the greedy moneylender and become an extraordinary man. The story is fascinating not only for the murder itself but for the deep and vivid descriptions the author provides, not only of the character himself but of his state of excitement and delusion and his constant introspective struggle to determine whether his actions are led by a superior force and his decision to finally confess his crime and rejoin humanity. Thus Fyodor Dostoevsky becomes the pioneer of the psychological novel and opens the possibility of plunging into deepest darkest side of the humans soul.