Crime and Punishment Summary – Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, first published in 1866, is a psychological novel about a poor former student who commits murder and struggles with guilt, punishment, and the possibility of redemption.

Crime and Punishment Main Characters analysis

• Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov — a former student living in poverty who develops a plan to murder and rob an old pawnbroker, believing that he is capable of rising above ordinary moral laws.
• Alyona Ivanovna — an elderly pawnbroker whom Raskolnikov murders for her money and valuables.
• Lizaveta Ivanovna — Alyona’s half-sister, who unexpectedly enters the apartment during the murder and is also killed by Raskolnikov.
• Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov — a hopeless alcoholic who has squandered his family’s modest means and whose suffering deeply affects Raskolnikov.
• Sonya Marmeladova — Marmeladov’s daughter, who is forced into prostitution to support her family. She becomes an important source of compassion and spiritual support for Raskolnikov.
• Avdotya (Dunya) Romanovna — Raskolnikov’s sister, who is prepared to marry Luzhin in order to help her family but later rejects him.
• Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin — a respectable but calculating man who proposes to Dunya and later tries to discredit Sonya.
• Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov — a wealthy man connected to Dunya who becomes obsessed with her and later meets a tragic end.
• Dmitry Prokofych Razumikhin — Raskolnikov’s loyal friend, who helps care for him during his illness and falls in love with Dunya.
• Porfiry Petrovich — the investigator who suspects Raskolnikov of the murders and gradually pressures him toward confession.
• Zametov — a police clerk who becomes suspicious of Raskolnikov after witnessing his strange behavior.
• Zosimov — a young medical student who helps care for Raskolnikov during his illness.
• Andrey Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov — Luzhin’s acquaintance who exposes Luzhin’s attempt to frame Sonya.
• Katerina Ivanovna — Marmeladov’s wife, whose poverty and suffering eventually lead to her death.

Crime and Punishment Summary

Part 1 of Crime and Punishment Summary

The events take place during a hot, oppressive summer in St. Petersburg. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is a former student who has abandoned his studies and lives in a cramped room with almost no means of support. To delay paying his rent, he avoids his landlady. Raskolnikov takes a watch to an old pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, who lives with her half-sister. In his mind, a plan is taking shape to murder and rob the old woman.

He is overcome by the feeling that the murder is somehow a command from a higher force, something far stronger than himself. Even while he is planning the crime, Raskolnikov meets Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, a hopeless alcoholic who has squandered the family’s modest possessions. The man tells him about his wife and his daughter from his first marriage, Sonya. The girl has been forced into prostitution to provide food for herself, her sisters, and her brothers. Raskolnikov escorts Marmeladov home and quietly leaves some money there.

The next morning, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother. She apologizes for being unable to send him money and tells him about his sister Dunya. The young woman had worked as a governess in the Svidrigailov household, but Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov was captivated by Dunya’s beauty and offered her a luxurious life if she would run away with him. As a result, Avdotya had to leave her position, leaving her family without money. She later met Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, a man of modest rank and modest means. Luzhin proposed marriage to her, offering a way for her and her mother to escape their financial difficulties, but insisting that the marriage be arranged quickly and without questions.

Raskolnikov decides to prevent the marriage because he understands that his sister is agreeing to marry Luzhin for his sake. On the street, Rodion encounters a drunken young girl who is already being targeted by a scoundrel. He gives some money to a police officer and asks him to take the girl home. Raskolnikov realizes that this life cannot simply be changed, but he refuses to accept it. He sets out to visit his friend Razumikhin but changes his mind. On his way home, he falls asleep in some bushes. Raskolnikov dreams about a horse being beaten to death. When he wakes, he begins thinking about the murder again.

On his way home, Raskolnikov accidentally overhears that Lizaveta, the pawnbroker’s sister, has been invited somewhere. The pawnbroker will therefore be left alone. At a tavern, Raskolnikov overhears a conversation between an officer and a student about the old woman and her sister. The student says that he would rob and kill the old woman without any remorse. Back at home, Rodion prepares for the murder and steals an axe from the caretaker.

After some hesitation, Raskolnikov finally makes up his mind, enters Alyona Ivanovna’s apartment, and kills her with an axe. He also kills Lizaveta, the pawnbroker’s half-sister, who unfortunately enters the room where the murder has just taken place.

Someone rings the doorbell, but he does not open it. The visitors go to get the caretaker, while Raskolnikov hides inside the apartment and then escapes.

Despite his feverish state, Raskolnikov is fortunate enough to leave the apartment without being noticed. However, because he is delirious and unable to think clearly, he manages to take only a few items and a small amount of money, leaving almost all of the old woman’s wealth untouched.

Part 2 of Crime and Punishment Summary

At home, Raskolnikov destroys the evidence of the crime. The caretaker brings him a summons. At the police station, it turns out that he has been called in connection with failing to pay money owed to his landlady. When Raskolnikov overhears an investigator talking about the pawnbroker’s murder, he becomes so agitated that he faints and claims that he is ill. After taking the old woman’s belongings from his home, Rodion hides them under a stone in an alley. Razumikhin listens to Raskolnikov’s story and offers to help him. On the street, Raskolnikov nearly falls under the wheels of a carriage. A merchant’s wife gives him twenty kopecks, but he throws the money into the Neva. Raskolnikov falls ill and begins to suffer from delirium. Razumikhin and the cook Nastasya take care of him. A representative of the merchant’s cooperative brings him money from his mother. Razumikhin uses it to buy Raskolnikov some clothes.

From a conversation between Razumikhin and the medical student Zosimov, Raskolnikov learns that a house painter named Nikolai has been arrested on suspicion of murdering the old woman. However, Nikolai denies being guilty. Luzhin visits Raskolnikov and informs him that his mother and sister will soon arrive in St. Petersburg, where they plan to discuss Dunya’s marriage with Rodion.

Luzhin’s friend Andrey Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov lives in the same hotel where they are staying and which Luzhin is paying for. Luzhin reflects on the meaning of progress. But the conversation returns to the old woman’s murder. Zosimov says that the investigator is questioning everyone who had pawned belongings with the old woman. While walking, Raskolnikov finds himself in an alley where houses of prostitution are located. At a tavern, he meets Zametov and talks with him about counterfeiters.

Zametov, who had been at the police station with Raskolnikov and had seen him faint, suspects him of the murder. Raskolnikov refuses Razumikhin’s invitation to a housewarming party. On a bridge, he sees a woman jump from the bridge and is then pulled out of the water. Raskolnikov thinks about suicide. He goes to the scene of the crime, but he is thrown out. Rodion hesitates over whether he should go to the police. Hearing a commotion in the street, Raskolnikov heads toward the crowd. A man has been run over by a horse. Recognizing his recent acquaintance Marmeladov, Raskolnikov carries him home. Marmeladov dies there, and a priest and Sonya are sent for. Before his death, Marmeladov asks Sonya for forgiveness. Raskolnikov gives all his money to Marmeladov’s wife and meets their daughter Sonya, who has been forced into prostitution to support her family.

Raskolnikov and Razumikhin discuss Zametov, Zosimov, and Porfiry Petrovich. At home, Raskolnikov sees his mother and sister and faints.

Part 3 of Crime and Punishment Summary

After regaining consciousness, Raskolnikov tries to persuade his sister not to marry Luzhin. Razumikhin, who has fallen in love with Dunya, also advises her against the marriage. Razumikhin visits Raskolnikov’s sister and mother and brings Zosimov with him. Zosimov says that everything is fine with Rodion. Luzhin writes Dunya a note asking her not to receive Rodion in his presence. Dunya decides that she must invite her brother. Raskolnikov explains to his mother why he gave money to the Marmeladov family. Sonya Marmeladova comes to Raskolnikov’s apartment and invites him to the memorial gathering for her father. Raskolnikov tells Razumikhin that he left his watch and a ring at the murdered pawnbroker’s apartment.

Razumikhin advises Raskolnikov to go to Porfiry Petrovich to retrieve them. Svidrigailov follows Sonya and Rodion. Razumikhin and Raskolnikov go to see the investigator. There they meet Zametov.

Porfiry asks Raskolnikov what he considers himself to be and invites him to come to the police station the following day. Raskolnikov rushes home to check whether anything belonging to the old woman has been left there. He notices someone asking about him. The man calls him a murderer. In his thoughts, Raskolnikov is torn between the idea of being one of the “trembling creatures” and that of being one of the “powerful.” When he wakes, Raskolnikov finds Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov in his apartment. Svidrigailov has come from the provinces to St. Petersburg in search of Avdotya.

Part 4 of Crime and Punishment Summary

Svidrigailov tells Raskolnikov about what happened with Dunya and about his wife’s death. He says that he had the best intentions. He also explains that he was once imprisoned and that Marfa Petrovna bought his freedom. He offers to disrupt Dunya’s marriage to Luzhin, which his wife had arranged. He says that his wife is dead and that he wants to give Avdotya a large sum of money without asking for anything in return. She firmly refuses, suspecting a hidden motive.

Luzhin, Raskolnikov, and Razumikhin meet with Rodion’s sister and mother at their hotel.

Luzhin claims that Svidrigailov was responsible not only for his wife’s death but also for the death of the pawnbroker Resslich and a servant named Philip. Dunya contradicts Luzhin. Raskolnikov tells them about his meeting with Luzhin and about the money Svidrigailov has promised Dunya. Luzhin is thrown out.

Luzhin leaves while plotting revenge. He had planned to marry Dunya for the sake of his career because people would pay attention to him if he had a beautiful wife. Razumikhin wants to use Svidrigailov’s money to go into publishing. Raskolnikov asks Razumikhin not to abandon his mother and sister and leaves. He goes to Sonya. When Raskolnikov asks why Sonya has not killed herself, she answers that she does not want to abandon her family. It turns out that Sonya was friends with Lizaveta, who gave her a copy of the Gospel. Sonya reads from the Gospel.

Svidrigailov overhears the conversation between Sonya and Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov goes to the investigator. He is suspected of the murders. Porfiry Petrovich says that he knows how Raskolnikov went to the old woman’s apartment after the murder. Nikolai suddenly bursts into the room and shouts that he killed the old woman and her sister. Porfiry Petrovich is forced to release Raskolnikov. Because of all this, Rodion arrives late to Marmeladov’s funeral.

Part 5 of Crime and Punishment Summary

Luzhin and Lebezyatnikov are invited to the memorial gathering. Despite his beliefs, Luzhin speaks well of Sonya. When Sonya comes to see him, he gives her ten rubles as assistance.

Almost none of the invited guests come to the gathering. The landlady and Katerina Ivanovna get into an argument. Luzhin appears and accuses Sonya of stealing money. Sonya returns the money. During a search of Sonya, one hundred rubles falls from her pocket. Lebezyatnikov testifies that Luzhin himself planted the money on Sonya. In this way, Luzhin had wanted to turn Raskolnikov against his family by proving that his friend Sonya was a thief. Luzhin gathers his belongings and leaves the apartment. The landlady throws Katerina Ivanovna and her children out.

Raskolnikov confesses to Sonya that he murdered the old woman. Sonya tells him that he must go to the police and tell people about what he has done. Raskolnikov believes that he has nothing to repent for. Lebezyatnikov arrives and tells them about Katerina Ivanovna, who is sewing little caps for the children so that they can go out on the roads and beg for alms.

At home, Raskolnikov meets Dunya, who assures him that she does not believe he is guilty. Raskolnikov wanders through the streets. He meets Lebezyatnikov, who tells him that Sonya is following her mother through the streets and trying to persuade her to go home.

Raskolnikov wants to help Sonya persuade her mother, but Katerina Ivanovna refuses. An official gives her three rubles. A police officer demands that she stop causing a disturbance. The children become frightened and run away. While chasing after them, Katerina Ivanovna falls. She is carried back to Sonya’s home, where she dies. Svidrigailov takes care of the funeral, places the children in an orphanage, and provides them with money.

In a conversation with Raskolnikov, Razumikhin mentions Nikolai. Porfiry Petrovich knows that Raskolnikov was actually the one who murdered the old woman. He visits Raskolnikov and explains that Nikolai, a deeply religious man, decided to suffer in another person’s place. Porfiry Petrovich urges Raskolnikov to confess before it is too late.

Rodion meets Svidrigailov in a tavern. Svidrigailov shares his cynical views on love and marriage with Raskolnikov. In their marriage, Svidrigailov’s wife forgave him for relationships with poor girls but was jealous of women from their own social circle. When Marfa Petrovna noticed that Svidrigailov had fallen in love with Dunya, she decided to arrange a marriage for her.

Svidrigailov tells Raskolnikov that he overheard his conversation with Sonya. Raskolnikov goes to Svidrigailov, who suggests that he travel to the islands. On a bridge, Svidrigailov meets Dunya and asks her to go with him. They visit Sonya’s place, but she is not at home. Svidrigailov and Dunya go to his apartment. There he tells her that her brother is a murderer. Svidrigailov says that he loves Dunya and offers her his help. She refuses him. Dunya tries to leave, but Svidrigailov does not let her go. Dunya shoots at Svidrigailov, but the pistol misfires. When Dunya tells Svidrigailov that she does not love him, he lets her go and spends the rest of the evening wandering around in despair. He comes to Sonya, gives her three thousand rubles as a gift, and leaves. He also leaves fifteen thousand rubles for his fiancée. After spending the night in a hotel, Svidrigailov goes out into the street and shoots himself.

Raskolnikov comes to say goodbye to his mother and sister. Dunya condemns her brother. Raskolnikov prepares to surrender and confess. In the evening, he takes a cross from Sonya and goes to the police station. There he learns of Svidrigailov’s death. He wants to leave, but turns back.

Epilogue of Crime and Punishment

For the murders, Raskolnikov receives only eight years in Siberia because of mitigating circumstances.

Dunya marries Razumikhin.

Sonya follows Raskolnikov to Siberia. They meet on Sundays. Raskolnikov believes that he is guilty only because he surrendered and confessed; he could have killed himself, just as Svidrigailov did. All the prisoners come to love Sonya. Although she is weak and ill, Sonya still comes to visit Rodion. Raskolnikov realizes that he loves Sonya. For him, life begins again.