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Crime and Punishment by F.M. Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment(Novel)

F.M. Dostoevsky was born in Moscow on October 30, 1821. He was a dreamer and prophet. He had a great contribution to the Russian literature. Crime and Punishment is his famous novel. It is a story of salvation through suffering. Autobiographical elements are seen in his novel. Actually it is a psychological novel. Raskolnikov is the protagonist of the novel. He considers himself a superior or an extraordinary man. He is a poor student and believes that he is an extraordinary young man. He invents a theory, whereby extraordinary men of the world have a right to commit any crime. His views about the ordinary man versus extraordinary man are based on two philosophers-Hegel and Nietzsche's ideas of superman. He adds his own view with these two philosophers' ideas. According to the protagonist, all men are divided into categories. One is ordinary and the other is extraordinary. 
The ordinary man is inferior and he can do nothing. On the other hand, the extraordinary man has the right to commit any crime and to disobey the law. Believing this theory, the protagonist kills Alyona and Ivanovana (an old lady moneylender and pawnbroker). He also kills Alyona Ivanova's stepsister Lizaveta Ivanovana. After committing the crime he becomes ill. 

At the time of his recovering, his sister Dounia's fiance, Luzhin, visits him. He neglects Luzhin. He dislikes Luzhin's dictatorial attitude towards his sister. He goes out and reads about to the police officer. Later, Raskolnikov witnesses the death of Marmeladov, a minor government official, who is attacked by a cart as he staggers across the street in a drunken state. Raskolnikov's mother and sister want that Dounia should marry him. Svidrigailov is another character of the novel. He was Dounia's former employer. Once he had tried to seduce Dounia. When Raskolnikov learns that Porfiry, the police is interviewing anybody who had any business with Alyona Ivanovna. Raskolnikov goes for an interview with Porfiry and leaves thinking that the police officer suspects him. Now Raskolnikov meets Sonia Marmeladov (daughter of the dead Marmeladov). The writer of the novel represents Sonia as a prostitute. 

Raskolnikov decides to confess his crime to her. At the time of acknowledgement, Svidrigailov over hears it. Svidrigailov takes it as an opportunity to blackmail Dounia. He blackmails her with this information to try force her sleep with him. Dounia refuses and he commits suicide later in the night. Porfiry informs Raskolnikov confesses to the murder. He is sentenced to eight years in Siberian prison, where Sonia follows and Svidrigailov are two sides of Raskolinkov's dual personality. Actually Sonia and Svidrigailov are two sides of Raskolnikov's dual personality. Dreams play a significant role in this novel; they are symbolic. Svidrigailov's dream after his seduction of Dounia fails and she fires at him is also significant. In the dream, we see Raskolnikov's dual nature at work.     

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