Key Facts
full title · Crime and Punishment
author · Fyodor Dostoevsky
type of work · Novel
genre · Psychological drama
language · Russian
time and place written · 1865–1866, St. Petersburg, Russia
date of first publication · 1866; appeared serially in The
Russian Messenger before being published in book form in 1867
publisher · The serial edition was published by the editor of The
Russian Messenger, Mikhail Katkov; the two-volume book version was published
by Bazanov.
narrator · Third-person omniscient
climax · Raskolnikov's confession in Part VI, Chapter VIII
protagonist · Raskolnikov
antagonists · Luzhin, Porfiry Petrovich, Svidrigailov, Raskolnikov's conscience
settings (time) · 1860s
settings (place) · St. Petersburg and a prison in Siberia
point of view · The story is told primarily from the point of view
of Raskolnikov but occasionally switches to the perspective of Svidrigailov, Razumikhin,
and Dunya.
falling action · The Epilogue, in which Raskolnikov, imprisoned in Siberia, discovers
that he loves Sonya
tense · Past
foreshadowing · In Part I, Chapter I, when Raskolnikov rehearses the
murder of the pawnbroker; throughout the rest of the novel, whenever Raskolnikov
considers confessing
tones · Tragic, emotional, melodramatic, critical, despairing,
fatalistic, confessional
themes · Alienation from society, the psychology of crime and punishment,
religious redemption, the importance of family, nihilism, the “superman”
motifs · Poverty
symbols · The city as a symbol of Raskolnikov's internal state;
the cross as a symbol of religious redemption
