Knowing good and evil can be difficult. Despite us teaching and being taught what’s good and what’s bad, in the end, it all depends on the situation. For instance, if we had to choose between a countless number of innocent lives, and saving the people we love, some of us would drive ourselves insane just trying sort through our nonexistent actions. It becomes even worse when we try to justify those actions, regardless of the consequences. This conflict is an important concept in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

Crime and Punishment introduces a man named Rodion Raskolnikov, an ex-law student who lives in an impoverished apartment in St. Petersburg. He receives a letter from his mother, telling him that Dunya, his sister, has decided to marry a wealthy man named Luzhin in order to care for her family. However, Luzhin is selfish and only thinks of Dunya as his property, rather than a human being. Consumed with greed and desperation, Raskolnikov decides to kill an elderly woman for her money. After he does, he’s feverish and has to deal with his disgust of himself. He keeps contemplating whether or not to turn himself in, and as he does, he decides to help the people around him, even giving money to a young prostitute named Sonya. Afterward, he meets with his mother and sister, where he tries to convince Dunya not to marry Luzhin, though his protests fall on deaf ears. As the book continues, Raskolnikov continues to struggle with his morality and continually attempts to stop the marriage between Luzhin and Dunya. Throughout this, he and Sonya ponder on not only his own actions but the fact that he’d been torturing himself after all this time. Eventually, Raskolnikov decides to turn himself in. Dunya and his former friend are married, while he is imprisoned in Siberia for eight years when Sonya decides to visit him. At first, he is icy towards her, but later on, acknowledges that it was her love for him that redeemed him in the end.

The book was written to address the growing nihilism in Russia during the time. Dostoevsky wanted to point out the consequences of such thinking and stated that, when pursuing rationalism, people wind up forcing out Christian kindness and understanding in exchange for what we believe to be logic. This was seen in Raskolnikov. He murders an elderly woman, reasoning that if he had money, Dunya wouldn’t have to marry a wealthy man to support their family, and he himself could get out of poverty. At the same time, however, he must deal with the disgust in himself afterward. This shows that not everyone can be coldly pragmatic.

This concept, in turn, ties into the relationship Raskolnikov has with Christianity. Dostoevsky shows the cruelty and callousness of Raskolnikov’s actions as he attempts to justify the murder, which sharply contrasts with Sonya’s own faith. It forces Raskolnikov into a state of continuous rebellion against conventional society and religion, and in turn, God. Even so, Raskolnikov manages to reaffirm their existence in the end and renew his beliefs.

Crime and Punishment paints a portrait of a man’s inner struggles between himself and the world around him. It reaffirms the importance of faith and morality, while at the same time acknowledging that pragmatism can go too far, so much so it can turn people into monsters of themselves.