Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступление и наказание Prestuplenie i nakazanie) is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky that was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments. It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels after he returned from his exile in Siberia and the first great novel of his mature period.Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov an impoverished St. Petersburg ex-student who formulates and executes a plan to kill a hated unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time he argues ridding the world of an evil worthless parasite. Several times throughout the novel Raskolnikov justifies his actions by relating himself to Napoleon believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.