Makenzie Vogt, Daria Bloomfield

Alisha McCormick, Adrienne Tittler

12 January 2015
AP English
Whedon 5
Crime and Punishment Theme Analysis
Rosamund Lupton once said, I get up and pace the room, as if I can leave my guilt
behind me. But it tracks me as I walk, an ugly shadow made by myself. After reading Fyodor
Dostoevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment, a reader might find this quote to be true. The novel
focuses on a man, Raskolnikov, and follows him as he goes on his journey from sin to
resurrection. Over the course of the novel, Dostoevsky exposes the connection between sin, guilt,
and resurrection by presenting Raskolnikovs murder of a principal, and then mental decline,
leading him to seek Christs salvation. (Makenzie Vogt)
At the beginning of the novel, Dostoevsky starts his reader on the journey when he writes
of Raskolnikovs sin. Raskolnikov went to the pawnbrokers room and He dealt her another
blow and another blow with the blunt side and on the same spot He stepped back, let if fall,
and at once bent over her face; she was dead Lizaveta was so simple The axe fell with the
sharp edge just on the skull and split at one blow all the top of the head (Dostoevsky 94-99). By
including this murder scene, Dostoevsky created Raskolnikovs first step in the journey to
resurrection; sin. While the reader would believe that Raskolnikov had killed a person, he
believed that he had killed a principle. The old woman was a mistake perhaps, but shes not the
point! The old woman was merely a sickness . . . I was in a hurry to step over . . . it wasnt a
human being I killed, it was a principle! (Dostoevsky 323) (Group)

It isnt until later in the novel that Dostoevsky sends Raskolnikov onto the second stage
of the journey to resurrection; guilt. Sonia and Raskolnikov were together talking about the
murders of Alyona and her sister, Lizaveta. When Raskolnikov asked if she was friends with
Lizaveta, Sonia said Yes she was good she used to come not often she couldnt We
used to read together and talk. She will see God (Dostoevsky Part Four Chapter Four).
Dostoevsky wrote this scene in order to foster what would be the turning point in Raskolnikovs
thought process which would essentially build the bridge from sin to guilt. Raskolnikov, for the
first time, truly realized that in murdering the two women, he had killed not only a principle, but
also an innocent person. After this realization, Raskolnikov embarked on his guilt ridden mental
battle represented by Lizaveta throughout the novel. (Makenzie Vogt)
Towards the end of the novel, Dostoevsky ends Raskolnikovs journey to resurrection
when he allows his guilt to lead him to seek Christs salvation. After Sonia understood what
Raskolnikov had done, she sat with Raskolnikov in her tenant for a moment before she said Go
at once, this very minute, stand at the cross-roads, bow down, first kiss the world for which you
have defiled, and then bow down to all the world and say to all men aloud I am a murderer!
Then God will send you life again. Will you go? Will you go (Dostoevsky Part Five Chapter
Four). Dostoevsky included this event as a precursor to Raskolnikovs final step of resurrection;
acceptance of Christ. Soon after his conversation with Sonia, Raskolnikov went to admit to his
crime and while it led to seven years in confinement, This was the beginning of a new story- the
story of the gradual renewal of a man, the story of his gradual regeneration, of his passing from
one world to another, of his initiation into a new unknown life (Dostoevsky Epilogue 2). In
ending the novel with such a quote, Dostoevsky was leaving his reader with the idea that in

sinning, everyone has the opportunity to accept Christ into their life in order to complete the
journey to resurrection. (Makenzie Vogt)