Crime and Punishment
(Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Raskolnikov

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is the central character of the novel. Formerly a brilliant though solitary university student, he drops out of life when his mind becomes seized with the notion of “crossing the barriers” of conventional thought and action. Mentally confused and unstable, his desperate economic and physical state leads him to murder an elderly woman money lender and (inadvertently) her younger half-sister. He tries to hide his crime (in part, because he doesn’t consider it a crime) but finally confesses through the influence of Sonya, a young streetwalker of great innocence and goodness. In the end, he is sent to prison in Siberia for eight years, a reduced sentence. Sonya follows him, having sworn to always be there for Raskolnikov at his request, and with the help of her undying love, he finally breaks through his apathy and misery to a new vision of life, love, and hope.

Sonya

Sofya Semenovna Marmeladova is a young, slight, timid girl in her late teens, the daughter of Marmeladov, a mostly drunken civil servant who meets Raskolnikov in a tavern and tells him his story. Marmeladov later dies in a tragic accident. Sonya’s stepmother, Katerina Ivanovna, is a consumptive with three children and therefore unable to work. Sonya resorts to prostitution to support her family, and because of that, she impresses Raskolnikov as one who has “crossed the barriers.” Raskolnikov later confides his whole story to her and asks her to be his lifetime companion, though he later repels her along with everybody else. In spite of this, she follows Raskolnikov to Siberia with the help of a generous bequest from Svidrigaylov. In the end, her love breaks through Raskolnikov’s misery, and the two of them experience the dawn of a new life together.

Katerina Ivanovna

Katerina Ivanovna is Marmeladov’s consumptive wife and Sonya’s stepmother. She and Marmeladov have three young children, whom she goes out of her way to care for under difficult conditions while Sonya brings in money. Katerina Ivanovna understood that Sonya’s action was a tremendous sacrifice, and she was deeply grateful and held Sonya in high regard. At Marmeladov’s funeral dinner, Katerina Ivanovna’s hysteria gets the better of her, and she manages to get herself evicted because of a ridiculous argument with the landlady. She forces her children to become street singers, with the intention of impressing their more well-to-do hearers with the tragic fate of a once cultured family. But Katerina Ivanovna is in the last stages of consumption, and she dies almost immediately after embarking on this desperate venture. Her three orphaned children are provided for by Svidrigaylov, who places them in good orphanages and gives each an inheritance.

Razumikhin

Dmitri Prokofich Razumikhin is Raskolnikov’s best friend, allowing for the fact that Raskolnikov is a loner at heart. He relentlessly sticks up for Raskolnikov, refusing to believe the rumors about murder.

Razumikhin is the symbol of reason and is constantly trying to help Raskolnikov achieve a more rational lifestyle. Whenever Raskolnikov is in need, Razumikhin is there with plans and offers for assistance, although Raskolnikov doesn’t usually accept them. He is also so helpful to Dunya and Pulkheria Alexandrovna, Raskolnikov’s sister and mother, that they quickly accept him as a member of the family. In the end, he and Dunya marry.

Pulkheria Alexandrovna

Pulkheria Alexandrovna is Raskolnikov and Dunya’s mother. She is honest, forthright, imaginative, and sensitive; and she loves her children dearly and believes in them. She is also prone to premonitions, and when Raskolnikov disappears after coming to tell her goodbye before his deportation to Siberia (without informing her of the details or truth of his situation), she eventually succumbs to delirium and finally dies. But she never loses faith in her Rodka.

Dunya

Avdotya Romanovna, fondly known as Dunya or Dunechka to her family, is Raskolnikov’s sister. Similar to her brother in many ways, Dunya is strikingly beautiful, highly intelligent, serious, noble, passionate, charming, and well-bred. She becomes embroiled in a difficult situation when she is hired and then fired as a governess by Marfa Petrovna, after capturing the heart of Svidrigaylov, Marfa Petrovna’s husband and a man of questionable character. Dunya’s reputation is temporarily ruined and then recovered, after which she and her mother move to St. Petersburg so that Dunya can marry Luzhin, Marfa Petrovna’s well-to-do cousin. The engagement doesn’t work out, and in the end, Dunya marries Raskolnikov’s good friend, the young, passionate, and good-hearted Razumikhin.

Marfa Petrovna

Marfa Petrovna is the well-to-do country landowner who marries Svidrigaylov after bailing him out of debtors’ jail. When Svidrigaylov begins to get serious about their beautiful governess Dunya, Marfa Petrovna blames Dunya and ruins her reputation through vicious gossip. When she discovers that Dunya was not a fault, she goes on a mission to redeem her name. But in the meantime, Dunya has lost her job and is living in poverty with her mother. To make up for it, Marfa Petrovna arranges Dunya’s engagement to Luzhin; but Marfa Petrovna dies suddenly, and Pulkheria Alexandrovna sees her in a dream admonishing her to not let Dunya marry Luzhin.

Luzhin

Peter Petrovich Luzhin is Dunya’s fiancé towards the beginning of the story. The engagement was arranged through Marfa Petrovna, probably in part as a way of keeping Svidrigaylov away from Dunya. But Luzhin was also successful and well-off, so the arrangement was intended to benefit Dunya, who initially thought it could work. However, when Luzhin meets Raskolnikov, things do not go well, and Dunya realizes that she will have to choose between her fiancé and her brother. Luzhin’s real character then becomes obvious, and the engagement is canceled.

Svidrigaylov

Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigaylov is a complex but dubious character, formerly a card shark who ended up in debtors’ prison and was rescued by Marfa Petrovna, who married him and then set up certain conditions. Svidrigaylov was allowed to eye the female servants as long he remained faithful to Marfa Petrovna. This works until Dunya comes along. Svidrigaylov falls madly in love with her, and when Marfa Petrovna dies and Dunya is engaged to Luzhin, Svidrigaylov goes to St. Petersburg to try to win her over. He does this in part by trying to blackmail her with privy information about her brother, overheard through the wall while Raskolnikov was confiding in Sonya. Dunya, however, can’t stand Svidrigaylov and rejects him, even threatening to shoot him. Svidrigaylov, who by now has given all his inheritance to worthy causes, loses hope and commits suicide with the gun that Dunya left behind in his apartment.

Porfiry

Porfiry is the brilliant examining magistrate, known for his ability to crack the most difficult cases. He sees through Raskolnikov’s games from the beginning and employs his own share of complex ruses and manipulations to lead Raskolnikov to confess. For all his clever manipulations, Porfiry likes and admires Raskolnikov. His aim is to get him to confess so that his sentence can be lightened.

Alena Ivanovna and Lizaveta

Alena Ivanovna is the greedy, unscrupulous money lender to whom Raskolnikov pawns his goods. Her good-hearted younger sister Lizaveta has the opposite character and is well liked by the community. Raskolnikov ends up murdering both of them with an axe: Alena Ivanovna as part of a premeditated plan; Lizaveta only because she walked in at the wrong moment.