Origins of the novel date back to the time of hard labor F.M. Dostoevsky. On October 9, 1859, he wrote to his brother from Tver: “In December I will start a novel ... Don’t you remember, I told you about one confession-novel that I wanted to write after all, saying that I still need to go through it myself. The other day I made up my mind to write it at once. All my heart with blood will rely on this novel. I conceived it in hard labor, lying on the bunk, in a difficult moment of sadness and self-destruction ... "Initially, Dostoevsky conceived to write Crime and Punishment in the form of Raskolnikov's confession. The writer intended to transfer the entire spiritual experience of hard labor to the pages of the novel. It was here that Dostoevsky first encountered strong personalities, under the influence of which a change in his former convictions began.

Idea for my new novel Dostoevsky nurtured for six years. During this time, "Humiliated and Insulted", "Notes from the House of the Dead" and "Notes from the Underground" were written, the main theme of which was the history of poor people and their rebellion against the existing reality. On June 8, 1865, Dostoevsky proposed to A.A. Kraevsky for "Notes of the Fatherland" his new novel called "Drunk". But Kraevsky answered the writer with a refusal, which he explained by the fact that the editors had no money. On July 2, 1865, Dostoevsky, who was in dire need, was forced to conclude an agreement with the publisher F.T. Stelovsky. For the same money that Kraevsky refused to pay for the novel, Dostoevsky sold Stelovsky the right to publish the complete works in three volumes and undertook to write for him a new novel of at least ten sheets by November 1, 1866.

Having received the money, Dostoevsky distributed the debts and at the end of July 1865 went abroad. But the monetary drama did not end there. During five days in Wiesbaden, Dostoevsky lost everything he had at roulette, including his pocket watch. The consequences were not long in coming. Soon the owners of the hotel where he stayed ordered not to serve him dinner, and after a couple of days they also deprived him of the light. In a tiny room, without food and without light, "in the most painful position", "burned by some kind of internal fever", the writer began work on the novel Crime and Punishment, which was destined to become one of the most significant works of world literature.

In September 1865, Dostoevsky decided to submit his new story to the Russky Vestnik magazine. In a letter to the publisher of this magazine, the writer said that the idea of ​​his new work would be “a psychological report of one crime”: “The action is modern, this year, a young man expelled from university students, a bourgeois by birth and living in extreme poverty, due to frivolity, due to the shakiness in concepts, succumbing to some strange, "unfinished" ideas that are in the air, he decided to get out of his bad situation at once. He decided to kill an old woman, a titular adviser who gives money for interest. The old woman is stupid, deaf, sick, greedy, takes Jewish interest, is evil and seizes someone else's eyelids, torturing her younger sister in her working women. “She is good for nothing”, “what does she live for?”, “is she useful to anyone?” etc. - these questions confuse the young man. He decides to kill her, rob her, in order to make his mother, who lives in the district, happy, to save his sister, who lives as a companion with some landowners, from the voluptuous claims of the head of this landowner family - claims that threaten her with death - to finish the course, to go for border and then all his life to be honest, firm and unswerving in the fulfillment of his "humane duty to humanity" - which, of course, "will make amends for the crime", if only this act against an old woman, deaf, stupid, evil and sick, who herself does not knows why he lives in the world, and who in a month, perhaps, would die of herself ... "

According to Dostoevsky, in his work there is a hint of the idea that the imposed legal punishment for a crime frightens the criminal much less than the guardians of the law think, mainly because he himself morally demands this punishment. Dostoevsky set a goal to visually express this idea on the example of a young man - a representative of a new generation. Materials for the story underlying the novel "Crime and Punishment", according to the author, could be found in any newspaper published at that time. Dostoevsky was sure that the plot of his work partly justified modernity.

The plot of the novel "Crime and Punishment" was originally conceived by the writer as a short story of five or six printed sheets. The last plot (the story of the Marmeladov family) eventually entered the story of Raskolnikov's crime and punishment. From the very beginning of its inception, the idea of ​​​​an "ideological killer" fell into two unequal parts: the first - the crime and its causes, and the second, the main one - the effect of the crime on the soul of the criminal. The idea of ​​a two-part plan was reflected both in the title of the work - “Crime and Punishment”, and in the features of its structure: of the six parts of the novel, one is devoted to the crime and five to the influence of the committed crime on Raskolnikov’s soul.

Dostoevsky worked hard on the plan for his new work in Wiesbaden, later on a steamboat, when he returned from Copenhagen, where he was staying with one of his Semipalatinsk friends, to St. Petersburg, and then in St. Petersburg itself. In the city on the Neva, the story imperceptibly developed into a great novel, and Dostoevsky, when the work was almost ready, burned it and decided to start over. In mid-December 1865, he sent the chapters of the new novel to Russkiy vestnik. The first part of Crime and Punishment appeared in the January 1866 issue of the magazine, but work on the novel was in full swing. The writer worked hard and selflessly on his work throughout 1866. The success of the first two parts of the novel inspired and inspired Dostoevsky, and he set to work with even greater zeal.

In the spring of 1866, Dostoevsky planned to leave for Dresden, stay there for three months and finish the novel. But numerous creditors did not allow the writer to go abroad, and in the summer of 1866 he worked in the village of Lublin near Moscow, with his sister Vera Ivanovna Ivanova. At this time, Dostoevsky was forced to think about another novel, which was promised to Stellovsky when concluding an agreement with him in 1865. In Lublin, Dostoevsky drew up the plan for his new novel, The Gambler, and continued to work on Crime and Punishment. In November and December, the last, sixth, part of the novel and the epilogue were completed, and at the end of 1866 the Russian Messenger completed the publication of Crime and Punishment. Three notebooks with drafts and notes to the novel have been preserved, in fact, three handwritten editions of the novel, which characterize the three stages of the author's work. Subsequently, all of them were published and made it possible to present the writer's creative laboratory, his hard work on every word.

The Wiesbaden "story", like the second edition, was conceived by the writer in the form of a confession of a criminal, but in the process of work, when the material of the novel "Drunk" was poured into the confession and the plan became more complicated, the former form of confession on behalf of the murderer, who actually cut himself off from the world and deepened into his "fixed" idea, became too cramped for a new psychological content. Dostoevsky preferred a new form - a story on behalf of the author - and in 1865 burned the original version of the work.

In the third, final, edition, an important note appeared: “The story is from myself, and not from him. If it's confession, then it's too extreme, you have to clarify everything. So that everything is clear every moment of the story ... "The draft notebooks" Crimes and Punishments "allow us to trace how long Dostoevsky tried to find the answer to the main question of the novel: why did Raskolnikov decide to kill? The answer to this question was not unambiguous for the author himself. In the original plan of the story, this is a simple idea: to kill one insignificant, harmful and rich creature in order to make many beautiful, but poor people happy with his money. In the second edition of the novel, Raskolnikov is depicted as a humanist, burning with the desire to stand up for the “humiliated and insulted”: “I am not the kind of person to allow defenseless weakness to a scoundrel. I will intervene. I want to step in." But the idea of ​​​​killing because of love for other people, killing a person because of love for humanity, is gradually “overgrown” with Raskolnikov’s desire for power, but he is not yet driven by vanity. He seeks to gain power in order to fully devote himself to serving people, he longs to use power only to do good deeds: “I take power, I get power - whether it’s money, or power - not for evil. I bring happiness." But in the course of his work, Dostoevsky penetrated deeper and deeper into the soul of his hero, discovering behind the idea of ​​killing for the sake of love for people, power for the sake of good deeds, the strange and incomprehensible "idea of ​​Napoleon" - the idea of ​​power for the sake of power, dividing humanity into two unequal parts: the majority - "creature trembling" and the minority - "rulers" who are called to govern the minority, standing outside the law and having the right, like Napoleon, to overstep the law in the name of necessary goals. In the third, final, edition, Dostoevsky expressed the "ripened", complete "Napoleon's idea": "Can one love them? Can you suffer for them? Hatred for humanity..."

Thus, in the creative process, in comprehending the concept of Crime and Punishment, two opposite ideas collided: the idea of ​​love for people and the idea of ​​contempt for them. Judging by the draft notebooks, Dostoevsky faced a choice: either keep one of the ideas, or keep both. But realizing that the disappearance of one of these ideas would impoverish the idea of ​​the novel, Dostoevsky decided to combine both ideas, to portray a man in whom, as Razumikhin says about Raskolnikov in the final text of the novel, "two opposite characters alternate in turn." The finale of the novel was also created as a result of intense creative efforts. One of the draft notebooks contains the following entry: “The finale of the novel. Raskolnikov is going to shoot himself. But this was the finale only for Napoleon's idea. Dostoevsky, on the other hand, sought to create an ending for the “idea of ​​love,” when Christ saves a repentant sinner: “The vision of Christ. He asks for forgiveness from the people. At the same time, Dostoevsky understood perfectly well that such a person as Raskolnikov, who combined two opposite principles in himself, would not accept either the court of his own conscience, or the court of the author, or the court of law. Only one court will be authoritative for Raskolnikov - the “highest court”, the court of Sonechka Marmeladova, the very “humiliated and insulted” Sonechka, in whose name he committed the murder. That is why in the third, final, edition of the novel, the following entry appeared: “The idea of ​​the novel. I. Orthodox view, in which there is Orthodoxy. There is no happiness in comfort, happiness is bought by suffering. This is the law of our planet, but this direct consciousness, felt by the everyday process, is such a great joy that you can pay for years of suffering. Man is not born to be happy. Man deserves happiness, and always suffering. There is no injustice here, because the knowledge of life and consciousness is acquired by the experience of "for" and "against", which must be dragged on oneself. In the drafts, the last line of the novel looked like: "Inscrutable are the ways in which God finds man." But Dostoevsky ended the novel with other lines that can serve as an expression of the doubts that tormented the writer.

Frame from the film "Crime and Punishment" (1969)

60s of the XIX century. A poor district of St. Petersburg, adjacent to Sennaya Square and the Ekaterininsky Canal. Summer evening. Former student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov leaves his closet in the attic and pledges the last valuable thing to the old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna, whom he is preparing to kill. On the way back, he goes into one of the cheap taverns, where he accidentally gets acquainted with the drunken official Marmeladov who has lost his place. He tells how consumption, poverty and drunkenness of her husband pushed his wife, Katerina Ivanovna, to a cruel act - to send his daughter from his first marriage Sonya to earn money on the panel.

The next morning, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother from the provinces describing the troubles suffered by his younger sister Dunya in the house of the depraved landowner Svidrigailov. He learns about the imminent arrival of his mother and sister in St. Petersburg in connection with the upcoming marriage of Dunya. The groom is a prudent businessman Luzhin, who wants to build a marriage not on love, but on poverty and the dependence of the bride. The mother hopes that Luzhin will financially help her son finish his course at the university. Reflecting on the sacrifices that Sonya and Dunya make for the sake of their loved ones, Raskolnikov becomes stronger in his intention to kill the pawnbroker - a useless evil "louse". Indeed, thanks to her money, “hundreds, thousands” of girls and boys will be spared from undeserved suffering. However, disgust for the bloody violence rises again in the hero's soul after he saw a dream-memories of childhood: the boy's heart is torn from pity for the nag being beaten to death.

And yet, Raskolnikov kills with an ax not only the “ugly old woman”, but also her kind, meek sister Lizaveta, who unexpectedly returned to the apartment. Having miraculously left unnoticed, he hides the stolen goods in a random place, without even estimating its value.

Soon Raskolnikov is horrified to discover alienation between himself and other people. Sick from the experience, he, however, is not able to reject the burdensome worries of his comrade at the university, Razumikhin. From the conversation of the latter with the doctor, Raskolnikov learns that the painter Mikolka, a simple village boy, was arrested on suspicion of the murder of an old woman. Painfully reacting to talk about a crime, he himself also arouses suspicion among others.

Luzhin, who came on a visit, is shocked by the squalor of the hero's closet; their conversation turns into a quarrel and ends in a breakup. Raskolnikov is especially offended by the closeness of practical conclusions from Luzhin’s “reasonable egoism” (which seems vulgar to him) and his own “theory”: “people can be cut ...”

Wandering around St. Petersburg, the sick young man suffers from his alienation from the world and is already ready to confess his crime to the authorities, as he sees a man crushed by a carriage. This is Marmeladov. Out of compassion, Raskolnikov spends the last money on the dying man: he is transferred to the house, the doctor is called. Rodion meets Katerina Ivanovna and Sonya, who is saying goodbye to her father in an inappropriately bright prostitute outfit. Thanks to a good deed, the hero briefly felt community with people. However, having met his mother and sister who arrived at his apartment, he suddenly realizes that he is “dead” for their love and rudely drives them away. He is alone again, but he has a hope of getting closer to Sonya, who, like him, “stepped over”, the absolute commandment.

Raskolnikov's relatives are taken care of by Razumikhin, who almost at first sight fell in love with the beautiful Dunya. Meanwhile, the offended Luzhin puts the bride before a choice: either he or his brother.

In order to find out about the fate of the things pledged by the murdered woman, and in fact, to dispel the suspicions of some acquaintances, Rodion himself asks for a meeting with Porfiry Petrovich, the investigator in the case of the murder of the old pawnbroker. The latter recalls Raskolnikov's recently published article "On Crime", inviting the author to explain his "theory" about "two categories of people." It turns out that the "ordinary" ("lower") majority is just material for the reproduction of their own kind, it is they who need a strict moral law and must be obedient. These are "trembling creatures". “In fact, people” (“higher”) have a different nature, possessing the gift of a “new word”, they destroy the present in the name of the best, even if it is necessary to “step over” the moral norms previously established for the “lower” majority, for example, shed someone else's blood. These "criminals" then become the "new legislators". Thus, not recognizing the biblical commandments (“thou shalt not kill”, “do not steal”, etc.), Raskolnikov “allows” “those who have the right” - “blood according to conscience”. Clever and insightful Porfiry unravels in the hero an ideological killer who claims to be the new Napoleon. However, the investigator has no evidence against Rodion - and he releases the young man in the hope that a good nature will defeat the delusions of the mind in him and will herself lead him to a confession of what he has done.

Indeed, the hero becomes more and more convinced that he made a mistake in himself: “the real ruler smashes Toulon, makes a massacre in Paris, forgets the army in Egypt, spends half a million people on the Moscow campaign,” and he, Raskolnikov, is tormented by “vulgarity” and “ meanness" of a single murder. Clearly, he is a “trembling creature”: even having killed, he “did not cross” the moral law. The very motives of the crime are twofold in the mind of the hero: this is both a test of oneself for the “highest category”, and an act of “justice”, according to revolutionary socialist teachings, transferring the property of the “predators” to their victims.

Svidrigailov, who arrived after Dunya in St. Petersburg, apparently guilty of the recent death of his wife, meets Raskolnikov and notices that they are “of the same field”, although the latter did not completely defeat Schiller in himself. With all the disgust towards the offender, Rodion's sister is attracted by his seeming ability to enjoy life, despite the crimes committed.

During dinner in cheap rooms, where Luzhin settled Dunya and his mother out of economy, a decisive explanation takes place. Luzhin is accused of slandering Raskolnikov and Sonya, to whom he allegedly gave money for base services, selflessly collected by a poor mother for his studies. Relatives are convinced of the purity and nobility of the young man and sympathize with Sonya's fate. Exiled in disgrace, Luzhin is looking for a way to discredit Raskolnikov in the eyes of his sister and mother.

The latter, meanwhile, again feeling the painful alienation from loved ones, comes to Sonya. From her, who "crossed over" the commandment "do not commit adultery", he seeks salvation from unbearable loneliness. But Sonya is not alone. She sacrificed herself for the sake of others (hungry brothers and sisters), and not others for herself, as her interlocutor. Love and compassion for loved ones, faith in the mercy of God never left her. She reads to Rodion the gospel lines about the resurrection of Lazarus by Christ, hoping for a miracle in her life. The hero fails to captivate the girl with the "Napoleonic" plan of power over "the whole anthill."

Tortured at the same time by fear and a desire to be exposed, Raskolnikov again comes to Porfiry, as if worrying about his mortgage. It seems that an abstract conversation about the psychology of criminals eventually brings the young man to a nervous breakdown, and he almost betrays himself to the investigator. He is saved by an unexpected confession to everyone in the murder of the pawnbroker painter Mikolka.

In the passage room of the Marmeladovs, a wake was arranged for her husband and father, during which Katerina Ivanovna, in a fit of morbid pride, insults the landlady of the apartment. She tells her and her children to leave immediately. Suddenly, Luzhin, who lives in the same house, enters and accuses Sonya of stealing a hundred-ruble banknote. The “guilt” of the girl is proven: the money is found in the pocket of her apron. Now, in the eyes of those around her, she is also a thief. But unexpectedly there is a witness that Luzhin himself imperceptibly slipped Sonya a piece of paper. The slanderer is disgraced, and Raskolnikov explains to those present the reasons for his act: having humiliated his brother and Sonya in the eyes of Dunya, he hoped to return the favor of the bride.

Rodion and Sonya go to her apartment, where the hero confesses to the girl in the murder of the old woman and Lizaveta. She pities him for the moral torments to which he condemned himself, and offers to atone for his guilt by voluntary confession and hard labor. Raskolnikov laments only that he turned out to be a “trembling creature”, with a conscience and a need for human love. “I will still fight,” he disagrees with Sonya.

Meanwhile, Katerina Ivanovna with the children finds herself on the street. She begins to bleed from the throat and dies after refusing the services of a priest. Svidrigailov, who is present here, undertakes to pay for the funeral and provide for the children and Sonya.

At home, Raskolnikov finds Porfiry, who convinces the young man to turn himself in: the “theory”, which denies the absoluteness of the moral law, rejects from the only source of life - God, the creator of mankind, one in nature, - and thereby dooms his prisoner to death. “Now you need air, air, air!” Porfiry does not believe in the guilt of Mikolka, who "accepted suffering" for the primordial people's need: to atone for the sin of inconsistency with the ideal - Christ.

But Raskolnikov still hopes to "transcend" morality as well. Before him is the example of Svidrigailov. Their meeting in a tavern reveals to the hero a sad truth: the life of this "insignificant villain" is empty and painful for him.

The reciprocity of Dunya is the only hope for Svidrigailov to return to the source of being. Convinced of her irrevocable dislike of himself during a heated conversation in his apartment, he shoots himself a few hours later.

Meanwhile, Raskolnikov, driven by the lack of "air", says goodbye to his family and Sonya before confessing. He is still convinced of the correctness of the "theory" and full of contempt for himself. However, at the insistence of Sonya, before the eyes of the people, he repentantly kisses the ground, before which he "sinned." In the police office, he learns about Svidrigailov's suicide and makes an official confession.

Raskolnikov ends up in Siberia, in a prison camp. Mother died of grief, Dunya married Razumikhin. Sonya settled near Raskolnikov and visits the hero, patiently enduring his gloom and indifference. The nightmare of alienation continues here: the convicts from the common people hate him as a "godless". On the contrary, Sonya is treated with tenderness and love. Once in the prison hospital, Rodion sees a dream reminiscent of pictures from the Apocalypse: the mysterious "trichinas", moving into people, give rise in everyone to a fanatical conviction of their own rightness and intolerance to the "truths" of others. "People killed each other in senseless malice" until the entire human race was exterminated, except for a few "pure and chosen ones." Finally, it is revealed to him that the pride of the mind leads to discord and destruction, while the humility of the heart leads to unity in love and to the fullness of life. It awakens "endless love" for Sonya. On the threshold of "resurrection into a new life," Raskolnikov takes the Gospel in his hands.

retold