Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment is considered by many to be the first of Fyodor Dostoevsky's great books. Crime and Punishment is a psychological account of a crime. The crime is double murder. A book about such a broad subject can be made powerful and appealing to our intellectual interests if there is a link between the reader, the action, and the characters. Doestoevsky makes all these links at the right places. The action takes place between …

…the thoughts of both these characters. The reader is able to feel close to all the characters and this contributes to making Crime and Punishment the kind of tale that it is. Dostoevsky has successfully created two characters that realize that they are alike yet they also know that they can never be the same because one is willing to suffer as suffering leads to salvation while the other, in a cowardly fashion, commits suicide.