The Protagonist and Antagonist of Crime and Punishment

The Protagonist and Antagonist of 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 protagonists and the antagonists. The protagonists

include Dounia, the Marmeladovs, Sonia, Razumhin, Porfiry Petrovich, and

Nastaya. The antagonists of the story are Luzhin, Ilya Petrovich, and the

landlady. Raskolnikov could be considered to be the primary protagonist,

while Svidrigailov could be thought of as the primary antagonist.

In every story the protagonist is the character that the reader

cares most about. In Crime and Punishment the reader cares about Rodion

Raskolnikov. He is the primary and most significant character in the novel.

We are introduced to this complex character in Part 1. We get to know the

poverty stricken condition that he resides in, and we get to know his

family situation as we read the long letter from Raskolnikov's mother.

Then we witness the murder as it is graphically described by Doestoevsky.

After reading this graphic description of the murder, how can the reader be

sympathetic towards Raskolnikov? How can the reader believe that a

murderer is the protagonist? It is, in fact, not hard to accept this

murderer as the protagonist. Raskolnikov believed that by murdering the

pawnbroker, he rid society of a pest. We realize that if the victim would

have been someone other than an evil old pawnbroker the crime would never

had taken place. He could never have found the courage to kill an innocent

person. It would not prove anything to him. So, Raskolnikov was not a

criminal. He does not repent because he does not feel that he had sinned.

All he did was violate laws that were made by society. Raskolnikov

definition of crime was evil will in action. Raskolnikov knows that he

possesses no evil will, and so he does not consider himself a criminal. He

is capable of justifying his crime.