Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment-Part 1

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“Crime and Punishment" begins in the summer, in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. The protagonist, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former law student, is introduced.

In the first chapter, Raskolnikov is depicted as being extremely poor, living in a tiny, cramped garret and suffering from a nervous condition that makes him irritable and antisocial. He is deeply in debt and has been avoiding his landlady for months. Raskolnikov is wrestling with a plan he has concocted - a plan that we do not yet know the specifics of, but one that is clearly causing him a great deal of angst. He goes for a walk to clear his head, and as he walks, he obsessively goes over every detail of the plan.

On his walk, he passes a tavern, where he is noticed by a drunk named Marmeladov who draws him into conversation. Marmeladov spills out a long and painful story about his life and his family. He tells Raskolnikov about his daughter, Sonya, who has been forced into prostitution to support the family. Marmeladov, instead of working and taking care of his family, squanders whatever money they have on alcohol. His wife, Katerina Ivanovna, and the rest of the children are therefore left to suffer.

Raskolnikov is moved by Marmeladov's story, despite himself. He gives Marmeladov some money and helps him back to his squalid apartment. There, he meets Katerina Ivanovna and sees firsthand the abject poverty in which the family lives.

This experience deepens Raskolnikov's internal turmoil. He is tormented by a desire to help the less fortunate but is incapable due to his own situation. It also sets the stage for his interactions with Sonya later in the novel, who becomes a significant character.

By the end of the second chapter, we are given a sense of Raskolnikov's mental state and his internal conflicts but are still left in suspense about the exact nature of his plan.