loans at cruel interest. Raskolnikov takes an axe and kills her. But Lizaveta Ivanovna suddenly enters. She sees the blood. Out of fear, he kills her, too. The narrator says,

“He killed them with an axe he brought with him.” 

This is his sin. The murder is not only a physical crime. It is also a moral sin. His idea of “extraordinary man” collapses. He thought he would feel strong. But after sin, he feels weak. His room becomes like a prison. His face looks pale. His family, Pulcheria and Dounia, feel he is hiding something. Thus, sin begins his fall.

Suffering: After the crime, suffering grows inside him. His body burns with fever. He hears voices. He sees dreams of blood. In the streets of Petersburg, he walks without direction. He feels hunted. Porfiry Petrovich, the investigator, uses psychology. He tells Raskolnikov quietly, 

“No, it was you, you Rodion Romanovitch, and no one else.”

These words make him restless. He feels his soul exposed. Sonia, poor daughter of Marmeladov, also suffers. She sells her body to feed her stepmother, Katerina, and her small children. Yet she keeps her faith in God. She tells Raskolnikov to read the story of Lazarus. When Raskolnikov confesses to her, Sonia cries but forgives. She tells him,

“Say to all men aloud, ‘I am a murderer!”

Suffering is everywhere. Marmeladov dies under a cart, Pulcheria dies in sorrow, Svidrigailov harasses Dounia, and Razumihin weeps for his friend. This shows that sin spreads pain like fire.

Redemption: Redemption begins with Sonia’s cross. Raskolnikov tells her, 

“I have come for your cross, Sonia.”

This is a symbol. He is ready to carry the weight of his sin. He goes to the police. Before Porfiry, he finally says he killed Alyona and Lizaveta. He is sent to Siberia for eight years. In prison, he feels broken. But Sonia follows him. She brings food, love, and a Bible. She stands as light in the darkness. In the last part, Dostoevsky writes, 

“He looked at Sonia and felt how great was her love for him.”

This shows rebirth. His redemption is not escape from jail, but finding peace in love and faith. Dounia marries Razumihin. They plan to move near Siberia. Life brings new hope. Even in punishment, there is a new beginning.

“Crime and Punishment” is truly a story of sin, suffering, and redemption. Raskolnikov’s sin begins in Petersburg’s dark room. His suffering continues in fever, fear, and guilt. His redemption blooms through Sonia’s love and God’s mercy in Siberia. The novel shows that man can fall, but through repentance and love, man can rise again.