Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky

Detailed Description of the Book

Crime and Punishment is a profound psychological and moral novel that explores crime, guilt, conscience, justice, punishment, redemption, and the limits of rationality. Set in 19th-century Russia, it follows Raskolnikov, a poor student who commits murder under the belief that extraordinary individuals are justified in breaking moral and legal rules for a higher purpose.

The novel is not a crime thriller; it is an ethical inquiry into whether ends can justify means, whether law can be separated from morality, and whether human conscience can ever be silenced by logic. Dostoevsky shows that punishment is not merely legal; it is internal, psychological, and moral, arising from guilt, isolation, and loss of human connection.

For OPSC, this book is extremely valuable for:

• GS-4 Ethics (means vs ends, guilt, conscience, moral responsibility)

• GS-2 Polity (rule of law, justice, limits of power)

• Essay (morality, justice, human nature, crime, redemption)

It helps elevate answers from legalistic explanations to ethical depth.

The following extracts may be used in OPSC answer writing:

“Man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice.”→ GS-4 Ethics / Essay: Moral courage vs ethical failure, responsibility in decision-making

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars.”→ Essay / GS-4: Hope, redemption, moral recovery after wrongdoing

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.”→ GS-4 / Essay: Ethical sensitivity, leadership burden, moral awareness

“Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it.”→ GS-4 Ethics / Essay: Moral cost of power, ethical compromise in authority

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”→ GS-4 Ethics / Essay: Loss of empathy, moral alienation, social isolation

“To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.”→ GS-4 / Essay: Moral autonomy, conscience-based ethics
“Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel!”→ GS-4 Ethics: Normalisation of wrongdoing, ethical erosion in institutions

“Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”→ GS-2 Polity / Essay: Rule of law as foundation of liberty

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.”→ GS-4 Ethics: Wisdom, emotional intelligence, ethical judgment beyond logic

“Conscience without God is a horror.”→ Essay / GS-4: Moral vacuum, relativism, ethical absolutism
“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin.”→ GS-4 Ethics: Guilt, moral accountability, internal punishment

“If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will be his punishment.”→ GS-4 / Essay: Ethical punishment vs legal punishment, reformative justice