Rodion Raskolnikov
Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is the fictional protagonist of the 1866 novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The name Raskolnikov derives from the Russian raskolnik meaning "schismatic". The name Rodion comes from Greek and indicates an inhabitant of Rhodes.
Raskolnikov is a young ex-law student living in extreme poverty in Saint Petersburg. He lives in a tiny garret which he rents, although due to a lack of funds has been avoiding payment for quite some time. He sleeps on a couch using old clothes as a pillow, and due to lack of money eats very rarely. He is handsome and intelligent, though generally disliked by fellow students. He is devoted to his sister and his mother.
Plot
An impoverished student with a conflicted idea of himself, Raskolnikov decides to kill a corrupt pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, with whom he has been dealing, with the idea of using the money to start his life all over, and to help those who are in need of it. It is later revealed that he also commits the murder as justification for his pride, as he wants to prove that he is "exceptional" and can transgress the moral law against the act of murder in the way Napoleon did. He commits the murder, however also kills Lizaveta Ivanovna upon her witnessing the murder, which directly betrays Raskolnikov's moral justification of killing for the greater good. Raskolnikov then finds a small purse on Alyona Ivanovna's body, which he hides under a rock without checking its contents.He has also been troubled by a letter his mother from the province sent to him about his sister Dunya accepting Pyotr Petrovitch Luzhin 's marriage proposal. His mother claims he can get Raskolnikov a position at a firm, as well as lift his family out of the poverty they're experiencing, however Raskolnikov sees this as Dounia selling herself, and compares this to Sonia, who was forced into prostitution to lift her family out of poverty. This later strains the relationship between Raskolnikov and his sister's fiance, which Raskolnikov insultingly mentions the fact that Luzhin said that he chose Dunya because she was in poverty and would look at him as her beneficiary, the main reason why Raskolnikov isn't approving of their marriage.
After he confesses his crime to the destitute, pious prostitute Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova, she guides him towards turning himself in to the police. Raskolnikov is sentenced to exile in Siberia, accompanied by Sofya Semyonovna, where he experiences a psychological and spiritual rebirth.