Crime and Punishment is a novel written by Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1866. It portrays the main character, Raskolnikov, as a young, arrogant, and indecisive young man who is living in poverty. He decides to kill an elderly pawnbroker and pretends to want to pawn his watch as a way to rehearse the crime.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. Numerous literary critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in all of world literature, as many of his works are considered highly influential masterpieces. Dostoevsky's literary works explore the human condition in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes.