Crime and Punishment

Throughout Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, religious morality governs the actions of many characters such as Sonia, Dounia and Raskolnikov's mother. Raskolnikov confronts the idea of being an "extraordinary man" and being able to overcome God's will to commit a sin that he justifies by persisting that it's for the better of society. On the contrary, Dounia and his mother live self-less lives in their pursuit of morality through religion. Even Sonia, the prostitue, is able to overcome the sin her immoral career and read to Raskolnikov from the bible. The Christian religion manages to keep some citizens moral, while posing a challenge for other citizens to overcome its lingering grasp of morality.

Dounia and her mother rely on God to confirm their beliefs, "People will write anything. We were talked about and written about, too. Have you forgotten? I am sure that she is a good girl, an dthat it is all nonsense. God grant it may be!" (pg 210)

Sonia defines Raskolnikov's belief in God and at the end, it is his brief sighting of her that motivates him to confess, "She looked wildly at him. He stood still before her. There was a look of poignant agony, of despair, in her face. She clasped her hands. His lips worked in an ugly, meaningless smile. He stood still a minute, grinned and went back to the police office." (457)