Crime and Punishment Reading Exam

On Tuesday, May 4, we complete our reading of Crime and Punishment with an in-class essay exam.

• Time: 1 hour
• Length: At least two single-spaced binder pages
• Quote requirements: Cites passages from Crime and Punishment and at least two of the external texts listed below
• Open book and open notes

Topic

Is Dostoyevsky a nihilist?

or, more generally

What is Dostoyevsky’s world view, as expressed in his novel Crime and Punishment?

Resources

You must quote from or make specific reference to at least two of the following external sources:

• Exhibit A: A hand-out that summarizes the definition of nihilism and its various branches
• Exhibit B: An explanation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s world view, from Richard Tarnas’s The Passion of the Western Mind
• Exhibit C: A biography of Dostoyevsky, from Literature of the Western World: Neoclassicism Through the Modern Period
• Exhibit D: Background information on the public reaction to Crime and Punishment from the introduction to your edition, pages x–xiv.

Strategy

Your purpose in this essay is threefold:

1. Practice timed essay writing
2. Practice multi-textual analysis
3. Demonstrate that you’ve read the entire novel and understood its themes
4. Demonstrate that you have read and understood Exhibits A–D: definition of nihilism, some background on Dostoyevsky’s life and historical context

Hints

Any discussion of the moral message behind Crime and Punishment must address the ending of the novel. Don’t ignore it.

Don’t pay attention only to Raskolnikov. Other characters are equally important in expressing the author’s world view: for example, Sonya, Razumikhin, and Svidrigailov.

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Posted by Justin Wells : 05/03/2009