Book Anatomy · Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment: Setting and world
13 lenses on setting and world for Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 I8 I9 I10 I11 I12 I13
I1. Places named and how often each appears. Count
Petersburg is the place named most, 52 times.
| Place | Mentions | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| Petersburg | 52 | 25 |
| tavern | 38 | 10 |
| Hay Market | 20 | 10 |
| police station | 19 | 8 |
| Siberia | 15 | 7 |
| canal bank | 9 | 7 |
| S. Place | 1 | 1 |
| K. bridge | 1 | 1 |
I2. Setting by chapter, as a map. Both
The place named most in each chapter. A rough setting map. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Chapter | Place named most |
|---|---|
| 1 | tavern |
| 2 | tavern |
| 3 | Petersburg |
| 4 | Petersburg |
| 5 | tavern |
| 6 | Hay Market |
| 7 | canal bank |
| 8 | |
| 9 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Petersburg |
| 12 | Petersburg |
| 13 | police station |
| 14 | police station |
St Petersburg dominates: Raskolnikov's garret, the pawnbroker's flat, police station, Sonia's room, taverns. Chapters move between these fixed locations. The final chapters shift to Siberian prison. Geography is urban and claustrophobic until the end.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 18, Ch 24
I3. Setting shown in blocks or woven into action? AI
Setting is woven into action. Rooms are discovered as characters move through them. Streets are crossed during moments of crisis. The pawnbroker's flat is learned through Raskolnikov's scouting, not described in advance.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 13, Ch 24
I4. Weather and light used for mood. Both
Weather and light words: 0.78 per 1,000 words.
Weather and light words, chapter by chapter
Heat and fever dominate early chapters, reflecting Raskolnikov's mental state. The 'exceptionally hot evening' of chapter 1 sets psychological tone. Fog in chapter 32 mirrors his confusion. Water and drowning motifs suggest escape temptation.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 5, Ch 32, Ch 37, Ch 38
A strange period began for Raskolnikov: it was as though a fog had fallen upon him and wrapped him in a dreary solitude from which there was no escape. (Ch 32, para 1)
I5. The social world: class, money, rules. AI
Class and poverty are central. Raskolnikov's debt, Sonia's prostitution, Marmeladov's degradation, Luzhin's mercenary marriage all turn on money. The pawnbroker represents greed. Razumihin's rise contrasts with Raskolnikov's fall. Social rules bind characters to suffering.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 14, Ch 27
poverty is not a vice, that’s a true saying. Yet I know too that drunkenness is not a virtue (Ch 2, para 7)
she laid thirty roubles on the table before her in silence. She did not utter a word, she did not even look at her (Ch 2, para 21)
I6. Rules of the world (magic, science) and when each is shown. AI
The book follows rational psychology and legal rules. No magic appears. Svidrigaïlov's visions of his dead wife are presented as hallucinations, not supernatural. The rules are social and moral: confession, punishment, redemption through suffering.
Chapters: Ch 21, Ch 37, Ch 41
Marfa Petrovna is pleased to visit me,” he said, twisting his mouth into a strange smile. (Ch 21, para 53)
ghosts are, as it were, shreds and fragments of other worlds, the beginning of them. (Ch 21, para 79)
I7. Lore: dripped in or dumped? AI
Russian Orthodox faith is dripped in through Sonia's cross, the Lazarus reading, and references to suffering as redemption. Dostoevsky does not explain theology but shows its power through Sonia's unwavering belief and Raskolnikov's gradual acceptance.
Chapters: Ch 24, Ch 39, Ch 41
He will come in that day and He will ask: ‘Where is the daughter who gave herself for her cross (Ch 2, para 36)
I have come for your cross, Sonia. It was you told me to go to the cross-roads; why is it you are frightened now it’s come to that? (Ch 39, para 6)
Go to the cross-roads, bow down to the people, kiss the earth, for you have sinned against it too, and say aloud to the whole world, ‘I am a murderer. (Ch 39, para 26)
I8. Real history used, and how. AI
The book is set in 1860s St Petersburg during social ferment. Nihilism and radical theory are discussed but not named as historical movements. The pawnbroker murder echoes real crimes. No explicit historical events frame the narrative.
Chapters: Ch 19, Ch 30, Ch 33
And, if so, could you bring yourself in case of worldly difficulties and hardship or for some service to humanity--to overstep obstacles?... For instance, to rob and murder? (Ch 19, para 145)
I9. Journeys: distance and time taken. Both
Journeys are short and urban. Raskolnikov walks from his garret to the pawnbroker's flat, to the police station, to Sonia's room. The final journey is to Siberia, described in summary. Time is compressed: the crime and investigation span weeks; the ending jumps nine months.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 13, Ch 38, Ch 40
I10. Objects that matter, where they appear. Both
blood is the object named most.
| Object | Mentions | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| blood | 65 | 22 |
| letter | 63 | 17 |
| axe | 58 | 13 |
| watch | 34 | 20 |
| stone | 32 | 14 |
| cross | 29 | 13 |
| revolver | 17 | 2 |
| hundred-rouble note | 8 | 1 |
The axe is the murder weapon, hidden and recovered. The cross Sonia gives Raskolnikov becomes redemption's symbol. The stolen goods buried under a stone represent guilt. Money appears throughout as moral test. Blood stains clothes and conscience.
Chapters: Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 24, Ch 39, Ch 41
The needle and thread he had got ready long before and they lay on his table in a piece of paper (Ch 6, para 40)
He pulled the axe quite out, swung it with both arms, scarcely conscious of himself, and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the blunt side down on her head (Ch 7, para 21)
They’re in! All out of sight, and the purse too!” he thought gleefully, getting up and gazing blankly at the hole which bulged out more than ever. (Ch 8, para 9)
I11. Density of period detail. AI
Period detail is moderate. Clothing, lodgings, and social customs are noted but not exhaustively. The focus is psychological rather than historical. Dostoevsky includes enough detail to ground the story in 1860s Russia without overwhelming the reader.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 24, Ch 28
I12. Setting as an enemy. AI
St Petersburg itself is not an enemy but a maze that isolates Raskolnikov. Poverty, heat, and crowded streets press on him. The city offers no refuge, only places to hide. Siberia's prison becomes a place of redemption, not punishment.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 5, Ch 9, Ch 13, Ch 32, Ch 41
A strange period began for Raskolnikov: it was as though a fog had fallen upon him and wrapped him in a dreary solitude from which there was no escape. (Ch 32, para 1)
I13. Indoors against outdoors. Both
Indoor words outnumber outdoor words 1015 to 200. (rough estimate from word lists)
Indoor share %, chapter by chapter
Indoors dominates: cramped rooms, police stations, Sonia's squalid space. Outdoors appears as streets Raskolnikov walks to escape or confess. The contrast between suffocating interiors and open streets mirrors his internal struggle.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 13, Ch 24
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