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GENERAL ENGLISH · ENGLISH IN VIDEO · ADVANCED (C1-C2)

WHY READ
CRIME AND
PUNISHMENT?
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1 Warm up

Think about your own country or the country you live in now. What would be the punishment for the
following crimes?

• stealing a car
• breaking into someone’s house and stealing something
• robbing a bank
• selling drugs
• domestic abuse
• kidnapping someone
• murder

Now in pairs, discuss the following:

1. What do you think is the reason people in your country commit crimes? Is it because they have
no other options or just because they are bad people?
2. Do you think criminals can change?
3. Should police in your country be stricter or less strict?

Have you ever read any of Dostoyevsky’s books? If so, which ones? What did you think of them? If
not, would you like to read any? Why/Why not?

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WHY READ CRIME AND PUNISHMENT?

2 Understanding the introduction

Number the sentences from the script in order from 1 - 8 to form logical paragraphs. The first one is
done for you.

But the impact of carrying out this unthinkable act proves to be more than he was prepared for.

First serialized in a literary magazine in 1866, the novel tells the story of Rodion Romanovich
Raskolnikov, a young law student in Saint Petersburg.

Increasingly desperate after selling the last of his valuables to an elderly pawnbroker, he resolves on a
plan to murder and rob her.

Letters from his rural home only add to his distress when he realizes how much his mother and sister
have sacrificed for his success.

Over 150 years ago Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky took these questions up in what would become
one of the best-known works of Russian literature: Crime and Punishment.

Raskolnikov lives in abject poverty and, at the start of the story, has run out of funds to continue his
studies.

What drives someone to kill in cold blood? 1

What goes through the murderer’s mind? And what kind of a society breeds such people?

Watch the video (00:00 – 01:08) to check your answers.

Now find words in the script which mean the following.

1. gives birth to

2. to publish or broadcast a story in several parts

3. hopeless and terrible

4. enormous worry or pain

5. to give up something important to you for something that you think is even
more important

6. a person who lends money to people in return for valuable items

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WHY READ CRIME AND PUNISHMENT?

3 Focus on vocabulary
Part A: Write the extracts in the correct blank in the following definitions.

able to achieve a morally wrong are morally wrong beliefs and rules
dark, criminal side emotionally strong need the normal limits wouldn’t normally do

1. scope (n) - the possibilities of being something

2. underbelly (n) - the , usually of a city, that is hidden from most people
3. depravity (n) - acts that
4. yearning (n) - an or desire
5. seduce (v) - to make someone do something which they by making it appear like
a good idea or attractive
6. corrupt (v) - to make someone behave in or dishonest way
7. doctrine (n) - religious or philosophical followed by a particular group of people
8. transcend (v) - to move beyond of something

Part B: Write the words from Part A in the correct blank in the following sentences. You may need to
change the form of the word.

1. Even though she had a house and a good job, she’d always had a deep to leave
it all behind and go traveling in Asia and Australia.
2. When he arrived in New York City, he was quickly by the fast-moving lifestyle
and the excitement of being in such an iconic city.
3. With the creation of his new invention complete, he realized that the for making
a real difference to the world, not to mention making money, was enormous.
4. As a new prison guard, Austin was shocked by the that he saw around him on
daily basis.
5. She didn’t expect to like it, but the quality of the film completely her expectations.
6. Evan took a job in a local bar while he was a student, which unexpectedly exposed him to the
scary of Edinburgh.
7. He left the church after having realized that his beliefs were no longer in line with their
.
8. At the trial, it became clear that the three policemen had become by the offer of
large amounts of money.

Now in pairs, answer the following questions.

1. When you think of the future, what is your greatest yearning?

2. What would your life look like if you were able to transcend your current goals?
3. Is it easy to corrupt the authorities in your country? Or not? Why?
4. Have you ever been aware of the underbelly of a city? What happened to make you aware?

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4 Comprehension
Watch the rest of the video (01:08 - 04:22) and choose the best ending for the following statements.
1. When Raskolnikov’s family arrives in St. Petersburg, they highlight the ...

a. immoral nature of the people of the city.

b. the violent ways of people from the countryside.
c. Raskolnikov’s lack of education.
d. the improved conditions in the city compared to the countryside.

2. After becoming a writer, Dostoyevsky and his friends were arrested ...

a. for spreading socialist ideas and insulting the government.

b. for discussing books that had been forbidden by the authorities.
c. as they were a group of radicals who were planning to overthrow the government.
d. for writing anti-government texts.

3. Due to his experiences in the labor camp, Dostoyevsky ...

a. became increasingly anti-government in his views.

b. gained a lot of sympathy for prisoners and the working men.
c. suffered greatly from depression and became increasingly ill.
d. became less political and more religious.

4. Crime and Punishment expanded on the themes which ...

a. Dostoyevsky discovered in many of the religious texts he was reading.

b. were common in many books written at the time.
c. he first dealt with in his short novel, Notes from the Underground.
d. had concerned him during his time in the labor camp.

5. The story in Crime and Punishment, of a young man being changed by the city, ...

a. is essentially a story that has often been told.

b. was borrowed from a famous French novel of the time.
c. was offensive to the citizens of St. Petersburg.
d. was a new way for life in the city to be depicted at the time.

6. The main character in the story reasons that killing the pawnbroker ...

a. was not a serious crime given the circumstances.

b. would not be investigated by law enforcement due to their corruption.
c. would be beneficial to the pawnbroker’s victims.
d. would benefit him and therefore society.

7. Although we know about the murder early on in the story ...

a. the political aspects of the story keep the reader focused.

b. it is still thrilling to read as the psychological and social consequences unfold.
c. we don’t find out who is responsible until the end of the novel.
d. there are several more mysteries to keep us entertained.

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5 Collocations

Match the words to form collocations.

1. inner a. account

2. stark b. contrast

3. bleak c. philosophies

4. pessimistic d. portrait

5. utopian e. taboos

6. moral f. turmoil

7. gripping g. view

Now write the collocations next to their definitions.

1. a well-told story that keeps your attention

2. a tendency to look at something in a negative way

3. ideas to create a perfect way of life for people

4. a great deal of emotional uncertainty and unhappiness

5. a description that gives a very negative and depressing idea about something

6. something that is very offensive to the vast majority of people

7. something that is the opposite of or very different from something else

6 Optional task: Adjectives

Look at the following adjectives. Write them under the noun they can be used to describe.

dilapidated claustrophobic searing unhinged

lecherous dank exploitative

a person a building an object

Can any of them be used to describe more than one?

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WHY READ CRIME AND PUNISHMENT?

7 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Now that you have watched the video, would you be interested in reading Crime and Punishment?
Why/Why not? Has your view changed from the beginning of the lesson?
2. What do you think can cause someone to kill in cold blood?
3. Do you think society is partly responsible if people see murder as an option? Or not? Why?
4. What do you think are the main problems in society in your own country? And what would you
do to improve the situation if you could?

8 Extended activity/homework

Read the following question.

When someone is murdered, it is not just the murderer who is responsible for
the action, but also the society which created a situation where someone felt
that murder was their only option.

To what extent do you agree with this statement?

You should:

• write a minimum of 250 words.

• check spelling, grammar, and vocabulary.

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