Raskolnikov’s final dream in Crime and Punishment is a prophecy of 2021
In the epilogue of Norton Critical Edition’s 2018 translation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, has a feverish dream in which its events foreshadow the tumult of 2021. The novel is based around Raskolnikov’s journey as an impoverished ex-student and rising sociopath who plans on killing a pawnbroker for her money. As Raskolnikov’s pride and clashing morals alienate him from society, the reader is taken through his confusing yet murderous schemes and mental decline, until he falls ill. Here, the prophecy of 2021 begins.