Setting and Psychology

This analytical worksheet is designed for Grades 10-12 and helps students examine how St. Petersburg functions as a psychological landscape in Crime and Punishment. Rather than treating setting as mere background, students analyze four key scenes to determine how physical surroundings-crowded streets, oppressive heat, cramped rooms, and bleak interiors-mirror characters’ emotional states such as guilt, anxiety, alienation, and moral turmoil. A structured chart guides students to connect setting details to mood, tone, and character psychology.

A culminating reflection asks students to argue whether Dostoevsky uses the city as punishment, guidance, or reflection, requiring evidence-based reasoning and synthesis of ideas across the novel.

Learning Goals

• Literary Elements: Setting & Mood (Upper Secondary ELA) – Analyze how setting contributes to atmosphere and meaning
• Symbolism & Tone – Interpret St. Petersburg as a symbolic extension of inner conflict
• Character Psychology – Connect environmental details to emotional and moral states
• Evidence-Based Argument – Defend an interpretation using textual examples

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Aligned with high school literature and analysis standards
• Moves Beyond Plot – Encourages students to interpret setting as an active force
• Scaffolded Analysis – Chart format supports organized, text-driven thinking
• Deepens Thematic Insight – Reinforces ideas of punishment, guilt, and moral pressure
• Discussion & Essay Ready – Reflection prompt supports debate and analytical writing
• Low Prep – Print-and-use worksheet with clear prompts and focused sections

This setting and psychology worksheet helps students understand Crime and Punishment as a novel where place and mind are inseparable. By analyzing how St. Petersburg reflects and intensifies characters’ inner lives, learners strengthen close-reading skills, interpretive depth, and their ability to build evidence-based arguments about symbolism, mood, and narrative purpose.

This worksheet is part of our Crime and Punishment Worksheets collection.