Throughout Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky repeatedly uses the color yellow as description of everything from light to an armchair to a character's skin. The first instance in which this becomes prominent is when Raskolnikov first visits the old pawnbroker. Her fur cloak is "yellow with age," yellow wallpaper covers the walls of her dingy apartment, filled with furninture, "all very old and of yellow wood," and "half-penny prints in yellow frames" (Dostoyevsky 4-5). Archetypally, yellow can symbolize joy and levity, but in a very cotrasting vein, it also frequently symbolizes death and decay. This greusome association is a result of grisly images such as the yellowing of things with age, the yellow color sickly skin often takes on, and the color of infection and disease. It is fitting that Dostoyevsky uses yellow as a symbol for death and decay in this scene, as is foreshadows the murders that will occur in this little apartment. Furthermore, the color yellow also speaks to the decay in Raskolnikov's moral chacter and sanity that led to these murders. However, Dostoyevsky doesn't leave the significance of the color yellow with this one scene. His frequent usage of it throughout the novel implies that the whole of society is decaying, morally, physically, and mentally. His characters lie, murder, and steal, many of them die or take ill, and a few of them even flirt with the edge of sanity.
Based solely off this symbolism, Dostoyevsky's philosophy of life is pessimistic and rather revolting. However, at the very end of the novel, he introduces a new color: green. He first describes the Siberian inmates' dreams of "the primeval forest" and the "cold spring" with "green grass round it," the place they would go as soon as they acheived their freedom (Dostoyevsky 487). Green is used here to symbolize this idea of liberation as well as a fresh start, both of which coincide with the common association of green with life and growth. Dostoyevsky continues to redeem this yellow world at Sonia and Raskolnikov's last encounter in the novel. Sonia wears a green shawl to visit Raskolnikov in the prison, and he finally accepts her hand without a show of distaste for her affection (Dostoyevsky 490). Raskolnikov, at this moment, regains his sanity and his desire for human affection rather than isolation. This furthers the symbolism of green to signify a new beginning and the opportunity for man, and society, to grow strong in unity with one another, just as Raskolnikov and Sonia grew strong once they accepted each other's love. Thus, Dostoyevsky conveys his opinion that, yes, the world is in a state of death and decay, but this decay can be abated by contact with one another. If mankind isolates themselves like Raskolnikov, the world will continue in this state of entropy. But by simply grasping someone's hand, new life will overtake this societal death.
