"What breeds a murderer?" That's probably a question taken into account by one of the greatest writers in Western literature— Fyodor Dostoevsky. He tested such question in his psychological thriller Crime and Punishment, wherein Rodion Raskolnikov—an ex-law student living in abject poverty— committed a crime against a wealthy pawnbroker. This crime was, of course, murder that haunted the protagonist's conscience and challenged his sense of morality.
However, Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote the character of 'Rodion Raskolnikov' differently.
Raskolnikov is a lazy man who views himself way higher than anyone else. In fact, he could have resolved his poverty if he did only work at his best, but he brought himself into the gateway of his deepest intrusive thoughts— to kill and to steal. You may ask: why would an intelligent man that he is, commit a crime?
The answer was too complex— his reasoning. He was probably empowered to do this because of his ideal that he could become a savior of others from debt and injustice. Yet when he did the crime, he wasn't really prepared for the aftermath. He thought he was smart enough for such. At last, he was still a human capable of dreaming about the ghosts he killed and to be buried into the depths of conscience.