Author of crime and punishment. Analysis "Crime and Punishment" Dostoevsky

Year of publication of the book: 1866

Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" is referred to as the first work of Dostoevsky's so-called "Great Pentateuch". These are the most mature novels of the author, which were written after hard labor, and are considered the most significant among his works. Considering that Dostoevsky himself was in a very difficult financial situation at the time of writing, both the main characters themselves and the atmosphere of poverty were close to him. Perhaps this is what allowed the author to write such high-quality psychological portraits of the main characters, as well as to correctly convey the atmosphere of the poor quarters of St. Petersburg. All this allowed the images of the novel "Crime and Punishment" to be relevant at the present time, and the novel itself to get into our rating.

Summary of the novel "Crime and Punishment"

At this time, Svidrigailov arrives after Dunya, who immediately finds a kindred spirit in Raskolnikov. The protagonist of the novel "Crime and Punishment" is surprised at Svidrigailov's ability to have fun after everything he has done. But not everything is so simple, and in the novel "Crime and Punishment" Svidrigailov, unable to withstand the mental anguish and Sonya's refusal, shot himself. This was the last straw for Rodion Romanovich, and at the insistence of Sonya, he decides to confess to the crime.

Raskolnikov ends up in Siberia, but Sonya is traveling with him. She, despite his coldness, constantly visits him, which deserves recognition from the convicts. At the same time, schismatics, getting into the hospital, sees a dream that reveals to him that "pride of the mind leads to death, and humility of the heart leads to love." This allows him to discover the gospel.

The novel "Crime and Punishment" on the Top Books website

The images of the novel "Crime and Punishment" are so vivid that this allowed the book, even centuries after it was written, to take its rightful place among. At the same time, due to the fact that Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" takes place in the school curriculum, the work managed to take a high place among. And despite some decline in interest in the work of late, the book will certainly be presented in various ratings of our site for a long time to come.

You can read Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" online on the Top Books website.

F. M. Dostoevsky nurtured the idea of ​​the novel “Crime and Punishment” for six years: in October 1859 he wrote to his brother: “In December I will start the novel. do you remember, I told you about one confession - a novel that I wanted to write after all, saying that I still need to

Been through. The other day I made up my mind to write it at once. All my heart with blood will rely on this novel. I conceived it in hard labor, lying on the bunk, in a difficult moment. ”- judging by the letters and notebooks of the writer, we are talking about the ideas of “Crime and Punishment” - the novel originally existed in the form of Raskolnikov's confession. In Dostoevsky's draft notebooks, there is such an entry: “Aleko killed. The consciousness that he himself is unworthy of his ideal, which torments his soul. Here is a crime and a punishment” (we are talking about Pushkin’s “Gypsies”).

The final plan is formed as a result of great upheavals that

Dostoevsky survived, and this plan combined two originally different creative ideas.

After the death of his brother, Dostoevsky finds himself in dire financial need. The threat of a debtor's prison looms over him. Throughout the year, Fyodor Mikhailovich was forced to turn to St. Petersburg usurers, interest-bearers and other creditors.

In July 1865, he offered the editor of Otechestvennye Zapiski, A. A. Kraevsky, a new work: “My novel is called The Drunkards and will be in connection with the current question of drunkenness. Not only the question is analyzed, but all its ramifications are also presented, mainly pictures of families, the upbringing of children in this environment, and so on. etc." Due to financial difficulties, Kraevsky did not accept the proposed novel, and Dostoevsky went abroad to focus on creative work away from creditors, but even there history repeats itself: in Wiesbaden, Dostoevsky loses everything at roulette, right down to his pocket watch.

In September 1865, addressing the publisher M. N. Katkov to the Russky Vestnik magazine, Dostoevsky outlined the idea of ​​the novel as follows: “This is a psychological account of one crime. The action is modern, this year. A young man, expelled from the university students, a petty-bourgeois by birth and living in extreme poverty, out of frivolity, out of unsteadiness in concepts, succumbing to some strange, “unfinished” ideas that are in the air, decided to get out of his bad situation at once. He decided to kill an old woman, a titular adviser who gives money for interest. in order to make her mother, who lives in the district, happy, to save her sister, who lives as a companion with some landowners, from the voluptuous claims of the head of this landowner family - claims that threaten her with death, to complete her course, go abroad and then all her life to be honest, firm , unswerving in the fulfillment of the “humane duty to mankind”, which, of course, will already “make atonement for the crime”, if only this act against an old woman, deaf, stupid, evil and sick, who herself does not know why she lives in the world and who in a month, perhaps she would have died of herself.

He spends almost a month before the final catastrophe. There are no suspicions on him and cannot be. This is where the whole psychological process of crime unfolds. Unresolvable questions arise before the killer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. God's truth, earthly law takes its toll, and he ends up being compelled to denounce himself. Forced to die at hard labor, but to join the people again, the feeling of openness and separation from humanity, which he felt immediately after committing the crime, tormented him. The law of truth and human nature took their toll. The criminal himself decides to accept the torment in order to atone for his deed. “

Katkov immediately sends the advance payment to the author. F. M. Dostoevsky works on the novel all autumn, but at the end of November he burns all the drafts: “. much was written and ready; I burned everything. a new form, a new plan carried me away, and I started anew.”

In February 1866, Dostoevsky informed his friend A.E. Wrangel: “Two weeks ago the first part of my novel was published in the January book of Russkiy Vestnik. It's called Crime and Punishment. I've already heard a lot of rave reviews. There are bold and new things there.”

In the autumn of 1866, when “Crime and Punishment” was almost ready, Dostoevsky began again: under a contract with the publisher Stelovsky, he had to submit a new novel by November 1 (we are talking about “The Gambler”), and in case of failure to fulfill the contract, the publisher will receive the right for 9 years, "for free and as it pleases" to print everything that will be written by Dostoevsky.

By the beginning of October, Dostoevsky had not yet begun to write The Gambler, and his friends advised him to turn to the help of shorthand, which at that time was just beginning to enter life. The young stenographer Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, invited by Dostoevsky, was the best student of the St. Petersburg shorthand courses, she was distinguished by an extraordinary mind, a strong character and a deep interest in literature. The Gambler was completed on time and handed over to the publisher, and Snitkina soon becomes the writer's wife and assistant. In November and December 1866, Dostoevsky dictated to Anna Grigorievna the last, sixth part and epilogue of Crime and Punishment, which are published in the December issue of the Russky Vestnik magazine, and in March 1867 the novel is published as a separate edition.

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The novel "Crime and Punishment" was written by F. M. Dostoevsky in 1866 and is one of the pinnacles of his work. This work stood out sharply against the background of the literature of that time.

Crime and Punishment is a novel at first glance about a murder. But this is not an ordinary detective novel, as it might seem at first. The author based the work on a real fact, however, thanks to an accurate psychological analysis of the state of the offender before, at the time and after the murder, the reader is given the opportunity to penetrate into the depths of the human consciousness and subconscious. It was important for Dostoevsky to show the thoughts, feelings and sensations of his protagonist in every detail. Therefore, the novel goes beyond the ordinary story about the murder. That is why we say that F. M. Dostoevsky raised literature to a different, qualitatively new level. Gorky wrote: “Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are the two greatest geniuses; with the power of their talents they shocked the whole world, they drew the astonished attention of all Europe to Russia, and both stood as equals in the great ranks of people whose names are Shakespeare, Dante, Cervantes, Rousseau and Goethe.

Raskolnikov, the protagonist of the novel Crime and Punishment, is a poor student who stopped his studies for a while due to lack of funds. He lives in a small closet, in a poor quarter of St. Petersburg, where he observes poverty, humiliation and violation of moral precepts around him. He is oppressed by the plight of his own mother and sister, who, in order to help her brother, agrees to marry not for love, but for the rich immoral Luzhin. Raskolnikov loves his family and wants to help them with all his heart. Gradually, he comes to the idea of ​​​​murdering the old money-lender, believing that the money acquired so dishonestly, which she, in his opinion, does not need, can save the lives of several honest people: Raskolnikov will be able to continue his studies, help his mother, Dunya does not need will marry Luzhin. Thus, Raskolnikov asks the question: can a humane person, suffering for all oppressed humanity, allow himself to kill at least one “worthless” creature in order to get rid of the torment, from the poverty of many noble, honest people? So, at first glance, it seems that the main reason for the murder for Raskolnikov was money.

But it's not. Later we learn about his terrible theory, which he formulated long before the murder and even published an article on this subject in a magazine. Raskolnikov believes that there have always been two groups of people in society: the first is the majority, “trembling creatures”, meekly and silently obeying the laws of the state and the fate of destiny, and the second is units, “Napoleons”, who have the right to rule over people (to transgress moral norms. Laws have no power over them. Raskolnikov believes that Newton or Kepler could and even seems to be obliged to eliminate a person who interferes with him for the sake of happiness and the good of all mankind. However, during a discussion with Porfiry Petrovich, who has long been interested in theory Raskolnikov, the investigator comes to the conclusion that of all the great people under it, under this theory, only Mohammed and Napoleon fall in. It was they who went to glory, despite hundreds, thousands

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The central place in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky is occupied by the image of Sonya Marmeladova, a heroine whose fate arouses our sympathy and respect. The more we learn about her, the more we are convinced of her purity and nobility, the more we begin to think ...

Composition

"Crime and Punishment" is an ideological novel in which non-human theory collides with human feelings. Dostoevsky, a great connoisseur of the psychology of people, a sensitive and attentive artist, tried to understand modern reality, to determine the degree of influence on a person of the then popular ideas of the revolutionary reorganization of life and individualistic theories. Entering into polemics with democrats and socialists, the writer sought to show in his novel how the delusion of fragile minds leads to murder, shedding of blood, maiming and breaking young lives.

The main idea of ​​the novel is revealed in the image of Rodion Raskolnikov, a poor student, an intelligent and gifted person who is unable to continue his education at the university, dragging out a beggarly, unworthy existence. Drawing the miserable and wretched world of the St. Petersburg slums, the writer traces step by step how a terrible theory is born in the mind of the hero, how it takes possession of all his thoughts, pushing him to murder.

This means that Raskolnikov's ideas are generated by abnormal, humiliating conditions of life. In addition, the post-reform breakup destroyed the age-old foundations of society, depriving human individuality of connection with the old cultural traditions of society, historical memory. Thus, the personality of a person was freed from any moral principles and prohibitions, especially since Raskolnikov sees a violation of universal moral norms at every step. It is impossible to feed a family with honest labor, so the petty official Marmeladov finally becomes an inveterate drunkard, and his daughter Sonechka goes to the panel, because otherwise her family will die of hunger. If unbearable living conditions push a person to violate moral principles, then these principles are nonsense, that is, they can be ignored. Raskolnikov comes to this conclusion when a theory is born in his inflamed brain, according to which he divides all of humanity into two unequal parts. On the one hand, these are strong personalities, "super-humans" such as Mohammed and Napoleon, and on the other hand, a gray, faceless and submissive crowd, which the hero awards with a contemptuous name - "trembling creature" and "anthill".

Possessing a sophisticated analytical mind and painful pride. Raskolnikov quite naturally thinks about which half he himself belongs to. Of course, he likes to think that he is a strong personality who, according to his theory, has the moral right to commit a crime in order to achieve a humane goal. What is this goal? The physical destruction of the exploiters, to which Rodion ranks the malicious old woman-interest-bearer, who profited from human suffering. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with killing a worthless old woman and using her wealth to help poor, needy people. These thoughts of Raskolnikov coincide with the ideas of revolutionary democracy popular in the 60s, but in the theory of the hero they are bizarrely intertwined with the philosophy of individualism, which allows for "blood according to conscience", a violation of the moral norms accepted by most people. According to the hero, historical progress is impossible without sacrifice, suffering, blood, and is carried out by the powerful of this world, great historical figures. This means that Raskolnikov dreams of both the role of ruler and the mission of a savior. But Christian, self-sacrificing love for people is incompatible with violence and contempt for them.

The correctness of any theory must be confirmed by practice. And Rodion Raskolnikov conceives and carries out the murder, removing the moral prohibition from himself. What does the test show? What conclusions does it lead the hero and the reader to? Already at the moment of the murder, the verified plan is significantly violated with mathematical accuracy. Raskolnikov kills not only the pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna, as planned, but also her sister Lizaveta. Why? After all, the old woman's sister was a meek, harmless woman, a downtrodden and humiliated creature who herself needs help and protection. The answer is simple: Rodion kills Lizaveta no longer for ideological reasons, but as an unwanted witness to his crime. In addition, there is a very important detail in the description of this episode: when Alena Ivanovna's visitors, who suspected something was wrong, try to open the locked door. Raskolnikov stands with a raised ax, apparently in order to crush all those who break into the room. In general, after his crime, Raskolnikov begins to see in murder the only way to fight or protect. His life after the murder turns into a real hell.

Dostoevsky explores in detail the thoughts, feelings, experiences of the hero. Raskolnikov is gripped by a sense of fear, the danger of exposure. He loses control of himself, collapsing at the police station, contracting a nervous fever. A painful suspicion develops in Rodion, which gradually turns into a feeling of loneliness, rejection from everyone. The writer finds a surprisingly accurate expression characterizing Raskolnikov's inner state: he "as if cut himself off with scissors from everyone and everything." It would seem that there is no evidence against him, the criminal showed up. You can use the money stolen from the old woman to help people. But they still remain in a secluded place. Something prevents Raskolnikov from taking advantage of them, to live in peace. This, of course, is not remorse for what he did, not pity for Lizaveta, who was killed by him. No. He tried to step over his nature, but could not, because bloodshed and murder are alien to a normal person. The crime fenced him off from people, and a person, even such a secretive and proud as Raskolnikov, cannot live without communication. But, despite the suffering and torment, he is by no means disappointed in his cruel, inhuman theory. On the contrary, it continues to dominate his mind. He is disappointed only in himself, believing that he did not pass the test for the role of the ruler, which means, alas, he belongs to the "trembling creature."

When Raskolnikov's torment reaches its climax, he opens up to Sonya Marmeladova, confessing to her his crime. Why her, an unfamiliar, nondescript, not brilliant girl, who also belongs to the most miserable and despised category of people? Probably because Rodion saw her as an ally in crime. After all, she also kills herself as a person, but she does it for the sake of her unfortunate, starving family, denying herself even suicide. This means that Sonya is stronger than Raskolnikov, stronger than her Christian love for people, her readiness for self-sacrifice. In addition, she manages her own life, not someone else's. It is Sonya who finally refutes Raskolnikov's theorized view of the world around him. After all, Sonya is by no means a humble victim of circumstances and not a "trembling creature." In terrible, seemingly hopeless circumstances, she managed to remain a pure and highly moral person, striving to do good to people. Thus, according to Dostoevsky, only Christian love and self-sacrifice are the only way to transform society.

4 Raskolnikov's rebellion

In 1866, F. M. Dostoevsky wrote the novel Crime and Punishment. This is a complex work, striking with the philosophical depth of the questions posed in it and the psychological character of the characterization of the main characters. The novel captures the sharpness of social problems and the strangeness of the story. In it, in the foreground are not a criminal offense, but the punishment (moral and physical) that the offender bears. It is no coincidence that out of six parts, only the first part of the novel is devoted to the description of the crime, while all the rest and the epilogue are devoted to the punishment for it. In the center of the story is the image of Rodion Raskolnikov, who committed the murder "in good conscience." Raskolnikov himself is not a criminal. He is endowed with many positive qualities: intelligence, kindness, responsiveness. Raskolnikov helps the father of a deceased comrade, gives the last money for the funeral of Marmeladov. There are many good beginnings in him, but need, difficult life circumstances bring him to exhaustion. Rodion stopped attending the university because he had nothing to pay for tuition; he has to avoid the hostess, because the debt for the room has accumulated; he is sick, starving ... And around him Raskolnikov sees poverty and lack of rights. The action of the novel takes place in the area of ​​Sennaya Square, where poor officials, artisans, and students lived. And very close was Nevsky Prospekt with expensive shops, chic palaces, gourmet restaurants. Raskolnikov sees that society is unfair: some bathe in luxury, while others die of hunger. He wants to change the world. But this can only be done by an extraordinary person who is able to “break what is necessary, once for all” and take power “over all the trembling creature and over the entire anthill.” "Freedom and power, and most importantly - power! ... That's the goal!" Raskolnikov says to Sonya Marmeladova. Under the low ceiling of the room, a monstrous theory is born in the mind of a hungry man. According to this theory, all people are divided into two "categories": ordinary people, who make up the majority and are forced to submit to force, and extraordinary people, "masters of fate" 0 such as Napoleon. They are able to impose their will on the majority, they are capable, in the name of progress or a lofty idea, without hesitation, "to step over the blood." Raskolnikov wants to be a good ruler, a defender of the "humiliated and insulted", he raises a rebellion against an unjust social order. But he is tormented by the question: is he the ruler? “I am a trembling creature, or do I have a right?” he asks himself. In order to get an answer, Raskolnikov contemplates the murder of an old pawnbroker. It is like an experiment on oneself: is he, as a ruler, able to step over the blood? Of course, the hero finds a "pretext" for the murder: to rob a rich and worthless old woman and save hundreds of young people from poverty and death with her money. Nevertheless, Raskolnikov always internally realized that he committed the murder not for this reason and not because he was hungry, and not even in the name of saving his sister Dunya from her marriage to Luzhin, but in order to test himself. This crime forever fenced him off from other people. Raskolnikov feels like a murderer, on his hands is the blood of innocent victims. One crime inevitably entails another: having killed the old woman, Raskolnikov was forced to kill her sister, “the innocent Lizaveta.” Dostoevsky convincingly proves that no goal, even the most lofty and noble, can serve as an excuse for criminal means. All the happiness in the world is not worth a single tear from a child. And the understanding of this, in the end, comes to Raskolnikov. But repentance and awareness of guilt did not come to him immediately. This happened largely due to the saving influence of Sonya Marmeladova. It was her kindness, faith in people and in God that helped Raskolnikov abandon his inhuman theory. Only in hard labor there was a turning point in his soul, and a gradual return to the people began. Only through faith in God, through repentance and self-sacrifice, could, according to Dostoevsky, the resurrection of the dead soul of Raskolnikov and any other person. Not individualistic rebellion, but beauty and love will save the world.

The fate of the humiliated and mourned in the novel

In his novel "Crime and Punishment" F. M. Dostoevsky raises the theme of "humiliated and offended", the theme of the little man. The society in which the heroes of the novel live is arranged in such a way that the life of each of them is possible only on humiliating conditions, on constant deals with conscience. The writer depicts the oppressive atmosphere of a hopeless life of a person, forcing people to see the image of the underworld behind the fate of people, where a person is humiliated and crushed, where a person has "nowhere to go." The episodes depicting the life of the “humiliated and offended” suggest that the fate of the heroes of the novel is determined not by some random tragic circumstances or their personal qualities, but by the laws of the structure of society.

The author, taking the reader through St. Petersburg, draws people of different social strata, including the poor, who have lost the meaning of life. Often they commit suicide, unable to endure their dull existence, or ruin life in numerous taverns. In one of these drinking places, Rodion Raskolnikov meets Marmeladov. From the story of this hero, we learn about the unfortunate fate of his entire family.

Marmeladov’s phrase: “Do you understand, dear sir, what it means when there is nowhere else to go ...” raises the figure of a little man, funny with his solemnly ornate and clerical manner of speaking, to the height of a tragic reflection on the fate of mankind.

Katerina Ivanovna, who was ruined by the unbearable for her ambitious nature, the contradiction between the past prosperous and rich life and the miserable, beggarly present.

Sonya Marmeladova, a pure-hearted girl, is forced to sell herself in order to feed her sick stepmother and her young children. However, she does not require any gratitude. She does not blame Katerina Ivanovna for anything, she simply resigns herself to her fate. Only Sonechka is ashamed before herself and God.

The idea of ​​self-sacrifice, embodied in the image of Sonya, raises him to a symbol of the suffering of all mankind. These sufferings merged for Dostoevsky with love. Sonya is the personification of love for people, which is why she retained moral purity in the dirt into which her life threw her.

The image of Dunya, Raskolnikov's sister, is filled with the same meaning. She agrees to the sacrifice: for the sake of her beloved brother, she agrees to marry Luzhin, who embodies the classic type of bourgeois businessman, a careerist who humiliates people and is able to do anything for personal gain.

Dostoevsky shows that the situation of hopelessness, impasse pushes people to commit moral crimes against themselves. Society confronts them with the choice of paths that lead to inhumanity.

Raskolnikov also makes a deal with his conscience, deciding to kill. The living and humane nature of the hero comes into conflict with the misanthropic theory. Dostoevsky shows how every time he encounters human suffering, Raskolnikov experiences an almost instinctive desire to come to the rescue. His theory of permissiveness, the splitting of humanity into two categories, is failing. The feeling of rejection, loneliness becomes a terrible punishment for the criminal.

Dostoevsky shows that Raskolnikov's idea is inextricably linked with the immediate conditions of his life, with the world of Petersburg corners. Drawing a terrifying picture of human crowding, dirt, stuffiness, Dostoevsky at the same time shows the loneliness of a person in the crowd, loneliness, above all, spiritual, his vital restlessness.

Raskolnikov and Svidrigailo

Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov are the heroes of one of Dostoevsky's best novels, Crime and Punishment. This novel is distinguished by the deepest psychologism and an abundance of sharp contrasts. At first glance, the characters of Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov have nothing in common, moreover, they seem to be antipodes. However, if you take a closer look at the images of these heroes, you can find a certain similarity. First of all, this similarity is manifested in the fact that both heroes commit crimes. True, they do this for different purposes: Raskolnikov kills the old woman and Lizaveta in order to test his theory, with the noble goal of helping the poor, destitute, humiliated and offended. And Svidrigailov directs all his vile energy to obtaining dubious pleasures, trying to achieve what he wants at any cost. Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov appear before readers as "strong" personalities. And indeed it is. Only people with exceptional willpower and equanimity can force themselves to cross the bloody line, deliberately commit a crime. Both of these characters are well aware that in essence they are extremely close. And it is not for nothing that at the very first meeting Svidrigailov says to Raskolnikov: "We are of the same field." Subsequently, Raskolnikov comes to an understanding of this. Punishment follows crime. Both characters are about the same. Both Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov experience the strongest pangs of conscience, they repent of their deeds and try to rectify the situation. And, it would seem, they are on the right path. But the mental anguish soon becomes unbearable. Svidrigailov's nerves can't stand it, and he commits suicide. Raskolnikov understands with horror that the same thing can happen to him, and in the end he confesses to his deed. Unlike Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov has a somewhat ambivalent character. On the one hand, it seems that he is an ordinary, normal, sober person, as he appears to Raskolnikov, but this side of his character is drowned out by his eternal and irresistible attraction to pleasure. Raskolnikov, in my opinion, is a much firmer person in his intentions. He is even somewhat similar to Turgenev's Bazarov, who strictly adheres to his theory and tests it in practice. For the sake of his theory, Raskolnikov even breaks off relations with his mother and sister, he wants to impress others with his theory and puts himself much higher than others. In the considerations presented above, in my opinion, there are differences and similarities between Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov, who can be called two sides of the same coin.

“Pravda” by Sonya Marmeladova (based on “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky)

In Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment", as in every novel, there are many different characters. The main one - Raskolnikov - studies the rest, creates a theory based on his reasoning, he has a certain conviction that pushes him to a crime. In the appearance of this conviction in him, and, therefore, in the commission of this crime by him, all the heroes with whom he communicated are to blame: after all, they were the same as Raskolnikov saw them, on their basis he formed his theory. But their contribution to the creation of Raskolnikov's beliefs is ineffective, since it happens by chance, inadvertently. But the minor characters of the novel make a much greater contribution to Raskolnikov's awareness of the incorrectness of his theory, which prompted him to confess to all the people. The largest such contribution was made by Sonya Marmeladova. She helped the hero to understand who she is and who he is, what recognition gives him, why they need to live, helped to resurrect and look at themselves and others in a different way. She was a pretty girl of about eighteen, thin, of small stature. Life was very cruel to her, as well as to her family. She lost her father and mother early. After the death of her mother, her family was in distress, and she had to go to the panel to feed herself and the children of Katerina Ivanovna. But her spirit was so strong that it did not break even under such conditions: when a person’s morality decays, there is little chance of good luck in life, existence becomes harder and harder, the spirit restrains the oppression of the environment, and if a person’s spirit is weak, he cannot withstand and begins to let negative energy inward, spoiling the soul. The spirit of Sonya is very strong, and in the face of all adversity, her soul remains pure, and she goes to self-sacrifice. The pure, untouched soul in her very quickly finds all the flaws in the souls of other people, comparing them with her own; she easily teaches others to remove these flaws, because she periodically removes them from her soul (if she hasn’t had any flaws yet, she artificially creates them for herself for a while and tries to feel what instincts tell her to do). Outwardly, this is manifested in her ability to understand other people and sympathize with them. She pities Katerina Ivanovna for her stupidity and unhappiness, her father, who is dying and repenting before her. Such a girl attracts the attention of many people, makes (including herself) respect herself. Therefore, Raskolnikov decided to tell her about his secret, and not Razumikhin, Porfiry Petrovich, or Svidrigailov. He suspected that she would wisely assess the situation and make a decision. He really wanted someone else to share his suffering, wanted someone to help him go through life, to do some work for him. Having found such a person in Sonya, Raskolnikov made the right choice: she was the most beautiful girl who understood him and came to the conclusion that he was just as unhappy a person as she was, that Raskolnikov had not come to her in vain. And such a woman is also called "a girl of notorious behavior." (Here Raskolnikov realized the inaccuracy of his theory in this). That is what Luzhin calls her, being vile and selfish himself, not understanding anything in people, including Sonya, that she behaves in a humiliating way for herself only out of compassion for people, wanting to help them, to give at least for a moment a feeling of happiness . All her life she has been self-sacrifice, helping other people. So, she helped Raskolnikov too, she helped him rethink himself, that his theory was also wrong, that he had committed a crime in vain, that he needed to repent of it, to confess everything. The theory was wrong, because it is based on the division of people into two groups according to external signs, and those rarely express the whole person. A striking example is the very Sonya, whose poverty and humiliation do not fully reflect the whole essence of her personality, whose self-sacrifice is aimed at helping other needy people. She really believes that she resurrected Raskolnikov and is now ready to share his punishment in hard labor. Its “truth” is that in order to live life with dignity and die with the feeling that you were a great person, you need to love all people and sacrifice yourself for others.

Dostoevsky nurtured the idea of ​​his new novel for six years. During this time, "Humiliated and Insulted", "Notes from the House of the Dead" and "Notes from the Underground" were written, the main theme of which was the history of poor people and their rebellion against the existing reality.

The origins of the work

The origins of the novel date back to the time of F. M. Dostoevsky's hard labor. Initially, Dostoevsky conceived the idea of ​​writing Crime and Punishment in the form of Raskolnikov's confession. The writer intended to transfer the entire spiritual experience of hard labor to the pages of the novel. It was here that Dostoevsky first encountered strong personalities, under the influence of which a change in his former convictions began.

“In December, I will start a novel ... Do you remember, I told you about one confession-novel that I wanted to write after everyone else, saying that I still have to go through it myself. The other day I made up my mind to write it at once. All my heart with blood will rely on this novel. I conceived it in hard labor, lying on the bunk, in a difficult moment of sadness and self-destruction ... "

As can be seen from the letter, we are talking about a work of a small volume - a story. How then did the novel come about? Before the work appeared in the final edition that we are reading, the author's intention changed several times.

Early summer of 1865. In dire need of money, Fyodor Mikhailovich offered a novel that had not yet been written, but in fact, just an idea for a novel, to the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine. Dostoevsky asked for an advance payment of three thousand rubles for this idea from the publisher of the magazine A. A. Kraevsky, who refused.

Despite the fact that the work itself did not exist, the name “Drunken” had already been invented for it. Unfortunately, little is known about the intention of the Drunks. Only a few scattered sketches dated 1864 have survived. Also preserved is a letter from Dostoevsky to the publisher, which contains a description of the future work. She gives serious reason to believe that the entire storyline of the Marmeladov family entered Crime and Punishment precisely from the unfulfilled plan of the Drunks. Along with them, the wide social Petersburg background, as well as the breath of a large epic form, entered the work. In this work, the author initially wanted to reveal the problem of drunkenness. As the writer emphasized, “not only the question is analyzed, but all its ramifications are presented, mainly pictures of families, the upbringing of children in this environment, and so on. etc."

In connection with the refusal of A. A. Kraevsky, who was in dire need, Dostoevsky was forced to conclude an enslaving contract with the publisher F. T. Stellovsky, according to which he sold the right to publish a complete collection of his works in three volumes for three thousand rubles and undertook to write for his new novel of at least ten sheets by November 1, 1866.

Germany, Wiesbaden (late July 1865)

Having received the money, Dostoevsky distributed the debts, and at the end of July 1865 he went abroad. But the monetary drama did not end there. During five days in Wiesbaden, Dostoevsky lost everything he had at roulette, including his pocket watch. The consequences were not long in coming. Soon the owners of the hotel where he stayed ordered not to serve him dinner, and after a couple of days they also deprived him of the light. In a tiny room, without food and without light, "in the most painful position", "burned by some kind of internal fever", the writer began work on the novel Crime and Punishment, which was destined to become one of the most significant works of world literature.

In early August, Dostoevsky abandoned the plan for The Drunk Ones and now wants to write a story with a criminal plot - "a psychological report of one crime." Her idea is this: a poor student decides to kill an old pawnbroker, stupid, greedy, nasty, whom no one will regret. A student could finish his education, give money to his mother and sister. Then he would go abroad, become an honest man and "make amends for the crime." Usually such crimes, according to Dostoevsky, are committed ineptly, and therefore there is a lot of evidence, and the criminals are quickly exposed. But according to his plan, “quite randomly” the crime succeeds and the killer spends almost a month at large. But “here,” writes Dostoevsky, “the whole psychological process of the crime unfolds. Unresolvable questions arise before the killer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart ... and he ends up being forced to report on himself. Dostoevsky wrote in his letters that a lot of crimes in recent times are being committed by developed, educated young people. This was written about in contemporary newspapers.

Prototypes of Rodion Raskolnikov

Dostoevsky was aware of the case Gerasim Chistova. This man, 27 years old, a schismatic, was accused of killing two old women - a cook and a laundress. This crime took place in Moscow in 1865. Chistov killed the old women in order to rob their mistress, the petty bourgeois Dubrovina. The bodies were found in different rooms in pools of blood. Money, silver and gold things were stolen from the iron chest. (newspaper "Voice" 1865, September 7-13). Criminal chronicles wrote that Chistov killed them with an axe. Dostoevsky also knew about other similar crimes.

Another prototype is A. T. Neofitov, Moscow professor of world history, maternal relative of Dostoevsky's aunt merchant A.F. Kumanina and, along with Dostoevsky, one of her heirs. Neofitov was involved in the case of forgers of tickets for a 5% internal loan (here Dostoevsky could draw the motive of instant enrichment in the mind of Raskolnikov).

The third prototype is a French criminal Pierre Francois Lacener, for whom killing a person was the same as "drinking a glass of wine"; justifying his crimes, Lacener wrote poems and memoirs, proving in them that he was a “victim of society”, an avenger, a fighter against social injustice in the name of a revolutionary idea allegedly prompted to him by utopian socialists (an account of the Lacener trial of the 1830s can be found on the pages Dostoevsky's magazine "Time", 1861, No. 2).

"Creative Explosion", September 1865

So, in Wiesbaden, Dostoevsky decided to write a story in the form of a confession of a criminal. However, in the second half of September, a "creative explosion" occurs in his work. An avalanche-like series of sketches appears in the writer's workbook, thanks to which we see that two independent ideas clashed in Dostoevsky's imagination: he decided to combine the storyline of The Drunk Ones and the form of the killer's confession. Dostoevsky preferred a new form - a story on behalf of the author - and in November 1865 burned the original version of the work. Here is what he writes to his friend A.E. Wrangel:

“... It would be difficult for me now to describe to you my whole present life and all the circumstances in order to give you a clear understanding of all the reasons for my long silence ... Firstly, I am sitting at work like a convict. It's that... big novel in 6 parts. At the end of November much was written and ready; I burned everything; now you can admit it. I didn't like it myself. The new form, the new plan carried me away, and I started again. I work day and night… The novel is a poetic thing, it requires peace of mind and imagination to be fulfilled. And creditors torment me, that is, they threaten to put me in jail. I still haven't settled with them and I still don't know for sure - will I settle it? … Understand what my concern is. It breaks the spirit and heart, ... and then sit down and write. Sometimes it's impossible."

"Russian Messenger", 1866

In mid-December 1865, Dostoevsky sent the chapters of the new novel to Russkiy Vestnik. The first part of Crime and Punishment appeared in the January 1866 issue of the magazine, but work on the novel was in full swing. The writer worked hard and selflessly on his work throughout 1866. The success of the first two parts of the novel inspired and inspired Dostoevsky, and he set to work with even greater zeal.

In the spring of 1866, Dostoevsky planned to leave for Dresden, stay there for three months and finish the novel. But numerous creditors did not allow the writer to go abroad, and in the summer of 1866 he worked in the village of Lublin near Moscow, with his sister Vera Ivanovna Ivanova. At this time, Dostoevsky was forced to think about another novel, which was promised to Stellovsky when concluding an agreement with him in 1865.

In Lublin, Dostoevsky drew up the plan for his new novel, The Gambler, and continued to work on Crime and Punishment. In November and December, the last, sixth, part of the novel and the epilogue were completed, and at the end of 1866 the Russian Messenger completed the publication of Crime and Punishment.

Three notebooks with drafts and notes to the novel have been preserved, in fact, three handwritten editions of the novel, which characterize the three stages of the author's work. Subsequently, all of them were published and made it possible to present the writer's creative laboratory, his hard work on every word.

Of course, work on the novel was also carried out in St. Petersburg. Dostoevsky rented an apartment in a large apartment building in Stolyarny Lane. Small officials, artisans, merchants, and students mainly settled here.

From the very beginning of its inception, the idea of ​​a "ideological killer" fell into two unequal parts: the first - the crime and its causes, and the second, the main one - the effect of the crime on the soul of the criminal. The idea of ​​a two-part concept was reflected both in the title of the work - "Crime and Punishment", and in the features of its structure: of the six parts of the novel, one is devoted to the crime and five to the influence of the committed crime on Raskolnikov's soul.

The draft notebooks of "Crime and Punishment" allow us to trace how long Dostoevsky tried to find an answer to the main question of the novel: why did Raskolnikov decide to kill? The answer to this question was not unambiguous for the author himself.

In the original intention of the story it is a simple idea: to kill one insignificant harmful and rich creature in order to make many beautiful but poor people happy with his money.

In the second edition of the novel Raskolnikov is depicted as a humanist, burning with the desire to stand up for the “humiliated and insulted”: “I am not the kind of person to allow defenseless weakness to a scoundrel. I will intervene. I want to step in." But the idea of ​​​​killing because of love for other people, killing a person because of love for humanity, is gradually “overgrown” with Raskolnikov’s desire for power, but he is not yet driven by vanity. He strives to gain power in order to fully devote himself to serving people, he longs to use power only to do good deeds: “I take power, I get power - whether money, power or not for evil. I bring happiness." But in the course of his work, Dostoevsky penetrated deeper and deeper into the soul of his hero, discovering behind the idea of ​​killing for the sake of love for people, power for the sake of good deeds, the strange and incomprehensible "idea of ​​Napoleon" - the idea of ​​power for the sake of power, dividing humanity into two unequal parts: the majority - "creature trembling" and the minority are "rulers" who are called to govern the minority, standing outside the law and having the right, like Napoleon, to overstep the law in the name of necessary goals.

In the third, final, edition Dostoevsky expressed the “ripened”, finished “idea of ​​Napoleon”: “Can one love them? Can you suffer for them? Hatred for humanity...

Thus, in the creative process, in comprehending the concept of Crime and Punishment, two opposite ideas collided: the idea of ​​love for people and the idea of ​​contempt for them. Judging by the draft notebooks, Dostoevsky faced a choice: either keep one of the ideas, or keep both. But realizing that the disappearance of one of these ideas would impoverish the idea of ​​the novel, Dostoevsky decided to combine both ideas, to portray a man in whom, as Razumikhin says about Raskolnikov in the final text of the novel, "two opposite characters alternate in turn."

The finale of the novel was also created as a result of intense creative efforts. One of the draft notebooks contains the following entry: “The finale of the novel. Raskolnikov is going to shoot himself. But this was the finale only for Napoleon's idea. Dostoevsky, on the other hand, sought to create an ending for the “idea of ​​love,” when Christ saves a repentant sinner: “The vision of Christ. He asks for forgiveness from the people. At the same time, Dostoevsky understood perfectly well that such a person as Raskolnikov, who combined two opposite principles in himself, would not accept either the court of his own conscience, or the court of the author, or the court of law. Only one court will be authoritative for Raskolnikov - the "highest court", the court of Sonechka Marmeladova.

That is why in the third, final, edition of the novel, the following entry appeared: “The idea of ​​the novel. Orthodox view, in which there is Orthodoxy. There is no happiness in comfort, happiness is bought by suffering. This is the law of our planet, but this direct consciousness, felt by the life process, is such a great joy that you can pay for years of suffering. Man is not born to be happy. Man deserves happiness, and always suffering. There is no injustice here, because the knowledge of life and consciousness is acquired by the experience of "for" and "against", which must be dragged on oneself. In the drafts, the last line of the novel looked like: "Inscrutable are the ways in which God finds man." But Dostoevsky ended the novel with other lines that can serve as an expression of the doubts that tormented the writer.

The history of the creation of the novel "Crime and Punishment" by F. M. Dostoevsky