MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
"TAGANROG STATE INSTITUTE NAMED AFTER A. P. CHEKHOV"
Faculty of _______ Russian Language and Literature _____________________
Department of ____________ Literature _ __________________________
Course work
Topic. The symbolism of color in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"

Course work
5th year student
Morozova Maria
OZO Literary Faculty

Scientific adviser:
Ph.D. n., Assoc. Kondratieva V.V.

Taganrog
2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1. COLOR-PAINTING AS A LITERARY CATEGORY
CHAPTER 2
2.1. THE ROLE OF COLOR IN CREATING THE IMAGE OF RODION RASKOLNIKOV
2.2. THE ROLE OF COLOR IN CREATING THE IMAGE OF SONIA MARMELADOVA
2.3. THE ROLE OF COLOR IN CREATING THE IMAGE OF PETERSBURG
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION
This work is an attempt to identify and study the symbolic meaning of color in the prose of F. M. Dostoevsky. The desire to most fully reveal the many obvious and hidden meanings contained in the images is dictated by the desire to understand the spiritual world of the writer and his system of values.
The content of the work is in line with the trends of modern literary criticism, which is actively developing the problem of interpreting a literary text.
To understand the deep meaning of the work, you need to know the "language of flowers", their symbolic meaning. The paper reveals the symbolism of flowers in Russian literature on the example of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment".
The relevance of this work is determined by the following facts:
1) The symbolism of color in the novel by Dostoevsky F.M. "Crime and Punishment" is not well understood.
2) Dostoevsky is rightfully considered one of the best writers in the world. A subtle psychological analysis of the inner world of the heroes of his novels is revealed even more deeply through the prism of color symbolism, where Christian symbols occupy not the last place.
Despite the large number of works that explore the semantic diversity of the writer's works, this aspect of studying his work remains relevant, since the process of comprehending the meaning of great artistic creations, which include the works of F.M. Dostoevsky, endless. No act of comprehension of works of art (even the most penetrating and deep) is not given to be the only and exhaustively correct, because any literary text is, according to the definition of B. M. Gasparov, “a particle of a continuously moving stream of human experience” and each time exists in a new semantic environment , which is "each new instance of the sentence and perception of the text".
Subject of study: The symbolism of color in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment".
Object of study: F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment".
The purpose of the study of this work is to reveal the symbolism of color in the novel "Crime and Punishment".
The goal is to solve the following tasks:
Tasks:
1) To study the theory of the issue on the problem of color painting in a literary text.
2) The study of theoretical material on the symbolism of color.
3) List the colors in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky and identify their connection with the images of the characters.
4) Analysis of the symbolism of the color "Crime and Punishment"
The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is made up of works that consider the theory of symbol definition, the problems of the symbol and its connection with realistic art (A.F. Losev, S.S. Averintsev, A.P. Kvyatkovsky), works on the study of the symbolism of light by Dostoevsky this work (A.F. Losev, K.V. Mochulsky).

CHAPTER 1. COLOR AS A LITERARY CATEGORY
... A symbol is only then a true symbol,
when it is inexhaustibly infinite in its meaning. It has many faces, many meanings, and is always dark in its depths.

D. Merezhkovsky (On the causes of the decline and on the new trends in modern Russian literature)

The question of the use of color in literary work as a special technique, a means of conveying the author's consciousness and idiostyle features has not yet been thoroughly developed, does not have a clear theoretical basis. But it is impossible to talk about the absolute absence of information on this topic, since color is also studied in other areas: design, psycholinguistics, art in general, iconography, folklore and mythology.
Color painting - The art of conveying colors, colors of the world around us in the language of a work of art. [Kuznetsov A. S. el. resource]
For researchers, color in literature has a special, exceptional interest, since the writer, like any person, uses it intuitively, subconsciously, which speaks of an individual worldview, an extraordinary view of the world around him. Although the use of a particular color can be explained by religious beliefs, education, upbringing, this is precisely the fundamental difference between color in literature and color, for example, in painting, where the use of color is often, but not always, subject to traditions in which color is included. into the system of studying painting directly. The pattern in the use of color designations is rooted in ancient times. According to D.S. Likhachev, the predominantly named colors in the monuments of ancient Russian writing are white, black, and red [Likhachev D.S. el resource]. In the work of L. V. Zubova, the same feature was noted for Russian classical literature. [Zubova L. V. el. resource] The problem of color is of interest to representatives of various sciences.
With the help of color, you can evoke a complex range of feelings and moods in the reader when perceiving a work of art, since it has a tremendous power of emotional impact, the ability to express not only "visible", external signs, but also the subtlest psychological states. Throughout its history, mankind has developed a whole system of associations associated with a particular color, which have a special symbolic meaning. It should also be remembered that in each national culture there is a specific perception of color. All this must be taken into account when analyzing works, to indicate the style of the author.
All color designations can be divided into two functional groups: 1) naming the color of an object in kind [Likhachev D. S. el. resource], - an image of one of the real characteristics of something. In such a consideration of color, one cannot speak of the absolute absence of symbolic meaning, since in every culture there are historically established associations, color parallels with other objects and phenomena of reality. [Kandinsky V. el. resource] 2) bearing sometimes indistinguishable symbolic meaning. It is this group of color designations that to a greater extent can reveal individual facets of the individual style of the writer.
Color plays an important role in literary works, and it is important to consider that the depiction of color is not the goal of the writer, but serves as the realization of creative ideas. The use of color reveals the individual style of the writer, the author's vision of the world and its embodiment in the works.

GL. 2. SYMBOLS OF COLOR IN F. M. ZHOSTOYEVSKY’S NOVEL “CRIME AND PUNISHMENT”
We observe a completely special approach to color in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. Dostoyevsky's best novels Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov are much less colorful than Tolstoy's War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Although it is impossible not to note the common features in the evolution of color in the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. For both writers, the transition to maturity is marked by a decrease and limitation of color.
What is the reason for the sharp decrease in color in Russian democratic literature of the 50-80s of the 19th century? Perhaps this is a reflection of the acutely conflicted, crisis states of the era, bringing not only literature, but also a part of painting closer to the atmosphere of tragedy?
Dostoevsky writes in "The Teenager": "I write down only the events, dodging with all my might from everything extraneous, and most importantly, from literary beauties." [Dostoevsky, p. 2] The artist, as you know, was not a master of landscape art; landscapes are few in his works. But he has many sunsets, images of the setting sun. As many as 45 descriptions! And of these, the amazing thing is that only four mention color. The rest are devoid of colors at all, but very sad. “Landscape is a state of mind,” someone said. This aphorism has the most direct relation to Dostoevsky. He has a special, peculiar susceptibility to color.
Dostoevsky is the creator of a psychologically accentuated, sharp-sounding color stroke. And this touch is always directed, it is given a lot of complex shades, everyday and psychological overtones. Dostoevsky gives examples of the use of expressive color. This expression is created by using the usual color, but next to it there is a sharp plot development. Dostoevsky introduces the reader into the world of a complicated, but extremely expressive interpretation of color. He creates a completely original direction in its use in literature.
2.1. THE ROLE OF COLOR IN DISCOVERING THE IMAGE OF RODION RASKOLNIKOV.
The work of F. M. Dostoevsky is distinguished by the extreme drama of ideological clashes, the catastrophic nature of situations, and the irreconcilability of judgments. Dostoevsky sincerely and passionately expresses and defends his ideas, views, he suffers, not finding answers to the complex questions of life. The hero interests Dostoevsky not as an element of reality, possessing certain and firm social-typical and individual-characterological features, not as a certain appearance, made up of unambiguous and objective features, in their totality answering the question - "who is he?" No, the hero interests Dostoevsky as a special point of view on the world and on himself, as a semantic and evaluating position of a person in relation to himself and in relation to the surrounding reality. What matters to Dostoevsky is not what his hero is in the world, but what the world is for the hero and what he himself is for himself. [Bakhtin M. M. el. resource]
The minds of many people of the last century were dominated by the false idea of ​​the superiority of some people over others, the right of a strong personality to command others, to decide their fate. The heroes of the analyzed novel, Rodion Raskolnikov and Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov, became prisoners of this idea.
Rodion Raskolnikov, the protagonist of the novel, lives in the gloomy, depressing atmosphere of St. Petersburg. Poor student. Raskolnikov feels himself useless, outcast among rich mansions, discharged by the public. Depressed by poverty and the injustice of life, Raskolnikov decides to kill the pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna.
The idea was that, according to Rodion, it is possible to commit a crime for the common good, a crime "in conscience": you can kill a stupid, senseless, worthless, evil, sick, useless, but on the contrary, a harmful old woman (1, el . resource), take her money and make amends for this "tiny crime" with thousands of good deeds.
Raskolnikov thought a lot about this idea until he found an explanation for it. He came to the conclusion that all of humanity has long been divided into two categories: ordinary people, subject to force, “trembling creatures” and superhumans, to whom everything is permitted and who will stop at nothing, even crime. And this, Raskolnikov thinks, is an eternal and immutable law:
Who is strong and strong in mind and spirit, he is the ruler over them! Whoever dares a lot is right with them. Whoever can spit on more is their legislator... So it has been done up to now and it will always be so! (1, e-resource)
Having believed in this idea, Rodion wants to test himself: who is he - a “trembling creature” or a “lord of fate”? But, having killed the old pawnbroker, Raskolnikov was convinced that he was not at all a “being of a higher order”, since the crime brought him nothing but suffering and pangs of conscience.
And so, trying to remake human nature in himself, to separate the will from the conscience, Raskolnikov comes to a tragic split. Playing the role of "ruler", he understands that such a role is not for him. Having killed the pawnbroker, Rodion kills everything human that connected him with the outside world, with people: “I killed myself, not the old woman.” (1, email resource)
After the murder, Raskolnikov experiences a state of detachment from the world, his soul is enveloped in "dead cold". This terrible feeling becomes retribution for the crime committed.
The hero realized that all people are invisibly interconnected and each person, his life is an absolute value, therefore no one has the right to dispose of the life of another person.
The tragedy of Raskolnikov lies in the falsity of his own theory. He realized this by committing a crime, but he could return to his former, normal life only through suffering.
The most common color in the novel is yellow. He is present almost constantly, has a strong impact on the characters and the reader, and even is the engine of the plot, determining the fate of the characters. S. M. Solovyov writes that Dostoevsky's work was created using virtually one yellow background! This yellow background is a magnificent, integral pictorial addition to the dramatic experiences of the characters [Soloviev S. M. el. resource]. Dostoevsky clearly does not like the color yellow: he repeatedly expressed his negative attitude towards yellow. In addition to memories of childhood, other factors must have influenced the attitude to color, first of all, knowledge of the traditional attitude towards it among the people, in Christianity.
The piercing yellow color in folk symbolism is associated with envy and jealousy (“yellow with envy”). Most often, yellow is understood as the color of the Sun: by its dual nature, it is “the color of flair, conjecture, intuition, so easily confusing, which, after all, contains a kind of solar power, all-penetrating and all-enlightening. Golden-yellow, with a slight reddish color, most often refers to mature wisdom; pale yellow - to insidious aggressiveness, for example, in the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe color of Judas' clothes. [Losev A.F. el. resource] Therefore, in the Middle Ages, the Jews had to wear yellow clothes.
In the novel Crime and Punishment, apparently, it is yellow (dirty, pale, burnt out) and has the following meaning: aggressive cunning, betrayal, betrayal, sickness, unhealthy atmosphere as such. Let's analyze two examples: "She put her own cracked teapot in front of him, with tea already asleep, and put two yellow pieces of sugar." “When he woke up, he saw that he was sitting on a chair, that some person was supporting him on the right, that another person was standing on the left, with a yellow glass filled with yellow water ..” (1, el resource)
"Yellow sugar" is combined with a cracked teapot (broken, i.e. sick) and sleeping tea, which also has a yellow color. In the second example, the "yellow glass", that is, not washed for a long time, with a touch of yellow rust, and yellow rusty water are directly related to the hero's illness, to his fainting state. We also encounter painful, miserable yellowness when describing other things, for example: Alena Ivanovna’s “yellowed fur katsaveyka”, Raskolnikov’s “completely red, all with holes and spots”, etc.
The yellow color in the novel is present in almost all rooms and creates an atmosphere of ill health, frustration, anguish, pain, sadness. Dirty yellow, dull yellow, painful yellow color causes feelings of inner oppression, mental instability, general depression. “A small room into which a young man passed, with yellow wallpaper. The furniture is all very old and made of yellow wood with penny pictures in yellow frames. This is how Dostoevsky describes Alena Ivanovna's apartment. And here is a description of Raskolnikov's poor dwelling. “It was a tiny cell, about six paces long, which had the most miserable appearance with its yellowish, dusty wallpaper everywhere lagging behind the wall” 2 .
In the constant, demonstrative use of this color - the bitter irony of Dostoevsky and at the same time a deep humanistic overtones. The yellow color, which has become dirty in the novel, the brightness of which is muted, is muted lives obscured by dirt, muted love of life, abilities and talents, suppressed joy of creativity, unclaimed human strengths and capabilities. At the same time, Dostoevsky makes us understand that his heroes, lost and lonely, sick and crushed by poverty, also deserve a normal life. This is one of the yellow background color values.
However, do not forget that the yellow color, with all its vitality, is a very impulsive color, a color that awakens the imagination, activates the activity of the brain, and moves a person to action.
The yellow color in the novel constantly accompanies Raskolnikov, and his thoughts are really very restless, and his actions are impulsive. Sometimes the hero falls into unconsciousness, sometimes he becomes extraordinarily active and energetic.
In addition, one more meaning of yellow is guessed here.
Yellow color reminds us of the sun, the sun is associated with power, greatness (the sun king Louis XIV). The idea of ​​power is also present in Raskolnikov's theory: "power over the whole anthill", over trembling creatures - this is exactly what the hero craves in the novel.
However, in criticism there are other interpretations of the yellow background in Dostoevsky. S. M. Soloviev, for example, believes that “the yellow color is associated here with an atmosphere of pain, sadness, depression. [Soloviev S. M. el. resource]
Researchers of Dostoevsky's work note that in all world art there are few works like "Crime and Punishment" in which the yellow color would be so completely sustained. The analogy is drawn not with literature, but with painting, with the creative quest of the Dutch artist

Van Gogh. Van Gogh's painting “Cafe” depicts the hall of a provincial tavern with a bright yellow floor and hanging kerosene lamps, the light from which paints the figure of the owner and the whole situation in yellow. “In my “Cafe,” Van Gogh wrote, “I tried to express that a cafe is a place where you can go crazy or commit a crime ... All this expresses the atmosphere of a hot abyss, pale suffering. All this expresses darkness, in which, however, strength lies dormant. ”[Wallace R. el. resource]
The results of the study of color as a functional phenomenon in Crime and Punishment convince us that both the scarcity of use and the choice of colors in the novel should in no way be considered as random or insignificant phenomena. Coloring, even its seeming poverty, here carry a huge semantic load and are used as a means of expressing the idea and worldview of F. Dostoevsky, performing primarily the functions of revealing the spiritual and philosophical content and emotional and psychological impact, and very rarely - a descriptive function.
Dostoevsky gradually reveals the image of Raskolnikov: we see him as a beloved son and brother, we understand his social and financial position, we feel his proud spirit and we are convinced of the responsiveness and compassion of his heart. At the same time, Dostoevsky avoids open descriptions of the character, soul, worldview of the protagonist.
Thus, the yellow color, prevailing in the description of the hero and the objects surrounding them, creates a deep impression of general wretchedness and sickness. The author seems to be watching his hero through the "yellow glasses". This is what happens to a person who loses consciousness and sees everything in yellow for a while.
Other colors acquire great symbolic meaning, and in the first place - red. In the novel, it has many shades, and therefore they can be interpreted in different ways. So, after the murder of Alena Ivanovna, her apartment, which was described in yellow on the first pages of the novel, acquires a red tint in Raskolnikov's eyes, reminiscent of the color of blood. Raskolnikov notices that in the apartment there was a significant stack, more than a arshin in length, with a convex roof, upholstered in red morocco, with steel carnations stuck on it. The gear wrench just fit and unlocked. Above, under a white sheet, lay a hare's coat, covered with a red set; under it was a silk dress, then a shawl ... First of all, he began to wipe his blood-stained hands on the red set. “Red, but on red blood is more inconspicuous,” he reasoned. (1, electronic resource) The contrast of red against the background of the usual yellow makes a strong impression on Raskolnikov. "God! Am I going crazy, or what?” he thinks. It seems that the episode of the murder of Alena Ivanovna is painted in a bloody color: “blood gushed out like from an overturned glass”, “a whole pool of blood”, “red morocco”, “red headset”. Red color means the beginning of activity (the pulse rises, the pressure rises, breathing quickens).
Bright red was the sunset when the hero abandoned his "obsession". Nature itself seemed to support him at that moment.
There are shades of red in the novel, "hiding" in the names of the characters. For example, Porfiry in Greek means crimson, purple. Porphyra - purple.
The color is also the name of Raskolnikov. Rodion in Greek means pink. Quite a strange definition for a killer. In psychology, pink means tenderness, sometimes a desire to escape from reality. And in fact, the sincere, kind deeds of the hero convince us of the sensitivity and vulnerability of his rich soul, despite the double murder he committed.
The rest of the colors in the text are also not random. For example, black is a mystery, an unknown. When Raskolnikov climbed the “black” staircase, “dark and narrow”, to the dark apartment of Alena Ivanovna, he did not yet know whether he would actually decide to kill. When the hero comes here for the second time, “two sharp and incredulous glances stared at him from the darkness” 2 . Entering this terrible room, the hero seemed to have stepped from the threshold of his house into a dark, hopeless night, when nothing is visible at all, into a night that dooms him to death. Interestingly, Raskolnikov himself had "beautiful dark eyes."
Summing up, it can be noted that the use of few colors in the novel is not accidental. Dostoevsky thus wanted to show the gradual disclosure and development of the image of Rodion Raskolnikov and used to achieve this goal, including the symbolism of color. All color symbols carry a huge semantic load and are used as a means of expressing the idea and worldview of F. M. Dostoevsky, performing, first of all, the functions of revealing the spiritual and philosophical content and emotional and psychological impact
2.2. THE ROLE OF COLOR IN CREATING THE IMAGE OF SONIA MARMELADOVA
Sonya Marmeladova is a kind of limit of meekness and suffering. In the name of saving her stepmother's children from starvation and her drunken father, who has sunk to the point of losing his human form, she goes out into the street and becomes a prostitute. “Since then, my lord,” he continued after a certain silence, “since then, on one unfavorable occasion and on the report of unintentional persons, which Darya Frantsovna especially contributed to, for allegedly having neglected her in due respect, - since then, my daughter, Sofya Semyonovna, was forced to get a yellow ticket, and on this occasion she could not stay with us. For the hostess, Amalia Fedorovna, didn’t want to let that happen…” (1, electronic resource) And again we see the author’s use of the yellow color as an indicator of Sonya’s unhealthy, disastrous situation. The author does not directly indicate Sonya's occupation, and this is precisely what determines the use of the definition "yellow ticket".
This is a painful humiliation, the apotheosis of suffering and self-sacrifice. The meek, religiously exalted Sonya sacrifices everything that is especially dear to her, goes to the gravest sufferings in the name of the happiness of her neighbors. Sonya professes moral precepts, which, from the point of view of Dostoevsky, are closest to the people - the precepts of humility, forgiveness, sacrificial love. She does not judge Raskolnikov for his sin, but painfully sympathizes with him and calls on him to "suffer", to atone for his guilt before God and before people.
Sonechka Marmeladova is destined to share the depth of Raskolnikov's mental anguish, it is to her that the hero decides to tell his terrible, painful secret. In the person of Sonya, Raskolnikov meets a man who awakens in himself and whom he still pursues as a weak and helpless "trembling creature": he suddenly raised his head and looked intently at her; but he met her restless and painfully solicitous gaze on him; there was love; his hatred has vanished like a ghost. (1, e-resource) "Natura" demands from the hero that he share with Sonechka the suffering from his crime, and not the manifestation that causes it. Sonechka's Christian-compassionate love calls Raskolnikov to this version of recognition.
Now for the blue color. It is known that blue is the color of the sky, both visible and spiritual.
Dostoevsky endowed his beloved heroine, Sonechka Marmeladova, with wonderful blue eyes. But the blue color does not always express the unambiguous attitude of the author and characters towards it. In another hero, the same color produces a completely different impression. The blue color of the eyes of the vicious, cynical, internally devastated Svidrigailov acquires a strange, dual, deceitful meaning, complements the characterization of a scoundrel and a libertine. The blue color of his eyes is used with the word "too", which again evokes associations of danger, the excess of anything, and this is immediately alarming. At the same time, Svidrigailov himself, with his blue eyes, looks disgusting: his eyes were somehow too blue, and their gaze was somehow too heavy and motionless. There was something terribly unpleasant in this beautiful and extremely youthful, judging by his years, face. (1, email resource)
The blue color is also used in another capacity - as a means of enhancing irony, even ridicule, "participates" in a caricature scene to describe the toilet of Louise Ivanovna - a magnificent, crimson-red lady, the mistress of a "noble house." (1, electronic resource)
The meaning of white in life is air, sun, purity, insight, purity, innocence. Also, white color means holiness, salvation, priesthood, spiritual authority. In Christianity, this color has always meant innocence of the soul, purity and holiness of life. And also this color can mean isolation, barrenness, disappointment, stiffness, boredom, stiffness.
Contrasting with black, white is a symbol of purity, innocence, but at the same time, sorrow and sadness. Meek Sonya had blond hair. But Svidrigailov's hair is exactly the same, "a little bit with gray hair." Here we again encounter the fact that for Dostoevsky the same color can mean both holiness and only a shell behind which a sinful nature is hidden.
Found in the novel and green. And usually symbolic. Green is the color of protection. Turning to church canons, we see that the Trinity Cathedrals may also have green domes, since green is the color of the Holy Spirit. (7, electronic resource)
There is almost no greenery as an element of the summer landscape in the work, despite the fact that the events take place in the summer season, in July. In addition to the picture that Svidrigailov presented himself half asleep on the eve of suicide. Dostoevsky indicates a holiday - Trinity Day, the day of the Most Holy Trinity, a holiday dedicated to the unity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is a holiday of harmony of spirit, soul and body. Only in such harmony development, well-being, flowering, growth is possible.
But the brightest symbol in the work is the green drapedam handkerchief. Moreover, in comparison with other characteristics of this symbol (large, dradedam, common, family), the green color in it carries the greatest functional load. This is a symbol of the fact that the Marmeladov family seems to be under the protection of some Higher power. The object itself - a scarf and its color, suggest the Protection of the Virgin. On the first pages of the novel, in the story of Marmeladov, Sonya appears in this scarf after sacrificing herself for the sake of her neighbors. On the last pages of "Crime and Punishment" there is also her image in a green scarf, the image of the heroine who brought Raskolnikov back to life.
However, despite the rather clear objective and definite symbolic use of green in Crime and Punishment, it is useful to know all the meanings of green in order to be convinced of the author's intention regarding the presence and role of green in the work, as well as to feel all its semantic nuances. Therefore, we turn to the Encyclopedia of Symbols:
Green, like many other colors, has a dual meaning in a symbolic sense ... In folk ideas, green symbolizes, first of all, hope. Where greenery blooms, there is simply nature, there is a self-evident outgrowth ... the experience of spring. When, for example, even the devil appears as "Green", this means that he remained there in the guise of the ancient vegetable god. However, this is also opposed by negative content: the immense appearance of greenery in all dreams means a glut of negative natural drives. [Eppley E email. resource] Christian symbolism finds this color the color of the middle and mediation, equidistant from both the blueness of heaven and the redness of hell, soothing, refreshing, the color of contemplation, the expectation of rebirth. The Cross of Christ as a symbol of hope and Salvation is often represented as green... the throne of the Supreme Judge - as if consisting of a green jasper (jasper) (Rev. 4: 3). [Eppley E. el. resource]
As we can see, it is no coincidence that Dostoevsky is so restrained in his use of green: in the world he depicts there is no “oversaturation with natural inclinations”, they reveal themselves accusatoryly only in Svidrigailov’s delirium on the eve of his suicide. The lack of greenery indicates the absence of even the necessary development of what is given by nature.
Considering in detail the use of colors when creating the image of Sonya Marmeladova, we can note that Dostoevsky introduces colors that are practically opposite to those used when creating Rodion Raskolnikov. This reflects the worldview position of the author himself and his manifestation as a humanist writer. The image of Sonya, Dostoevsky's favorite image, appears in the novel as the basis of kindness, mercy, self-sacrifice and compassion.
2.3. THE ROLE OF COLOR IN CREATING THE IMAGE OF PETERSBURG.
The theme of Petersburg is traditional for Russian literature. The action of the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" takes place in St. Petersburg. This city many times became the protagonist of Russian fiction, but each time it was a new city: either proudly displaying its palaces and parks of “full-night countries of beauty and wonder,” as Pushkin called it, or a city of slums and narrow streets - “ stone bags. Each writer saw and described the city in his own way, in accordance with the artistic task that confronted him. Petersburg in Crime and Punishment is a city of loneliness. Nowhere is there the warmth of human communication, home comfort. Raskolnikov feels an inexplicable coldness in the capital. The misfortune of living in St. Petersburg breaks the fate of the heroes, leads them to the utmost despair. It is no coincidence that the action of the novel is related to the city of white nights, which are especially conducive to daydreams. Having created the image of St. Petersburg, the writer thus shows the base by which the personality, the worldview of a person in it is determined. This is where Raskolnikov's theory was born. It is known that Dostoevsky did not invent it at all, but almost completely borrowed it from life. Such ideas were really in the air in those years. They acquired various forms, but the principle itself - "permissiveness" - was the same. It is he, this principle, that unites Raskolnikov, Luzhin, Svidrigailov and, perhaps, Lebezyatnikov in the novel, they only explain it in different ways, each for himself ..
This unnatural, ghostly life of the capital, so strikingly unlike the norm of human existence, seems to the author just a dream. The revival of Raskolnikov's soul is unthinkable in such an environment; it is not for nothing that a completely different landscape appears in the epilogue of the novel. From the high bank opened wide surroundings. From the far other shore, a song was barely audible. There, in the boundless steppe drenched in the sun, nomadic yurts were blackened as barely perceptible dots. There was freedom and other people lived, owls
etc.................

Dostoevsky pays much attention to describing the miserable interiors of furnished rooms. But the rest of his attention is drawn to smells and symbolic colors. In descriptions of St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky mainly uses yellow, red and white. But even in this short list, yellow dominates. It turns out that the main background of the novel is a yellow, poisonous color. “Small room with yellow wallpaper. The furniture, all very old and made of yellow wood.”

S. M. Solovyov, who was specially engaged in the study of the color background of Dostoevsky's works, came to the conclusion that Crime and Punishment was created using, in fact, one yellow background. And this background is a very good addition to the dramatic experiences of the characters. In addition to describing the old woman’s room, many more examples can be cited confirming the presence of a yellow background in the novel: the description of Raskolnikov’s closet, with its “yellow dusty wallpaper” (note that the word “dusty” was used by Dostoevsky is also not accidental. Dusty, stuffy - these words are very close in meaning). And in Sonechka's room - yellow wallpaper. "Furniture of yellow polished wood" in the office of Porfiry Petrovich, a ring with a yellow stone on Luzhin's hand. There are many such examples. These details reflect the hopeless atmosphere of the existence of the main characters of the work, they are harbingers of bad events. Yellow color enhances the atmosphere of ill health, pain, frustration. The dirty yellow, dull yellow, sickly yellow color itself evokes feelings of inner oppression, mental instability, and general depression. In the novel, Dostoevsky, as it were, compares two words: "yellow" and "bilious", which are often found in the narrative. For example, he writes about Raskolnikov as follows: “A heavy, bilious smile snaked across his lips. At last he felt stuffy in that yellow closet. In the novel, the interaction of the inner and outer worlds of the hero is very clearly traced. “Bile”, “yellowness” acquire the meaning of something painfully oppressive and oppressive.

However, the novel also mentions the color green, the color of the "family" marmalade scarf. This scarf, like a cross, is worn by Katerina Ivanovna, and behind her by Sonya Marmeladova. The scarf represents at the same time the suffering that befalls its owners, and their redemptive power. Dying, Katerina Ivanovna says: "God knows how I suffered ...". Going for Raskolnikov, who goes to confess to a crime, Sonya puts this scarf on her head. She is ready to take upon herself the suffering and to atone for this guilt of Raskolnikov. In the epilogue, in the scene of rebirth, the resurrection of Raskolnikov, Sonya appears in the same Shawl, haggard after an illness. At this moment, the green color of the suffering and hopes of the main characters of the work overcomes the yellow color of sick Petersburg. The “dawn of a renewed future” shone on their sick faces, they are ready to perceive a new life.

The image of Petersburg in Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" is symbolic. On the one hand, he is the social background against which the events of the novel unfold, on the other hand, he himself is a character, an accomplice to Raskolnikov's terrible act, as well as his repentance, return to the world of people.

Yellow color: quotes from the novel "Crime and Punishment"

The appearance of the heroes

Other details

THE THEME OF LIFE IN PETERSBURG APARTMENTS

Petersburg is a city where people live in “cells”, in dirty yellow houses with dirty dark staircases, spend time in small stuffy workshops or in stinking taverns and taverns, a city half-crazy, like most of the heroes of Dostoevsky we know.

In Crime and Punishment, life is in a state of moral and social decay. The closeness of the St. Petersburg slums is a particle of the general atmosphere of the novel, hopeless and stuffy. There is a certain connection between Raskolnikov’s thoughts and the “turtle shell” of his closet, “a tiny little room six steps long”, with yellow, dusty wallpaper that has lagged behind the walls and a low wooden ceiling. This closet is a small copy of the grander, equally stuffy "closet" of the big city. No wonder Katerina Ivanovna says that on the streets of St. Petersburg it’s like in rooms without window vents. The picture of tightness, suffocating crowding of people who are "in a limited space" is haunted by a feeling of spiritual loneliness. People treat each other with mistrust and suspicion, they are united only by curiosity about the misfortunes of their neighbor and gloating about the successes of others. Under drunken laughter and poisonous mockery of the visitors of the tavern, Marmeladov tells the story of his own life, amazing in its tragedy; the tenants of the house in which Katerina Ivanovna lives come running to the scandal.

Description of rooms (apartments, interiors, etc.)

Raskolnikov's closet	... It was a tiny cell, six paces long, which had the most miserable appearance with its yellowish, dusty wallpaper everywhere lagging behind the walls, and so low ... it seemed that you were about to hit your head on the ceiling. The furniture corresponded to the room: there were three old chairs, not entirely serviceable, a painted table in the corner, on which lay several notebooks and books; by the mere fact that they were covered with dust, it was clear that no one's hand had touched them for a long time; and, finally, a clumsy large sofa, which occupied almost the entire wall and half the width of the entire room, once upholstered in chintz, but now in tatters and serving as Raskolnikov's bed. ... There was a small table in front of the sofa. There, in the corner, in this terrible closet, all this has been ripening for more than a month now ... ... Raskolnikov ... went up to his closet ... Bad apartment... ...just like a coffin... The cramped and low "sea cabin" of Raskolnikov ... lying on his miserable dirty sofa ... He laid his head on his skinny and worn pillow... He felt stuffy and cramped in this yellow closet, which looked like a closet or a chest. Eyes and thoughts asked for space... She had long been struck by Raskolnikov's poor furnishings...
Marmeladov's apartment	But we live in a cold corner...” ... Now we live in a corner, with the landlady Amalia Fyodorovna Lippevehsel... Many people live there besides us... Sodom, sir, the ugliest... ... The small smoky door at the end of the stairs, at the very top, was open. The candle lit up the poorest room ten paces long; all of it was visible from the passage. Everything was scattered and in disarray, especially the various children's rags. A sheet with holes was stretched through the back corner. There was probably a bed behind it. In the room itself there were only two chairs and a very tattered oilcloth sofa, in front of which stood an old pine kitchen table, unpainted and uncovered. On the edge of the table stood a burning tallow cinder in an iron candlestick. ... his [Marmeladov's] room was a walk-through. The door to further rooms or cages...was ajar. ... The room was stuffy ... ... there was a stench from the stairs ... ... from the interior, through the unopened door, waves of tobacco smoke rushed ...
Sonya Marmeladova's room	... Sonya's room looked like a barn, looked like a very irregular quadrangle, and this gave it something ugly ... …There was almost no furniture in this whole large room. In the corner, to the right, was a bed; beside her, closer to the door, a chair. On the same wall where the bed was, at the very door to someone else's apartment, stood a simple board table covered with a blue tablecloth; Near the table are two wicker chairs. ... A small chest of drawers of simple wood, as if lost in the void. That's all that was in the room. The yellowish, shabby and worn wallpaper turned black in all corners; it must have been damp and sultry in the winter. Poverty was visible; even the bed had no curtains.
The Old Woman's Apartment (her room in the apartment)	... A small room ... with yellow wallpaper, geraniums and muslin curtains on the windows, was at that moment brightly lit by the setting sun ... …But there was nothing special about the room. The furniture, all very old and made of yellow wood, consisted of a sofa with a huge arched wooden back, a round oval table in front of the sofa, a toilet with a mirror in the wall, chairs on the walls with two or three penny pictures in yellow frames depicting German young ladies with birds. in the hands - that's all the furniture. In the corner in front of a small image a lamp was burning. Everything was very clean: both the furniture and the floors were polished; everything shone... ...Not a speck of dust could be found in the whole apartment.
Apartment of investigator Porfiry Petrovich	... a small round table on which stood a finished glass of tea ... ... a sofa ... ... littering a cigarette on the carpet ... ... Porfiry Petrovich went out to order tea ... [he obviously lived well and had servants] …laughing in the hallway……[his apartment obviously wasn’t small
Porfiry Petrovich's office	... His office was a room neither large nor small; stood in it: a large writing-table in front of a sofa upholstered in oilcloth, a bureau, a cupboard in the corner, and several chairs—all official furniture, of polished yellow wood.

The symbolism of color in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"

LEARNING FROM STUDENTS

Lydia DMITRIEVA,
10th grade, secondary school No. 8,
Belovo, Kemerovo Region
(teacher - Olga Vasilievna Zhurbich)

Symbolism of color
in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky
"Crime and Punishment"

The novel by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" is surprisingly colorful. If you follow the text, various colors and their shades are very common, and some of them are repeated constantly. In the novel of such a writer-psychologist as Dostoevsky, this is not accidental. It has long been known that the colors of the surrounding world affect people differently. The abundance of all kinds of shades helps to emotionally tune in to the perception of the novel.

Many critics noted the advantage of yellow throughout the novel: “yellow wood” furniture, “yellow frames”, “yellowed katsaveyka”, “yellow sofa”, “yellow face”, “yellow ticket”, “yellow wallpaper”, “dark -yellow” face of Porfiry Petrovich, “two yellow pieces of sugar”. The whole range of shades - from dark to bright yellow: the color of the setting sun, the fiery feather on Sonya's hat, Katerina Ivanovna's gold medal, Raskolnikov's red hat ... Psychologists say that yellow is a symbol of lightness, ease, sociability, relaxedness, courage and curiosity. Such a striking feature! Why, then, when reading a novel, we are so oppressed by the color of the sun? When you hear a long, monotonous sound, it seems that it penetrates you, filling every cell. The abundance of any one color also kills. It seems to accumulate inside and from there it has a depressing effect on the brain. In addition, the novel is mostly dirty yellow tones, which also has its own meaning.

The very word “yellow” acquires an oppressive sound. In the first part of the novel, its synonym is “bilious”. It is worth reading aloud the following sentences: “A heavy, bilious, evil smile snaked across his lips. He lay down with his head on his skinny and worn-out pillow and thought, thought for a long time ... Finally, he felt stuffy and cramped in this yellow closet. What an annoying buzzing is heard in these phrases! It is associated with the heat and dry dust of St. Petersburg. It seems to take your breath away. The following excerpt: “He woke up bilious, irritable, angry and looked at his closet with hatred. It was a tiny cell, about six paces long, which had the most miserable appearance with its yellow, dusty wallpaper everywhere lagging behind the wall, and so low that a slightly tall person felt terrified in it. Here you can already hear the angry hissing. A quiet but annoying sound most irritates our nerves. How not to go crazy in such an environment!

Vadim Kozhinov noticed that during the life of Dostoevsky the words “yellow” and “bilious” were written through “o”. Here is what the critic notes about this: “... this spelling is somehow rougher and more expressive ... It would be worthwhile to restore this style now: it would emphasize the special meaning that Dostoevsky put into these words.”

One of the most repetitive is the color red. In the novel, it has many shades, and therefore can be interpreted in different ways. The most striking example is the scene of Raskolnikov's murder of an old pawnbroker. It seems that this episode is painted in a bloody color: “blood gushed out like from an overturned glass”, “a whole pool of blood”, “red morocco”, “red headset”. Red color means the beginning of activity (the pulse rises, the pressure rises, breathing quickens). When Katerina Ivanovna was agitated, red spots appeared on her cheeks. In the fact that the forces came to Raskolnikov only after the first blow with an ax on the head of Alena Ivanovna, some kind of animal thirst for blood is felt. It is no coincidence that the guys from Raskolnikov's first dream, finishing off the horse, were drunk and also red.

Bright red was the sunset when the hero abandoned his "obsession". Nature itself seemed to support him at that moment.

There are shades of red in the novel, "hiding" in the names of the characters. For example, Porfiry in Greek means crimson, purple. Porphyra - purple. T.A. Kasatkina, in her comments on Crime and Punishment, wrote that the name is not accidental for a person who will “torture” Raskolnikov, “mock” him. She goes on to offer a comparison: “And having undressed Him, they put on Him a purple robe; and having woven a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and gave him a reed in his right hand; and, kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying: Hail, King of the Jews!” (Gospel of Matthew. 27, 28-29).

The color is also the name of Raskolnikov. Rodion in Greek means pink. Quite a strange definition for a killer. In psychology, pink means tenderness, sometimes a desire to escape from reality. And in fact, the sincere, kind deeds of the hero convince us of the sensitivity and vulnerability of his rich soul, despite the double murder he committed.

The color green is also found in the novel. In this work, he is always a sharp contrast to the surroundings. For example, in his first dream, Raskolnikov saw a “gray time”, a “suffocating day”, a forest blackening in the distance, black road dust, drunken and scary faces, and then - a bright spot of color - the green dome of a stone church. This comparison is not accidental. Further we will see that green is the color of protection, cover. The greenery of trees and grass is a rest for Raskolnikov: “At first, his tired eyes, accustomed to city dust, to lime and to huge, crowding and crushing houses, liked the greenery and freshness.”

After her forced fall into sin in the name of her loved ones, Sonya Marmeladova wrapped herself up in a large green drapedam scarf, as if wishing to find peace and solace under his cover. It is known that the green color is a symbol of the Virgin.

The daughter of an elderly merchant, who mistook Raskolnikov for a beggar and gave him money, was holding a green umbrella in her hands. Perhaps the umbrella here is compared with the dome of the church from Raskolnikov's dream and the scarf of Marmeladov and is also protection from the scorching sun, and the green color indicates that these compassionate people are under the holy cover.

Waking up after his terrible dream, Raskolnikov sits down under a tree, the dense green crown of which is also a kind of dome of the church, as if transferred to reality. It is here that the hero remembers God: “Thank God, this is just a dream!” It is here that Raskolnikov comprehends all the “ugliness” of his dream. The tree is a temple in which the hero's soul is cleansed.

Perhaps the blue and blue colors are the symbols of Sonya Marmeladova. It is worth recalling the description of this girl: “Sonya was small, eighteen years old, thin, but rather pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes.” In Sonya's room, in addition to the "yellowish, shabby and worn wallpaper", there is one more color spot - a blue tablecloth. They say that a person who prefers the color blue is distinguished by reasonableness, a philosophical mood. Sophia means wise, and blue and blue - the colors of a calm, clear sky - emphasize this feature of Sonechka Marmeladova, the true depth and inexplicability of her soul. Raskolnikov's dream of "wonderful blue water" and "wonderful blue eyes" Sonechka are interconnected. Before the murder of the old woman, it seemed to Raskolnikov that he was in the desert and greedily drinking water from a babbling stream. Water in Africa is salvation. Sonechka with her bottomless blue eyes is a salvation for Raskolnikov. It is just as necessary for the hero as pure spring water from dreams.

Svidrigailov also has blue eyes, but, according to the author, "they looked coldly, intently and thoughtfully." This means that Dostoevsky used various nuances of the same color in different ways.

The rest of the colors in the text are also not random. For example, black is a mystery, an unknown. When Raskolnikov climbed the “black” staircase, “dark and narrow”, to the dark apartment of Alena Ivanovna, he did not yet know whether he would actually decide to kill. When the hero comes here for the second time, "two sharp and incredulous eyes stared at him from the darkness." Entering this terrible room, the hero seemed to have stepped from the threshold of his house into a dark, hopeless night, when nothing is visible at all, into a night that dooms him to death. Interestingly, Raskolnikov himself had "beautiful dark eyes."

Contrasting with black, white is a symbol of purity, innocence, but at the same time, sorrow and sadness. Meek Sonya had blond hair. But Svidrigailov's hair is exactly the same, "a little bit with gray hair." Here we again encounter the fact that for Dostoevsky the same color can mean both holiness and only a shell behind which a sinful nature is hidden.

Of course, “white” is Svidrigailov’s dream about a drowned girl: a light, cool staircase, white satin shrouds, white gros de Naple, white ruffle, white tulle dress, marble hands and profile, blond hair. Such a number of repetitions was not even in the scene of the murder of the old pawnbroker! Special mention must be made of the "white and tender daffodils" leaning on bright green stems. Daffodils are flowers of sorrow and sadness. In some countries they were assigned to the dead. The author prominently depicted the stems of these flowers: “bright green, plump and long.” Bright green is the color of a freedom-loving, independent person. Such was the girl ruined by Svidrigailov. She did not want to live with shame and chose to die.

The color gray is also found in the novel. For example, all the clothes Razumikhin bought for Raskolnikov were of exactly this shade. Why did Raskolnikov stubbornly refuse to try on new things? This color is typical for an emotionally constrained society. The “gray” person is afraid to loudly declare himself, does not want to give himself away. And the hero, of course, is not like that. He does not consider himself to be in the “first category of people”, therefore he does not want to wear clothes of their color. His old red hat is a prime example of his personality. Yes, the hero wanted to be invisible for a while, but his real goal is to be exceptional, unique. Perhaps the mere reluctance to wear gray clothes reveals to us the meaning of Raskolnikov's theory.

Dostoevsky surprisingly aptly used the possibilities of color as a symbol. For example, Sonya's old green handkerchief reappears in the epilogue. The green color returns at the moment of Raskolnikov's resurrection, as if showing us that the hero again believed and found peace in his "children's church with a green dome."

The novel "Crime and Punishment" occupies a special place in the work of F. M. Dostoevsky. Never before had he so broadly depicted the poverty and suffering of the destitute, the inhumanity and cruelty of contemporary life. The tragic content of the novel corresponds to the figurative means used by the writer. These are portraits of heroes, their speech characteristics, descriptions of their rooms, cityscapes.
Color plays an important role in the figurative structure of the novel. It is especially interesting that the author uses only a few colors in the work. The most important color in the novel is yellow. This is partly because Crime and Punishment is a St. Petersburg novel, and in Russian literature, the image of St. Petersburg was often associated with the color yellow. And this is not only because the color of many official and ceremonial buildings in St. Petersburg is yellow, but also because yellow is the color of betrayal, grief, illness. The critic Solovyov, who was specially engaged in the study of the color background of Dostoevsky's works, came to the conclusion that Crime and Punishment was created using, in fact, one yellow background. This yellow background is a great addition to the dramatic experiences of the characters. “The yellow color in itself creates, evokes, complements, enhances the atmosphere of ill health, frustration, anguish, pain, sadness,” Solovyov concludes.
Indeed, Dostoevsky's Petersburg is sick, and sick, morally and physically, most of the characters in his work. An important feature by which we recognize the "sick" environment and sick people is the unpleasant, obsessive, unhealthy yellow color that the descriptions in the novel are full of. These are yellow wallpaper and furniture of yellow wood in the room of the old money-lender, the “yellow from constant drunkenness” face of Marmeladov, met by Raskolnikov in the tavern, yellow, “resembling a closet or a chest”, Raskolnikov’s own closet, making a depressing impression, a suicide woman with yellow drunk face. With the development of the action of yellow, it becomes more and more. In Sonya's room - "yellowish scrambled and worn wallpaper." In Porfiry Petrovich's office - "furniture made of polished yellow wood." In the hotel room where Svidrigailov stayed, the wallpaper is yellow. And even the ring on Luzhin's hand is decorated with a yellow stone. These details reflect the hopeless atmosphere of the existence of the main characters and portend something unkind. Finally, it is fundamentally important that Sonechka Marmeladova lives on a yellow ticket, which personifies everything low, vile, humiliating and sinful in life. (The contents of this paragraph could clearly be expanded and much more detailed about the meaning of yellow in each of the contexts described.)
Attention should also be paid to the juxtaposition of two cognate words - yellow and bile, which are found side by side more than once in the novel. About Raskolnikov, for example, it is said: "A heavy, bilious, evil smile snaked across his lips", "Finally, he felt stuffy and cramped in this yellow closet." The writer shows the interaction of internal and external, the attitude of the hero and the surrounding world. In this interaction, apparently, lies the complex meaning that the yellow color acquires in the novel.
However, in Crime and Punishment we sometimes see green, the color of hope. This is the color of greenery on the Islands, where Raskolnikov sees at least something alive and beautiful. It is symbolic that this is also the color of the "family" marmalade scarf. This handkerchief, like a cross, is worn by Katerina Ivanovna, and behind her by Sonya. The headscarf simultaneously personifies the suffering that befalls its owners, and their redemptive power, leading to moral rebirth. Going for Raskolnikov, who is going to confess to a crime, Sonya throws this scarf over her head. She is ready to take on the suffering and atone for the guilt of the hero. In the epilogue, in a scene foreshadowing the revival of Raskolnikov, Sonya appears in the same scarf. At this moment, the green color of suffering and hope of the main characters of the work turns out to be more significant than the yellow color of suffering and hopelessness.
There is an important symbolic meaning in this victory of green over yellow. Dostoevsky hopes for a better future for the heroes. In the struggle between good and evil, good wins. Dostoevsky believes in man... And this belief contains the artistic power of the writer's works.

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The theme of the essay is revealed, all the main provisions are correct. The work is written in good literary language. However, the brevity and even some conciseness of the presentation, as well as an excessive focus on critical literature, do not make it possible to give an "excellent" rating. Rating - "good".

Lecture, abstract. The role of color in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" - the concept and types. Classification, essence and features.

All levels of organization of the literary text "Crime and Punishment" are subordinated to the core thought of the work. F. M. Dostoevsky shows that Raskolnikov's idea of ​​dividing humanity into two uneven parts is inextricably linked with the immediate conditions of his life, with the world of Petersburg corners, one of which is occupied by the hero himself. The novel is filled with symbolism. Many researchers drew attention to the "symbolic sharpness of Dostoevsky's literary characters." But color plays a very special role in the work.

In the works of Dostoevsky, color, color definitions have a symbolic meaning and serve to reveal the state of mind of the characters. Analyzing the use of color in the novel "Crime and Punishment", we can say that the entire work was created almost on the same yellow background. Indeed, yellow is the most common color in the novel. But the color scheme in the writer's descriptions is by no means limited to yellow, since throughout the novel we meet white, red, and black colors, which play an important role in all descriptions.

Let's return to the main color of the work - yellow. What is its symbolism? First of all, yellow is associated with illness when it comes to a person. And vice versa, when talking about things, the yellow color resembles something sunny, golden, it is able to evoke joyful emotions. However, this is not the case in Crime and Punishment. The yellow color of Dostoevsky in all descriptions of people and things is a painful color. For example: “She put her own cracked teapot in front of him, with tea already drained, and put two yellow pieces of sugar”; “When he looked around, he saw that he was sitting on a chair, that some person was supporting him on the right, that another person was standing on the left, with a yellow glass filled with yellow water. »

Here, "yellow sugar" is paired with a cracked, broken teapot and "leaked tea," which is also yellow.

In the second example - "yellow glass", i.e. not washed for a long time, with a touch of yellow rust, and yellow rice water is directly related to the hero's illness, to his fainting state. Painful miserable yellowness is also found when describing other things, for example: Alena Ivanovna’s “yellowed fur katsaveyka”, Raskolnikov’s “completely red, all with holes and spots”, etc.

Yellow prevails in the description of the room into which the young man passed, with yellow wallpaper. “The furniture is all very old yellow wood. thunder pictures in yellow frames. » This is how the author describes the apartment of the old pawnbroker. And here is a description of Raskolnikov’s dwelling: “It was a tiny cell, b steps long, which had the most miserable appearance with its yellowish, dusty wallpaper everywhere lagging behind the wall. » Dostoevsky compares the miserable dwelling of the protagonist with a yellow closet. The yellow color in the description of objects is in harmony with the sickly yellowness of the heroes of the novel, surrounded by these objects.

In the description of the portraits of most of the heroes of the novel, the same sickly yellow color is found. For example: Marmeladov - “with a yellow, even greenish face swollen from constant drunkenness and with swollen eyelids. »; Porfiry Petrovich's face was "the color of a sick man, dark yellow."

Sometimes in the description of portraits of heroes, the definition of “yellow” gives way to the definition of “pale”, which is close in emotional and color coloring. For example: "pale, with burning eyes face" Sonechka, ". the color rushed into Dunya's pale face, ”etc. Yellowness and pallor are an integral characteristic of all residents of St. Petersburg. This is confirmed in the episode of Sonya's meeting with an unfamiliar gentleman: “his broad-cheeked face was quite pleasant, and his complexion was fresh, not Petersburg. »

Thus, the yellow color, prevailing in the description of the heroes and the objects surrounding them, creates a deep impression of general wretchedness and sickness. The author observes his characters through "yellow glasses". This is what happens to a person who loses consciousness and for a while sees everything in yellow. And against the same background, other colors acquire great symbolic meaning, and primarily red. So, after the murder of Alena Ivanovna, her apartment, which at the beginning of the novel is described in yellow, acquires a red tint in Raskolnikov's eyes, reminiscent of the color of blood.

Raskolnikov notes that in the apartment “there was a significant stack, more than a arshin in length, with a convex roof, upholstered in red morocco. Above, under a white sheet, lay a hare's coat, covered with a red set. First of all, he began to wipe his blood-stained hands on the red set.

The contrast of red against the background of yellow makes a strong impression on Raskolnikov. Just as sharply against the background of a painful yellow color, other colors stand out, and above all the color of the eyes of the characters. These are “the wonderful blue eyes of Sonechka” and the already completely different blue eyes of Svidrigailov with a “cold, heavy look”; these are Raskolnikov's "beautiful dark eyes with a burning look" on the first pages of the novel and the same eyes "with an inflamed" and then "dead look" after the murder, etc. Using these examples, one can see how the color, even indirectly indicated, conveys the state of the hero's soul: from beautiful-dark, i.e. deep, color to "inflamed", i.e. naturally shiny, and then to dead, i.e. colorless.

Against the background of yellow, gray and red, green color stands out. It is strikingly different from the entire color range of the work, standing out for its freshness and purity. Green is the color of rebirth, the color that gives hope for transformation. It is found in the second, "African" dream of Raskolnikov about the oasis, expressing an unconscious thirst for spiritual clarity and purity, but in reality this feeling is suppressed. Sonechka, the ideal of Christian meekness and humility, appears at the end of the work in a green scarf. The very moment when she puts it on is symbolic. This happens in Siberia, in prison, where she once again comes to visit Raskolnikov on the morning when a fracture occurs in the unrepentant murderer. Going to “work” in the morning, he sees the far shore, where “there was freedom, where people lived who were not like those here, it was as if time itself had stopped there, as if the times of Abraham and his flocks had not passed.” It is on this morning that Raskolnikov realizes that he loves Sonya endlessly, feels that he has risen, that at last "life has come."

So, we can conclude that the use of certain colors in the novel "Crime and Punishment" by F. M. Dostoevsky plays an important role in revealing the content of the entire work. The author uses in the description almost the entire range of color designations (black, lilac, blue, blue, brown, pink, etc.) and is not limited, as it may seem at first glance, to only the yellow palette.

The action of the novel "Crime and Punishment" takes place not on a square with fountains and palaces, and not on Nevsky Prospekt, which for contemporaries was a kind of symbol of prosperity, position in society, pomp and magnificence. Dostoevsky's Petersburg is disgusting slums, dirty taverns and brothels, narrow streets and gloomy nooks and crannies, cramped well-yards and dark backyards. It is stuffy here and there is nothing to breathe from the stench and dirt; on every corner there are drunks, ragamuffins, corrupt women.

Tragedies constantly occur in this city: from the bridge in front of Raskolnikov's eyes, a drunk woman throws herself into the water and drowns, Marmeladov dies under the wheels of a dandy gentleman's carriage, Svidrigailov commits suicide on the avenue in front of the tower, Katerina Ivanovna bleeds on the pavement, and on the boulevard Raskolnikov meets a young girl who “was drunk somewhere, deceived, and so they let her go out into the street.” Petersburg of Dostoevsky is sick, and sick, some morally, some physically, most of the characters in his works. A characteristic feature by which we recognize the environment and people affected by the disease is the irritating, intrusive, unhealthy yellow color. Yellow wallpaper and yellow wood furniture in the room of the old pawnbroker, Marmeladov’s yellow face from constant drunkenness, Raskolnikov’s yellow closet “like a closet or chest”, a suicide woman with a yellow, drunken face, yellowish wallpaper in Sonya’s room, “yellow furniture polished wood" in the office of Porfiry Petrovich, a ring With a yellow stone on his hand. Luzhin. These details reflect the hopeless atmosphere of the existence of the main characters of the novel, become harbingers of bad events.

Red is also a harbinger of bad events. A month and a half before the murder, Raskolnikov sets off to pawn "a small golden ring with three some kind of red pebbles" - a gift from his sister as a keepsake. "Red stones" become, as it were, harbingers of the inevitable shedding of blood. The color detail is repeated: the red lapels on Marmeladov's boots are noticed by Raskolnikov, whose thoughts persistently return to the crime.-..

Presentation on the topic: The symbolism of the yellow color in F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment"

Research work on literature The symbolism of yellow color in F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment"

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

Of the thirty novels, stories, short stories that make up the literary heritage of F.M. Dostoevsky, twenty can be singled out, where St. Petersburg is the main scene of action.

There are pages of genius in Crime and Punishment. The novel, as if poured out, is so built. With a limited number of characters, it seems that there are thousands and thousands of fates of unfortunate people in it - all of old Petersburg is visible from this unexpected angle. A lot of "horrors" are pumped up, to the point of unnaturalness... Wearable, demon! A. Fadeev

The purpose of the work is to identify and describe the functions of yellow in the text of the novel. Tasks: to find out what color vocabulary is used in the work under study; to identify the purposes of using yellow in the novel; to determine what mood it helps to convey; to consider what the choice of yellow color is when describing the interior , portrait and mental state of the hero; to study the functioning of the yellow color in the novel; to discover and comprehend the moral and philosophical problems exhibited in the coloristic structure of the work.

Functions of color in a work of art: 1. Distinctive, or descriptive, function: - descriptions of nature, - descriptions of the interior, - descriptions of the appearance of a person. 2. Characterizing function: - characterization of reality, - characterization of a person's state.

Symbolism of yellow color 1. Conditions associated with positive energy2. magical effect 3. Badge of distinction in society 4. Language of communication with gods and spirits. The language of rituals6. Signs and signals7. Negative symbolism of yellow and gold

Yellow in the novel by M. V. Lomonosov 4.6/13.5 V. K. Trediakovsky 1.8/23.6 A. P. Sumarokov 4.8/26.3 G. R. Derzhavin 2.5/17 ,5 V.V. Kapnist 4.2/29.6 A.S. Pushkin 4.3/16.3M. Yu. Lermontov 3.5 / 10.1F. I. Tyutchev 2.4 / 22.5N. V. Gogol 5.0/10.6 L. N. Tolstoy 7.9/1.7 F. M. Dostoevsky 10.6/2.5

Raskolnikov's room “It was a tiny cell, six paces long, which had the most miserable appearance with its yellowish, dusty wallpaper everywhere lagging behind the wall. "Later, this cell is again mentioned when Raskolnikov" became stuffy and cramped in this yellow closet, similar to a closet or a chest. chose one clumsy white flower, with some brown lines, and began to examine. ".

“It was a tiny cell, six paces long, which had the most miserable appearance with its yellowish, dusty wallpaper everywhere lagging behind the wall. »

Sonya's room “Yellowish, shabby and worn wallpaper turned black in all corners; it must have been damp and sultry in the winter.”

Apartment of the old usurer “A small room. with yellow wallpaper. The furniture, all very old and made of yellow wood, consisted of a sofa with a huge curved wooden back, a round oval table in front of the sofa, a toilet with a mirror in the wall, chairs along the walls, and two or three penny pictures in yellow frames. “In the hall it was very dark and empty, not a soul, as if everything had been carried out; softly, on tiptoe, he went into the living room: the whole room was brightly bathed in moonlight; everything is the same here: chairs, a mirror, a yellow sofa and framed pictures.

Portraits of heroes “His (Porfiry Petrovich) plump, round and slightly snub-nosed face was the color of a sick, dark yellow, but rather cheerful and even mocking.” “The stuffiness was the same; but greedily he breathed this stinking, dusty, city-infected air. His head began to spin a little; some kind of wild energy suddenly shone in his inflamed eyes and in his emaciated pale yellow face. ”(Raskolnikov)

Portraits of heroes “She forgot herself again, but this last oblivion did not last long. Her pale yellow, withered face threw back, her mouth opened, her legs stretched convulsively. She took a deep, deep breath and died. ”(Katerina Ivanovna)

The image of yellow Petersburg A person suffocates in Dostoevsky's Petersburg, in a city where the yellow color very brightly highlights the painful atmosphere of the city. It is no coincidence that the author draws attention to this particular color - the color of madness, which once again speaks of the incurable disease of St. Petersburg. Thus, the image of St. Petersburg was strongly associated in Russian literature with the color yellow.

For Dostoevsky, Petersburg is a city of contrasts: “humiliated and insulted” and “the powers that be”; it is a city where there is nothing to breathe, a city of indifference and inhumanity; it is a killer city, a ghost town, and a dead end city; this is horror and madness. Crazy city breeds crazy ideas, killer city breeds killer people.

Colors of Petersburg (Based on the novel by F. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment")

COLORS OF PETERSBURG
(Based on the novel by F. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment")

People have always associated colors with their feelings and experiences. Here in a poem by Dmitry Pavlychko we read: \"Red is love, and black is sadness\". We give symbolic meaning to other colors and shades in everyday life and on holidays.
For Dostoevsky, the disturbing coloring of life in St. Petersburg is associated with yellow, which is deeply antipathetic to him. Yellow is treason, it is a crime, it is a disease of the soul and body. This color accuses of treason, extramarital love. Yellow flowers should never be given.
But it is this color that dominates the landscapes of the big killer city. A yellow sun rises over the miasma-soaked and yellowish air of the impoverished capital. In the rooms where the two main characters live, the wallpaper, if it were not dirty, would also be of the same overwhelming color, from which there is no rest for the eyes and brain. Here is a former student doing his "test": "A small room into which a young man walked, with yellow wallpaper, ... was at that moment brightly lit by the sun was setting ... there was nothing special in the room. Furniture, all very old and made of yellow wood, and two or three money pictures in yellow frames ... \ »
There is something maniacal in the passion of Petersburgers for this purulent, sickly color. Svidrigailov's last path in his life passes between light yellow wooden houses, which create a kind of passage, very similar to what they build for a person forced to go "through the line". Only it's not "green", but yellow street. If we went out to the central streets and avenues built up with the palaces of Rastrelli, Rossi, Voronikhin, we would again see that same St. Petersburg Empire style. No wonder the hospital for the mentally ill is called the "yellow house" in all countries.
This terrible color follows at the beginning of the novel in Marmeladov’s story about his daughter: “I went on a yellow ticket”, that is, she became a prostitute, leaving her youth, her honor and her faith to the mercy of the gluttonous city, for she aroused the “commandments”, therefore, forever lost her soul ...
This terrible and accursed color floods the face of the deceased Katerina Ivanovna. \ «She forgot herself again, but this last oblivion did not last long. Pale yellow ... her face was thrown back ... \"
Together with Raskolnikov, they saw another incarnation of the yellow devil when they found Svidrigailov in a tavern. The former owner of Dunechka listened to the singing of some Katya, and letting her go, \ "poured a full glass of wine and laid out a little yellow ticket \". Guess what it is? Yes, this is the ruble, the only owner of the crazy city. Nothing but a piece of paper, behind it you can see the figure of "yellow metal", as it is written in the protocols.
It was for his sake that Svidrigailov married, and after losing his wife, he found a teenager as his bride. It was for the sake of the "yellow one" that the usurer lived and died under the axe. It is a goal and a weapon in the struggle of life. Remember how Luzhin planted a credit card to completely lose the already unfortunate people ... It's for the sake of the \"yellow devil \" they hunt the dishonored girls of the hostess of \"fun establishments\".
The colors of treason, crime, debauchery, illness, death, the color of money - the colors of the capital of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg

The symbolism of color in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"

The influence of color on the emotional state of a person has long been the subject of close study by psychologists. F.M. Dostoevsky uses certain colors to describe objects, heroes, to convey their inner world.

Purpose of the study: to analyze color painting in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" in connection with the change in the internal state of the protagonist based on the frequency of use of color.

To achieve the goal, you need to solve the following tasks:

2) perform a textual analysis of the novel "Crime and Punishment";

3) explain the features of color symbolism in psychology and in the novel "Crime and Punishment";

4) to analyze the color scheme in the novel in connection with the change in the internal state of the protagonist based on the frequency of use of color;

5) to identify the perception of the color scheme of the novel by students in grades 10-11, teachers and parents of the gymnasium.

Hypothesis: the color scheme in the novel "Crime and Punishment" is associated with the psychological state of the protagonist. We assume that for Dostoevsky color was necessary to create a special world around the characters, thanks to which the inner state of the protagonist is revealed.

Relevance our study is conditioned by the following facts: 1) a subtle psychological analysis of the hero's inner world is revealed more deeply through the prism of the symbolism of low color; 2) the study of the novel through the prism of color painting can increase interest in the work of F.M. Dostoevsky.

Practical significance work lies in the fact that in the course of the study we compared the symbolism of color in psychology and in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky, quotations from the work are classified, distributed in accordance with color, an analysis of color painting in the novel "Crime and Punishment" is carried out, so this work can be applied when studying the work of F.M. Dostoevsky for a better understanding of the inner world of the writer. The developed standard tasks in the Russian language and literature based on the novel can be used in the work of teachers and students both in the classroom and in self-study of the topic and in preparation for the exam.

Preview:

MBOU gymnasium of the village of Azovskaya, grade 10

SYMBOLS OF COLOR IN F.M. DOSTOYEVSKY "CRIME AND PUNISHMENT"

Supervisor: Prokhorova Natalya Georgievna, teacher of Russian language and literature, MBOU gymnasium of the village of Azovskaya

I. Symbolism of color

1.1. The symbolism of color in psychology

1.2. F.M. Dostoevsky. The novel "Crime and Punishment" in color

II. Analysis of the novel's color painting in connection with the change in the internal state of the characters based on the frequency of color use

List of used literature and sources

Since ancient times, people have attached particular importance to the "language of colors". Color preferences largely determine a person’s mood, attitude to reality, character and depend on many reasons: cultural level, age, gender, education, temperament and character, etc.

According to S.M. Solovyov’s word artists can be divided into two types: 1) colorists (for example, G.R. Derzhavin, N.V. Gogol, F.I. Tyutchev, etc.), for whom “color was a powerful tool of style” and who “very used color generously”; 2) “artists and writers who use color with extreme restraint”. In the book “Visual means in the work of F.M. Dostoevsky, the scientist devotes a separate chapter to the effect of color on the reader, notes the widespread use of yellow, red, green colors in the novels of F.M. Dostoevsky. From the point of view of S.M. Solovyov, “color saturation of the works of writers of the 60s of the XIX century, including F.M. Dostoevsky is very low. L. Dmitrieva in the article “The symbolism of color in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" notes that the novel is "very colorful" and the abundance of all kinds of shades in it helps to emotionally tune in to the perception of the work. HE. Kalenkov in the article "The color scheme in" Crime and Punishment "by F.M. Dostoevsky" writes: "F.M. Dostoevsky does not belong to the writers-colorists, but when reading his novel, one gets the impression of a rich color scheme. The influence of color on the emotional state of a person has long been the subject of close study by psychologists. F.M. Dostoevsky uses certain colors to describe objects, heroes, to convey their inner world.

The purpose of the study: to analyze the color painting in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" in connection with the change in the internal state of the protagonist based on the frequency of use of color.

To achieve the goal, you will need to solve the following tasks:

1) analyze literary and critical material on the topic of the work;

Hypothesis: the color scheme in the novel "Crime and Punishment" is associated with the psychological state of the protagonist. We assume that for Dostoevsky color was necessary to create a special world around the characters, thanks to which the inner state of the protagonist is revealed.

Research methods: literature analysis on the research question, comparative analysis, survey, interviewing, mathematical statistics method, as well as comparison of color associations.

The relevance of our study is determined by the following facts: 1) a subtle psychological analysis of the hero's inner world is revealed more deeply through the prism of the symbolism of low color; 2) the study of the novel through the prism of color painting can increase interest in the work of F.M. Dostoevsky.

The practical significance of the work lies in the fact that in the course of the study we compared the symbolism of color in psychology and in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky, quotations from the work are classified, distributed in accordance with color, an analysis of color painting in the novel "Crime and Punishment" is carried out, so this work can be applied when studying the work of F.M. Dostoevsky for a better understanding of the inner world of the writer. The developed standard tasks in the Russian language and literature based on the novel can be used in the work of teachers and students both in the classroom and in self-study of the topic and in preparation for the exam.

GLYZNUTSA Vasily Dmitrievich

Krasnodar Territory, Seversky District, the village of Azovskaya

SYMBOLS OF COLOR IN F.M. DOSTOYEVSKY’S NOVEL “CRIME AND PUNISHMENT”

I Symbolism of color

I.1 Color symbolism in psychology

Psychologists (Bazyma B.A., Kucherenko V.V., Petrenko V.F., Lusher M., Schwartz B.) believe that each color has its own meaning, and therefore affects consciousness in different ways. Colors evoke certain emotions, raise or lower mood. The famous German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe developed the theory of color and formulated the psychological states associated with the perception of color combinations in the famous "Teaching about Color". I.V. Goethe wrote: "Color is a product of light that evokes emotions." We do not take the expressions “blackened with grief”, “turned red with anger”, “turned green with anger”, “turned gray with fear” literally, but associate the emotional states of a person with a color that is able to express them. Emotions and color are "linked" to each other.

Yellow, according to a number of psychologists, is a symbol of holiness, sociability, lightness, ease, curiosity, looseness, courage, since ancient times it has been perceived as frozen sunlight, means wealth, youth, kindness, joy. This is the color of autumn, mature fading leaves and ears. M. Luscher believed that yellow is a "symbol of activity." Most often, this color leaves a warm and pleasant impression.

But according to the German psychotherapist Edd Klessman, this color also represents "envy and jealousy, greed and deceit". The negative symbolism of yellow is sin, betrayal, withering, sadness, despair, illness, death, the other world. Such expressions as “yellow press” (a publication that specializes in rumors, scandals, gossip) and “yellow house” (lunatic asylum) are well-known. The name "yellow house" comes from the color of the Obukhov hospital in St. Petersburg. Initially, the Charity House was painted in the traditional yellow color for St. Petersburg. Very soon this idiom became an allegory for all asylums. Judas Iscariot was portrayed in a yellow cloak as a Christ seller. The yellow color among the Slavic peoples is considered to be the color of jealousy, betrayal, and in Tibet jealousy is called "yellow eye". In medieval Spain, heretics were dressed in yellow when they were sentenced to be burned at the stake. A yellow card is a warning in some sports games. "Yellow ticket" - an identity card for corrupt women.

Red is the color of power, everything mystical, mysterious, associated with blood and fire. Its meanings are diverse and sometimes contradictory. According to E. Klessmann, "red can cause aggression and hatred." "Red symbolizes power, impulse, often causes excitement, anxiety." In many languages, the same word denotes the color red and, in general, everything beautiful, beautiful.

Red, according to Leonid Zapadenko, is the main heraldic color. On the banner, he symbolizes struggle, rebellion, revolution. It is interesting that among many tribes of Africa, America and Australia, warriors, preparing for a fight, painted themselves red. As K. Rowe points out, “in ancient China, the rebels called themselves “red warriors”. Red is a symbol of power. In Byzantium, only the empress could wear red boots.

According to most popular beliefs, black is associated with a dark night, a time when the forces of evil rule. Black eyes are still considered dangerous, envious. L.N. Mironova notes that “in the Russian folk language, the word “black” means something old, devoid of brilliance, as well as gloomy and sad: black humor, “drink like black”.

White is a spiritual guardian. It is the color of goodness, good luck, healing and purification, innocence, joy and virtue. E. Klessmann believed that "... white symbolizes purity, but it can evoke associations with sadness, mourning." He likes people of different types and temperaments. From the point of view of Max Luscher, "in Christianity, white denotes kinship with a deity." Saints, righteous people, angels are depicted in white.

But the white color can also have the opposite meaning: to denote evil, suffering, death, illness. It seems to absorb all colors and correlates with emptiness, with death. No wonder our ancestors dressed the dead in white clothes and covered them with a white shroud. Some tribes in Africa and Australia paint the body with white paint in case of death of loved ones. In China, white is the color of mourning; white mourning was also used among the Slavs in the old days. According to Mironova L.N., “... in Russian poetry of the beginning of the century, white is associated with negative emotions and with thoughts turned to the other world.”

The green color among many peoples symbolized youth and fun, although sometimes insufficient perfection. According to E. Klessman, green represents hope and, on the contrary, illness. Green is both calming and depressing. S. Eisenstein writes about the symbolism of green: "... the color of the revival of the soul and wisdom." And it is no coincidence that longing is called “green”, and the person himself “turns green” with anger. Iranians associate the green color with misfortune, sorrow, therefore they say about the unfortunate person “green leg”, and about the cemetery - “green house”.

Blue color in many countries is a symbol of fidelity and openness, kindness and honesty. According to E. Klessman, it expresses "peace, fidelity, but it can mean madness." Hegel believed that "the color blue corresponds to meekness, intelligence and sentimentality."

L.N. Mironova writes that "in medieval Europe, blue was the color of the costume of a knight who wanted to demonstrate loyalty to his lady in love." Sign of high origin - "blue blood".

Petrenko V.F., Kucherenko V.V. note: “In some countries, the blue color has symbolic meanings similar to black: it is considered mourning in Ancient Egypt, the French call horror “blue fear”, and among the Slavic peoples, blue, the color of sadness, was associated with the demonic world. Ancient legends describe black and blue demons.

The ancient symbolism of color and its interpretation in various cultures is also confirmed in modern theories that claim that color and the emotional state of a person are interconnected. The correspondence between color and internal state was studied by the German poet, statesman, thinker and naturalist I. Goethe, the Swiss psychologist M. Luscher, associate professor of the department of social psychology of the Kharkov State Academy of Culture Bazyma B.A., psychotherapist Row K. and others. Research conducted by Russian psychologists V.F. Petrenko and V.V. Kucherenko, confirm the relationship between the emotional state of a person and his choice of certain colors as preferred.

In this chapter, we have given characteristics of the positive and negative meanings of color, summarized the opinions of psychologists, historians and writers on the correspondence between color and the dominant emotional state of a person. The sequence of presentation is due to the frequency of the use of these colors in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment".

I .2 F.M. Dostoevsky. The novel "Crime and Punishment" in color

Color has always had and is of great importance in human life, which is also reflected in fiction. When we read a work, a picture of what is happening with its specific colors appears in our imagination. The color scheme affects our representation of the characters described, the world around them.

In the works of F.M. Dostoevsky, color has a symbolic meaning and serves to reveal the state of mind of the characters. In Crime and Punishment, various colors and their shades are quite common, and this cannot be an accident. The whole novel, in our opinion, is subordinate to the main idea, which is revealed in Raskolnikov's theory. The idea of ​​dividing people into “trembling creatures” and “having the right” is inextricably linked with the living conditions of the protagonist, with the world of St. Petersburg corners. Color plays a special role in the work.

Many critics note the predominance of yellow in the color scheme of the novel. What is its symbolism? In psychology, yellow, on the one hand, is associated with illness when it comes to a person, and on the other hand, when talking about things, the yellow color resembles something golden, sunny, and evokes joyful emotions. But in the novel Crime and Punishment, the yellow color in the descriptions of both people and things is always a painful color.

Yellow color is very impulsive, pushing a person to action, activating the activity of the brain. This color accompanies Raskolnikov throughout the novel, and his thoughts are really very restless, and his actions are impulsive. Sometimes the hero falls into unconsciousness, sometimes he becomes very active.

Raskolnikov has a "scrawny, pale yellow face", his room had the most miserable appearance "with its yellowish, dusty wallpaper everywhere lagging behind the wall". Dostoevsky compares the protagonist's miserable dwelling with a yellow closet. Nastasya placed in front of Rodion, who was in a painful state, “her own cracked teapot, with tea already asleep, and put two yellow pieces of sugar”. When Rodion becomes ill, he is served "a yellow glass filled with yellow water". The “yellow glass”, that is, not washed for a long time, with a touch of rust, and yellow water are directly related to the hero’s illness, to his fainting state.

The word “yellow” itself acquires an oppressive sound, apparently because in the first part of the novel its synonym is “bilious”. The writer uses this word to describe the internal state of the characters, in this situation it has an additional meaning - angry, bitter. A heavy, bilious, evil smile snaked across his lips. He lay his head on his skinny and worn-out pillow and thought, thought for a long time. Finally, he felt stuffy and cramped in this yellow closet. Something oppressive, importunate is heard in these phrases! It seems to take your breath away! Let's listen to the description of the main character's housing: “He woke up bilious, irritable, angry and looked at his closet with hatred. It was a tiny cell, about six paces long, which had the most miserable appearance with its yellow, dusty wallpaper everywhere lagging behind the wall, and so low that a slightly tall person felt terrified in it. Here, as it were, an evil hiss is heard: a quiet, but annoying sound is annoying. How can you not go crazy in such an environment!

Scientists have found that the color of the interior has a significant impact on a person’s well-being, and in different ways: some color depresses, irritates, causes depression, and some, on the contrary, calms, reduces stress, gives energy and joy to life. When color harmony is achieved in the interior, a person begins to feel comfort on a subconscious level. Otherwise, a feeling of anxiety arises, irritation comes, and this, in our opinion, is what happens to Raskolnikov. Such an environment suffocates, crushes, makes you hatch monstrous theories.

Imagine that you hear a monotonous, continuous sound. It seems that it penetrates you, fills every cell. The abundance of some color also acts in the same way: it seems to accumulate inside and from there it has a depressing effect on the brain.

The yellow tone is used in the description of premises, appearance and other characters and creates an atmosphere of ill health, sadness, nervous breakdown, and general depression. Alena Ivanovna is dressed in a yellowed fur katsaveyka, in her room - “yellow wallpaper”, “yellow wood furniture”, “pictures in yellow frames”. In Porfiry Petrovich's office there is state-owned furniture "made of yellow, polished wood", and his face is "sick, dark yellow". Katerina Ivanovna has a “pale yellow, withered face”, Marmeladov’s “swollen from constant drunkenness, a yellow face”, in Sonya’s room there are “yellowish shredded and worn wallpapers”, and Sonya herself “went on a yellow ticket”. Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin had "a large, massive, extremely beautiful ring with a yellow stone". These details reflect the hopeless atmosphere of the existence of the characters in the novel, become harbingers of bad events.

In addition, one more meaning of yellow is guessed here: it reminds us of the sun, and it is associated with power, greatness. The idea of ​​power is the basis of Raskolnikov's theory: "power over the whole anthill", over trembling creatures. In addition, the action of the novel takes place in St. Petersburg, and this is the city of the "golden bag".

As a truly subtle psychologist, F.M. Dostoevsky managed to show the atmosphere of the city with the help of color: Petersburg is given in yellow tones. Raskolnikov, standing on the bridge, sees a woman "with a yellow, oblong, exhausted face." Suddenly, she jumps into the water. This scene embodies the motif of hopelessness, when a person "has nowhere to go." The bright yellow houses on Bolshoy Prospekt, not far from which Svidrigailov shot himself, look dull and dirty.

The yellow color when reading a novel oppresses us, it often shows illness, poverty, death. Raskolnikov sits alone in his "yellow closet", before his death, Svidrigailov rents a room in a cheap hotel, and in his room - all the same dirty, yellow wallpaper.

The yellow color, which became dirty in the novel, is lives, abilities and talents obscured by dirt, unclaimed human capabilities. But F.M. Dostoevsky makes us understand that his characters deserve a normal life.

Thus, the yellow color, which prevails in the description of the heroes and the objects surrounding them, creates the impression of general wretchedness and morbidity. A person suffocates in Dostoevsky's Petersburg, as in "rooms without window vents." It's scary for the people who live here. All of them are surrounded by overwhelming yellowness. It seems as if we are watching the characters through the "yellow glasses". The yellow color has a strong impact on the characters and the reader, it is the engine of the plot, determining the fate of the characters. Dirty yellow, dull yellow, painful yellow color causes depression, inner oppression, mental instability.

The color red is also used ambiguously in the novel, it has many shades, and therefore can be interpreted in different ways. It is connected mainly with the image of Raskolnikov. In his first dream, he sees "big, drunken men in red shirts." One of them has a "fleshy, red face like a carrot". Nearby sits a "lady" in red. Raskolnikov sees the sunset of the "bright, red sun". A month and a half before the murder, Raskolnikov lays "a small golden ring with three some kind of red pebbles" - a gift from his sister. "Red stones" become, as it were, harbingers of the inevitable shedding of blood. The color detail is repeated: Raskolnikov, whose thoughts persistently return to the crime, notices the "red lapels" on Marmeladov's boots, in the tavern shows Zametov "red credit cards". Raskolnikov, standing on the bridge, "some red circles spun in his eyes," and everything "spun and danced around." Then he saw a woman, tall, with a scarf on her head and with reddish, sunken eyes, who threw herself into the ditch. Whether in reality, or in a dream, again being in the apartment of the old money-lender, Raskolnikov saw "a huge, round, copper-red moon", which looked directly into the windows. The red color here embodies aggression, disease.

F.M. Dostoevsky uses red color when depicting scenes of cruelty and anger. The episode of Raskolnikov's murder of an old pawnbroker is painted in a bloody color: “blood gushed out like from an overturned glass”, “a whole pool of blood”, “red morocco”, “red set”. Wiping his blood-stained hands, Rodion thinks: “Red, but on red, the blood is more inconspicuous.” In this case, red means the beginning of activity: the pulse rises, breathing quickens, pressure rises. After the first blow with an ax on the head of Alena Ivanovna, strength came to Raskolnikov, an animal thirst for blood is felt. It is no coincidence that the men from Raskolnikov's first dream, finishing off the horse, were also drunk and red. If at the beginning of the novel Alena Ivanovna's apartment is described in yellow, then after the murder it acquires a red tint, reminiscent of the color of blood. In the apartment there was “a significant laying, more than a arshin in length, with a convex roof, upholstered in red morocco… On top, under a white sheet, lay a hare coat, covered with a red set…”. The contrast of yellow and red makes a strong impression on Raskolnikov.

More often, red, scarlet, crimson are used as colors of vulgar satiety: these are the red lapels of the smart, oiled boots of the owner of the tavern; and a crimson-red lady, very magnificently dressed, some kind of "Munich German with a red nose." But the same color appears on the face of a young man in love during his extreme embarrassment: “red, like a peony, lanky and awkward, the ashamed Razumikhin entered.”

Dostoevsky uses red to depict sick people. Drunk Marmeladov has "reddish eyes", "red hands". Red spots constantly appeared on the face of Katerina Ivanovna, who was ill with consumption. In a moment of despair, Katerina Ivanovna “dressed up” her children: “the boy was wearing a turban made of something red and white so that he portrayed himself as a Turk. There were not enough suits for Lenya; only a red hat knitted from garus was put on her head. Svidrigailov is watching a peasant "with an extremely curly head and with a red, inflamed face." During the confession of the dying Marmeladov, describing the portrait of Sonechka, he uses a “fiery” color. Here the writer was able to convey the defiant brightness of the vulgar, flashy outfit, emphasizing its absurdity for the given situation and for his mistress herself - this surprisingly pure and doomed to shame creature.

In the novel, shades of red are also “hidden” in the names of the characters. For example, Porfiry in Greek is “burnt red”, purple, crimson, and porphyry is purple. Thus, we see that the name is not accidental for the one who will "torture" Raskolnikov.

The color is also the name of Raskolnikov himself. Rodion in Greek means pink. Strange term for a killer. In psychology, pink means tenderness, a desire to escape reality. Indeed, in the novel we see the sincere, kind deeds of the hero, which convinces of the sensitivity and vulnerability of his soul.

Thus, everything positive, joyful in the life of the characters is so obscured, blurred and muffled that the aggressive principle begins to dominate in a person.

Black stands out against the background of yellow and red. But in the novel, unlike the generally accepted, black color symbolizes the power of evil. When Raskolnikov climbed the “black” staircase, “dark and narrow”, to the dark apartment of Alena Ivanovna, he did not yet know whether he would decide to kill. When he comes there for the second time, "two sharp and incredulous eyes stared at him from the darkness." Entering this terrible room, the hero seemed to have stepped into a dark, hopeless night, into a night that dooms him to death. In a vision, Raskolnikov climbed "the back staircase, completely dark, and from somewhere came the Sunday ringing of bells."

Raskolnikov's eyes are interesting: "beautiful dark", "black inflamed", "black eyes inflamed with anger". Avdotya Romanovna's eyes were a little lighter than those of her brother: "the eyes are almost black." Pyotr Petrovich felt deep indignation against the “black ingratitude”, “the black snake of stung pride sucked his heart all night”, because he “thought to hold them (Dunya and her mother) in a black body”.

Contrasting with black, white is a symbol of innocence, purity, but at the same time, sadness and sorrow. The meek Sonechka had blond hair, Lizaveta was “all white as a sheet”, a white transparent scarf was tied around Dunya’s neck, and a fragment of a white ostrich feather was stuck in Leni’s hat. It is strange that Svidrigailov's hair is the same, "a little bit with gray hair." It can be concluded that for Dostoevsky the same color can mean both holiness and only a shell behind which a sinful nature is hidden.

Svidrigailov, before committing suicide, sees in a dream a dead girl “in a white tulle dress” lying on a table covered with “white satin shrouds”, white gradenaple, white thick ruffle, marble hands, blond hair. Such a number of repetitions was not even in the scene of the murder of the old money-lender! Special mention must be made of the "white and tender daffodils" leaning on bright green stems. Daffodils are flowers of mourning; in some countries they were placed on the dead. The stems of these flowers are "bright green, plump and long". Bright green is the color of a freedom-loving, independent person. Apparently, such was the girl who was killed by Svidrigailov. She did not want to live with shame and chose to die.

The appearance of "clean linen" falls on the threshold points through which the characters pass. These are new white wallpapers in the old woman's apartment and a whitewashed room where Raskolnikov hid immediately after the murder ... - a hint of a possible revival of the hero.

The rest of the colors in the novel are also not random. The green color differs from the rest of the color scheme of the work, it stands out for its freshness and purity. For example, in Raskolnikov's first dream, we see a "gray time", a "suffocating day", a forest blackening in the distance, black road dust, scary faces, and then a stone church with a green dome. Using green in the first dream, the author emphasizes that kindness is under the veil of holiness. Further, more than once, green is shown as the color of protection, cover. The greenery of trees and grass is a rest for Raskolnikov: “At first, his tired eyes, accustomed to city dust, lime and huge, crowding and crushing houses, liked the greenery and freshness.”

Green is a color that gives hope for transformation. There is almost no greenery in the work, although the events take place in July. A bright symbol is a green draded kerchief. Sonya wrapped herself in it after sacrificing herself for the sake of her neighbors, as if wanting to find peace under his cover, because the green color is a symbol of the Virgin. On the last pages of the novel, Sonechka again appears in a green scarf. She puts it on in jail on the morning when a turning point occurs in the unrepentant murderer: Raskolnikov realizes that he loves Sonya, feels that he has risen.

The daughter of an elderly merchant, who mistook Raskolnikov for a beggar and gave him money, was holding a green umbrella in her hands. It is impossible not to draw a parallel: the dome of the church from Raskolnikov's dream, Sonya's scarf, an umbrella in the hands of a girl ... They are protection, and the green color indicates that these compassionate people are under the holy cover. Yes, and the house in which Sonya lived was green.

Waking up after his terrible dream, Raskolnikov sits under a tree, the green crown of which resembles a church dome, as if transferred to reality. Here Raskolnikov comes to the idea of ​​the "ugliness" of his dream.

Color has healing properties, and its absence has a detrimental effect on human health. Color is life. Today, many scientists recognize the fact that the bright colors of the world are necessary for a person for a healthy existence. The lack of color leads to the appearance of "color hunger", which turns out to be the cause of neuropsychiatric diseases. This is exactly what happens to Raskolnikov in St. Petersburg.

It is significant that Raskolnikov's spiritual "recovery" begins in Siberia. When he looked at the opposite bank, a landscape appeared before him, in which there was neither oppressive yellowness, nor aggressive redness. There was only space in it, overflowing. And Raskolnikov was finally freed from the closeness of the cramped streets, from the painful anguish that squeezed his heart. He gained love and faith in a prosperous future.

Very sharply against the background of a painful yellow, red color, the color of the eyes of the heroes stands out. They are unusual for Sonya Marmeladova: “She was small, eighteen years old, thin, but pretty pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes.”

Blue color symbolizes infinity and fidelity. Carefully contemplating this color, you can feel how a state of peace arises. It is enough to remember how wonderful it is to observe a clear blue sky. According to psychologists, blue is often preferred by people seeking to devote themselves to noble deeds and spiritual achievements. It is the nobility and self-sacrifice of Sonechka that Dostoevsky emphasizes with the blue color of the heroine's eyes. Thanks to Sonya, a turning point occurs in the unrepentant killer.

In Sonya's room, in addition to "yellowish, shabby and worn wallpaper", there is one more color spot - a blue tablecloth. It is believed that a person who prefers the color blue is distinguished by reasonableness, a philosophical mood. Sophia means wise, and blue and blue, the colors of a clear sky, emphasize the depth of her soul. Raskolnikov's "wonderful blue water" and "wonderful blue eyes" Sonechka, dreamed of by Raskolnikov, are interconnected. Before the murder of the old woman, it seemed to Raskolnikov that he was in the desert and greedily drinking water from a babbling stream. Just as water was a salvation for him, so Sonechka, with her bottomless blue eyes, is necessary for the hero.

Svidrigailov also has blue eyes, but they make a completely different impression. According to the author, "they looked coldly, intently and thoughtfully." These "were too blue eyes, and their gaze was somehow too heavy and motionless." It can be concluded that, F.M. Dostoevsky used the nuances of the same color in different ways. The blue color of the eyes of the vicious, internally devastated Svidrigailov acquires a strange, dual meaning, complements the characterization of a scoundrel and a libertine. The blue color of his eyes is used with the word "too", which is immediately alarming. Svidrigailov himself, with his blue eyes, looks disgusting.

The blue color is also used as a means of enhancing irony in a caricature scene to describe the toilet of Louise Ivanovna - "a magnificent, crimson-red lady", the mistress of a "noble house".

Gray is also found in the novel: such was the clothes that Razumikhin bought for Raskolnikov. This color is typical for a person who is afraid to loudly declare himself. The hero is not like that, he does not classify himself as a “trembling creature”, therefore he does not want not only to wear such clothes, but also to try them on. Yes, the hero wanted to be invisible for a while, but his real goal was to be exceptional, maybe that's why he wore an old red hat.

Dullness in relation to people speaks of their worthlessness, downtroddenness, inability to manifest and realize themselves. Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin is a very respectable man, but in fact empty. F.M. Dostoevsky repeatedly emphasizes his insignificance, spiritual failure. He even has a telling surname - Luzhin, but the puddle is colorless. Colorlessness and spiritual emptiness for a writer are one and the same.

So, we can conclude that the use of certain colors in the novel "Crime and Punishment" plays an important role in revealing the content of the entire work. The color scheme of the novel corresponds to its plot scheme and ideological content, helps to reveal the idea of ​​the work, the characters' characters and their state of mind.

The writer influences the reader through the image through color. He uses words that help the reader to imagine what is described in the work, while leaving their mark on the personality, worldview, style of the author. The results of the study of color symbolism in Crime and Punishment convince us that the choice of colors in the novel should not be considered as an accidental or insignificant phenomenon.