“Crime and Punishment” is one of the most famous and widely read novels by F.M. Dostoevsky. The novel brought him fame. Here he touches on the same theme as in the novels The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov, the theme of sin and redemption. In most of his works, Dostoevsky tells about the degradation of Russian society and the family. This novel was no exception, since we are talking about a poor student Raskolnikov, who kills the old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta Ivanovna, kills for the highest goal, to free people from her oppression.
Since the novel contains the planning of the murder, the investigation and the decision of the judge, it can be called criminal. But the novel also contains elements of other genres. It is considered psychological, since Raskolnikov's inner world before and after the crime, the path to Siberia, where he is serving his sentence, is fully revealed.
Also, through the life of Raskolnikov, we can follow the life of the alcoholic Marmeladov and his family: his sick wife Katerina Ivanovna and daughter Sonya, who will sacrifice her life for the sake of her family.
In addition, there is the family of Marfa Petrovna, which, together with other characters, symbolizes poverty, opening through them the kingdom of the poor. The novel can be called social, since there is a clear division of society into rich and poor. In addition, the novel has philosophical tendencies, since it tells about a murder committed for ethical reasons, in which Raskolnikov passionately believes.
He formed the idea of extraordinary people who have a greater right to break laws in order to achieve the highest goal that will help humanity. The novel consists of 6 parts and an epilogue. The murder and the murderer are presented in the first part, the investigation and internal battles of Raskolnikov in the subsequent parts.
Genre: novel
Subject: Raskolnikov is tormented by the idea of justice, and he will understand this as soon as he kills Alena Ivanovna, the old pawnbroker, making the poor happier with their money. After the murder, his conscience does not allow him to live in peace.
Place: Russia
Time: 19th century
Crime and punishment retelling
The time span of the story is only 9 and a half days, the action takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia. Everything takes place in the 19th century. The story revolves around a young, poor law student, Rodion Raskolnikov. He skips more and more lectures, and absorbs more and more Western European ideas.
Raskolnikov believes that humanity is divided into two parts. Ordinary mortals who must live in harmony with the laws and exceptions, such as Napoleon, who can commit any crime if they can offer something more valuable to humanity in return.
Raskolnikov decides to realize his ideas in life by killing Alena Ivanovna. She was an old, greedy pawnbroker, by killing her, at least more than a thousand people would be saved. With her disappearance, many would be simply happy, for example, her sister Lizaveta Ivanovna, who suffers from the harassment of her older sister. At first, Raskolnikov pushes these thoughts away from himself, although he had already decided to develop a plan for the murder for himself, but he was not completely sure that he could pull off this plan.
He depends on many small details that incite him to commit crimes, such as letters from his mother. Conversations with Marmeladov, meeting with Sonya. His mother wrote that the only way to save her sister from Svidrigailov was to marry her to Luzhin. The money and position she can get will help Raskolnikov finish law school. He was not able to accept such a sacrifice of his sister, and the sad Sonya also plunges him into even more depression. In the end, he learns that the old pawnbroker is left alone at about 7 o'clock.
After an internal struggle, he comes to Alena's apartment. Kills an old, greedy woman. But things get complicated as Lizaveta suddenly appears. Raskolnikov had to kill her too.
He begins to panic, because he does not know what to take with him at this moment. He grabs a few things and runs away. After the murder, he falls ill, and spends several days in a semi-conscious state. Razumikhin is his friend taking care of him. While Raskolnikov is sick and lying in bed, Luzhin, his sister's wealthy fiancé, visits him.
In fact, Luzhin is looking for a poor and useful woman who will be grateful to him for the rest of her life. He wants to find someone who will serve him and remain faithful forever. Raskolnikov asks him to leave, because he is against the superiority that he demonstrates in relation to his sister.
When Raskolnikov gets better, he gets out of bed and decides to go out and read the newspapers. He wants to know the description of the crime from the newspapers. He comes close to telling the cop everything and is making himself the number one suspect as he returns to the scene of the crime.
Raskolnikov is surrounded by terrible things. He witnessed the death of Marmeladov. He is hit by a wagon when he tries to cross the road drunk. Raskolnikov wants to help by giving money to the widow.
He finds Dunya's sister and mother in his room. They are preparing for the wedding, but Raskolnikov is against this marriage. He does not want his sister to marry such a pathetic and terrible person. Also Svidrigailov, Dunya's ex-employer, whose wife died a suspicious death, comes to town.
Dunya was hired to work for him as a nanny, and Svidrigailov wanted to seduce her. He asks Raskolnikov to arrange a meeting with Dunya, and even offers a lot of money, but Dunya and Raskolnikov come to the conclusion that a connection with such a suspicious person would be out of the ordinary.
While the plot turns towards the lovers Razumikhin and Dunya, Raskolnikov asks the police to come and take the watch he pawned for Alena. He is put in an awkward position, since Porfiry Petrovich asks a tricky question. The plot suddenly takes an unexpected turn when the artist Nikoy confesses to the crime.
Now he can be happy and free from accusations, but Raskolnikov's conscience haunts him. He wants to confess to the murder.
He comes to Marmeladov's daughter Sonya. With her family now in even greater distress, she has no other choice but to turn to prostitution to support her family.
Despite her work, she is a woman of high morals, and is very religious. She advised Raskolnikov to confess and repent for his crimes. He soon learns that Nikolai only confessed because he was a religious fanatic, believing that he could make amends for his sins by taking on others'.
The story takes a twist when Svidrigailov overhears a conversation between Raskolnikov and Sonya, in which he confesses to Alena's murder. Since he receives valuable information, he decides to use it to blackmail Dunya. Dunya rejects, and shoots him. The bullet only scratches him, but then he takes the gun and kills himself.
Svidrigailov leaves all the money to Duna, Sonya and Marmeladov's children. Thus, he decided to do one good thing by ending his bad life.
In the end, Raskolnikov confesses to his deed. He is sentenced to eight years in Siberia. Sonya decides to join him and next to her he goes through a spiritual renewal.
Characters: Rodion Raskolnikov, Marmeladov, Katerina Ivanovna, Alena Ivanovna, Lizaveta, Sonya, Dunya, Porfiry, Svidrigailov, Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova, Razumikhin, Luzhin ...
Character Analysis
Rodion Raskolnikov is the protagonist of the novel. He is tall and has dark eyes. Forced to live in a small room in St. Petersburg, which reminds him of a coffin, where the streets are dirty with waste. He is described as a law student with a sensitive nature, representing both a criminal and a righteous man.
One of the starting points of the crime novel is the motive of the crime
(revenge, passion, mental imbalance…) The hero enjoys the moments when he feels in control of the situation. Raskolnikov is a more complex character than an ordinary criminal. He wants to prove his point by committing murder, and for him the crime is nothing but a moral decision, because he kills the pawnbroker who wears other people out of fear. Thus, he tested his moral and psychic strength.
The protagonist thinks that if he is able to kill the bastard who was the cause of pain in society, then he clearly belongs to the elect, the driving force that will be perceived as a creation of history.
A person can only take someone's life for a higher purpose. The main character wants to help the Marmeladov family. He does not think about the profit from the murder.
He fell ill in Siberia, and his ego was also hurt. He did not suffer, accepting life broadly, but not being able to achieve the highest goal. And only love could cure him, Sonya makes him read the Gospel. The Christian way of thinking conquers his mind and he becomes a different person.
Alena Ivanovna- an old, greedy pawnbroker who is killed by Raskolnikov. He wanted to kill her in good intentions for humanity.
Marmeladov is an alcoholic whose family lives in poverty. He is a true example of life, becomes unhappy due to sad events, and becomes a victim of his own vice.
Sonya- Marmeladov's daughter becomes a prostitute to feed her family. She helps Raskolnikov change.
Dunya- Raskolnikov's sister, is described as a person capable of doing something for her family. She was even ready to get married for money.
Fyodor Dostoevsky biography
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881) Russian novelist, side by side with Tolstoy, one of the best writers of Russian realism. He lived a difficult life in poverty, was sick with epilepsy. He suffered a death sentence, a Siberian prison and the death of loved ones.
To please his father, he entered the military academy in January 1838, when he was 16 years old. He never liked studying there. He began writing at the age of 20, in May 1845 he wrote his first novel Poor People.
A big turn in life involved - in the utopian idea of a socialist society, because of which he was sentenced to death in 1849. But he was saved by hard labor in Siberia, where he spent 10 years.
Early in his career, he followed in the footsteps of Gogol and introduced some of the ideas of social policy. After serving the sentence described in the work “Notes from the Underground” in 1861, he not only left the path of revolution, but also condemned this idea (the novel “Demons” from 1871 - 1872) and plunged deeply into the world of mysticism and the Orthodox Church.
Dostoevsky worked as a journalist. He began to travel around Western Europe, where he became a gambler, which led to financial difficulties. He borrowed money for a while, but eventually became one of the most widely read Russian writers.
His books have been translated into over 170 languages. His main novels are Crime and Punishment, Poor People, Notes from the Underground, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov.
He died in January 1881 from a pulmonary hemorrhage.
The works of F.M. Dostoevsky are included in the golden fund of world literature, his novels are read all over the world, so far they have not lost their relevance. "Crime and Punishment" is one of these timeless works, touching on the themes of faith and unbelief, strength and weakness, humiliation and greatness. The author skillfully draws the situation, immerses the reader into the atmosphere of the novel, helping to better understand the characters and their actions, making them think.
In the center of the plot is Rodion Raskolnikov, a student who is mired in poverty. And it's not just the lack of money for some pleasure, it's poverty, which destroys, drives you crazy. It's a closet like a coffin, rags and not knowing if you're going to eat tomorrow. The hero is forced to leave the university, but he cannot improve his affairs in any way, he feels the injustice of his position, he sees around him the same destitute and humiliated.
Raskolnikov is proud, sensitive and intelligent, the atmosphere of poverty and injustice presses on him, which is why a terrible and destructive theory is born in his head. It lies in the fact that people are divided into lower (“ordinary”) and higher (“actually people”). The former are needed only to maintain the population of people, they are useless. But the latter move civilization forward, put forward completely new ideas and goals that can be achieved by any means. For example, the hero compares himself with Napoleon and comes to the conclusion that he is also able to change the world and set his own price for changes. In this sense, he is no different from the old pawnbroker who evaluated the things brought to her. Be that as it may, Rodion decided to test this theory on himself (“Am I a trembling creature or do I have rights?”), Killing an old pawnbroker and not only, saving thousands of people from her arbitrariness, and improving his own financial situation.
Why did Raskolnikov still kill the old pawnbroker?
The hero hesitates for a long time and nevertheless affirms his decision after meeting with the official Marmeladov, who drinks black, impoverishing himself, his wife Katerina Ivanovna, her children, and daughter Sonya (she is generally forced to work as a prostitute to help her family) . Marmeladov understands his fall, but he cannot help himself. And when a horse crushed him drunk, the situation of the family turned out to be even more disastrous. It was to these people who were ruined by poverty that he decided to help. Comparing their plight with the unfair satisfaction of Alena Ivanovna, the hero came to the conclusion that his theory is correct: society can be saved, but this salvation will require human sacrifice. Having decided and committed the murder, Raskolnikov falls ill and feels lost to people (“I didn’t kill the old woman ... I killed myself”). The hero cannot accept the love of his mother and sister Dunya, the care of his friend Razumikhin.
Raskolnikov's twins: Luzhin and Svidrigailov
Also a double is Svidrigailov, who tried to seduce Dunya. He is the same criminal, guided by the principle of "a single evil is permissible" if the end goal is good." It would seem that it is similar to the theory of Rodion, but it was not there: his goal should be good only from a hedonistic point of view and for Svidrigailov himself. If the hero did not see pleasure in her for himself, then he did not notice anything good. It turns out that he did evil for the benefit of himself, moreover, for the benefit of his depravity. If Luzhin wanted a caftan, that is, material well-being, then this hero longed to satisfy his base passions and nothing more.
Raskolnikov and Sonya Marmeladova
Tortured and languishing, Raskolnikov draws closer to Sonya, who also broke the law, like the hero. But the girl remained pure in her soul, she is more of a martyr than a sinner. She sold her innocence for a symbolic 30 rubles, just as Judas sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver. At this price, she saved the family, but betrayed herself. The vicious environment did not prevent her from remaining a deeply religious girl and perceiving what was happening as a necessary sacrifice. Therefore, the author notes that the vice did not touch her spirit. With her timid demeanor, her incessant shame, the girl contradicted the vulgarity and impudence of the representatives of her profession.
Sonya reads to Rodion about the resurrection of Lazarus, and he confesses to the murder, believing in his own resurrection. He did not confess to the investigator Porfiry Petrovich, who already knew about his guilt, did not confess to his mother, sister, Razumikhin, but chose Sonya, feeling salvation in her. And this intuitive feeling was confirmed.
The meaning of the epilogue in the novel "Crime and Punishment"
However, Raskolnikov did not repent at all, he was only upset that he could not stand the moral torment and turned out to be an ordinary person. Because of this, he again experiences a spiritual crisis. Once in hard labor, Rodion looks down on the prisoners and even on Sonya, who followed him. The convicts answer him with hatred, but Sonya is trying to make life easier for Raskolnikov, because she loves him with all her pure soul. The prisoners sensitively responded to the caress and kindness of the heroine, they understood her silent feat without words. Sonya remained a martyr to the end, trying to atone for both her sin and the sin of her lover.
In the end, the truth is revealed to the hero, he repents of the crime, his soul begins to revive, and he is imbued with "endless love" for Sonya. The readiness of the hero for a new life is symbolically expressed by the author in a gesture when Rodion joins the sacraments of the Bible. In Christianity, he finds the consolation and humility necessary for his proud character to restore inner harmony.
"Crime and Punishment": the history of the creation of the novel
F.M. Dostoevsky did not immediately come up with a title for his work, he had options “Under Trial”, “The Criminal's Tale”, and the title known to us appeared already at the end of the work on the novel. The meaning of the title "Crime and Punishment" is revealed in the composition of the book. At the beginning, Raskolnikov, seized by the delusions of his theory, kills an old pawnbroker, violating moral laws. Further, the author debunks the hero's delusions, Rodion himself suffers, then ends up in hard labor. This is his punishment for putting himself above everyone around him. Only repentance gave him a chance to save his soul. The author also shows the inevitability of punishment for any crime. And this punishment is not only legal, but also moral.
In addition to the variability in the title, the novel originally had a different concept. Being in hard labor, the writer conceived the novel as Raskolnikov's confession, wanting to show the hero's spiritual experience. Further, the scale of the work became larger, it could not be limited to the feelings of one hero, so F.M. Dostoevsky burned the almost finished novel. And he began anew, already the way the modern reader knows him.
The subject of the work
The main themes of "Crime and Punishment" are the themes of poverty and oppression of the majority of society, on which no one gives a damn, as well as the themes of rebellion and delusions of the individual under the yoke of social disorder and suffocating poverty. The writer wanted to convey to the readers his Christian ideas about life: for harmony in the soul, one must live morally, according to the commandments, that is, not to yield to pride, selfishness and lust, but to do good to people, love them, sacrificing even their own interests for the good of society. That is why at the end of the epilogue Raskolnikov repents and comes to faith. The problem of false beliefs raised in the novel is still relevant today. The theory of the protagonist about permissiveness and the crime of morality for the sake of good goals leads to terror and arbitrariness. And if Raskolnikov overcame a split in his soul, repented and came to harmony, having overcome the problem, then in larger cases this is not so. Wars began because some rulers decided that the lives of a thousand people could easily be sacrificed for their goals. That is why a novel written in the 19th century does not lose its sharpness of meaning to this day.
"Crime and Punishment" is one of the greatest works of world literature, imbued with humanism and faith in man. Despite the seeming depressiveness of the narrative, there is hope for the best, that one can always be saved and saved.
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The genre-compositional structure of the novel is complex. In terms of plot, it is close to the detective-adventure genre, but the detailed and detailed depiction of the background against which events unfold, the effectiveness of the image of St. Petersburg itself, allow us to speak of the genre of a social novel. There is also a love line in it (Dunya - Svidrigailov, Luzhin, Razumikhin; Raskolnikov - Sonya). An in-depth study of the inner world of the characters, so characteristic of Dostoevsky, makes this novel psychological as well. But all these genre features, intertwined in a single artistic whole of the work, create a completely new type of novel.
"Crime and Punishment" is the first of Dostoevsky's "great" novels, in which his artistic and philosophical system was embodied. At the center of this novel is the idea of individualism, which is opposed to the idea of Christian humility and redemptive suffering. This determines the high ideological nature of the text of the work, saturated with deep and complex philosophical problems. Therefore, Dostoevsky's novel is rightfully classified as an ideological and philosophical novel. Indeed, the author's attention, despite the adventurous-detective plot, is focused not on the events that are rapidly unfolding before the eyes of the reader, but on the thoughts, philosophical reasoning, and ideological disputes of the heroes. In fact, the writer shows the fate of the idea that prompted the hero to commit a crime, which makes it possible to organically include the most complex philosophical problems in the work. At the same time, the novel does not become a philosophical treatise, since it is not about an abstract idea, but about a character wholly embraced by it.
This is how a special type of hero arises, which they began to call the hero-idea (or hero-ideologist). This is a special type of literary hero, which first appeared in Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment", the peculiarity of which is that this is not just a social or psychological type, a certain character or temperament, but, first of all, a person captured by an idea (sublime or destructive), which "turning into nature", requires "immediate application to the case" (F.M. Dostoevsky). Such heroes - carriers of ideas - in the novel are primarily Raskolnikov (the idea of individualism) and Sonya Marmeladova (the Christian idea). But in its own way, each of the characters in this novel also represents “his own” idea: Marmeladov embodies the idea of a dead end in life, justified by him, the investigator Porfiry Petrovich expresses a whole system of arguments in defense of the idea of Christian humility and redemptive suffering, which he, like Sonya, offers to perceive Raskolnikov. Even the almost speechless Lizaveta, killed by Raskolnikov, participates in the duel of ideas that the main characters lead.
This is how a special artistic structure arises, in which ideas through their carriers enter into a free dialogue. It is conducted not only at the level of various discussions, disputes, various statements of the heroes (out loud or to themselves), but, most importantly, is embodied in the fate of these heroes. At the same time, the author's position is not directly expressed, the action moves as if by itself as a result of the development of the main idea (the idea of individualism), which manifests itself in constant collision and intersection with the Christian idea that contrasts with it. And only the end result of a complex movement and development of ideas allows us to speak about the position of the author in this peculiar ideological and philosophical dispute.
Thus, a completely new type of novel is formed, which became the artistic discovery of Dostoevsky. The theoretical substantiation of this new type, called the polyphonic novel, was made only in the 20th century by M.M. Bakhtin. He also suggested the name "polyphonic" (from polyphony - polyphony). The role of "voices" in it is played by heroes-ideas. The peculiarity of such a novel is that the philosophical views of the writer, which are at the center of the work, are not expressed in the direct statements of the author or the characters (the principle of objectivity), but are revealed through the clash and struggle of different points of view embodied in the heroes-ideas ( dialogical structure). At the same time, the idea itself is realized through the fate of such a hero - hence the in-depth psychological analysis that permeates all levels of the artistic structure of the work.
The psychological analysis of the state of the criminal before and after the commission of the murder in the novel is merged with the analysis of Raskolnikov's "idea". The novel is built in such a way that the reader is constantly in the sphere of consciousness of the hero - Raskolnikov, although the narration is conducted from the 3rd person. That is why his words, incomprehensible to the reader, about the “test” sound so strange when he goes to the old woman. After all, the reader is not initiated into Raskolnikov's plan and can only guess what kind of "case" he is discussing with himself. The specific intention of the hero is revealed only after 50 pages from the beginning of the novel, just before the atrocity. The existence of Raskolnikov's complete theory and even an article with its presentation becomes known to us only on the two hundredth page of the novel - from a conversation with Porfiry Petrovich. This technique of default is used by the writer in relation to other heroes. So only at the very end of the novel do we learn the history of Dunya's relationship with Svidrigailov - immediately before the denouement of these relations. Of course, this, among other things, contributes to the amplification of the plot.
All this is very unlike the psychologism traditional for Russian literature. “I am not a psychologist,” Dostoevsky said of himself, “I am only a realist in the highest sense, that is, I depict all the depths of the human soul.” The great writer was distrustful of the very word "psychology", calling the concept behind it a "double-edged sword." In the novel, we see not just a study, but a test of the soul and thoughts of the hero - this is the semantic and emotional core to which all the plot moves, all the events of the work, all the feelings and sensations of both leading and episodic characters are drawn. The method of Dostoevsky as a psychologist consists in the writer's penetration into the consciousness and soul of the hero in order to reveal the idea he carries, and with it his true nature, which comes out in unexpected, extreme, provocative situations. Not without reason in "Crime and Punishment" the word "suddenly" is used 560 times!
The peculiarity of Dostoevsky's psychologism also determines the specificity of his plot constructions. Believing that the true essence of a person is manifested only at the moments of the highest upheavals, the writer seeks to knock his heroes out of their usual life rut, to bring them into a state of crisis. The dynamics of the plot leads them from catastrophe to catastrophe, depriving them of solid ground under their feet, forcing them to desperately "storm" unresolvable "damned" questions again and again.
The compositional construction of "Crime and Punishment" can be described as a chain of catastrophes: Raskolnikov's crime, which brought him to the threshold of life and death, then Marmeladov's death, followed soon after by the madness and death of Katerina Ivanovna, and finally Svidrigailov's suicide. In the background to the novel action, Sonya's catastrophe is also told, and in the epilogue - Raskolnikov's mother. Of all these heroes, only Sonya and Raskolnikov manage to survive and escape. The gaps between catastrophes are occupied by Raskolnikov's tense dialogues with other characters, of which two conversations with Porfiry Petrovich stand out. The second, most terrible for Raskolnikov “conversation” with the investigator, when he drives Raskolnikov almost to insanity, hoping that he will give himself away, is the compositional center of the novel, and conversations with Sonya are located before and after, framing him. material from the site
Dostoevsky believed that only in such extreme situations: in the face of death or in the moments of the final determination for himself of the purpose and meaning of his existence, is a person able to renounce the vanity of life and turn to the eternal questions of being. Subjecting his heroes to merciless psychological analysis at precisely these moments, the writer comes to the conclusion that in such circumstances the fundamental difference in character disappears, becomes unimportant. After all, with all the uniqueness of individual feelings, the “eternal questions” are the same for everyone. That is why another phenomenon of Dostoevsky's polyphonic novel arises - duality. We are talking not only about the specifics of the characters and the peculiarities of psychological analysis, but also about one of the most important principles for constructing Dostoevsky's polyphonic novel - the system of doubles.
The action of Dostoevsky's polyphonic novel is based on the clash of contrasting ideological poles with complete equality of ideas, which are additionally revealed with the help of a system of twins. In Crime and Punishment, the idea of individualism, the main carrier of which is Raskolnikov, is refined in the images of Luzhin and Svidrigailov, who become his twins, or rather, twins of the idea embodied in him. The bearer of the Christian idea is Sonechka Marmeladova, and her twins (twins of the idea) are Lizaveta, Mikolka, Dunya. The inner essence of Sonechka Marmeladova, as a hero-idea, is the foundation of the Christian idea: the creation of good and the acceptance of the suffering of the world. This is what fills Sonya's life with deep meaning and light, despite the surrounding dirt and darkness. Connected with the image of Sonechka is Dostoevsky’s belief that the world will be saved by fraternal unity between people in the name of Christ, and that the basis of this unity must be sought not in the society of the “powerful of this world”, but in the depths of people’s Russia. The writer is helped to express it by a special form of the novel - polyphonic, as well as the whole system of artistic means inherent in it, first of all, the system of images of the novel.
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Novel "Crime and Punishment"
A book written in moments of suffering and despair and elevating the reader through compassion for the heroes of Dostoevsky and the author himself, whose fate determined the history of the creation of this book. Dostoevsky admitted in a letter to his brother that the novel was conceived "on the creaky bunks of the Omsk prison." At hard labor, for the first time, the question of crime and punishment arose before Dostoevsky. A criminal offense, a crime of historical proportions. This question was connected with the problems of sin and retribution, sin and resurrection in the human soul. The writer began work on the novel in 1864 in a difficult life situation. This year was marked by the most severe losses: the death of his wife Maria Dmitrievna, the death of his brother Mikhail, the death of his friend Apollon Grigoriev. In 1865, Dostoevsky experienced the collapse of the journal business, he was besieged by creditors, he went abroad, having entered into an enslaving agreement with the publisher Stillovsky: he promised him to write a novel in a year. In the event of non-performance of the contract, Stillovsky received the right to publish all of Dostoevsky's already written works. The writer goes abroad in the hope of meeting his beloved woman Appolinaria Suslova and in the hope of getting lucky in the game. The passion of the roulette player intensified during the tragic months and years of a life of complete lack of money. The words of Marmeladov addressed to Raskolnikov about the dead ends of life: “do you know, dear sir, what is there nowhere to go” - these are the words of Dostoevsky himself. Abroad - new confusion, Appolinaria Suslova only plays with him, starts romances with other men. Dostoevsky, a philosophically gifted man, peered intently into European life and compared Russian mental values and European ones. The problem of Russia and Europe, which is very important for Dostoevsky as a soil scientist, became the key one in the novel The Gambler, written at the request of Stillovsky, and sounded in the subtext of his novel Crime and Punishment.
genre and issues. Dostoevsky in the novels of the great Pentateuch created a unique novel genre. Different genre aspects indicate the following genre definitions: polyphonic, symbolic-philosophical novel-tragedy; The polyphonic structure of the novels of the Great Pentateuch is connected with the polyphony of voices: each hero in the world of Dostoevsky's novels is shown in his subjectivity. The zone of the author's consciousness is not personified - the author is connected with all the characters. It is the heroes who not only perceive the world around them, but actively participate in the dispute about the meaning of human existence on the key issue for Dostoevsky, GOD AND WORLD EVIL. The author and the reader find themselves in the orbit of this dispute, in the process of the dispute, truth is born. The reader and the author freely accept the position of this or that hero. The theory of the polyphonic, polyphonic novel was developed by M. Bakhtin. In each novel, two voices predominate in the choir of many voices, they form the philosophical problems and motives of the novel, their fate is the main plot of the novel and the metaphorical plot (Raskolnikov and Sonya). The main philosophical dialogue in the novel, with which the images of Raskolnikov and Sonya are associated, connects a complex of motives: GOD AND WORLD EVIL, faith and unbelief, sin and retribution, crime and punishment, the fall and the path to the resurrection of a lost soul. All these problems are solved in the novel from the standpoint of Dostoevsky's soil philosophy. In this novel, Dostoevsky's cherished dream of the path of the Russian intelligentsia Raskolnikovs to the people is expressed with particular declarativeness. The people's religious and moral consciousness is personified in the novel by Mikolka, Lizaveta and Sonya. The definition of a tragedy novel belongs to the Young Symbolist Vyacheslav Ivanov, it points not only to the tragic conflicts in each novel and the obligatory tragic catharsis, but also to the artistic structure of the novel, to its dialogic nature. Ivanov reads Dostoevsky's novels as dramatic works (about "Crime and Punishment" - a tragedy in four acts with an epilogue). The main tragic situation embodied in each novel is “the world is on the verge of the Apocalypse” (the apocalypse is the revelation of John the Theologian, the world is on the verge of the end of human civilization). In the novel, the theme of the apocalypse is the epilogue of the novel "Raskolnikov's Dreams" in hard labor. Metaphorically, the apocalypse is carried in their souls by the heroes of Dostoevsky, the bearers of an atheistic consciousness, capable of rebellion and crime (atheists). The novel "Crime and Punishment" is a historiosophical novel about real Russian life and about the sought-after way of saving modern man through the revival of a "dead soul" (coming to God). Historiosophical problems, soil ideas are also connected with the social problems of the novel. In Russian life in the 60-70s. Dostoevsky caught the features of decay and the deepest crisis of the moral, spiritual culture of man. He exposes social ulcers in the life of St. Petersburg, all of Russia in the era of the formation of Russian capitalism: the growth of wealth, monetary power of some and the tremendous poverty of the majority of the urban population, the growth of crime, drunkenness, prostitution as the main psychological note in the behavior of modern man, general venality (everything is sold and everything is bought), a man, his soul thrown at a monstrous auction. Dostoevsky indignantly writes about usury - a social sign of the times, about prostitution as a shameful profession for girls and women. Researcher Shklovsky notes that in the novel "Crime and Punishment" there are no features of the detective genre (when both the reader and the detective do not know who the criminal is). The reader knows how the crime was prepared, the investigator Porfiry Petrovich, after reading Raskolnikov's article, saw in him a potential criminal (the investigator identified him as a criminal when he fainted while reading the criminal news about his murder). To understand the novel, according to Shklovsky, means to answer two questions: 1) what are the motives for Raskolnikov's crime, 2) what are the psychological, moral, philosophical consequences of his rebellion.
Raskolnikov's motives for the crime. Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev drew attention to the social motives of the crime (“the reason is not in the mind, but in the pocket”): the hero is humiliated by poverty, the people around him are struggling in dead ends. The democratic critic explains the crime by the environment, by the circumstances of life. His fair conclusions did not quite fit with the philosophy of crime in the novel. Dostoevsky said more than once: “By relying on the environment in everything, we relieve a person of moral responsibility for committed actions.” The most important motif of the novel is the MORAL RESPONSIBILITY of a MAN for his thought, word, deed before his conscience, God and people. From the point of view of the author, the root cause of the crime is Raskolnikov's theory. The image of Raskolnikov is a tragic image of a Russian philosopher who was captured by his criminal ideas. At the origins of the crime is an article on the right to commit a crime, which combines thoughts and words. The first stage is the article, the second is the first visit to the old pawnbroker, the third is the student's conversation with the officer in the tavern, and only the fourth episode is the test with which the novel begins. In 1865, the historical treatise of Napoleon III “The History of Julius Caesar” was published in Russian translation, in the preface the author wrote about an outstanding person, about his right and permissiveness. These ideas were much discussed in Russian society, and Raskolnikov's article is also a response to this article. Dostoevsky emphasizes that such mindsets are typical of that time (which is confirmed by a conversation in a tavern between an officer and a student). After the trial, 5) renunciation of the crime follows, since the theory that has already crystallized in his head is contrary to his nature (a conflict of mind and heart, theory and human nature). Raskolnikov in the world of people - 6) a meeting with the Marmeladovs, 7) a letter from his mother, 8) a meeting on the boulevard with a disgraced girl, and finally 9) a dream about a horse. Raskolnikov's first dream on Petrovsky Island is the culmination of the "Raskolnikov in the world of the humiliated and offended" storyline. Sleep is a consequence of the deepest spiritual tension. In the mind of Raskolnikov, the fates of the Marmeladov family and his own family were united. He compares the lot of Dunya and the lot of Sonya, and himself with Marmeladov. He is faced with a choice between the shameful humility of Marmeladov, who accepted Sonechka's sacrifice, and an active, rebellious act. The researcher Kerpotin compares Raskolnikov’s state with the state of Hamlet, who decides the questions of life and death: to be or not to be (Hamlet: “Oh my thought, from now on you should be bloody, or are you worth a penny? "). Dreams in Dostoevsky's novels perform three main functions: 1) plot - they anticipate plot episodes or become a philosophical epilogue to them 2) psychological function - dreams show the dialectic of consciousness and subconsciousness, images of memory and fantasy, dream phantasmagoria, the hero's aspiration to the desired 3) dreams lead to an understanding of the symbolic-philosophical motives of the plot and the metaphorical plot. Dreams are always a crisis for heroes, they lead to catharsis (Raskolnikov's dreams) or drag them into the abyss of sin and fall (Svidrigailov's dreams). All Raskolnikov's dreams have a literary basis, they show the circle of his reading (Belov's commentary on the novel).
Raskolnikov's first dream goes back to Nekrasov's poem "On the Weather", part 1, section before dusk, where Nekrasov shows an ugly scene of torturing a horse. Dostoevsky refers to this episode twice. Raskolnikov's first dream and Ivan Karamazov's words to his brother Alyosha about the amazing Nekrasov poems. In the mouth of Ivan, Nekrasov's poem receives a very capacious and universal assessment: "this is Russianism." This assessment coincides with Dostoevsky's ideas about the Russian character. The Russian man is "broad" in both good and evil, indomitable, in everything comes to the extreme.
Raskolnikov's dreams combine the images of the books he read, the real impressions of life, his dreams, ideas that rebel even in his mind. Nekrasov, Lermontov, Pushkin, Hugo, Voltaire and the main books, the inspired reader of which was Raskolnikov - the Bible, the Koran.
To the Bible: biblical motifs appear in the epilogue, in the Siberian expanses of Raskolnikov, the presence of "flocks of Abraham." Painful dreams in hard labor convey pictures of the death of human civilization. Through the fault of demon-possessed people, obsessed with "trichins of madness" - ideas that confuse even Raskolnikov himself. In these dreams, images of the Apocalypse arise, connecting the philosophical prose of Voltaire and the revelation of John the Theologian.
In Raskolnikov's dreams before a crime, an image of pure spring water, an oasis in the desert, arises, which goes back both to Lermontov's poem "Three Palms" and to the primary source - the Koran. Raskolnikov knows Pushkin's cycle "Imitation of the Koran", where the image of a trembling creature appears. The murder of the old woman - the motives of the "Queen of Spades".
Raskolnikov's first dream is based on symbolic images. Dostoevsky recreates Russian space and images-symbols of Russian destiny. Outskirts of a provincial town, a country road washed out by rains, wounded by wheels, dusty, dirty. She walks past a roadside tavern to a cemetery and a cemetery church. Among the color images, gray, black, red colors, the green dome of the temple dominate.
Raskolnikov goes through the test of sin three times - a trial, a dream, and the crime itself. Every time Raskolnikov renounces sin, feeling its unnaturalness, inner disagreement with the crime. Crime takes Raskolnikov away from the world of people, renunciation of crime returns to people and God.
The dream becomes a catharsis for Raskolnikov, he again renounces the idea of a crime and a prayer is born on his lips: "Lord ... show me my path ... and I renounce this damned dream of mine." Raskolnikov is looking for this path, he goes to people, but he is tragically sentenced to commit a crime, he no longer has free will and reason, even the day and hour are determined against his will.
In the plot of the novel-parable, the gospel parable of the prodigal son is important.
In each episode of the prehistory and the entire first part of the novel, the author reveals the dialectical unity of different motives:
1) objective social motives - the circumstances of the hero's life and the suffering of others
2) psychological subjective motives. The painful inconsistency of Raskolnikov's consciousness and psychology (he believes in God and does not; selflessly loves people and proudly despises them, believing in his exclusivity; consciously commits a crime and renounces the idea of violence ...). Ernst Neizvestny called his graphic portrait of Raskolnikov “Between the Cross and the Axe”.
3) Philosophical, ideological motives - Raskolnikov's theory, the main motives according to the author's plan.
Raskolnikov's theory. Researcher Kirpotin claims that Raskolnikov's theory repeats the contradictions of his consciousness, his nature. He singles out two complexes of motives in the theory of the hero: Napoleonic and Missian, gives figurative, metaphorical names to Raskolnikov - Napoleon and the Messiah, the Grand Inquisitor and Christ.
Complex of Napoleonic ideas:
1) the idea of an exceptional personality, the division of people into "ordinary" and "unusual". Raskolnikov, at the cost of a crime, wants to test himself: “Am I a trembling creature, or do I have a right?”
2) The idea of demonic power, the power of authority, an exceptional personality over the crowd. Such power, according to Raskolnikov, is a sign of being chosen, a recognition of the originality of a person (“Freedom and power, and most importantly power! Over all trembling creatures, over all anthills ...”).
3) The idea of permissiveness. An exceptional person despises those moral laws by which the human anthill lives, he is not guided by them. He is on the other side of good and evil. He is allowed everything, up to the shedding of blood of his own kind.
Missionary ideas:
1. the idea of the Messiah - the savior of mankind. It seems to Raskolnikov that he is called to change this world, to console the human race in its suffering.
2. The idea of a violent good. Kirpotin argues that in the drafts of the novel, the motif of demonic power was strengthened and transformed into Raskolnikov's theory, into the idea of violent goodness: “People are pygmies ... We must rule. For the purpose ... to rake them in your hands, and then do them good.
3. The idea of "blood in conscience." Raskolnikov limits the idea of permissiveness, he does not allow every crime, but only in the name of saving mankind, so the main and blasphemous idea of his theory arises - “blood according to conscience”.
Napoleonic ideas are not an original part of Raskolnikov's theory. They appeared in the European philosophy and culture of the 19th century, in the era of the formation of the European model of capitalism. These ideas were familiar to Dostoevsky from Stirner's books, Napoleon III, The History of Julius Caesar. At the philosophical level, Nietzsche will repeat these ideas in his writings (“Thus Says Zarathustra”, “Genealogy of Morals”, etc.). "The Diary of a Nihilist" by Nietzsche is a response to "Demons" by Dostoevsky. From the Nietzschean idea of the superman in the 20th century, Europe and humanity stepped towards the idea of a supernation (as a philosophical justification for fascism).
The image of Raskolnikov was conceived as the image of a Russian thinker, the Russian Napoleon. Therefore, the main ideas in his theory were missionary ideas and, in the subtext of the entire novel, the cult of Christ. However, missionary ideas do not justify Raskolnikov. The idea of "blood according to conscience" is just as criminal as the assertion of permissiveness. Dostoevsky is very close to the humanistic philosophy of man, embodied in the work of Pushkin: "Genius and villainy are two incompatible things ..." (Mozart and Salieri).
Consequences of Raskolnikov's rebellion. Psychologically, Raskolnikov behaves like an ordinary criminal: he is terribly afraid of criminal punishment and longs to be freed from the mystery of the crime, constantly commits provocations against himself. Raskolnikov understands that the crime takes him away from the world of people: "he cut himself off from the world of people with scissors." Especially painful for the hero are meetings with his mother and sister, the closest ones - such are the moral consequences of the crime. In difficult days after the crime in the life of the hero there was one minute of light connecting him with people - the episode when Polenka kisses him (the kiss of a child is thanksgiving to the entire Marmeladov family). To the conclusions made by Pisarev, one should add philosophical results that crush Raskolnikov: the hero still believes in his theory, but is disappointed in himself (“I didn’t kill the old woman, I killed myself ...”). I lost faith in my own uniqueness.
On the way of Raskolnikov to the truth of Sonya, to the resurrection and restoration of trampled humanity, meetings with his doubles - Luzhin, Svidrigailov, Porfiry Petrovich are very important.
Raskolnikov and Luzhin. In each novel by Dostoevsky, the hero's grandiose philosophical ideas are reduced at the level of LIVING PHILOSOPHY and the practice of his counterparts, at the level of "street philosophy", the philosophy of the crowd. Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin personifies modern bourgeois morality and the crisis of morality in man. It personifies the practice of life, the worldly philosophy of a metropolitan resident. It is no coincidence that he rushed from the provinces to the capital, this is emphasized even in the name (Peter is a stone, and according to Dostoevsky, Petersburg is the element of stone and water, Luzhin). Raskolnikov immediately saw a potential criminal in Luzhin. Luzhin's worldly philosophy is criminal: "everything in life is based on personal interest", love yourself first of all. Fulfilling these immoral precepts, he commits criminal acts against Dunechka and Pulcheria Alexandrovna, against Sonya. Raskolnikov despises Luzhin, because he knows no doubts, contradictions, remorse. This is a “wooden man”, who, by instinct of a vile nature, believes in his innocence.
Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov. Svidrigailov himself hints to Raskolnikov at a certain commonality of their life positions: “there are two nihilisms, and both points are in contact”, “we are the same field of berries”. The Napoleonic part of Raskolnikov's theory was refracted in a peculiar way in the life and fate of Svidrigailov. He is an egoist who chooses his own exclusive path in life. He is guided by the idea of permissiveness, strives for freedom and power over another person, whether it be his wife or nymphet girls. Svidrigailov laughs at Raskolnikov's missionary ideas, calls him Schiller (i.e. Romantic). The image of Svidrigailov is the image of a great sinner, and at the same time a man-universe, capable of good and evil, but not distinguishing between these categories from the sphere of morality. Svidrigailov's love-passion for Duna is the last and suicidal chord of the eternal desire for the resurrection of even the soul of a great sinner. The last meeting with Dunechka finally decided his fate. His spiritual darkness is symbolically recreated in a series of his dreams before his suicide.
In the novel, a new metaphorical typological assessment of the level of fall, the sinfulness of a person is born: "MAN-INSECT". The images of insects appear in the novel in connection with the image of Svidrigailov, symbolically marking his appearance in Raskolnikov's life and his death through suicide. The image of a fly at the moment Svidrigailov appeared before Raskolnikov's gaze as a continuation of his painful dreams. The world culture knows different names associated with the personification of world evil: Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub - Lord of the Flies. In Svidrigailov's dying dreams, an ugly, naturalistic image appears - decaying beef, on which flies and worms teem. That is, this symbolizes Svidrigailov's involvement in world evil, in Satan. According to Svidrigailov, eternity is a dirty corner in the dressing room of a village bath and a spider (also an insect) that dies in its own webs. European writers of the 20th century will work in the traditions of Dostoevsky - Kafka's "Metamorphosis" and Sartre's "Flies". Svidrigailov's suicide is accompanied by symbolic images and details: a thunderstorm, torrents of rain, and Svidrigailov's panicky hydrophobia. Because water is baptism, cleansing. The suicide of Svidrigailov became a moral signal for Raskolnikov, hastened the surrender. Svidrigailov is Raskolnikov's double, in him, as in a crooked mirror, Raskolnikov sees himself and this shakes his mind and soul.
Raskolnikov and Porfiry Petrovich (PP). In Soviet literary criticism, a dispute arose between Kirpotin and Karyakin. The essence of the controversy: good or evil for Raskolnikov PP? Kirpotin, in his monograph, argued that the PP personifies the world against which Raskolnikov rebels. He makes Raskolnikov suffer, acts like a sadist, like a fanatic. Karjakin unexpectedly brought PP closer to Dostoevsky as a spokesman for soil ideas in the novel. It is the PP that points Raskolnikov to the attractiveness of the people's truth, to the moral experience of Mikolka.
In the context of the novel, three meetings between Raskolnikov and the investigator are fundamentally important. The first is a theoretical conversation, a philosophical dispute: Raskolnikov enthusiastically expounds his theory. PP carefully and ironically comments on his ideas. One gets the impression that in the past, in his youth, PP was also fond of such ideas (the motive of duplicity arises). The second is a psychological duel in the police station. The investigator is already triumphing over the criminal, but suddenly Mikolka appears in the room, who confesses to the crime. The third is the moral and philosophical result. PP comes to visit Raskolnikov and explains his behavior to him. In this episode, PP expounds soil ideas. He speaks of "people of the mind", such as Raskolnikov, who do not notice their own sinfulness and rebel against the world, against the existing order of things. Mikolka, a man of the people, is opposed to them as a bearer of conscience. He knows that every person lives in sin, voluntarily or involuntarily, and is ready to atone for his sins through suffering. PP: "Mikolka is right... there is no happiness in comfort, happiness is bought with suffering." In the lips of the PP, the symbolic meaning acquires the image of the sun, ascending to the gospel source. In the gospel: "Christ is the sun of life." PP: Become the sun and you will be noticed. The sun must first be the sun.
Raskolnikov and Sonya. In the draft versions of the novel, Dostoevsky pointed to the main images leading to an understanding of his intention and the whole book: Raskolnikov in the novel had to go through the difficult path of sin and the even more difficult path of resurrection. This is a novel-parable about the choice of a path by a person. Next to Raskolnikov is his mystical counterpart Svidrigailov and a loving soul, bright Sonechka Marmeladova. Raskolnikov, like every person, has two paths open: despair and faith. Each image-character in Dostoevsky's novels is two-dimensional. This is a real, psychologically authentic character and human destiny, and at the same time a symbolic image associated with the metaphorical plots of the novel. Creating the image of Sonya, Dostoevsky sought to answer the question: "What is Orthodoxy?". There are three main episodes in the plot of the novel that form the main and metaphorical plot of the book, the author's idea of the novel: 1) reading the Gospel in Sonya's room 2) Raskolnikov's confession to Sonya 3) episodes of the epilogue.
The central images-characters in Dostoevsky are two-dimensional: they are realistically authentic characters and at the same time symbolic images. The image of Sonya is Dostoevsky's great answer to the question about the essence of the moral, Orthodox culture of the Russian people. The name of the hero is symbolic: Sophia is the wisdom of God. Sophia in Orthodox culture is one of the supreme images, connecting those spiritual gifts that her daughters inherited: Faith, Hope, love. And Sophia and her daughters - great and eternal an example of self-sacrifice in love for God. Holy self-sacrifice is Sonya's main feature, her religious feelings are devoid of mysticism - this is the music of her soul, sincere and pure faith, based on love for God and people. In the plot of the novel, in its metaplot (metaphorical plot), a certain climax is the episode of reading the Gospel in Sonya's room, the Gospel story about the resurrection of Lazarus. The plot of the resurrection of Lazarus crowns the three years of the Savior's ministry to people. This miracle was performed by Christ on the eve of the solemn entry into Jerusalem. The miracle happened because of his love for God and people. The miracle of Lazar anticipates the resurrection of the Savior himself, which will take place exactly one week later, on Easter. The metaphorical plot of the novel combines two motifs: crime and punishment, sin and resurrection through love for people and God. On the fourth day, Lazarus rose from the dead, on the fourth day Raskolnikov came to Sonya and his difficult path to resurrection begins. (Zinaida Gippius wrote the poem "Lazarus" based on the novel). Raskolniov and Sonya have different understandings of the meaning of the gospel story, which is very popular in Russian culture, in Russian icon painting. The Resurrection of Lazarus is a kind of Easter Eve, a feast of feasts, a triumph of feasts. Super-sensitive, sensitive to people, Sonya feels Raskolnikov's suffering, not knowing its cause. She gives him consolation, hope for the resurrection of the soul, but Raskolnikov does not yet understand this. For for him, Christ is an exceptional, chosen person, the ruler of the spirit, mind and heart of man. It is symbolic that the gospel connects the criminal and the harlot - a gift from Lizaveta, Sonechka's spiritual sister. The second episode is Raskolnikov's confession to Sonya. His recognition is still far from confession and repentance. Witnesses of his confession - Sonya and Svidrigailov, and Raskolnikov makes a choice of the path to Sonya's truth. The second meeting of Raskolnikov and Sonya is a moral duel between a man of faith and a man of doubts. Raskolnikov's tool is the word. Verbosity and the word, devoid of spiritual fire and light, is the game of the devil with man. Sonechkino's silence is full of light and spiritual fire of faith, love for Raskolnikov and compassion. Sonechka's prayer word "Lord!" becomes the key. And unexpected metamorphoses in Raskolnikov's perception: he recognizes Lizaveta in Sonechka, and at that moment rises to an understanding of the intimacy and the highest meaning of human life, the sinfulness of his crime. In the epilogue of the novel, the theme of sin and resurrection acquires a new figurative embodiment and a new symbolic and philosophical scale. In the epilogue, a new chronotope appears, which differs from the chronotope in the main part of the novel. In the main part of the novel, the artistic time is 13 days, the scene of action is St. Petersburg, where there is no freedom for the soul and human consciousness, where the streets are "stuffy, like in rooms without window vents." Even on the eve of the crime, Raskolnikov's thought and gaze "asked for space." In the epilogue, such a scope arises, but this scope is not immediately revealed to Raskolnikov. The hardships of hard labor, the infirmary - this is the field of his human suffering. In the epilogue, three time layers are presented in semantic unity: 1) real historical time (the year of hard labor); 2) the time that coincides with the Orthodox calendar (Great Lent, Passion Week and the Day of the Myrrh-bearing Women - on this day the meeting of Raskolnikov and Sonya on the banks of the Siberian river, this is two weeks after Easter). Sonya was the first to be given a certificate of the resurrection of Raskolnikov. Researchers believe that in the epilogue of the novel, the image of Sonechka acquires iconography: she, dressed in a green scarf, is very reminiscent of the face of the Mother of God on the famous Russian icon "The guarantor of sinners." She helped convicts endure a difficult ordeal, a painful life. And they answered her with the deepest respect: when she appeared, they took off their hats and bowed to her at the waist (they called her “You are our Mother”). The convicts were hostile to Raskolnikov. During Great Lent, they arranged a raka in an Orthodox church, they saw an atheist in Raskolnikov. During the difficult and harsh days of Lent, Raskolnikov fell ill. It was not so much a bodily as mental illness. In Raskolnikov's delusional dreams, images of the Apocalypse, the tragic end of all human civilization, fratricide, fires, and natural disasters came to life. He saw human POSITION, people, like himself, infected with "trichins" (germs) of demon possession. These tragic dreams led him to catharsis. The end of the epilogue is full of hope and light. On the banks of the Siberian river, Raskolnikov discovered the image of eternity and eternal truths. A new image of time appears in the novel - 3) the time of eternity, in whose orbit both historical and Orthodox time. The image of eternity in the perception of Raskolnikov differs sharply from the gloomy ideas about eternity of Svidrigailov. A boundless expanse opens up to him, Siberian distances. On the other side of the river, Raskolnikov sees the distant yurts of nomads, and behind them, as it seems to him, “the herds of Abraham are still walking” (Abraham is one of the Old Testament prophets, one of the progenitors of the human race). The details of this universal landscape are symbolic: earth and sky, a deep river, its banks, early morning and sunrise. The novel is crowned by the author's assessment of the fate of the characters, universal in meaning: "They were resurrected by love." And the Gospel connects the human destinies of the criminal and the harlot on the paths of the resurrection.
"Crime and Punishment", the history of which lasted almost 7 years, is one of the most famous novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky both in Russia and abroad. In this creation of the classic of Russian literature, his talent as a psychologist and connoisseur of human souls was revealed more than ever. What prompted Dostoevsky to write a work about a murderer, and this topic was not characteristic of the literature of that time?
Fyodor Dostoevsky - master of the psychological novel
The writer was born on November 11, 1821 in the city of Moscow. His father - Mikhail Andreevich - was a nobleman, a court adviser, and his mother - Maria Fedorovna - came from a merchant family.
There was everything in the life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky: loud glory and poverty, dark days in the Peter and Paul Fortress and many years of hard labor, addiction to gambling and conversion to the Christian faith. Even during the life of the writer, such an epithet as “brilliant” was applied to his work.
Dostoevsky died at the age of 59 from emphysema. He left behind a huge legacy - novels, poems, diaries, letters, etc. In Russian literature, Fyodor Mikhailovich is given the place of the main psychologist and expert on human souls. Some literary critics (for example, Maxim Gorky), especially of the Soviet period, called Dostoevsky an "evil genius", because they believed that the writer in his works defended "incorrect" political views - conservative and at some point in his life even monarchist. However, one can argue with this: Dostoevsky's novels are not political, but always deeply psychological, their goal is to show the human soul and life itself as it is. And the work "Crime and Punishment" is the most striking confirmation of this.
The history of the creation of the novel "Crime and Punishment"
Fyodor Dostoevsky was sent to hard labor in Omsk in 1850. "Crime and Punishment", the history of which began there, was first published in 1866, and before that the writer had to endure not the best days in his life.
In 1854 the writer received his freedom. Dostoevsky wrote in a letter to his brother in 1859 that the idea of a certain confessional novel came to him when he was still in the 50s lying on dirty bunk beds and going through the most difficult moments in his life. But he was in no hurry to start this work, because he was not even sure that he would survive.
And so, in 1865, Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich, in dire need of money, signs an agreement with a publisher, under which he undertakes to provide a new novel by November 1866. Having received a fee, the writer corrected his affairs, but addiction to roulette played a cruel joke on him: he lost all the remaining money in Wiesbaden, the hotel owners did not evict him, but they stopped feeding him and even turned off the light in the room. It was under such conditions that Dostoevsky began Crime and Punishment.
The history of the creation of the novel was nearing completion: the deadlines were running out - the author worked in a hotel, on a ship, on his way home to St. Petersburg. He practically finished the novel, and then ... he took and burned the manuscript.
Dostoevsky began work anew, and while the first two parts of the work were being published and all of St. Petersburg was reading them, he was rapidly creating the remaining three, including the epilogue.
"Crime and Punishment" - the theme of the novel is clearly visible already in the very title of the work.
The main character - Rodion Raskolnikov - decides to kill and rob an old usurer. On the one hand, the young man justifies his act by saying that he and his family are in need. Rodion feels his responsibility for the fate of loved ones, but in order to help his sister and mother in any way, he needs a large amount of money. On the other hand, killing remains an immoral and sinful act.
Rodion successfully commits the intended crime. But in the second part of the novel, he is faced with a problem more serious than poverty - his conscience begins to torment him. He becomes nervous, it seems to him that everyone around knows about his act. As a result, Rodion begins to get seriously ill. After recovery, the young man seriously thinks about surrendering to the authorities. But acquaintance with Sonya Marmeladova, as well as the arrival of his mother and sister in the city for a while, force him to abandon this undertaking.
Three suitors immediately claim for the hand of Rodion's sister - Dunya: court adviser Pyotr Luzhin, landowner Svidrigailov and Rodion's friend - Razumikhin. Rodion and Razumikhin manage to upset the planned wedding of Dunya and Luzhin, but the latter leaves angry and thinks about
Rodion Raskolnikov is becoming more and more attached to Sonya Marmeladova, the daughter of his late friend. They talk with the girl about life, spend time together.
But a black cloud hangs over Rodion - there were witnesses who confirmed at the police station that recently Raskolnikov often went to the murdered usurer. The young man has so far been released from the police station, but he remains the prime suspect.
The most important events of the novel "Crime and Punishment" by chapters fall on the 5th part of the work and the epilogue.
The offended Luzhin tries to set up Sonya Marmeladova, passing her off as a thief and thereby quarreling with Raskolnikov. However, his plan fails, but Rodion breaks down and confesses to Sonya that he committed the murder.
An outsider takes the blame for Raskolnikov's crime, but the investigator is sure that it was Rodion who committed the crime, so he visits the young man and tries once again to convince him to confess.
At this time, Svidrigailov is trying to win Dunya's favor by force, a frightened girl shoots him with a revolver. When the weapon misfires, and Dunya convinces the landowner that he does not love him, Svidrigailov lets the girl go. Having donated 15 thousand to Sonya Marmeladova and 3 thousand to Raskolnikov's family, the landowner commits suicide.
Rodion confesses to the murder of a usurer and receives 8 years of hard labor in Siberia. Sonya goes into exile after him. The old life for the former student is over, but thanks to the love of the girl, he feels how a new stage in his destiny begins.
Image of Rodion Raskolnikov
In the novel "Crime and Punishment", the characterization of Rodion Raskolnikov and the assessment of his actions by the author himself are ambiguous.
The young man is good-looking, smart enough, one might say, ambitious. But the life situation in which he found himself, or rather the social situation, does not allow him not only to realize his talents, but even finish his studies at the university, find a decent job. His sister is about to "sell out" to an unloved person (to marry Luzhin for the sake of his fortune). Raskolnikov's mother is in poverty, and the girl she loves is forced into prostitution. And Rodion does not see any way to help them and himself, except to get a large amount of money. But to realize the idea of instant enrichment is possible only with the help of robbery (in this case, it also entailed murder).
According to morality, Raskolnikov did not have the right to take the life of another person, and reasoning that the old woman did not have long to live, or that she did not have the right to “wait” on the grief of other people, is not an excuse and not a reason for murder. But Raskolnikov, although he is tormented by his act, considers himself innocent to the last: he explains his actions by the fact that at that moment he thought only about how to help his loved ones.
Sonya Marmeladova
In the novel Crime and Punishment, the description of Sonya's image is as contradictory as Raskolnikov's: the reader will immediately recognize in them
Sonya is kind and in a sense selfless, this can be seen from her actions towards other people. The girl reads the "Gospel", but at the same time is a prostitute. A devout prostitute - what could be more paradoxical?
However, Sonya is engaged in this craft not because she has a craving for debauchery - this is the only way for an uneducated attractive girl to earn a living, not only for herself, but also for her large family: her stepmother Katerina Ivanovna and three half-brothers and sisters. As a result, Sonya is the only one who went to Siberia after Rodion to support him in difficult times.
Such paradoxical images are the basis of Dostoevsky's realism, because in the real world things cannot be only black or only white, just like people. Therefore, a pure-hearted girl in certain life circumstances can engage in such a dirty craft, and a noble-minded young man can decide to kill.
Arkady Svidrigailov
Arkady Svidrigailov is another character in the novel (a 50-year-old landowner) who literally duplicates Raskolnikov in many aspects. This is not an accident, but a technique chosen by the author. What is its essence?
"Crime and Punishment" is filled with dual images, perhaps to show that many people have equally positive and negative traits, can walk along the same paths in life, but always choose the outcome of their life.
Arkady Svidrigailov is a widower. Even when his wife was alive, he harassed Raskolnikov's sister, who was in their service. When his wife - Marfa Petrovna - died, the landowner came to ask for the hand of Avdotya Raskolnikova.
Svidrigailov has many sins behind him: he is suspected of murder, violence and depravity. But this does not prevent the man from becoming the only person who took care of the family of the late Marmeladov, not only financially, but even placed the children in an orphanage after the death of their mother. Svidrigailov is trying in a barbaric way to win over Dunya, but at the same time he is deeply hurt by the girl’s dislike and he commits suicide, leaving Raskolnikov’s sister an impressive amount as an inheritance. Nobility and cruelty in this man are combined in their bizarre patterns, as in Raskolnikov.
P.P. Luzhin in the system of images of the novel
Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin ("Crime and Punishment") is another "double" of Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov, before committing a crime, compares himself with Napoleon, and so Luzhin is the Napoleon of his time in its purest form: unscrupulous, caring only about himself, striving to make capital at any cost. Perhaps that is why Raskolnikov hates the lucky fellow: after all, Rodion himself believed that for the sake of his own prosperity he had the right to kill a person whose fate seemed to him less important.
Luzhin (“Crime and Punishment”) is very straightforward as a character, caricatured and devoid of the inconsistency inherent in Dostoevsky's heroes. It can be assumed that the writer deliberately made Peter just like that, so that he would become a clear personification of that bourgeois permissiveness that played such a cruel joke on Raskolnikov himself.
Publications of the novel abroad
"Crime and Punishment", the history of which took more than 6 years, was highly appreciated by foreign publications. In 1866 several chapters from the novel were translated into French and published in Courrier russe.
In Germany, the work was published under the title "Raskolnikov" and by 1895 its published circulation was 2 times larger than any other work by Dostoevsky.
At the beginning of the XX century. the novel "Crime and Punishment" was translated into Polish, Czech, Italian, Serbian, Catalan, Lithuanian, etc.
Film adaptations of the novel
The heroes of the novel "Crime and Punishment" are so colorful and interesting that the film adaptation of the novel was taken more than once both in Russia and abroad. The first film - "Crime and Punishment" - appeared in Russia as early as 1909 (dir. Vasily Goncharov). This was followed by film adaptations in 1911, 1913, 1915.
In 1917, the world saw the picture of the American director Lawrence McGill, in 1923 the film "Raskolnikov" was released by the German director Robert Wiene.
After that, about 14 more adaptations were filmed in different countries. Of the Russian works, the most recent was the serial film Crime and Punishment in 2007 (dir. Dmitry Svetozarov).
Novel in popular culture
In films, Dostoevsky's novel often flashes in the hands of imprisoned characters: in the film "The Incredible Adventures of Wallace and Gromit: Haircut" to zero ", TV series" She-Wolf "," Desperate Housewives ", etc.
In the computer game Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, in one of the episodes, the book with the title of Dostoevsky's novel is clearly visible in Sherlock Holmes's hands, and in GTA IV, Crime and Punishment is the name of one of the missions.
Raskolnikov's house in St. Petersburg
There is an assumption that Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich settled his hero in a house that really exists in St. Petersburg. The researchers made such conclusions, since Dostoevsky mentions in the novel: he is in the "S-m" lane, next to the "K-m" bridge. There is indeed a house at Stolyarny Lane-5, which could well serve as a prototype for the novel. Today this building is one of the most visited tourist spots in St. Petersburg.
