("Crime and Punishment")
Old money-lender; older sister (half-sister). There is some confusion with her “rank” in the novel: at first she is presented by the narrator as a collegiate registrar (14th grade), and literally two pages later it is said (in the scene of an overheard conversation in a tavern) that “a student tells the officer about the pawnbroker, Alena Ivanovna , collegiate secretary, ”and this is already much higher - 10th grade. “She was a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty years old, with sharp and angry eyes, with a small pointed nose and simple hair. Her blond, slightly graying hair was greasyly oiled. On her thin and long neck, resembling a chicken leg, some kind of flannel rag was draped, and on her shoulders, despite the heat, all the tattered and yellowed fur katsaveyka dangled. The old woman coughed and groaned every minute ... "The same student gives her a characterization in a conversation with his friend in a tavern:" - She is nice, - he said, - you can always get money from her. As rich as a Jew, she can give out five thousand at once, and she does not disdain a ruble mortgage. She has had many of ours. Just a terrible bitch...
And he began to tell how angry, capricious she was, that it was only one day to overstay the mortgage, and the thing was gone. He gives four times less than the cost of the thing, and takes five and even seven percent a month, etc. The student blabbed and said, in addition, that the old woman had a sister, Lizaveta, whom she, so small and ugly, beats every minute and keeps in complete enslavement, like a small child, while Lizaveta is at least eight inches tall ... "It is the student who, with his reasoning that "a stupid, senseless, insignificant, evil, sick old woman, unnecessary to anyone and, on the contrary, harmful to everyone, who herself does not know what she lives for, and who will die by herself tomorrow" can to save many from poverty and death by death - finally pushed Raskolnikov to the "crime".
And here is the scene of the murder: “The old woman, as always, was fair-haired. Her blond, grizzled, thin hair, as usual greasy with oil, was braided into a rat's pigtail and matched to a fragment of a horn comb sticking out at the back of her head. The blow fell on the very top of the head, which was facilitated by her small stature. She screamed, but very weakly, and suddenly she sank down to the floor, although she still had time to raise both hands to her head. In one hand she continued to hold the bet. Then he struck with all his strength once and twice, all with the butt and all at the crown of the head. Blood gushed out as if from an overturned glass, and the body fell backwards. He stepped back, let her fall, and immediately bent down to her face; she was already dead. The eyes were bulging, as if they wanted to jump out, and the forehead and the whole face were wrinkled and distorted by a spasm ... "
But Alena Ivanovna will still appear in all her disgusting form to Rodion Raskolnikov in a feverish delusional dream, when he dreamed that he had again come to her apartment: “At that very moment, in the corner, between a small wardrobe and a window, he saw, as it were, hanging on salop wall.<...>He approached slowly and guessed that someone was hiding behind the coat. He cautiously moved the cloak away with his hand and saw that there was a chair standing there, and an old woman was sitting on a chair in the corner, all hunched over and bowing her head, so that he could not make out the face, but it was her. He stood over her: "Afraid!" he thought as he quietly released the ax from the noose and hit the old woman on the top of the head, once and twice. But strange: she did not even move from the blows, like a wooden one. He was frightened, leaned closer and began to examine her; but she bowed her head even lower. Then he bent down completely to the floor and looked into her face from below, looked and became dead: the old woman was sitting and laughing, she burst into quiet, inaudible laughter, trying with all her might so that he would not hear her. Suddenly it seemed to him that the door from the bedroom opened a little, and that there, too, it was as if they were laughing and whispering. Fury overcame him: with all his strength he began to beat the old woman on the head, but with each blow of the ax, laughter and whispers from the bedroom were heard louder and louder, and the old woman swayed all over with laughter. He started to run…”
From an early age, Dostoevsky had to communicate with usurers and usurers (like,), so he had more than enough material to portray Alena Ivanovna, her essence and lifestyle. He was even going to write a separate work with the same name - "The Pawnbroker".
The character of the novel by F.M. Dostoyevsky "Crime and Punishment" (1866)
In the exhausted brain of the protagonist of the novel "Crime and Punishment" by Rodion Raskolnikov, a terrible theory was born, the main idea of which justifies the murder for the sake of the common good by a representative of the "highest" category of people of a "unnecessary" person.
The image of the old woman-interest-bearer
Such a victim in the name of an idea becomes an old pawnbroker. Her name was Alena Ivanovna. She was the widow of a petty official. Skinny, as if dried up by years, a grandmother of small stature, who is about sixty years old. Of a sickly appearance, perhaps for more than one year suffering from consumption, which was common at that time. A cough or grunt comes out of her throat all the time. The eyes are small and angry, the nose is like a beak, the hair is shiny with oil and collected in a thin pigtail.
Alena Ivanovna wore a kind of scarf around her neck, and threw a decrepit jacket over her shoulders, lined with fur yellowed from old age. But the poverty of the old woman is a visual deception, the pawnbroker earned very good money without leaving her home, issuing cash on bail.
The price for the offered valuables is shamelessly tiny (25% of the cost), and the interest is simply cosmic. Alena Ivanovna did not forgive anyone for delays, in the event of even a slight delay, the pledge became her property and was already resold for a good fee. Due to such fraud, the old woman increased her capital, which she did not spend anywhere. For pettiness, stinginess and anger, she was nicknamed the witch. And there was not a single person in the whole world who would be dear to her.
Her sister Liza lived under the same roof with Alena Ivanovna. A woman of small mind, but quiet by nature and modest. Despite her kinship, the pawnbroker did not have any warm feelings for her and kept her as a servant, sometimes even beating the poor fellow. And even denied her an inheritance.
. The old woman had already made her will, which was known to Lizaveta herself, who, according to the will, did not get a penny, except for movables, chairs and other things; the money was all assigned to one monastery in the H-th province, for the eternal remembrance of the soul.
Role in the plot
Raskolnikov chooses this old woman as his victim, because she causes only fear and disgust in those around her. He hopes to steal money from her and at the same time "test" himself, proving that he is capable of "deed". It is unlikely that anyone will feel sorry for the disgusting, painful grandmother, who will say goodbye to life so soon. Unfortunately, Lisa becomes an unplanned victim, having harmed no one. Dostoevsky emphasizes that the murder of any of the people is a crime of the laws of morality. This is how Rodion Raskolnikov's theory about the justification for killing "higher" people and "worthless" people is shattered to smithereens.
Dispute between a student and an officer about an old woman
. Let me ask you a serious question," the student got excited. “I was joking now, of course, but look: on the one hand, a stupid, senseless, insignificant, evil, sick old woman, unnecessary to anyone and, on the contrary, harmful to everyone, who herself does not know what she lives for, and who tomorrow herself will die by itself. Understand? Understand?
“Well, I understand,” the officer answered, staring attentively at his excited comrade.
- Listen further. On the other hand, young, fresh forces that go to waste without support, and this is in the thousands, and this is everywhere! A hundred, a thousand good deeds and undertakings that can be arranged and corrected for the old woman's money, doomed to the monastery! Hundreds, thousands, perhaps, of beings pointing towards the road; dozens of families saved from poverty, from decay, from death, from debauchery, from venereal hospitals - and all this with her money. Kill her and take her money, so that with their help you can then devote yourself to the service of all mankind and the common cause: what do you think, will not one tiny crime be atoned for by thousands of good deeds? In one life, thousands of lives saved from decay and decay. One death and a hundred lives in return - why, there is arithmetic here! And what does the life of this consumptive, stupid and evil old woman mean on the general scales? Nothing more than the life of a louse, a cockroach, and even that is not worth it, because the old woman is harmful. She eats someone else's life: the other day she bit Lizaveta's finger out of spite; almost cut off.
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The image and characteristics of the old pawnbroker in the novel "Crime and Punishment": description of appearance and character (Alena Ivanovna)
The old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna is one of the brightest secondary characters in Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment.
This article presents the quotation image and characteristics of the old pawnbroker in the novel "Crime and Punishment": a description of the appearance and character of Alena Ivanovna in quotations.
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The image and characteristics of the old pawnbroker in the novel "Crime and Punishment": a description of the appearance and character of Alena Ivanovna in quotes
The old pawnbroker is a heartless, indifferent, but at the same time a religious woman. Her testament eloquently speaks of this. The old woman does not care about the future of her weak-minded sister Lizaveta, although this is exactly what she should be worrying about.
According to the will of the old woman, Lizaveta must receive her sister's movable property (furniture, clothes, etc.). The old woman bequeaths her savings not to a poor sister, but to a monastery in the N-th province:
People around call the old pawnbroker a witch:
". Hey, Alena Ivanovna, old witch! Lizaveta Ivanovna, beauty indescribable! Open up. " ". The witch sits all year round, turns sour, her legs hurt, and then suddenly she is out for a walk. "
This was a quotation image and characterization of the old pawnbroker in Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment: a description of the appearance and character of Alena Ivanovna in quotations.
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Old woman pawnbroker
The Old Pawnbroker: Character Story
A minor character in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. An old woman of sixty, the widow of an official, is engaged in usury. Killed by the protagonist of the novel, Rodion Raskolnikov.
History of creation
The old pawnbroker from Dostoyevsky's novel has several prototypes. While working on the novel, the writer probably used materials about the murder that took place in Moscow in the summer of 1865. Then two women, a cook and a laundress, fell victim to the killer. The killer turned out to be a 27-year-old clerk, the son of a merchant, a certain Mr. Chistov. A note about this crime was published in the magazine "Voice". The details of the murder largely coincide with what is described in the novel, so researchers of Dostoevsky's work believe that the writer could use information about this crime in his work on the text.
The murderer Chistov was a schismatic by religion, which probably became the impetus for the appearance of the surname of the protagonist of the novel - Raskolnikov. The killer made his way into the apartment between seven and nine o'clock in the evening and killed two old women - a cook and a washerwoman. The murder weapon turned out to be an ax, and the purpose of the penetration was robbery. The killer gutted the chest and stole money, as well as gold and silver items. Things pulled out of the chest were scattered around the apartment.
Illustration for the novel "Crime and Punishment"
Another prototype of the old pawnbroker, researchers consider the writer's aunt, a certain A.F. Kumanin. This woman was the sister of Dostoevsky's mother. She was an extraordinarily rich, but crazy old woman. Kumanina had many poor relatives, but the woman bequeathed her own fortune not to them, but to the church - to decorate temples and commemorate the soul. The old pawnbroker in Dostoevsky's novel left the same will and left her own feeble-minded sister Lizaveta without a livelihood.
"Crime and Punishment"
The real name of the old pawnbroker is Alena Ivanovna, the name of the heroine is unknown. This is a woman of sixty, a widow, married to an official - either a collegiate secretary, or a collegiate registrar. At her age, the heroine looks like a "tiny dry old woman" with a thin and long neck, with evil eyes and a small sharp nose.
Old woman pawnbroker
The heroine's hair is slightly touched by gray hair, Alena Ivanovna is blonde. The heroine greases her hair with oil, probably for the sake of care, and braids it into a thin rat pigtail. The author calls the heroine "small and nasty." The clothes on the heroine are shabby - “flannel rags”, in addition, the heroine freezes even in hot weather and wears a fur katsaveyka. Alena Ivanovna is ill with tuberculosis, constantly coughing and groaning.
The heroine lived in St. Petersburg, according to researchers, in one of the houses on the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal, known as the Walch House. The old woman is engaged in usury - she lends money to the needy on the security of valuable things. The protagonist of the novel, a poor student Rodion Raskolnikov, learns about Alena Ivanovna and her business from a friend. Raskolnikov turns to the old woman when there is an urgent need for money, and pawns at that thing.
Old pawnbroker and Rodion Raskolnikov
Usury trade brings Alena Ivanovna a good income. The old woman gives clients an amount four times less than the real value of the things that they leave with her. Some clients are not able to redeem the pledged things, then the pledged remains with the old woman. It is enough to delay the mortgage by one day. The pawnbroker probably resells the pledged items at a higher price. The heroine is indifferent to the people and circumstances that force them to delay the payment of the debt.
Thus, Alena Ivanovna made a good fortune. The characters say that the old woman is "rich as a Jew" and is able to give out five thousand at once. Despite her wealth, the heroine is greedy and pathologically thrifty, walks around in worn-out clothes and practically does not spend money, the income does not bring the heroine any benefit or pleasure.
Sister of the old pawnbroker Lizaveta (frame from the film)
Alena Ivanovna has a bitchy character - angry and capricious. The heroine is stupid, her life is meaningless. Alena Ivanovna "is not needed by anyone" and she herself does not know what she lives for. The heroine lives with her younger sister, the weak-minded Lizaveta, who is constantly beaten, oppressed and used as a servant. At the same time, the old woman bequeathed the state not to her sister, but to a certain monastery for the sake of remembering her own soul. Lizaveta, after the death of her elder sister, will get one movable property - furniture, clothes, etc., but not a penny of money.
The heroine is indifferent to the future of her sister and is heartless by nature, but at the same time religious. The further fate of the incapacitated Lizaveta does not worry the pawnbroker at all, but she worries about her own posthumous fate.
Alena Ivanovna is distrustful of people, does not go anywhere and sits at home all year round, complaining about her sore legs. People around openly call the heroine an "old witch" and do not feel sympathy for her.
The murder of the old woman-interest-bearer
Student Raskolnikov plans the murder of an old pawnbroker. The hero studied to be a lawyer, but left the university, also abandoned giving private lessons and fell into poverty. The hero wallows at home all day long, lounging and thinking about life. Raskolnikov took money from the old woman on bail, but he did not plan the murder for pure profit, but to confirm the theory he invented and prove to himself that he, Raskolnikov, belongs to the best part of humanity.
Raskolnikov kills Alena Ivanovna and her weak-minded sister, robs the dead and hides from the scene of the crime unnoticed. In fact, the old pawnbroker is the psychological counterpart of Raskolnikov. The hero presses on the insignificance of the woman he killed, calling that "louse". However, at the end of the novel, Raskolnikov comes to the conclusion that he himself is exactly the same louse.
Screen adaptations
In 1956, the French adaptation of Crime and Punishment was released under the title Crime et Chatiment. This is a crime drama, the plot of which is noticeably altered in relation to the novel. The scene was France in the 1940s. The main character, a poor student Rene, decides to kill the old Madame Orvai for romantic reasons. The hero wants to get money to save his sister from an unwanted marriage, and at the same time help the beautiful prostitute Lily quit her indecent profession and start a new life. Madame Orvai in this film is played by actress Gabrielle Fontaine.
Vera Karpova in the series "Crime and Punishment"
In 1969, the Soviet film adaptation of the novel was released, a two-part drama directed by Lev Kulidzhanov. The role of Alena Ivanovna is played by the actress Elizaveta Evstratova. Critics called Kulidzhanov's film a "cold intellectual interpretation" of Dostoevsky's novel. The next film adaptation will be released in 2007. This is an eight-episode television series directed by Dmitry Svetozarov, where the role of the old money-lender was played by actress Vera Karpova.
Characteristics of the hero Alena Ivanovna, Crime and punishment, Dostoevsky. The image of the character Alena Ivanovna
Characteristics of the hero Alena Ivanovna
Alena Ivanovna is one of the main characters in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment"; a dry old woman of about sixty who takes valuables from students at interest; Raskolnikov's victim. The heroine does not have a last name. Her image, rather, is associated with worthlessness and a harmful life. Taking advantage of the fact that her clients are in a hopeless situation, she assigns huge interest, thus cashing in on them. Raskolnikov sees in her an evil that society needs to be rid of.
According to the author himself, Alena Ivanovna is also a person and has the right to life. Therefore, the act of the protagonist, he does not approve. He sees in it only a chance for rebirth and purification of the soul. As Dostoevsky writes, violence against any other person is immoral in the highest degree. The following is known about the appearance of the old woman: she has sharp teeth and evil eyes, sparse hair and a pointed nose. On her neck, like a chicken leg, she always wears some kind of untidy rag, long yellowed and frayed. The old woman is ill with consumption and coughs unpleasantly every minute.
Despite the fact that she is a capricious, stupid and mischievous woman, she has a half-sister, Lizaveta Ivanovna, who has never hurt a fly in her life. She treats her badly and even disgustingly. At every opportunity, he beats like a small child and keeps him in perfect enslavement. Being a distrustful woman, she bequeaths all her savings not to a single sister, but to some unknown monastery.
Alena Ivanovna
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- Alena Ivanovna
("Crime and Punishment")
Old money-lender; older sister (half-sister) of Lizaveta. There is some confusion with her “rank” in the novel: at first she is presented by the narrator as a collegiate registrar (grade 14), and literally two pages later it is said (in the scene of a conversation in a tavern overheard by Raskolnikov) that “a student tells the officer about the pawnbroker, Alena Ivanovna, collegiate secretary, ”and this is already much higher - 10th grade. “She was a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty years old, with sharp and angry eyes, with a small pointed nose and simple hair. Her blond, slightly graying hair was greasyly oiled. On her thin and long neck, resembling a chicken leg, some kind of flannel rag was draped, and on her shoulders, despite the heat, all the tattered and yellowed fur katsaveyka dangled. The old woman kept coughing and groaning. The same student gives her a characterization in a conversation with his friend in a tavern: “She is nice,” he said, “you can always get money from her. As rich as a Jew, she can give out five thousand at once, and she does not disdain a ruble mortgage. She has had many of ours. Just a terrible bitch.
And he began to tell how angry, capricious she was, that it was only one day to overstay the mortgage, and the thing was gone. He gives four times less than the cost of the thing, and takes five and even seven percent a month, etc. The student blabbed and said, in addition, that the old woman had a sister, Lizaveta, whom she, so small and ugly, beats every minute and keeps in complete enslavement, like a small child, while Lizaveta is at least eight inches tall. "It is the student who, with his reasoning that "a stupid, senseless, insignificant, evil, sick old woman, unnecessary to anyone and, on the contrary, harmful to everyone, who herself does not know what she lives for, and who will die by herself tomorrow" can to save many from poverty and death by death - finally pushed Raskolnikov to the "crime".
And here is the scene of the murder: “The old woman, as always, was bare-haired. Her blond, grizzled, thin hair, as usual greasy with oil, was braided into a rat's pigtail and matched to a fragment of a horn comb sticking out at the back of her head. The blow fell on the very top of the head, which was facilitated by her small stature. She screamed, but very weakly, and suddenly she sank down to the floor, although she still had time to raise both hands to her head. In one hand she continued to hold the bet. Then he struck with all his strength once and twice, all with the butt and all at the crown of the head. Blood gushed out as if from an overturned glass, and the body fell backwards. He stepped back, let her fall, and immediately bent down to her face; she was already dead. The eyes were bulging, as if they wanted to jump out, and the forehead and the whole face were wrinkled and contorted by a spasm. »
But Alena Ivanovna will still appear in all her disgusting form to Rodion Raskolnikov in a feverish delusional dream, when he dreamed that he had again come to her apartment: “At that very moment, in the corner, between a small wardrobe and a window, he saw, as it were, hanging on salop wall. He approached slowly and guessed that someone was hiding behind the coat. He cautiously moved the cloak away with his hand and saw that there was a chair standing there, and an old woman was sitting on a chair in the corner, all hunched over and bowing her head, so that he could not make out the face, but it was her. He stood over her: "Afraid!" - he thought, quietly released the ax from the noose and hit the old woman on the top of the head, once and twice. But strange: she did not even move from the blows, like a wooden one. He was frightened, leaned closer and began to examine her; but she bowed her head even lower. He then bent down completely to the floor and looked into her face from below, looked and became dead: the old woman sat and laughed, - she burst into quiet, inaudible laughter, trying with all her might so that he would not hear her. Suddenly it seemed to him that the door from the bedroom opened a little, and that there, too, it was as if they were laughing and whispering. Fury overcame him: with all his strength he began to beat the old woman on the head, but with each blow of the ax, laughter and whispers from the bedroom were heard louder and louder, and the old woman swayed all over with laughter. He started to run. »
Dostoevsky had to communicate with usurers and usurers from the earliest years (like A.I. Reisler, Eriksan), so he had more than enough material for the image of Alena Ivanovna, her essence and way of life. He was even going to write a separate work with the same name - "The Pawnbroker".
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1. The age of Juliet's mother, the researchers calculate in one phrase:
“As for me, when I was your age, I was your mother a long time ago.”
Shakespeare also mentions the age of Juliet:
"Well, on Peter's day by night And she will blow fourteen years old."
It turns out that Senora Capulet may be 28 years old, or even less. But why should this surprise us if we are witnessing the love story of a 14-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy? Does anyone sincerely worry that they did not become a parent at 14?
2. The age of Marya Gavrilovna from the Snowstorm by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
The only mention in the story about the age of the heroine:
“At the end of 1811, in an era memorable to us, the good Gavrila Gavrilovich R ** lived in his estate Nenaradovo. He was famous throughout the district for his hospitality and cordiality; the neighbors kept coming to him to eat, drink, play five kopecks in Boston with his wife, and some in order to look at their daughter, Marya Gavrilovna, a slender, pale and seventeen-year-old girl. She was considered a rich bride, and many predicted her for themselves or for their sons.
So many years she was at the time of the wedding, and the explanation with Burmin happened more than three years later. Therefore, she could not go to the 20th year.
3. Balzac age.
This expression became popular after the release of Honoré de Balzac's The Thirty-Year-Old Woman in 1834. And it is indisputable that the “Balzac age” can really be considered the age of 30 years. Another thing is not clear, why does this expression have such a pejorative, at best derogatory-joking character? After all, Balzac does not describe at all an old woman who no longer knows where to put herself, but a woman in the prime of her beauty and strength.
4. Age of Ivan Susanin.
Thanks to the unknown network researchers who finally put an end to the age-old debate about Susanin's age. It’s only a pity that modern historians are not yet in the know and continue to call the time of Ivan Osipovich’s birth “the last third of the 16th century”, which, you see, gives a wide variation in age, given that Susanin died in the fall of 1612 or in the winter of 1613.
5. The age of the old pawnbroker.
This is a shameful lie! Yet at school they read Dostoevsky's novel!
“She was a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty years old, with sharp and angry eyes, with a small pointed nose and simple hair.”
Shame on you folks, shame on you.
6. Age of Anna Karenina.
Tolstoy does not mention the exact age of the heroine. Where does such an exact figure come from - 28 years? Nowhere. Just guesses.
"I'll start over: you married a man who is twenty years older than you."
I did not find any mention of the age of Alexei Aleksandrovich Karenin in the novel. But for some reason, the most common version on the network says that Karenin was 44 years old, and not 48 or 46 at all. And this already contradicts Anna's announced 28 years.
7. Age of Richelieu.
Yes, yes, not Richelieu, but Richelieu. The siege of La Rochelle lasted a whole year from September 1627 to October 1628. At the time the siege began, Cardinal Richelieu was indeed 42 years old, but did anyone consider him an old man? Why should we be surprised at his age? I don't understand.
8. 30-year-old Karazmin and 16-year-old Pushkin.
Just a celebration of ignorance. Only it is not clear what: historical or mathematical. I guess both.
Now let's calculate: Pushkin turned 16 years old in 1815, respectively, Karamzin was then about 49 years old, and not thirty at all. Hey Pushkin! Three years before his birth, he saw Karamzin, and even left a note about it, pretending to be 16 years old.
9. And again about Karamzin.
Apparently, this refers to Yuri Nikolayevich Tynyanov, a writer and literary critic. He has a study of the unfinished novel "Pushkin", where you can actually find this quote. Only she does not relate to the physical age of Karamzin, but to his mood and activity at that time.
“The main person was, of course, not the count. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was older than all those present. He was thirty-four, the age of fading.
The time to please has passed, But to be captivated without captivating, And to glow without inflaming, There is a bad trade.
There were no wrinkles yet, but a coldness appeared on his face, elongated, white. In spite of his jocularity, in spite of his fondness for tickles, as he called the young ones, it was evident that he had learned a great deal. The world was crumbling; everywhere in Russia - deformities, sometimes bitterer than French villainy. Fully dream of the happiness of mankind! His heart was broken by the beautiful woman whose friend he was. After traveling to Europe, he became colder towards friends. The "Letters of a Russian Traveler" became a law for educated speeches and hearts. The women were crying over them. He was now publishing an almanac, called the female name "Aglaya", which women read to and which began to generate income. Everything is nothing but trinkets. But the barbaric censorship also constrained trifles. Emperor Paul did not live up to the expectations placed on him by all the friends of good. He was self-willed, angry, and surrounded himself not with philosophers, but with Gatchina corporals, who did not in the least understand elegance.
It's about a disappointed person, not an old one.
Characteristics of the literary hero Old woman pawnbroker (Alena Ivanovna). “... a dry old woman, about 60 years old, with sharp and angry eyes with a small pointed nose ... Her blond, slightly graying hair was greasyly oiled. Some kind of flannel rag was wrapped around her thin and long neck, similar to a chicken leg ... ”This image is a symbol of a worthless and even harmful life. Alena Ivanovna profits from the grief of other people. She takes valuable things at interest. Taking advantage of the fact that often her clients are in a hopeless situation, the old woman appoints huge percentages and, in fact, robs people. Her image should evoke disgust and partly justify the murder of Raskolnikov. But, according to Dostoevsky, this old woman is also a person. Therefore, violence against her, as well as against any other person, is a crime of the moral law.
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- Porfiry Petrovich Characteristics of the literary hero Porfiry Petrovich - bailiff of investigative affairs, jurist. “About 35… His plump, round and slightly snub-nosed face was the color of a sick man, dark yellow, but rather cheerful and even mocking. It would even be good-natured, if not Read More ......
- Sonechka Marmeladova Characteristics of the literary hero “Small, about eighteen years old, thin, but rather pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes.” Daughter of Marmeladov. To help a starving family, she began to engage in prostitution. First, we learn about her from the story of Marmeladov. Returning home for the first time Read More ......
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The Old Pawnbroker: Character Story
A minor character in the novel Crime and Punishment. An old woman of sixty, the widow of an official, is engaged in usury. Killed by the protagonist of the novel.
History of creation
The old pawnbroker from Dostoyevsky's novel has several prototypes. While working on the novel, the writer probably used materials about the murder that took place in Moscow in the summer of 1865. Then two women, a cook and a laundress, fell victim to the killer. The killer turned out to be a 27-year-old clerk, the son of a merchant, a certain Mr. Chistov. A note about this crime was published in the magazine "Voice". The details of the murder largely coincide with what is described in the novel, so researchers of Dostoevsky's work believe that the writer could use information about this crime in his work on the text.
The murderer Chistov was a schismatic by religion, which probably became the impetus for the appearance of the surname of the protagonist of the novel - Raskolnikov. The killer made his way into the apartment between seven and nine o'clock in the evening and killed two old women - a cook and a washerwoman. The murder weapon turned out to be an ax, and the purpose of the penetration was robbery. The killer gutted the chest and stole money, as well as gold and silver items. Things pulled out of the chest were scattered around the apartment.
Illustration for the novel "Crime and Punishment" Another prototype of the old pawnbroker, researchers consider the writer's aunt, a certain A.F. Kumanin. This woman was the sister of Dostoevsky's mother. She was an extraordinarily rich, but crazy old woman. Kumanina had many poor relatives, but the woman bequeathed her own fortune not to them, but to the church - to decorate temples and commemorate the soul. The old pawnbroker in Dostoevsky's novel left the same will and left her own feeble-minded sister Lizaveta without a livelihood.
"Crime and Punishment"
The real name of the old pawnbroker is Alena Ivanovna, the name of the heroine is unknown. This is a woman of sixty, a widow, married to an official - either a collegiate secretary, or a collegiate registrar. At her age, the heroine looks like a "tiny dry old woman" with a thin and long neck, with evil eyes and a small sharp nose.
The heroine's hair is slightly touched by gray hair, Alena Ivanovna is blonde. The heroine greases her hair with oil, probably for the sake of care, and braids it into a thin rat pigtail. The author calls the heroine "small and nasty." The clothes on the heroine are shabby - “flannel rags”, in addition, the heroine freezes even in hot weather and wears a fur katsaveyka. Alena Ivanovna is ill with tuberculosis, constantly coughing and groaning.
The heroine lived in St. Petersburg, according to researchers, in one of the houses on the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal, known as the Walch House. The old woman is engaged in usury - she lends money to the needy on the security of valuable things. The protagonist of the novel, a poor student Rodion Raskolnikov, learns about Alena Ivanovna and her business from a friend. Raskolnikov turns to the old woman when there is an urgent need for money, and pawns at that thing.
Usury trade brings Alena Ivanovna a good income. The old woman gives clients an amount four times less than the real value of the things that they leave with her. Some clients are not able to redeem the pledged things, then the pledged remains with the old woman. It is enough to delay the mortgage by one day. The pawnbroker probably resells the pledged items at a higher price. The heroine is indifferent to the people and circumstances that force them to delay the payment of the debt.
Thus, Alena Ivanovna made a good fortune. The characters say that the old woman is "rich as a Jew" and is able to give out five thousand at once. Despite her wealth, the heroine is greedy and pathologically thrifty, walks around in worn-out clothes and practically does not spend money, the income does not bring the heroine any benefit or pleasure.
Alena Ivanovna has a bitchy character - angry and capricious. The heroine is stupid, her life is meaningless. Alena Ivanovna "is not needed by anyone" and she herself does not know what she lives for. The heroine lives with her younger sister, the weak-minded Lizaveta, who is constantly beaten, oppressed and used as a servant. At the same time, the old woman bequeathed the state not to her sister, but to a certain monastery for the sake of remembering her own soul. Lizaveta, after the death of her elder sister, will get one movable property - furniture, clothes, etc., but not a penny of money.
The heroine is indifferent to the future of her sister and is heartless by nature, but at the same time religious. The further fate of the incapacitated Lizaveta does not worry the pawnbroker at all, but she worries about her own posthumous fate.
Alena Ivanovna is distrustful of people, does not go anywhere and sits at home all year round, complaining about her sore legs. People around openly call the heroine an "old witch" and do not feel sympathy for her.
Student Raskolnikov plans the murder of an old pawnbroker. The hero studied to be a lawyer, but left the university, also abandoned giving private lessons and fell into poverty. The hero wallows at home all day long, lounging and thinking about life. Raskolnikov took money from the old woman on bail, but he did not plan the murder for pure profit, but to confirm the theory he invented and prove to himself that he, Raskolnikov, belongs to the best part of humanity.
Raskolnikov kills Alena Ivanovna and her weak-minded sister, robs the dead and hides from the scene of the crime unnoticed. In fact, the old pawnbroker is the psychological counterpart of Raskolnikov. The hero presses on the insignificance of the woman he killed, calling that "louse". However, at the end of the novel, Raskolnikov comes to the conclusion that he himself is exactly the same louse.
Screen adaptations
In 1956, the French adaptation of Crime and Punishment was released under the title Crime et Chatiment. This is a crime drama, the plot of which is noticeably altered in relation to the novel. The scene was France in the 1940s. The main character, a poor student Rene, decides to kill the old Madame Orvai for romantic reasons. The hero wants to get money to save his sister from an unwanted marriage, and at the same time help the beautiful prostitute Lily quit her indecent profession and start a new life. Madame Orvai in this film is played by actress Gabrielle Fontaine.
Vera Karpova in the series "Crime and Punishment" In 1969, the Soviet film adaptation of the novel was released, a two-part drama directed by Lev Kulidzhanov. The role of Alena Ivanovna is played by the actress Elizaveta Evstratova. Critics called Kulidzhanov's film a "cold intellectual interpretation" of Dostoevsky's novel. The next film adaptation will be released in 2007. This is an eight-episode television series directed by Dmitry Svetozarov, where the role of the old money-lender was played by actress Vera Karpova.
Quotes
“I didn’t kill the old woman, I killed myself!”
"Lying is the only human privilege over all organisms."
“She is nice,” he said, “you can always get money from her. As rich as a Jew, she can give out five thousand at once, and she does not disdain a ruble mortgage. She has had many of ours."
“I only killed a louse, Sonya, useless, nasty, malicious.”
