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Dostoevsky Doubles

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Dostoevsky is known for his use of dualism and doubles in his novel, The Double. However, if you look closely enough you can see that Dostoevsky uses this theme throughout all of novels, including Crime and Punishment. Dostoevsky uses several characters throughout the novel as doubles to the main character, Raskolnikov. One of his purposes for doing this is to elicit sympathy and understanding of the murderer, Raskolnikov, by showing just how similar he is to these characters. Dostoevsky also shows, some key differences between the characters and helps the reader see where Raskolnikov strayed from his doubles and led him down the path he is on now. The first double Dostoevsky introduces the readers too is, Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, …show more content…

Both men clearly appear poor, due to their dirty and old clothing, and when Raskolnikov enters the bar he gets the sense that much like himself Marmeladov hasn’t talked to anybody in a long time. When they get to talking Marmeladov mentions his wife, Katrina Ivanovna, and admits to marrying her out of compassion, “For I could not bear to see such suffering” (Dostoevsky). When Raskolnikov meets Sonya he is first attracted to her due to her suffering, which he admits later on in the novel, much like Marmeladov and his wife. Outside of just their similar looks and feelings, they both have a very significant similar experience. Marmeladov talks about his self-destructive drinking behavior and how he was rescued from the love and peace of his home, “As if I’d found myself in the Kingdom Heaven” (Dostoevsky). However, only a month later he suddenly stole all the …show more content…

On the surface Sonya and Raskolnikov have lots of things in common. They both are struggling for meaning for their lives in their dreary situations and because they are both pretty unhappy people, but tend to find some happiness when they are together. Although, if you dig deeper you see that both characters share a similar ideal, they are both very self-sacrificing. Sonya, in order to help her family, takes it upon herself to make money by any means possible, “At six o’clock I saw Sonya get up, put on her kerchief and her cape, and go out of the room and about nine o’clock she came back. She walked straight up to Katerina Ivanovna and she laid thirty roubles on the table before her in silence” (Dostoevsky). This passage shows that Sonya’s prostitution was completely of her own doing, nobody forced her to do this. She did this on her own because her family desperately needed the money, even though her actions to obtain the money took a drastic toll on her. Much like Sonya, Raskolnikov does things throughout the novel that are not in his best interest in order to help the people around him. On two separate occasions he gives money to the Marmeladovs even though he has little to no money himself. There is also the girl on the street who is being harassed by a man and Raskolnikov takes it upon himself to help her and give a

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