Gentry Hale
Raskolnikov is a proud and intellectual man who believes that he is extraordinary enough to break all social rules and moral standards if he thinks that it will further humanity. Sonia is a shy and timorous girl who is a devout Christian and is so dedicated to her family that she is willing to do anything to help them. Sonia’s humility and meekness help Raskolnikov to realize that he may not be as remarkable as he believes. Fyodor Dostoevsky uses Sonia as a foil towards Raskolnikov, in his novel Crime and Punishment, because she helps him to overcome his pride and confess to his crime. Sonia and Raskolnikov are both communal outcasts because of the social injustices that they have committed. Sonia resorted to prostitution
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He immediately convinced himself that it was a sign that he must commit the murder the next night. The use of coincidence and environment as self-justification shows that he feels guilty and needs validation for his crimes. He cannot turn to God like Sonia because he is a selfish man and repenting means that he must admit to himself that he had done wrong. Instead of feeling disappointment in himself he will blame his actions on the world around him. Raskolnikov askes Sonia to read him a passage out of the Bible and she reads him the story of Lazarus. He acts as if he does not believe in the story, but he is moved by it. The rising of Lazarus from the dead is a parallel to Raskolnikovs separation from the world. He relates to this story because his pride alienates him from those that love him. He longs to be like Lazarus and to be reborn, and his pride begins to waiver. When he works up the humility to confess to Sonia, she offers him a cross. He begins to accept it and then quickly gives it back. Although he did not take the cross, he considered it. In this instance Raskolnikov was able to confess to his crime, even if only to Sonia, and he almost accepts her religious offering. She is making an impact on his conscious and his pride is
Raskolnikov shares similar traits to Svidrigailov; however, unlike Svidrigailov, he’s is burdened by a conscience that wants him to do the right thing. Rask has two sides to him, a dark side that is similar to that of Svidrigailov, and a good side that feels remorse for killing the pawnbroker. Rask has a bit of Svidrigailov in him because he doesn’t believe that what he did was wrong and has a wicked side to him that comes out when he sees the pawnbroker, especially in his dream where “he began to smash the old woman on the head” with a vengeance because of how much he
A shy and timid seventeen year old girl, Sonia is wary of Raskolnikov when she first meets him. Her tenacious religious faith is a vital part of her character; she is shy and timid, but also truly compassionate and altruistic (especially towards Raskolnikov). In this sense, Raskolnikov is quite different from Sonia; where he is uncaring and ignorant, she is warm-hearted and thoughtful. Sonia helps to bring back the humane aspects of Raskolnikov’s personality. “There, not far from the entrance, stood Sonia, pale and horror-stricken. She looked wildly at him… There was a look of poignant agony, of despair in her face...His lips worked in an ugly, meaningless smile. He stood still a minute, grinned, and went back into the police office” (Dostoevsky 447). At this moment in time, Raskolnikov had gone into the police station to confess his crime, but in a lack of better judgement, he returns back to Sonia without telling about his crime. Had Raskolnikov not been motivated by the repugnant look on Sonia’s face, it is unlikely that he would have gone back into the police station. This is perhaps the prime example of how Sonia brings out the best in Raskolnikov. Sonia’s sympathetic and doting personality is polar to Raskolnikov’s selfish beliefs and his “extraordinary man theory”. However, when all is said and done, Sonia guides Raskolnikov to face the punishment of his wrong doing. Had Raskolnikov not had a tenacious relationship with Sonia, it likely would have taken him a much
This is how Raskolnikov is able to commit his crime: his intellectual side ignores his conscience and is able to commit the crime in a rational and orderly way. It is his dual character that serves as his punishment. One side of him is able to commit the murders, so the other must bear the punishment. He is tortured by the cruelty in mankind, and yet he himself is able to repeat it.
Although the cross was initially supposed to show Raskolnikov's self-sacrifice, it began to show that he started down the path of recognizing the wrongs that he committed. Before he confessed his crime to Sonia he felt isolated from her as well. Since he fell in love with her, it was his biggest pain being cut off from her. When he finally trusted Sonia with the knowledge of his crime, she accepts him because he finally starts his reconciliation. He gathers strength from Sonia's acceptance of him, and that is what pushes him into confessing to society. His compassionate nature is what also pushes his actions once again. Since he felt disconnected from Sonia, his compassion is what pushed him into confining in her his secret to become closer to her. With Raskolnikov gaining spiritual reassessment at the end shows the special significance of Sonia as well through the novel. She gave herself (her love) to bring him back to society, like Jesus, and by doing so he would ultimatly save himself and recognize his sins, as he did. The strength from which Raskolnikov gained from Sonia influenced his reconciliation, reassessment, and stability to which then lead to the major importance of the
Dostoevsky litters the novel with the biblical allusion of Lazarus. Sonia disseminates the legend to the largely agnostic Raskolnikov: “ ‘And when he thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth’” (Dostoevsky 328). This reference to Lazarus serves to foreshadow Raskolnikov’s own redemption. In fact, Raskolnikov
The mood of confusion due to the characters disorientation from his guilty conscious is what manipulates the tone. The mood and tone are also expressed during the state of agitation the character encounters when battling his conscious about committing the murder in the first place. Going back to the point of the characters un-confessed sin which is his main cause of his torture; there comes the moment of truth within the story. In the excerpt, the author says, “There had been little difficulty about his trial. The criminal adhered exactly, firmly, and clearly to his statement… He explained every incident of the murder” (lines 4-6). This is the point in the story where Raskolnikov unleashes the demons in his mind and confesses to his sin. It’s shown here just how brutal the battle with his guilty conscious truly was, by Raskolnikov being pushed to a confession, stating the exact incidents and not missing a single detail, all while showing absolutely no remorse for himself. There is finally a sense of hope that is shown for the main character at the end of the excerpt when the author describes the moment in prison after his confession. When the author says “In prison, how it happened, he did not know. But all at once something seemed to seize him and fling him at her (Sonia’s) feet. He wept and threw his arms round her knees. They were both pale and thin; but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full
In order to understand Raskolnikov’s guilt, it is important to understand the religious influences at work in the time period and place he lived in. In St. Petersburg where Raskolnikov lives, there are strong Christian influences from the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Church condemns killing people with few exceptions. Although is not a devout believer, these influences are still at work in the book. It is clear that Raskolnikov is struggling to fight God away because, as he says that “once God’s will gets mixed up in it, nothing will be done” (389). He acknowledges that the guilt he has is God’s doing, and he struggles internally to get rid of it. The idea that he is not able to feel good about the murder that he knows improved society. He states that “what bothers [him] is this permission according to conscience” (253). Even though he wants to establish his own moral code, it is impossible for him to do so because of the influence of religion.
As stated that the definition of Marxism, it says that one goes from a capitalist government, to a socialist government, and ultimately a classless society with communism. Here, this novel stands to be a perfect example of a rise to communism, and the rise of a proletariat. With this, a Marxist theory would begin to see Raskolnikov as a version of the proletariat, or common man, in charge of a violent overthrow. It is believed by Marxist theorists that the proletariat goes through various stages of development. In the beginning they struggle against the bourgeois, then this metamorphosizes itself into suffering, and the finally through the growth of the masses, victory arises for the common man. The goal of the Marxist man is to violently overthrow capitalism. Even though Raskolnikov does not conduct a violent overthrow of the government, he comes together in the same way, by violently killing what he sees as a leach on society. Raskolnikov battles his emotions and morality because of the murder of the pawnbroker and therefore suffers because of it. Though Porfiry and Sonia partake in him finding his salvation, it is ultimately Raskolnikov himself that realizes that by accepting his sins he overcomes his emotions and finds redemption. When “suddenly it was as if something lifted him and flung him down at her feet. He wept and embraced her knees”,
Therefore Amoia notes that, "as the implications of the deed unfold in his conscience, Raskolnikov attempts to jusitfy his actions as a 'rational' crime" (53). Though he understands that he will be able to escape the physical punishement for the crime, he has yet to comprehend the burden that comes with such an unethical action. Even when Porfiry suggests that the criminal who murdered the pawnbroker may run away but, "psychologically he won't escape" (287), Raskolnikov becomes infuriated and accuses Porfiry of trying to scare him. However, Raskolnikov fails to understand the meaning behind Porfiry's words perhaps because he still chooses not to rely on his conscience and confess to the crime.While the superiority complex sets him apart from the society in the beginning, his piercing conscience distances him from people later on in the novel. He refuses to speak to Razumuikhin or to his family. It only before he goes to jail, that he decides to see his mother. Even when he does so, he is relieved that Dunya is not in the room. He later admits to Dunya that he doesn't, "even remember why [I] even went" to meet his mother. His conscience does not allow him to face his loved ones and eventually, he tries to isolate himself from society. While Raskolnikov tries to alienate himself from his own conscience, he is alienating himself from humanity in general.
Crime and Punishment revolves around Raskolnikov and his amplifying guilt after he murders the pawnbroker, Alyona. From the beginning of the novel his poverty is displayed in his living condition, which is further described by the “yellowish dusty wall-paper peeling off the
The protagonist, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former student, decides to murder and rob an old pawn broker, Alyona Ivanovna, not due to his desperate need of money, but due to a theory he wants to test. Raskolnikov leaves no evidence which would lead the investigation to him; however, the police lieutenant in charge of the case, Porfiry Petrovich, a meticulous thinker, understands Raskolnikov’s theory and has a big role in influencing the student to confess. Between the murder and the confession, Raskolnikov undergoes a long and painful process of thought. His friend, Razumikhin Prokofych, along with a prostitute and his future significant other, Sonia Semyonovna Marmeladova, are part of the protagonist’s path. In the end, Sonia turns out to be Raskolnikov’s salvation as she helps him find redemption and start living
Often times in literature, we are presented with quintessential characters that are all placed into the conventional categories of either good or bad. In these pieces, we are usually able to differentiate the characters and discover their true intentions from reading only a few chapters. However, in some remarkable pieces of work, authors create characters that are so realistic and so complex that we are unable to distinguish them as purely good or evil. In the novel Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky develops the morally ambiguous characters of Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov to provide us with an interesting read and to give us a chance to evaluate each character.
Throughout the novel, Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevsky, the author uses characters who are alienated from society, to highlight values of society they are rejected from. Sonia Marmeldov, becomes alienated from society mainly for going into prostitution at a young age and then for falling in love with a murderer. The murderer, Raskolnikov, also faces rejection for his actions, and he later goes to trial where people stick up for him.
Even when Raskolnikov was asleep he received painful messages of others who were suffering, just as he was. In one particular instance, before the double-murder, Raskolnikov is brought back to the poverty he suffered throughout his childhood. He once again feels a great empathy toward the suffered, but this time
Dostoyevsky gives the reader no such comfort. The reader wants to see Raskolnikov have some good excuse for killing the old woman, some sense of moral justification of the act so we can turn his accusers into "bad guys" and himself and his friends the "good guys". The reader gets nothing of the sort, Crime and Punishment is no fairy tale. The suspense in Crime and Punishment is caused by Dostoyevsky's superb characters, and the longing for a moral sense of right and wrong.