Essay: The meaning and role of landscape in the novel “Crime and Punishment” (F. M. Dostoevsky)
(513 words) In literary works, landscapes often play an important role, and nature is sometimes a full-fledged hero of the book. It is enough to remember how the forces of nature helped Prince Igor find his way home in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, how a thunderstorm in Ostrovsky’s play marked the beginning of the struggle between the new and the old - we can continue indefinitely, but we will dwell on the role of landscape in Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” " Descriptions of nature in the book become an omen or a direct broadcast of the plot action by weather conditions, and also demonstrate the emotional state of the hero.
Svidrigailov called St. Petersburg “a city of half-crazy people.” This kind of gloomy, gloomy, slightly mystical city is the best illustration for “Crime and Punishment.” The suicide of a woman with a yellow face, constant noise and fights on the Sennaya, cramped passage rooms - all the scenery for the murder. Like many things in Dostoevsky's novels, the landscape of St. Petersburg is dual. On the one hand, there is dust and unbearable stuffiness:
It's terribly stuffy, but where can you breathe air here? Here and on the streets, as in rooms without windows” [Pulcheria Alexandrovna].
On the other hand - dampness. It is a gray and overcast city, with dirty canals and black water. Stuffiness and dirt create an atmosphere of hopelessness, viscousness, and stickiness of the novel.
The main “spoiler” of the book is the sun. The sunlight blinds the hero and knocks him off his feet, just as he is blinded by thoughts of a superman. His perception of the world and society is distorted by the idea. Coming out of his small, dark room on the top floor, the hero has difficulty looking at the light, he begins to feel dizzy - he feels bad. The sun in the novel is a separate hero, almost the best friend of Porfiry Petrovich, a motive of openness, exposing the killer. It seems to highlight Raskolnikov’s crime. A bright, striking light warns not so much that the crime will be solved - this is secondary. The more important thing is that the sun illuminates Rodion’s theory so strongly and completely that all the mistakes and flaws are visible in it. The main one, of course, is why does Raskolnikov have the right?
Raskolnikov's actions are often accompanied by sunset. In the literary paradigm, sunset is usually associated with the decline of human life. The first time he meets Rodion is in the apartment of an old pawnbroker. The next sunset overtakes him after a dream, where he dreams of Mikolka and the poor horse. After waking up, he renounces “his damned dream,” but we remember the meaning of the sunset outside the window, right? This means that the decline of life and the decline of spiritual existence must be, and that means the murder of the old woman, but more importantly, the spiritual murder of oneself. The dawn in Raskolnikov’s life comes only in hard labor. Then he feels love for Sonya.
Another meaning of landscape in a novel is the conveyance of the hero’s state. The dark, scary, depressing and sad landscape of St. Petersburg is associated with the name of Svidrigailov, namely with his last night. At this time, a thunderstorm broke out, the wind was noisy and the rain was lashing - the water in the Neva was black and black. In his dream, he also sees the wind rushing into the room, splashes, snow sticking to his face. The motif of darkness and fear of death can be seen in this fateful episode. Fog is an important companion of Svidrigailov, his whole life passes as if in a fog - aimlessly, in darkness and without hope. It ends the same way - Svidrigailov walks along a bridge that is shrouded in fog. The dreary landscape precedes his suicide.
The symbolism of the landscapes in “Crime and Punishment” is obvious - they precede the further development of the plot, convey the psychological states and dreams of the characters, serve as some kind of clues for them, and, of course, create the oppressive atmosphere of the city of endless sadness.
The many-wise Litrekon wrote this short essay-reasoning to help readers better understand the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky. But if something is still left behind the scenes, write about it in the comments.
Author: Anastasia Chernysheva
Petersburg in the novel Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky Quotes
Petersburg in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky. Quotes.
". . . The heat outside was terrible, plus it was stuffy, crowded, there was lime everywhere, scaffolding, bricks, dust, and that special summer stench so familiar to every St. Petersburg resident who does not have the opportunity to rent a dacha.
. . " ". . . The unbearable stench from the taverns, of which there are especially many in this part of the city, and the drunks who were constantly encountered, despite the weekday time, completed the disgusting and sad coloring of the picture.
The image of St. Petersburg in the novel “Crime and Punishment”
Search for: Search To understand the content of the novel “Crime and Punishment”, it is important to imagine the image of St. Petersburg that appeared on the pages of the works.
The city landscape in Dostoevsky's works is a psychological landscape. It is directly related to the state of the author’s soul and the inner world of the novel’s characters. Joyless. We feel acutely suffocated.
This stuffiness takes on the significance of a symbol of Russia. Petersburg is a dead, cold city, indifferent to the fate of people. It is a city of narrow alleys and slums.
Dostoevsky's key word when describing St. Petersburg is ugly. Next to Sennaya Square there is an alley with only 16 houses.
Landscape and its functions in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"
Transcript
1 Amelina E.V. We are preparing for the literature exam. M.: Onyx; Peace and Education, E.V. Amelina Landscape and its functions in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" In Dostoevsky's novels, we most often encounter an urban landscape. “Dostoevsky understands the poetry of the city. In the noise of the capital, he finds the same charm and mystery as other poets in the roar of the ocean; they run away from people into the wide-noisy oak groves” he wanders, alone, through the streets of a big city... In the forests, on the ocean shore, in the open sky, everyone saw the secret, everyone felt the abyss of nature, but in our dull prosaic cities no one except Dostoevsky felt so deep are the secrets of human life,” wrote D. Merezhkovsky. Dostoevsky's descriptions of nature are quite brief and are always closely related to the internal state of the characters, their feelings, the plot, and the idea of the work. However, this connection is not emphasized by the writer (his landscape does not merge with the hero’s experience), but is implied. This connection explains a certain conventionality of landscapes, their “givenness”. Thus, in Crime and Punishment, landscapes, along with interiors, “steadily reveal a single meaning: the impression of something more irregular, discordant, twisted, dirty, ugly” (N. Chirkov). This convention of nature paintings reminds us of the convention of Gogol’s landscapes. However, in Gogol the description of nature as a whole was subordinated to revealing the character of the hero, while in Dostoevsky the landscape is more ambiguous. This writer’s descriptions of nature are often symbolic, preceding certain events and situations. Dostoevsky's pictures of nature, like those of Lermontov, Tolstoy, Turgenev, are often given in the perceptions of the heroes, reflecting their impressions. However, these landscapes do not have the abundance of smells and sounds, the variety of colors, and light effects that we find in the landscapes of Lermontov or Turgenev. In addition, in Dostoevsky’s philosophy, the idea that “harmony in human society in general and harmony with beautiful nature in particular is an unattainable dream, a lost paradise” (S. Solovyov) is very significant. If Pushkin, Gogol, Goncharov and Tolstoy emphasized the closeness of man to nature, then in Dostoevsky’s novels the harmony between man and nature is violated. The specificity of the subject of the image (the city) determines a certain monotony of Dostoevsky’s landscapes. As a rule, these are typical landscapes. Thus, in the novel “Crime and Punishment” we encounter two types of landscapes. The first is stuffy, dusty streets, a mercilessly scorching sun, hot pavements... The second is a gloomy, gloomy, cloudy city, enveloping in cold, sharp gusts of wind, monotonously drumming rain, black water in the Neva... These pictures are painted with dirty, dull, gray colors. This is already the first specialization of the novel. “The heat on the street was terrible, besides the stuffiness, the crush, there was lime everywhere, scaffolding, brick, dust and that special summer stench, so familiar to every Petersburger who does not have the opportunity to rent a summer house, all this at once unpleasantly shook the young man’s already upset nerves . The unbearable stench from the taverns... and the drunks who constantly appeared, despite it being a weekday, completed the disgusting and sad coloring of the picture.” Intense heat and stuffiness are an integral part of the landscapes of Crime and Punishment. Here Raskolnikov goes out into the street after the murder, and he again finds himself in the same unbearable situation.
2 2 Pulcheria Alexandrovna, who came from the provinces, also notes the unusual stuffiness of St. Petersburg. Leaving her son’s apartment, she notices: “... it’s terribly stuffy... and where can I breathe air here? Here and on the streets, as in rooms without windows. Lord, what a city!” The unbearable stuffiness of St. Petersburg is “a part of the general atmosphere of the novel, stuffy and hopeless” (Yu. Lebedev). The only bright touch found in landscapes of the first type is the bright, blood-red sun. However, this dazzling, red sun against the backdrop of a stuffy, dusty city leaves not a joyful, but a depressing impression. “The sun shone brightly in his eyes, so that it became painful to look at, and his head began to spin completely, the usual feeling of a feverish person suddenly going out into the street on a bright sunny day.” The image of the sun in the novel has several meanings. It hurts Raskolnikov to look at the sun, the sun seems to blind him. In this description of the hero's perception of nature, Dostoevsky hints that Raskolnikov is blinded by his idea and his entire worldview is distorted. In addition, the dazzling, huge sun in these episodes involuntarily gives rise to the idea of Louis XIV, the “Sun King”. In this regard, it can be assumed that here the writer is “playing out” part of the hero’s theory about a “strong” personality, about Napoleons and Mohammeds, to which the hero wants to include himself. However, the sun blinds Raskolnikov in the same way that the hero is ruined by his idea of a “strong personality.” The sun, invariably present in the landscapes, also sets the motive for openness, recognition, and discovery in the novel. “The light of the sun, which makes everything clear and open, serves as a symbol of discovery, detection, retribution and righteous punishment” (Yu. Lebedev). “Their ways are always before Him, they will not be hidden from His eyes... All their deeds are like the sun before Him...” we read in the Book of Wisdom of Jesus. The bright light of the sun seems to highlight all the inhumanity, immorality of Raskolnikov’s plan and action, but the hero himself does not see the true state of affairs. Thus, Dostoevsky’s landscape participates in the plot development of the action, predetermining the future disclosure of Raskolnikov’s crime. Raskolnikov in the novel is often accompanied by the setting and fading sun. For the first time he sees the sunset in the apartment of the old money-lender. “The small room into which the young man walked, with yellow wallpaper, geraniums and muslin curtains on the windows, was at that moment brightly lit by the setting sun. “And then, therefore, the sun will shine in the same way!.. as if by chance flashed through Raskolnikov’s mind...” This remark is very significant. We associate sunset with the decline of human life; sunset and eclipse of the sun, according to the Bible, foreshadow death and misfortune for people. This is exactly what the Lord says to Pharaoh of Egypt, wanting to punish him for his cruelty and self-will. “And when you fade away, I will close the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not shine with its light. I will darken all the lights that shine in the sky over you and bring darkness to your land... I will confuse the hearts of many nations when I divulge your fall among the nations...”, we read the revelations of the prophet Ezekiel. Raskolnikov sees the sunset even after his first dream, in which Mikolka kills an unfortunate horse. The hero’s nature protests against violence; he sees himself as a child, in anger throwing himself at Mikolka with his fists. And after this dream, it seems to Raskolnikov that he has come to his senses and abandoned “his damned dream.” However, Dostoevsky still shows us the same setting sun, symbolizing the future picture of murder, the decline of human life. The sun in this landscape not only anticipates future events, but also seems to warn the hero, reminding him of judgment and the wrath of God.
3 3 The very repetition of this image in the novel contains a deep philosophical meaning. “The unchangeable order in which the sun completes its daily and annual course for thousands of years serves as a guarantee and image of the immutability of Divine advice and determinations.” In the book of the prophet Jeremiah we read: “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts... Thus says the Lord, who gave the sun for light in the day, statutes for the moon and to the stars for illumination at night... If these statutes cease to operate before me, says the Lord, then the tribe of Israel will cease to be a nation before me forever.” The image of the setting sun, moving from landscape to landscape, symbolizes constancy in the novel, the age-old immutability of the concepts of “good” and “evil.” In these paintings, Dostoevsky debunks the actions of his hero. The biblical Cain kills his brother out of envy. The modern hero, Raskolnikov, kills the old pawnbroker and Lizaveta in order to test his theory. However, according to Dostoevsky, the meaning of the action of both is unchanged, the path of each of them is sinful and vicious. This is how the landscape in the novel is connected with the ideological meaning of the work. Note that the hero is almost never accompanied by the morning rising sun. This happens only in one of the landscapes at hard labor, when Raskolnikov, instead of hatred, realizes love in himself, love for Sonya. “The day was clear and warm again. Early in the morning, at about six o'clock, he went to work, to the river bank... From the high bank a wide surrounding area opened up. A song could be heard faintly from the farther bank. There, in the sun-drenched vast steppe, nomadic yurts were blackened as barely noticeable dots. There was freedom and other people lived there, completely different from those here, it was as if time itself had stopped, as if the centuries of Abraham and his flocks had not yet come.” This landscape symbolizes Raskolnikov’s future, his resurrection, his transition from one “ideological world” to another. A lunar landscape appears in Raskolnikov's dreams. So, in a dream about the murder of an old woman, “the whole room was brightly bathed in moonlight... A huge, round, copper-red moon looked straight into the windows. It’s because of the month that there’s been such silence, Raskolnikov thought, it’s probably him who’s posing a riddle now. He stood and waited, waited for a long time, and the quieter the month was, the stronger his heart beat, and it even became painful.” The symbolic meaning of the month here largely coincides with the meaning of sunlight in the “real” landscapes of the novel. “In the Holy Scriptures, the Church of God on earth is majestically compared to the moon, since it borrows its splendor and radiance from the Sun of righteousness, Christ” (Bible Encyclopedia). The symbolic landscape is also found in the hero’s dreams. Before the crime, Raskolnikov imagines that he is somewhere “in Africa, in Egypt, in some kind of oasis.” The caravan is resting, the camels are lying quietly; Palm trees grow all around, everyone is having lunch. He keeps drinking water, straight from the stream that gurgles nearby. “And it’s so cool, and such wonderful, wonderful blue water, cold, runs over multi-colored stones and over such clean sand with golden sparkles...” This landscape echoes M. Yu Lermontov’s poem “Three Palms.” But at the end of Lermontov’s poem, the palm trees are mercilessly cut down. This hidden association precedes the tragedy in the novel. However, it is worth noting the color scheme of these dreams. The stream that gurgles next to Raskolnikov is clean and transparent, almost blue. Blue color is the color of reason, reason, rationality. It calms and promotes self-immersion. The hero’s mind (and not just his heart) subconsciously rebels against his “crazy idea” and asks him to come to his senses. However, the idea-passion drowns out the voice of reason, and, waking up, Raskolnikov begins his feverish preparations. The color blue is also present in another landscape of the novel in the painting of the Winter Palace. “The sky was without the slightest cloud, and the water
4 4 almost blue, which is so rare on the Neva. The dome of the cathedral, which is not better outlined from any point than when looking at it from here, from the bridge, not twenty steps from the chapel, was shining, and through the clear air one could clearly see even every decoration of it... An inexplicable coldness blew over it [Raskolnikov] is always away from this magnificent panorama; This magnificent picture was full of a dumb and deaf spirit for him...” The blue color here is a very cold, indifferent color. The Winter Palace embodies the face of St. Petersburg. This picture symbolizes the City, indifferent to human destinies, prosperous, capitalist Petersburg. The second type of landscapes in the novel is associated with the image of Svidrigailov. A gloomy, dull landscape accompanies the dying night of Arkady Ivanovich. Here the hero comes to a cheap hotel. “Meanwhile, at exactly midnight, Svidrigailov crossed the bridge towards the Petersburg side. The rain had stopped, but the wind was noisy. He began to tremble and for one minute he looked at the black water of the Malaya Neva with some special curiosity and even questioning. But soon it seemed very cold to him to stand above the water; he turned and went to the th avenue.” A gloomy, dark landscape appears in Svidrigailov’s dream. “He found the latch by feel and opened the window. The wind rushed furiously into his cramped closet and, as if with frosty frost, covered his face and his chest, covered with one shirt... splashes flew from the trees and bushes into the window, it was dark, like in a cellar, so that only some dark stains accompanying the objects.” Here again the motif of darkness appears, accompanying this hero (the dim burning of a candle, a dark bathhouse with spiders). This darkness symbolizes the hopelessness of Arkady Ivanovich’s life, the absence of bright sides and genuine human joys in it. But Svidrigailov’s dream begins with beautiful visions. “He imagined a lovely landscape; a bright, warm, almost hot day, a holiday, Trinity Day. A rich, luxurious, rustic cottage in the English style, all overgrown with fragrant flower beds, planted with ridges running around the entire house; a porch entwined with climbing plants, filled with rows of roses, a bright, cool staircase... He especially noticed in jars of water, on the windows, bouquets of white and tender daffodils, bowing on their bright green, plump and long stems with a strong fragrant smell.” In the midst of all this splendor, Svidrigailov sees a coffin in which lies the girl he killed, a suicide. This dream is the transformed conscience of the hero. Flowers are a symbol of innocence, purity and beauty, conveying his thoughts about the innocence he has violated, the beauty that has been ruined. The gloomy, hopeless mood of the hero is conveyed by the landscape of the last day of his life. “A milky, thick fog lay over the city. Svidrigailov walked along the slippery, dirty wooden pavement towards the Malaya Neva. He imagined the water of the Malaya Neva rising high during the night, Petrovsky Island, wet paths, wet grass, wet trees and bushes and, finally, that same bush... With annoyance, he began to look at the houses in order to think about something else. Neither a passer-by nor a cab driver was seen along the avenue. The bright yellow wooden houses with closed shutters looked sad and dirty.” Dostoevsky’s Svidrigailov “moves in the fog”: he has no goal in life, no interests, no moral principles. Arkady Ivanovich is not interested in anything, he cannot find oblivion in drunkenness, he does not like gastronomy. He wallows in debauchery, however, even this activity cannot completely absorb Svidrigailov. He does not believe in anything, his conscience for the atrocities committed does not torment him until his last dying hour. In fact, he also has “nowhere to go,” like Raskolnikov, like
5 5 Marmeladov. In addition, this landscape, with its dreary hopelessness, precedes the death of Svidrigailov, his suicide. Thus, almost all landscapes in the novel are symbolic. They foreshadow future events and situations and are closely connected with the spiritual evolution of the characters, with their moral quests, with the subconscious life of the heroes, with the ideological concept of the work.
Landscape in the novel crime and punishment part 1 chapter 1
It was eight o'clock, the sun was setting. The stuffiness remained as before; but he greedily breathed in this stinking, dusty, city-polluted air...” “In this garden there was one thin, three-year-old fir tree and three bushes - in addition, a “station” was built, essentially a drinking establishment, but you could also get tea there...” All these excerpts from the novel leave the same impression of stuffiness and convey this condition as something common in the description of the urban environment.
Teacher:
Name the general patterns in these landscape descriptions.
Students:
All descriptions are based on the same details - terrible heat, dust, bad smells, crowds.
Teacher:
The landscape in the novel is firmly connected with the image of Raskolnikov, passed through his perception.
Describe the landscapes in the novel crime and punishment part 1 chapter 1
Without thinking for long, Raskolnikov immediately went downstairs. He had never entered a tavern before, but now his head was spinning, and besides, a burning thirst tormented him.
He wanted to drink cold beer, especially since he attributed his sudden weakness to the fact that he was hungry. He sat down in a dark and dirty corner, at a sticky table, asked for beer and greedily drank the first glass.
Immediately everything calmed down, and his thoughts became clearer. “This is all nonsense,” he said hopefully, “and there was nothing to be embarrassed about!” Just a physical disorder! One glass of beer, a piece of cracker, and suddenly, in an instant, your mind becomes stronger, your thoughts become clearer, your intentions become firmer! Ugh, what a nonsense all this is. “But, despite this contemptuous spit, he already looked cheerful, as if suddenly freed from some terrible burden, and looked around in a friendly manner at those present.
