A multifaceted novel
Leafing through the first pages of the book, we begin to get acquainted with the image of Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. By telling the story of his life, the writer makes us think about a number of important questions. It is difficult to determine what type of novel the work of F. M. Dostoevsky belongs to. It raises problems affecting various spheres of human life: social, moral, psychological, family, moral. Rodion Raskolnikov is the center of the novel. It is with him that all the other storylines of the great classic work are connected.
We have a new characterization of Raskolnikov.
Role in the plot of the novel
Three years ago, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, born into a poor but proud family, arrived from the deep provinces in St. Petersburg to study at the law university. A dark-eyed, brown-haired man above average height, slender in figure and pleasant in appearance, went out onto the streets of St. Petersburg in terrible rags and in a very worn hat, with stains and holes. The hero was on the verge of poverty and could no longer pay for his studies and living in a big city.
This unpleasant fact pushed him to commit a monstrous crime. Several times Rodion applied for loans to Alena Ivanovna, a stingy and unpleasant grandmother who profited from hopeless situations of people in serious need. The student killed with an ax the old woman who was lending money on interest and collateral, and her quiet sister Lisa, who accidentally witnessed the incident. An innocent person was detained for the crime he committed.
The investigator guesses about Raskolnikov’s involvement, but there is no evidence - unless you take into account the “Raskolnikov theory” and his ambiguous, nervous, depressive behavior. Rodion meets the Marmeladov family and unexpectedly finds sympathy in Sonechka, who, sacrificing her honor, earns money from the panel to feed her half-brothers and sisters. He is oppressed by the global difference in the motives of his crime and the crime of the poor girl. The state of mental split is growing every day.
Unable to reconcile with himself, Raskolnikov quarrels with his mother and sister, with his only friend, refuses Sonechka’s sympathy and, in the end, turns himself in to the police. After the trial, hard labor and exile await the hero. Sonya Marmeladova, who sympathizes with him, is going with him of her own free will to serve her sentence. Next to her, Raskolnikov will find happiness and truly repent of his sins.
The main character of the novel
Appearance
The description of Raskolnikov in the novel begins with the first chapter. We meet a young man who is in a sick condition. He is gloomy, thoughtful and withdrawn. Rodion Raskolnikov is a former university student who dropped out of law school. Together with the author, we see the meager furnishings of the room where the young man lives: “It was a tiny cell, about six steps long, which had the most pitiful appearance.” We carefully examine the details of worn-out clothing. Rodion Raskolnikov is in extremely dire straits. He doesn’t have money to pay off debts for his apartment or pay for his studies.
Character traits
The author gives the characterization of Raskolnikov in the novel “Crime and Punishment” gradually. First we get acquainted with the portrait of Raskolnikov. “By the way, he was remarkably good-looking, with beautiful dark eyes, dark-haired, above average height, thin and slender.”
Then we begin to understand his character. The young man is smart and educated, proud and independent. The humiliating financial situation in which he finds himself makes him gloomy and withdrawn. He gets irritated by interacting with people. Any help from Dmitry Razumikhin's close friend or elderly mother seems humiliating to him.
Portrait in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"
The main thing in Dostoevsky’s novels is the processes of the inner life of the characters, their ideas, experiences, thoughts and feelings.
However, the writer paid great attention to describing the appearance of the characters. Let's look at the portraits created by the writer in the novel Crime and Punishment. At the beginning of the work, Dostoevsky describes the appearance of the main character. It is said about Raskolnikov that he is “remarkably good-looking, with beautiful dark eyes, dark-haired, above average height, thin and slender.” It is characteristic that in the description of the hero’s appearance there are no degenerative, vicious features. As S. B. Belov notes, here you can see a hint of the positive aspect of the inner world of your hero. By nature, Raskolnikov is not a villain or a murderer. His idea of “allowing blood according to conscience” is superficial, of those that were in the air, it could not become second nature to Raskolnikov. It is not for nothing that Dostoevsky then mentions Rodion’s “childish smile”. His nature contained traits characteristic of children: recklessness, impressionability, sincerity, the ability to act irrationally, and at the same time the cruelty and stubbornness inherent in children. However, in this portrait it is worth noting the desire to contrast the external and internal, characteristic of Dostoevsky the artist, the desire to emphasize the dual nature of man. In the writer's philosophy, this idea about the duality of human nature occupied a significant place. Man, according to Dostoevsky, is sinful by nature; good coexists in his soul along with evil. External ugliness often turns into inner beauty in Dostoevsky’s heroes (Lizaveta), but a murderer can be hidden under external attractiveness. In the portrait of Raskolnikov, the author emphasizes his appalling poverty and misery: his clothes had turned into almost rags, his hat was all worn out, “all in holes and stains, without brims and bent to one side at the ugliest angle.” The contrast between the hero's appearance and his costume is characteristic here. Raskolnikov's appearance is given in dynamics, but Dostoevsky describes mainly the range of sensations and states of the hero, rather than the changes in his facial expressions, his facial expressions, and gait generated by these states. So, after Rodion’s first visit to Alena Ivanovna, the so-called “test,” the hero is overcome by a “feeling of endless disgust.” “He walked along the sidewalk like a drunk, not noticing passers-by and bumping into them, and came to his senses already on the next street.” After a conversation with Marmeladov and reading a letter from his mother, Raskolnikov again thinks about killing the old pawnbroker. This thought “now suddenly appeared not as a dream, but in some new, menacing and completely unfamiliar form.” Dostoevsky very briefly conveys the state of his hero, practically without giving a portrait of him: “It hit him in the head and darkened his eyes.” Raskolnikov's appearance is described in more detail during his conversation with Ilya Petrovich. Rodion’s feelings are mixed: he is frightened by possible suspicions of the murder of Alena Ivanovna and at the same time experiences “a gloomy feeling of painful, endless solitude.” “Raskolnikov answered sharply, abruptly, all pale as a handkerchief and without lowering his black, inflamed eyes before the gaze of Ilya Petrovich.” The portrait of Raskolnikov after his crime, when he goes out into the street for the first time, is also characteristic: “His head began to spin slightly: some kind of wild energy suddenly shone in his inflamed eyes and in his emaciated, pale yellow face.” The novel describes in more detail Raskolnikov's appearance during a meeting with his family. “Raskolnikov was almost healthy... only he was very pale, absent-minded and gloomy. From the outside, he looked like a wounded person or someone enduring some kind of severe physical pain: his eyebrows were knitted, his lips were compressed, his eyes were inflamed. He spoke little and reluctantly, as if through force... and some kind of anxiety occasionally manifested itself in his movements.” Rodion’s pale and gloomy face “lit up for a moment as if with light when his mother and sister entered, but this only added to his expression, instead of the previous melancholy absent-mindedness, a kind of more concentrated torment. The light soon faded, but the torment remained...” Instinctively, Raskolnikov rejoices at meeting his mother and sister (this is evidenced by the light that illuminates his face), but he immediately remembers his situation and understands that now the usual joy of family participation and love, like many other things in life, is inaccessible to him. That is why the light in his face quickly fades, but the torment remains. The portrait of the old pawnbroker is also expressive in the novel. It is characteristic that, when describing Alena Ivanovna, Dostoevsky did not seem to try to make her arouse the sympathy and sympathy of his readers. Alena Ivanovna is depicted neither as a pitiful, poor creature nor as a handsome, respectable person. This is “a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty years old, with sharp and angry eyes, a small pointed nose and bare hair. Her blond, slightly gray hair was greased with oil. Around her thin and long neck, similar to a chicken leg, there was some kind of flannel rag wrapped around her, and on her shoulders, despite the heat, a frayed and yellowed fur coat was hanging. The old woman coughed and groaned every minute. The young man must have looked at her with some special look, because the old distrust flashed again in her eyes.” This portrait is in a certain sense demonstrative. It already contains the author’s denial of Raskolnikov’s idea. Any person, regardless of his internal qualities, position, appearance, according to Dostoevsky, is a creation of God, and no one has the right to encroach on someone else’s life. Thus, Dostoevsky’s portrait is associated with the main idea of the work. Another characteristic property of the portraits created by Dostoevsky is the emphasis of readers on the irregularities of facial features, physique, etc. when describing the appearance of the characters. As N.M. notes Chirkov, Dostoevsky in his descriptions of appearance clearly shifts the concepts of “beauty and ugliness”; a beauty in his novels may have irregular facial features. This is exactly the portrait of Dunechka Raskolnikova in the novel. “She looked like her brother in face, but she could even be called a beauty. Her hair was dark brown, a little lighter than her brother's; the eyes are almost black, sparkling, proud and at the same time, sometimes, for minutes, unusually kind. She was pale, but not sickly pale; her face shone with freshness and health. Her mouth was a little small, but her lower lip, fresh and scarlet, protruded slightly forward, along with her chin - the only irregularity in this beautiful face, but one that gave it a special character and, by the way, a kind of arrogance.” A deviation from correctness noticed in a character’s appearance, which creates beauty and attractiveness, is one of the variations of the motif of contrast between appearance and internal content. Often this discrepancy is expressed by some external detail. In this regard, the portrait of Porfiry is expressive. “He was a man of about thirty-five, shorter than average height, plump and even paunchy, shaven, without a mustache and without sideburns, with tightly cropped hair on a large round head, somehow especially convexly rounded at the back of the head. His plump, round and slightly snub-nosed face was the color of a sick, dark yellow, but rather cheerful and even mocking. It would even be good-natured if the expression of the eyes, with some kind of liquid, watery shine, covered with almost white eyelashes, blinking as if winking at someone, did not interfere. The look of these eyes somehow strangely did not harmonize with the whole figure, which even had something feminine about it, and gave it something much more serious than could be expected from it at first glance.” The plump face, the female figure of Porfiry, the paunch - we associate all this with good nature, “homeliness”, and everyday life. However, the serious, mocking look of the hero is superimposed on the reader’s initial opinion and refutes it. Dostoevsky seems to be hinting to us that we can expect more from this hero than what he seems capable of, judging by his appearance. When depicting his heroes, Dostoevsky uses, as V. Ya. Kirpotin noted, “the method of double portraiture.” The writer creates large, detailed portraits of characters twice. Other descriptions of the appearance of the characters in the novel are only a recording of their feelings and states, similar to the description of Raskolnikov’s appearance. The essence of double portraiture is that the first portrait of the hero is a superficial description of his appearance, it is as if a stranger’s view from the outside. The second portrait of the hero reveals his inner essence. It is often given in the subjective perception of other heroes, which is also characteristic of the works of Tolstoy and Turgenev. For example, in the novel a portrait of Sonya Marmeladova is given twice. In the first description of her, we see only a young girl, whose occupation is quite definite. “Sonya was small, about eighteen years old, thin, but quite pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes. ...Her outfit was a penny one, but decorated in a street style, according to the tastes and rules that had developed in her own special world, with a brightly and shamefully prominent purpose”: a silk colored dress “with a very long and funny tail,” light shoes, an umbrella, a funny straw hat “with a bright, fiery-colored feather.” Sonya appears completely different when she comes to Raskolnikov: “She has a thin and pale face, rather irregular, somehow pointy, with a pointy small nose and chin. She couldn’t even be called pretty, but her blue eyes were so clear, and when they came to life, the expression on her face became so kind and simple-minded that you involuntarily attracted people to her. In her face, and in her whole figure, there was, in addition, one special characteristic feature: despite her eighteen years, she seemed almost still like a girl, much younger than her years, almost like a child, and this sometimes even manifested itself comically in some of her movements.” . Let us note how different these two portraits of Sonya are. If in the first she is quite pretty, then in the second Dostoevsky notes that she could not be called pretty. These two contradictory author's remarks are very significant. The writer here asserts not only the illusory nature of Sonya’s vulgar beauty, but also the “illusory nature of her craft.” In this regard, the difference in the portraits of the heroine is symbolic. Having become a prostitute, Sonya does not change her inner essence. The craft did not ruin her spiritual purity and kind heart. Everything that we see in it at first glance is, according to Dostoevsky, nothing more than an illusion. The real thing about Sonya is her childishness, some kind of timidity, timidity, irregular face, clear blue eyes, funny movements. There is nothing of a vulgar woman in this heroine; with her movements, facial expressions, and gestures she resembles a child. Subsequently, Dostoevsky will note that “real debauchery has not yet passed a single drop into her heart.” Luzhin’s appearance is also depicted twice in the novel. First, Dostoevsky presents us with the first impression of Raskolnikov and his guests, Zosimov and Razumikhin, from an unknown gentleman. “It was a gentleman of middle age, prim, dignified, with a cautious and grumpy physiognomy, who began by stopping at the door, looking around with offensively undisguised surprise and as if asking with his eyes: “Where did I end up?” “The second portrait.” Luzhin - Raskolnikov's impression. This description of Luzhin’s appearance is distinguished by subtle psychologism and contains the author’s irony. Dostoevsky here constantly emphasizes that Pyotr Petrovich “was on the groom’s line.” “All his clothes were fresh from the tailor, and everything was good, except that everything was too new and too revealing of a known purpose. Even the smart, brand new, round hat testified to this goal: Pyotr Petrovich somehow treated it too respectfully and held it too carefully in his hands. Even a lovely pair of lilac, real Jouvenev gloves testified to the same thing, if only for the fact that they were not worn, but only carried in the hands for the parade. In Pyotr Petrovich’s clothes, light and youthful colors predominated. He was wearing a nice summer jacket of a light brown shade, light light trousers, the same vest, freshly bought thin underwear, the lightest cambric tie with pink stripes, and best of all: all this even suited Pyotr Petrovich. His face, very fresh and even handsome, already seemed younger than his forty-five years. Dark sideburns pleasantly overshadowed him on both sides... Even his hair... combed and curled at the hairdresser, this circumstance did not present anything funny or any kind of stupid look, which usually always happens with curled hair, for it gives the face an inevitable resemblance to a German walking down the aisle . If there was anything truly unpleasant and repulsive in this rather beautiful and respectable face, it was due to other reasons.” This portrait also outlines the contrast between external and internal. Dostoevsky's "good looks" and the hero's decency are contrasted with the unpleasant and repulsive impression that Luzhin makes on Raskolnikov. In this regard, Luzhin’s portrait can be called impressionistic. The portrait of Svidrigailov is also expressive in the novel. At first he is depicted by Dostoevsky as an “unfamiliar gentleman” about whom readers know nothing. This is a rather tall, dignified gentleman, portly, in smart clothes. His face is quite pleasant, his hair is blond, slightly gray, and he has a wide, thick beard. However, already in this description, Dostoevsky emphasizes the cold gaze of the hero: “His eyes were blue and looked coldly, intently and thoughtfully; lips are scarlet." The second time Dostoevsky describes Svidrigailov’s appearance during his next meeting with Raskolnikov. This portrait is already given in the perception of the protagonist: “He looked at his [Svidrigailov’s] face for a minute, which had always amazed him before. It was some kind of strange face, like a mask; white, ruddy, with ruddy, scarlet lips, with a light blond beard and still quite thick blond hair. The eyes were somehow too blue, and their gaze was somehow too heavy and motionless. There was something terribly unpleasant in this beautiful and extremely youthful... face. Svidrigailov’s clothes were smart, summer, light, and he especially showed off his underwear. There was a huge ring with an expensive stone on my finger.” Dostoevsky emphasizes that the hero’s face here looks like a mask. In this description, the motive of deadness arises; the hero’s feelings and emotions seem frozen, petrified, they are not reflected on the face. He doesn’t love anyone, doesn’t feel pain, resentment, or remorse. “It’s strange and funny...” Svidrigailov later thinks, “I never had much hatred for anyone, I never even particularly wanted to take revenge, but this is a bad sign... I also didn’t like to argue and didn’t get excited - that’s also a bad sign!” It seems to Svidrigailov that he is in love with Dunya, that she would “grind him somehow,” but this feeling is nothing more than an illusion. This hero is incapable of either love or hatred, his soul is dead, nothing interests him in life. The method of double portraiture helps the writer bring the reader closer to the hero gradually: from an external, general, superficial impression of the character, Dostoevsky moves on to a deep, true impression generated by a careful study of the hero’s appearance. This manner of Dostoevsky reminds us of the creative style of Lermontov. In the novel “A Hero of Our Time,” Lermontov twice describes Pechorin’s appearance: first, the hero is depicted in the story of Maxim Maksimych, who represents that very “look from the outside.” Then a large, detailed, psychological portrait of Pechorin is given, sketched by a passing officer and writer. However, while noting the characteristic personal traits of the hero, Lermontov does not seek to reveal the essence of Pechorin’s nature in this portrait. In many ways, Grigory Alexandrovich remains a mystery to us, the solution to which is contained in his confession. Dostoevsky quickly brings the hero’s inner world closer to the reader. In general, with their detail, attention to details of appearance and costume, to manners and gestures, Dostoevsky’s portraits come close to descriptions of appearance in Turgenev’s novels and Lermontov’s prose. Here, for example, is a portrait of Zosimov. “Zosimov was a tall and fat man, with a puffy and colorless pale, clean-shaven face, with straight blond hair, glasses and a large gold ring on a finger swollen with fat. He was twenty-seven years old. He was dressed in a wide, smart, light coat, light summer trousers, and in general everything on him was wide, smart and brand new; The linen is immaculate, the watch chain is massive. His manner was slow, seemingly sluggish and at the same time studiedly cheeky; the claim, however, intensely hidden, was visible every minute. Everyone who knew him found him a difficult person, but they said that he knew his business.” Sometimes Dostoevsky's descriptions of appearance are accompanied by his philosophical remarks, such as the portrait of Pulcheria Alexandrovna. “Pulcheria Alexandrovna was already forty-three years old, her face still retained remnants of its former beauty, and besides, she seemed much younger than her years, which almost always happens with women who have retained clarity of spirit, freshness of impressions and honest, pure warmth of heart until old age... Her hair was already beginning to turn grey, small radiant wrinkles had long appeared around her eyes, her cheeks were sunken and dry from care and grief, and yet this face was beautiful.” In describing the appearance of Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Dostoevsky uses a special technique - defining the particular, concrete through the general, conceptual (“she seemed much younger than her years, which almost always happens with women who have retained clarity of spirit, freshness of impressions and honest, pure warmth of heart into old age”). . This technique was often used by Turgenev and especially Tolstoy. Thus, Dostoevsky in the novel, as a rule, gives one large portrait of the hero, and in the future only fixes the change in his states and sensations, his emotions, practically not describing the expressions of his face, eyes, smiles, etc. This manner is close to Turgenev’s creative manner ("Fathers and Sons"). Portraits created by Dostoevsky cannot be called dynamic in the traditional sense. They are not like “mobile”, “each time updated by another detail” description of appearance in Tolstoy’s novels. Sometimes the writer resorts to the reception of "two-time portrait", in Lermontovsky bringing the hero to the reader. Dostoevsky’s portraits are detailed, detailed, psychological, sometimes symbolic, deeply connected with the inner life of the heroes, with the main idea of the work, with the philosophical views of the writer.
The hero's crime and punishment
In real life, everything turns out differently. Together with the greedy pawnbroker, the wretched Lizoveta dies, having caused no harm to anyone. The robbery failed. Raskolnikov could not bring himself to use the stolen goods. He is disgusted, sick and scared. He understands that he was in vain counting on the role of Napoleon. Having crossed the moral line, taking the life of a person, the hero avoids communicating with people in every possible way. Rejected and sick, he finds himself on the verge of madness. Raskolnikov's family and his friend Dmitry Razumikhin are unsuccessfully trying to understand the young man's condition and support the unfortunate man. A proud young man rejects the care of his loved ones and is left alone with his problem. “But why do they love me so much if I’m not worth it!
Oh, if I were alone and no one loved me, and I myself would not love anyone!” - he exclaims.
After a fatal event, the hero forces himself to communicate with strangers. He takes part in the fate of Marmeladov and his family, giving money sent by his mother for the funeral of the official. Saves a young girl from molestation. Noble impulses of the soul are quickly replaced by irritation, frustration and loneliness. The hero’s life seemed to be divided into two parts: before the murder and after it. He does not feel like a criminal, does not realize his guilt. Most of all, he worries about the fact that he did not pass the test. Rodion is trying to confuse the investigation, to understand whether the smart and cunning investigator Porfiry Petrovich suspects him. Constant pretense, tension and lies deprive him of his strength and empty his soul. The hero feels that he is doing wrong, but does not want to admit his mistakes and delusions.
Characteristics of Raskolnikov
Rodion Raskolnikov is an erudite young man of 23 years old, whose soul is in constant search. He is not sure exactly who he is in the structure of the theory he invented about the division of the human mass into two main types: “lower people” and “actually people” .
In the first category, Raskolnikov includes “trembling creatures” or “material” - law-abiding, conservative, ordinary people. Secondly, outstanding, worthy people who move the world, who have the right to even violate the laws of ethics and morality.
The hero hopes that it is destined for him to be among the “chosen ones.” But he is worried about his own indecisiveness in making decisions that violate moral standards. In fact, behind the gloomy, arrogant and proud melancholic, Raskolnikov’s second “I” is hidden - a sensitive, generous, kind person who loves his family and does not want anyone to suffer. By committing a bloody crime, Raskolnikov sought to prove to himself that he himself belongs to the second type of people, and special achievements await him ahead. However, the result disappointed the killer-theorist; remorse led him to the conclusion that he was deeply mistaken.
Rodion Raskolnikov and Sonya Marmeladova
The revival to a new life began after Rodion Raskolnikov met Sonya Marmeladova. The eighteen-year-old girl herself was in extremely poor condition. Shy and modest by nature, the heroine is forced to live on a yellow ticket in order to give money to her starving family. She constantly endures insults, humiliation and fear. “She is unrequited,” the author says about her. But this weak creature has a kind heart and deep faith in God, which helps not only to survive herself, but also to support others. Sonya's love saved Rodion from death. Her pity initially evokes protest and indignation in the proud young man. But it is to Sonya that he confides his secret and it is from her that he seeks sympathy and support. Exhausted by the struggle with himself, Raskolnikov, on the advice of a friend, admits his guilt and goes to hard labor. He does not believe in God, does not share her beliefs. The idea that happiness and forgiveness must be suffered is incomprehensible to the hero. The girl’s patience, care and deep feeling helped Rodion Raskolnikov turn to God, repent and start living again.
The dramatic character and fate of Rodion Raskolnikov
Rodion Raskolnikov is the main character of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. From the very first pages of the work, the reader gets acquainted with the life of Rodion. Raskolnikov is a poor student who formerly studied at the Faculty of Law. Due to the difficult financial situation, he was forced to quit his studies. For some time he gave private lessons, and then abandoned this income.
Rodion has a loving family: mother and sister. The women live poorly, but from time to time they manage to send Raskolnikov money.
It seems that Rodion’s situation is typical: a poor student who has not found himself in life. There are thousands of roads in front of him. And Rodion chose the most difficult of them - the path of a man who was disappointed in his ideals and was forced to atone for his actions.
Raskolnikov had a theory that all people are conditionally divided into ordinary and extraordinary people. Extraordinary people are capable of great things, they are the creators of history and have the right to commit a crime. But they will wash away the blood on their hands in the rays of the gained glory. The benefit they will bring to society will be much greater than the crime committed.
Raskolnikov decided on a brave act that would change his life forever. Rodion decided to kill the old money-lender from whom he constantly pawned things, rob her, and start a new life with the money received.
It’s strange, no matter how physically and emotionally weak Raskolnikov was, his plan was a success. He killed the pawnbroker, and at the same time her pregnant sister Lizaveta, who returned home at the wrong time.
Raskolnikov even had the strength to take the wallet and find valuables hidden under the old woman’s bed. But then everything went wrong.
Rodion mistakenly mistook himself for an extraordinary person. He thought he could get over the crime, but he couldn't. The epilogue of the novel states that Raskolnikov blamed himself not for the murder of the old woman, but for mistaking himself for an extraordinary person.
He robbed an old woman and could have started a new life with the proceeds. But Raskolnikov’s theory, which he had nurtured for so long, turned out to be false. He wasn't great. He couldn't get over himself.
In part, we can assume that Rodion gave himself away. Just think about this completely stupid conversation with Zametov in the tavern or the repeated trip to the old woman’s apartment and tugging at the bell.
The drama of Rodion's fate is that his own ideas failed him. He preached his theory about extraordinary people, but he himself was bitterly disappointed in it.
