“Humiliated and Insulted” in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"
Content
One of the main problems raised by the author in the work was the theme of the “little man”, humiliated and insulted. It was already touched upon by the writer in the work “Poor People,” but in the novel “Crime and Punishment” it sounded with renewed vigor.
So, the novel takes place in St. Petersburg in the sixties of the 19th century. It was a very difficult time for Russia: the abolition of serfdom did not lead to a dramatic improvement in the life of the lower strata of the population, the old world was destroyed, and the new one was just beginning to take shape. The era of capitalist relations has arrived, and St. Petersburg, depicted in the novel, is a huge bourgeois city, a city of striking contrasts and contradictions, a gloomy and hostile city to the common man. Living in such a city is especially difficult for a small person living on the brink of poverty and misery, a person deprived of all rights and means of subsistence.
First of all, the category of these unfortunate people includes the Marmeladov family, which lives in the most difficult conditions, in poverty, experiencing great need for everything. Almost every member of this family is doomed to death, since, according to the head of the family, former official Marmeladov, “in poverty you still retain the nobility of your innate feelings, but in poverty no one ever does.” In other words, a person can still get out of poverty, but never out of poverty. Marmeladov once held a good position, but lost it due to his addiction to alcohol (Dostoevsky initially wanted to write “The Book of Drunk People”). He, like many other heroes of Dostoevsky, is capable of introspection, endowed with language, and even eloquent. He understands that in many ways he himself is to blame, and does not try to find any special excuse for himself. Marmeladov did not respect himself and despised himself. The only thing he needed was sympathy and compassion. Marmeladov crossed the poverty line and found himself “at the bottom,” he had nowhere to go, no one to expect help from. And the result is an accident and death.
“Nowhere to go” and Marmeladov’s wife Katerina Ivanovna. She once belonged to the middle strata of society, but after the reform of 1861 and changes in society she is forced to live in poverty, while trying to maintain human dignity. Pride and memories of the past make her life even more painful. She has to take care of small children and eke out a miserable existence. A harsh life and a painful illness lead to her death.
Sonechka Marmeladova is a special heroine of the novel. In her image, Dostoevsky showed all the best that can be inherent in a little person. This is sacrifice, compassion, and love for people. Sonechka is a strong personality. She sacrifices herself for the sake of others, wants to save others, people dear to her, from the role of victim. She was “forced to get a yellow ticket” to help her family. She, despite the most difficult living conditions, managed to maintain faith in the future, faith in man.
“Eternal Sonechka” is how Rodion Raskolnikov characterizes her, who owes her a lot, and above all his spiritual and moral rebirth. For the author, “eternal Sonechka” became the ideal of humility, meekness, obedience and love for people. She is “eternal” because the ideals she preaches and adheres to are eternal. Sonechka Marmeladova is one of the most striking and important characters in the novel.
The family of Rodion Raskolnikov has the same fate. His sister Dunya, wanting to help her brother and mother, is ready to sacrifice herself and marry the rich businessman Luzhin, whom she feels disgusted with. This is another example of self-sacrifice and heroic behavior of people who find themselves in the most difficult conditions.
Lizaveta is also one of the victims of St. Petersburg, forced to endure everything from her sister.
Other characters in the novel, including episodic figures of unfortunate people Raskolnikov meets on the streets of St. Petersburg (the girl Raskolnikov met, who was drunk and deceived, the woman who threw herself from the bridge into the water, and others) further complement the picture of the general immeasurable grief. It is worth noting that the leitmotif of the novel - stench, stuffiness, hopelessness - runs through the entire work.
Essay on the topic of the world of the humiliated and insulted in Dostoevsky’s novel
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky entered literature as a defender of the “humiliated and insulted.” His novels show terrible pictures of poverty, loneliness, abuse of man, and the unbearable “stuffiness” of life. The favorite place of action in Dostoevsky's works is St. Petersburg. This is a city of slums in which petty officials, artisans, townspeople, and students live. And the author constantly draws attention to the stuffiness and stench that reigns in the city: “The heat outside was terrible, and besides, it was stuffy, crowded, there was lime everywhere, scaffolding, bricks, dust.” The theme of “humiliated and insulted” is of great importance for revealing the plot of the novel. It helps to understand, on the one hand, one of the reasons for Rodion Raskolnikov’s crime, and on the other hand, it embodies the most important philosophical idea of the novel, opposing Raskolnikov’s theory, the idea of all-redeeming suffering. The world of the “humiliated and insulted” in the novel is a world of poverty, brought to the brink of poverty, and therefore offensive to a person, humiliating him, taking him beyond the bounds of normal existence. This world is represented primarily by the Marmeladov family. The first meeting with one of its representatives, Marmeladov, occurs already in the second chapter of the first part of the novel, when Raskolnikov meets him in a tavern: “He was a man of about fifty, of average height, with a yellow, even greenish face swollen from constant drunkenness and with swollen eyelids, from behind which shone tiny, like slits, but animated reddish eyes. But there was something very strange in him, in his gaze there seemed to be even enthusiasm shining—perhaps there was experience and intelligence—but at the same time there seemed to be a flicker of madness.” From the very first words, Marmeladov expresses one of the truths of this world: “Poverty is not a vice... but poverty is a vice.” This is how this world works. Let us recall the description of Raskolnikov’s closet. “It was a tiny cell, about six steps long, which had the most pitiful appearance with its yellow, dusty wallpaper that was peeling off from the wall everywhere.” Or the Marmeladovs’ apartment, where he brings Rodion from the tavern. “The staircase, the further it went, the darker it became... a small smoky door... A cinder illuminated the poorest room... Waves of tobacco smoke rushed from the interior.” The world of the “humiliated and insulted” in the novel is a world of loneliness, alienation, “when there is nowhere else to go.” “Do you understand, do you understand, dear sir, what it means when there is nowhere else to go? No! You don’t understand this yet!” - Marmeladov says to Raskolnikov. He has nowhere to go and no one to. At home, he expects insults and resentment from his wife, who does not show him an ounce of respect. That's why he spends his whole days in the tavern, where everyone laughs at him. Marmeladov tells everyone about his life because he has no one who could feel sorry for him. And in Raskolnikov he recognizes a person capable of understanding others. The world of the “humiliated and insulted” is at the same time a world of complete defenselessness, dependence on the “masters of life”, any unfavorable circumstances, a world of self-humiliation, loss of oneself as people. It is because of this insecurity and dependence that Sonechka Marmeladova becomes a prostitute. But she sins to save her loved ones. Under other conditions, she would not have taken this step. Raskolnikov's dream at the Nikolaevsky Bridge is, to some extent, a reflection of centuries-old reality, oppression, enslavement of the “humiliated and insulted,” the cruelty on which the world rests. The dream takes on a symbolic meaning. Killed by the whim of the owner, the old, worn-out nag expresses resigned suffering and submission to his fate. The Marmeladovs' owner Amalia Lyudvigovna and her visitors are the embodiment of the idea of power. Is this why she declares at every opportunity that she will kick out the Marmeladovs? In the scene of Marmeladov’s death, Dostoevsky says that “the tenants, one after another, walked back to the door with that strange feeling of contentment that is always noticed even in the closest people in the event of a sudden misfortune with their neighbor and from which not a single person, without exception, is spared, despite their most sincere regret and participation.” Luzhin, one of the “those with the right,” actually buys Raskolnikov’s sister. And this is still the same version of Sonya: for her own salvation, even from death, she will not sell herself, but she will sell herself for her brother, for her mother! But these are the laws of this world: the highest love, expressed through the highest selflessness, becomes the subject of buying and selling, turns into dishonor. At the same time, the world of the “humiliated and insulted” is a world of great feelings, where self-sacrifice takes place, the ability to sacrifice oneself for the sake of others. Marmeladov, as soon as he met Katerina Ivanovna and learned about her plight, immediately asked her to marry him, “because he could not look at such suffering.” Raskolnikov, leaving the Marmeladovs, “grabbed as much copper money as he could and discreetly put it on the window.” At that moment he did not care that maybe tomorrow he himself would have nothing to eat. He was motivated by a feeling of pity and compassion for people. Let's remember how he stands up for a girl on the boulevard who is being pestered by some dandy. He gives almost his last twenty kopecks so that the policeman will escort the girl home. Raskolnikov gives Katerina Ivanovna twenty rubles so that she can arrange her husband’s funeral. The pinnacle of dedication is Sonechka Marmeladova. Her image is the embodiment of kindness and compassion. Dostoevsky accompanies her name with the epithet “eternal.” It has a certain meaning and denotes the order in which the world hated by Raskolnikov stands, dooming the majority to the role of victim in the name of loved ones. This is the “eternal” order of things. The humanity of the “humiliated and insulted” and the inhuman living conditions in which they find themselves lead to insoluble contradictions and spiritual dead ends. Marmeladov loves Katerina Ivanovna and wants her to at least treat him with respect. But she can't overcome her pride. Marmeladov's drunkenness is not only an expression of despair, but it is also a gesture of a person unable to get used to suffering and injustice. Katerina Ivanovna also cannot get used to such a life. After all, she was of noble birth, “born a staff officer’s daughter.” She “slipped” to the social bottom “from above”, from a previously prosperous family. And such people feel injustice more acutely. She constantly tries to prove the nobility of her origin, the nobility of her feelings and is offended by the slightest disrespect for herself. Katerina Ivanovna arranges a magnificent funeral for her husband because she wants everything to be “like other people.” She cannot come to terms with her poverty: she spends all day washing and ironing the children’s clothes so that they look neat, teaching them French. The madness and death of Katerina Ivanovna is the highest peak of the tragedy of the “little people” due to the insolubility of all contradictions. The words with which Katerina Ivanovna dies: “The nag has gone away! I'm overworked!" — echo that image from Raskolnikov’s dream. Drunkenness, prostitution and crime are the consequences of an incorrectly organized life. The profession of a prostitute plunges Sonya into shame and baseness, but the motives and goals that prompted her to take this path are selfless, sublime, and holy. Dostoevsky finds in her, in a defenseless teenager thrown onto the panel, perhaps in the most downtrodden, very last person of a large capital city, the source of his own beliefs, his own actions, dictated by his conscience and his own will. That is why she was able to become a heroine in a novel where everything is built on confrontation with the world and on the choice of means for such a desperate confrontation; it is from among the “little people” that Dostoevsky draws one of the most important philosophical ideas of the novel. Sonechka lives by it. For her, man is the crown of creation. “Is this man a louse?” - She is shocked by the assessment given by Rodion Raskolnikov to the murdered pawnbroker. Sonya lives in suffering, hopes for atonement for sin, for “resurrection.” In the novel, Raskolnikov is resurrected by her kindness, and she herself is supported by it. About such people we can say: “And the light shines in the darkness...”
“Humiliated and Insulted” - Dostoevsky’s psychological experiment
Dostoevsky wrote “Humiliated and Insulted” shortly after his exile. The idea of the novel originated in 1857, but the classic began to implement the plan only three years later. In the spring of 1861, the first part of the work was published in the magazine “Time,” which was published under the editorship of Dostoevsky himself and his younger brother Mikhail. The remaining parts of the novel were then published in each issue of the magazine.
“The Humiliated and Insulted” is Dostoevsky’s first voluminous work. It can be considered experimental, since many artistic techniques, plot lines and images were developed in detail by the writer in subsequent works. Dostoevsky shows the society of his time. He returns to the theme of “poor people”, to the defense of the insulted, humiliated and disadvantaged.
In the web of your ego
“Humiliated and Offended” can be called a psychological treatise on the study of such a phenomenon as selfishness . Its most blatant manifestation, almost not hidden, is the actions of Valkovsky.
His son Alexey is also selfish. He cannot resist the prospects of a prosperous life. In the back and forth between Katya and Natasha, the advantage is on Katya’s side, thanks to her millions. Alyosha understands that he will not be able to provide for his family if his father refuses to support him. Natasha’s selfless desire to work does not find a response in him.
Natasha also displays a kind of sacrificial egoism. Reveling in her own suffering, she does not want to notice the torment of her parents. She is blinded by her feeling for Alexei, but this is a selfish, enslaving love: “... so that he is mine, quickly mine...”. Natasha, telling Ivan Petrovich about her love experiences, does not understand how cruelly she treats the person who loves her.
Old man Smith and Nikolai Sergeevich Ikhmenev are no less selfish in their angry grievances. Immersed in hatred, they do not notice the suffering of loved ones. Their pride is stronger than love.
The “selfishness of suffering” is depicted most subtly in the image of Nelly . She likes to feel like a victim. The girl rejects self-care and does not want to trust people, considering them cruel. She is ready to starve, wander and beg, but does not want to change her lifestyle: “neither I am the first; others and better than me, let them suffer.”
