F. M. Dostoevsky “Crime and Punishment” wrote in an extremely difficult situation. A major loss in the casino, lack of money and prospects ... This novel was the only salvation from the financial collapse. Surely, these circumstances influenced both the subject of the work and the position of the author - how much this can be said in this case. Yet Dostoevsky does not give ratings to his characters, he just tells the story.
“Crime and Punishment” at school
F. M. Dostoevsky, “Crime and Punishment” - this is exactly one of the points of the school curriculum. The tastes of the Ministry of Education never cease to amaze. Why exactly this novel? After all, this work is clearly not intended for an audience consisting of children 15-16 years old. They simply won’t understand anything. Not because they are stupid or poorly studied. Just a very specific book. The sincere characterization of the novel Crime and Punishment given by an average school student will be categorical. Boring! And pointless. For some reason, the main character killed the old woman, robbed, failed to spend the money, then he suffered many pages, and in the end he surrendered to the authorities. Well, stupid thing. Some kind of fool, not a hero.
That is how the student sees this novel, and, in fact, sees it correctly. Because his life experience does not allow him to notice something more in the book, to read between the lines. So the child, looking at the picture, sees two dolphins, and an adult - a naked couple, woven in a hug. And so, and so - right. Just everything has its time and place.
Characters of the novel
For schoolchildren reading the novel Crime and Punishment, the meaning of the title of the book is obvious. Crime is murder, punishment is hard labor. Just like twice two. To see the double bottom of the work, you need ... not just to grow up. Not an age affair. You need to live, gain experience. Learn to see deeper, further. Nevertheless, Dostoevsky was not the detective about the unsuccessful killer, he wrote, not the scope of the author.
The characters of Dostoevsky can be good, they can be evil, but they are always alive and whole. These are people who commit ordinary human actions and feel ordinary human emotions. Not supermen, not geniuses, not cardboard villains. Just people. He, like no one, knows how to convey the slightest movement of the soul of a character, the subtlest shade of thought. With photographic accuracy, he draws the personality of the hero, like an experienced fingerprint reader - fingerprints.
Plot-forming conflict
At the same time, Dostoevsky is a bad stylist. He writes heavily and unevenly, even rudely. His novels are never pulled into brilliant, witty quotes. “Crime and Punishment” is by no means a masterpiece in this regard, therefore it is quite difficult for a person who is not used to overcoming the resistance of the text to read it. But if you try, if you get used to a specific authorial syllable, if you listen to what the characters say ... If you read the novel "Crime and Punishment", the meaning of the name is completely different.
The core of the plot is not murder at all. This is just one of the episodes, albeit a very significant one. The important thing is not it. The reason why the crime is committed and the events that follow it are important.
What did Dostoevsky write about?
So what is this book - Crime and Punishment? Description of the novel will take several lines.
The main character of the book, Raskolnikov, is a rather curious person. A student, a revolutionary, a fiery idealist, he is poor. He has nothing to pay for his studies; his family's life is full of hardships. The sister even decides to marry an unloved, but rich man, in order to provide loved ones with a livelihood. Raskolnikov understands that he must do something. Get the money.
Moreover, Rodion is convinced that the world is divided into weak and strong, insignificant and great. And the former exist senselessly and uselessly, and the latter are rulers of the world, on which ordinary, human laws and norms cannot apply. Such is absolutely Nietzschean theory. And, of course, Raskolnikov believes that he himself cannot be insignificant and weak. He is not like that. He is a different breed.
Nietzschean ideology and reality
In the novel Crime and Punishment, the main thing is precisely the conflict of this idea, which was quite popular in those years, with reality. The plot is built on it. Following his idea, Raskolnikov decides to kill a wealthy old woman - after all, she is nobody, unlike a real person who is aware of his mission. And does it.
Quotations are hardly borrowed from the novel. “Crime and Punishment” is rather scarce material for lovers of aphorisms. But the phrase: “Am I a trembling creature or do I have a right?” - familiar to everyone. It is she - the quintessence of the novel, the essence of the conflict and the plot engine. It contains all the salt.
Because, having committed the murder, Raskolnikov realizes that his theory was erroneous. All people are equal, and laws exist for everyone. Let the old woman be vile and nasty, let there be a thousand people, a million times better - murder remains murder. And he himself is not at all an ideal superman. He "has no right." About this unequivocally declares Raskolnikov his own conscience.
Not murder or hard labor
This is what the novel Crime and Punishment was written about. The meaning of the name is much deeper than the usual combination of killing-hard labor. In his ideas, Raskolnikov rejected moral norms, refuted the very concept of morality. Thus, he separated himself from humanity, claiming the place of God. That was his crime. In pride and pride, in pride. Murder is just a consequence.
And punishment is not a prison term at all. This is the torment of conscience, this is the collapse of life ideals, this is an awareness of the meaninglessness, futility of crime. For this, we needed a moment with money not spent. Not just killed, but killed in vain. He dreamed of accomplishing a great thing, helping those in need - and could not, because he was too weak. The hero understands that he is not at all what he considered himself to be. Just an ordinary person, the same as everyone else. Trembling creature. And to live with it further is unbearable to Raskolnikov.
Morality in Dostoevsky’s novels
For Dostoevsky, the question of following moral standards - or the voice of God in the soul - is one of the key to creativity. His characters cannot be happy outside this conditionally outlined circle. And it's not about religiosity. Dostoevsky, despite the specificity of his personality, and perhaps thanks to her, considered humanism, morality to be a natural property of the human soul. Moreover, it is in the Christian, and not in the secular meaning of the word. Pure harlot is a cross-cutting image that is present in almost all the works of the author. And the holy madman is the type that F. M. Dostoevsky loves. “Crime and punishment” in this regard is no exception. Crushed by the consciousness of reality that has fallen on him, Raskolnikov finds help in the person of Sonechka Marmeladova. A poor girl who became a prostitute to help her family.
Crimes and Criminals
In fact, Sonechka is both an antithesis and a logical continuation of the image of Raskolnikov. A man who transgresses morality for money. But in her case, the driving factor was not self-assertion, but altruism. Therefore, unlike the protagonist, Sonechka kept spiritual purity. It is she who helps Raskolnikov to survive the crisis, she tells him the idea of repentance as a way to atone for sin. And Raskolnikov really goes with the confession. Although he did not pity the old woman at all, he did not and did not feel any sympathy. He pity himself, pity his former life, pity forever lost self-esteem. And repentance, in fact, is just a way to restore it.
There is one funny phrase in the text. It is pronounced by the investigator, whom the protagonist reproaches for eavesdropping. The policeman is surprised that, according to Raskolnikov, eavesdropping is dishonorable, and “it’s more than enough to peel old women on the head” is worthy. This is the essence of the protagonist. These are his ideas about decent behavior.
This paradoxical view of morality is the subject of the novel Crime and Punishment. The meaning of the name is that such a position is criminal in itself, it cannot lead to anything but evil. And punishment is not a prison, but an awareness of the fallacy of one’s own path.