Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment,” which we are interested in, is one of the most important examples of Russian literature, since it touched on global issues of life and problems. The reader reveals the complex world of searches, inner experiences, aspirations of heroes who are waging a painful struggle with the surrounding injustice and with themselves. It describes their spiritual decline and the subsequent revival in the novel Crime and Punishment.
The problems of this work make us think a lot. The amazing depth of the disclosure of conflicts and human characters is striking in this novel. In it, F. M. Dostoevsky described sublime ideas and aspirations. All this to this day excites many readers.
The main issues that are raised in the work
Telling the story of a lost soul, subsequently transformed, the writer does not just describe the difficult path that the hero walked, the path of mistakes, torment and remorse. F. M. Dostoevsky (his portrait is presented in the article) takes us in a contradictory and difficult way of finding answers to moral questions that are close to everyone, but at the same time so complex.
Why do worthy people - smart, noble, honest, kind - should die in poverty, while being humiliated by stupid, cruel, vile, insignificant people living in wealth and luxury? What did the poor children do? After all, they are forced to suffer and suffer from illness and hunger. What justifies the existence of such an order in the world and how can it be changed? What is the purpose of man? Why is there a division into “the right of those who have,” who can violate moral principles, and “creatures trembling," which are forbidden? The author raises all these questions in the novel Crime and Punishment. His problems are largely revealed by the example of the life path of Rodion Raskolnikov.
The path of Rodion Raskolnikov
Rodion Raskolnikov, the hero of Dostoevsky, who does not want to lead a miserable existence among the so-called "trembling creatures," who are not able to change anything in the world, is trying to attribute himself to the category of Napoleons, to whom everything is permitted, who despise the current laws and can set their own. However, this path is not so simple. Revealing the history of the crime committed by Raskolnikov and the subsequent punishment, Dostoevsky touches on some common features of spiritual and social life, moral and ethical problems that humanity faces.
The role of dreams in the work
Not only the tragic events of the novel strike, but also the ultimate truthfulness. Thanks to this, excitement and empathy in the hearts of readers cause the torment of the hero, his contradictions and moral fluctuations. Speaking of them, Dostoevsky resorts to using various literary techniques that contribute to a deeper penetration into the inner world of the hero, allowing him to see the main thing that is in him.
The motive of dreams of Rodion Raskolnikov plays a special role here. Recall, for example, the terrible dream that this hero had seen on the eve of the murder. Rodion dreamed of a child who watched a driven horse brutally beaten. The owner in dull malice kills the animal to death. And in the soul of Raskolnikov, as in the soul of each of us, there appears a protest against this unjustified murder, outrage at cruelty, and also sympathy for someone else's pain.
Cruelty in real life
Thus , Raskolnikov actually has a sensitive, kind soul. But the behavior of the owner of the horse is typical in the novel Crime and Punishment. The problems of this episode are, of course, not only related to animal mockery. After all, just as cruel, unfair and rude is the life of many people who are forced to endure oppression from the masters of life. These cruel people humiliate, oppress them, they can even kill if they want. And they really kill - mentally, if not physically. After all, what is the existence of unhappy people like Sonya Marmeladova, the Rodion family, if not a slow death? Raskolnikov, waking up, is terrified first of all not of the horse killing scene, but of his plan. The nature of Rodion is rebelling. However, this plan continues to live in his mind. And the desire to bring it to life is only enhanced by the heavy impression that the hero has on the story of the Marmeladov family.
Raskolnikov observes the death of the family, which reached the extreme degree of humiliation of Sonya, who is forced to trade her body in order to feed her brother and sisters. After this, Rodion's vague notions that the percussionist must be killed turn into a detailed theory of the elect and meekly obeying.
Raskolnikov decides to implement his plan
Raskolnikov attributes himself to the “chosen ones” and is eager to prove this to himself and others. Perhaps the internal struggle of this hero could have ended in a different way. Maybe he would not have decided to implement his cruel plan. However, it was then that he learns about another injustice - the plight of his mother, as well as his sister’s readiness to become a victim - to marry an unloved. Rodion is frightened by such a future of Duni, reminiscent in many respects of Sonya’s fate. He cannot allow this for his sister and therefore decides to carry out his plan.
The harmful effects of crime
The problems of the novel Crime and Punishment become even deeper after Rodion commits a crime. After all, having killed the old woman, Raskolnikov is forced to take life and Lizaveta, a creature innocent. Thus, one murder is not enough - it entails another. This thought is one of the most important ideas of Dostoevsky.
The author wanted to show that inhumanity and cruelty in a single case, regardless of what it was caused by, gives rise to a new inhumanity. It bears harmful consequences not only for the perpetrator of the crime, but also for his entourage. The whole world is changing, the main foundations are crumbling. At the same time, the writer nevertheless opens before the hero the path leading to salvation, although he lies through suffering.
Awakening the conscience of the hero
All his principles, feelings, thoughts make Raskolnikov overestimate the torment he has suffered. And as a result of this comprehension, Rodion’s conscience is awakened. Dostoevsky here shows how the spiritual sphere of man is changing.
Removing oneself from spiritual life means a crime of the laws of existence - such is the problematic of the novel Crime and Punishment. This is exactly what happens to Rodion Raskolnikov. Having committed a crime, he becomes estranged from the world, from society, alone in self-flagellation and suffering. He was broken as a person by this crime.
The main idea of ​​the work
Other images in the novel Crime and Punishment allow the author to more deeply reveal the problems of the work. Dostoevsky puts the main idea into the speech of the investigator Porfiry, who calls on Raskolnikov: "Become the sun - and they will see you." In other words, only through the human, the high, the good can one be exalted in the world. Sonya feels the same way. Unfortunately, this girl had to verify this on her own sad experience.
Summing up the eternal questions and moral quests, the author leads the hero, and with him all of us, to the realization of the need to live a real life, and not thought up as a person, to be affirmed only through kindness and love, through serving other people and the ideals of humanity and justice. This is the meaning of the novel Crime and Punishment. The ideals of spiritual harmony and true humanity will never lose their relevance. And today, the problems raised by the author are close to us. In the novel Crime and Punishment there are very important thoughts that can warn the reader against mistakes in life and direct him on the right path.