Each of us must have heard the story of a crazy student who killed an ax with an ax - this is the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. The main characters are woven into a chain of complex events from which they find a way out. The work will teach everyone to live judiciously, sincerely forgive and passionately love.
History of the writing of the novel
The idea of "Crime and Punishment" Dostoevsky nurtured for six years. In 1859, he told his brother in a letter that he was about to immediately begin writing a confession novel. The writer himself experienced all the horror of hard labor and wanted to share this with readers. Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment was written after his other masterpieces - Humiliated and Insulted, Notes from the Dead House, were a prelude to a more grandiose book. Initially, the work was planned to become a short story in volume, but Dostoevsky, delving into the soul of the invented hero, raised complex moral and ethical issues, the disclosure of which would not have been enough a few sheets. It was no coincidence that the author conceived the final with the idea of love: he wanted to reproduce the plot when Jesus Christ saves the repentant sinner.
"Crime and Punishment": the main characters of the work
In the novel, the author involved a few persons around whom the main series of events takes place. The protagonist is Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a retired student who decides to kill Alena Ivanovna, the old percentageswoman. Lizaveta is the sister of the hostage, who also perishes at the hands of a young man. An experienced investigator Porfiry Petrovich is taken to solve the crime. Pulkheria Alexandrovna and Avdotya Romanovna - mother and sister of Rodion Raskolnikov. The family lives modestly and tries to help a poor student. Dunya was even considered a servant of Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov, who tried to corrupt her. In order to completely forget her past, the girl accepts the offer of the rich Mr. Petr Petrovich Luzhin to get married and move to St. Petersburg. Andrei Semenovich Lebezyatnikov is a retired official who huddles in a small apartment with his wife Katerina Ivanovna and three young children. Raskolnikov falls in love with his eldest daughter, Sonia, who will subsequently be his salvation. Dmitry Prokofievich Razumikhin is a true friend of Rodion, who in difficult times takes care of Duna and Pulcheria Alexandrovna.
The storyline of the novel
Rodion Raskolnikov lives on his mother’s money and sometimes sells his things to interest-bearing woman Alena Ivanovna. The old woman annoys him so much that he makes time, breaks into the apartment and cuts it with an ax. Suddenly, Sister Elizabeth returns, who also becomes an unhappy victim. He acted as a cruel person, but Raskolnikov’s characterization — his positive qualities — allows readers to look at him from a different angle. He is obsessed with the desire to take possession of the wealth of the old woman only because he is poor himself, but his conscience does not allow him to appropriate the loot, and he gets rid of profit.
After the crime, Avdotya Romanovna and Pulkheria Alexandrovna visit Rodion and try to help him - he seems sick to them. In the first chapters, Raskolnikov met in a tavern with the ruined official Lebezyatnikov, who, drunk, throws himself under a horse and dies. Due to an accident, Rodion recognizes the family of the deceased and draws attention to the eldest daughter Sonia, who confesses to the murder of the old woman and her sister. A comprehensible girl asks him to repent, and the investigator is in no hurry to put him in jail and gives him a few days to go free.
Epilogue Analysis
In the afterword, the author tells about the imprisonment of the main character in a Siberian fortress. Here the characterization of Raskolnikov is changing - he becomes sensual and conscientious, repents of the crime and does not try to justify himself. Dunya tells his mother that his son went on a long business trip, but the old woman, not waiting for him, dies of illness. Razumikhin does not leave a friend in trouble and decides to move to Siberia. Amazed at the nobleness of a friend, Dunya marries this man. Sonya found all ways to see Rodion - they love each other, and neither distance nor sentence frightened them.
Female and male images in the novel
In each piece of heroes can be divided into positive and negative. The images in Crime and Punishment are so colorful that the reader cannot immediately give them an assessment. Dostoevsky portrays Raskolnikov as a two-faced man: the criminal has a big loving heart, a desire to help his neighbor, a desire to repent. An ambiguous opinion is formed about Lebezyatnikov - he is a big fan of drinking, rarely recalls his family, but his naivety and unstable financial situation become an excuse for this. A description of the unhappy life of a ruined official is given several pages in the novel Crime and Punishment.
The main characters of the work are mostly positive, and among the secondary two negative male images stand out - Svidrigailov and Luzhin. Razumikhin is Raskolnikov's best friend, who is the support of both himself and his family. The female images of Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Duni and Sonya in the novel are idealized, and it is impossible to give an assessment to the old percent-old woman alone: she seemed to the hero mean and mean, and Dostoevsky is silent about her other qualities.
Execution cannot be pardoned
People are born and die day after day, and Raskolnikov begins to think that it’s okay if he kills the old percent-woman. But is he right to reason like that? The novel Crime and Punishment raises complex philosophical questions, the answers to which are later found by the hero himself.
Rodion thinks for a long time whether to "execute" the old woman or to "have mercy", but nevertheless doubts the necessity of her existence, and therefore decides that if she is in the next world, everyone will be calmer. At the crime scene, the killer behaves less confidently: he is lost and is not even able to endure all the wealth of the interest-bearing woman. He is tormented by hallucinations, phobias, he is going crazy with hopelessness. It would be better if he had mercy on Alena Ivanovna, because now, after her death, he was left with nothing.
Characteristic of Rodion Raskolnikov: is he a trembling creature or is it right?
The main character has no manic inclinations, and he decides to kill Alena Ivanovna consciously. The old woman lives her life alone with wealth that is more suitable for orphans, and not that which does not need anything. Raskolnikov’s plan seems extremely simple, but the hero does not think about the consequences. This youthful naivety was the cause of the subsequent failures of the poor student. The novel Crime and Punishment teaches you to think about the consequences, and not to be as reckless as the main character.
Before Raskolnikov’s dilemma: is he a trembling creature or a right one? The hero believes that in this world he must establish himself through murder, fulfilling his main desire - this would be a strong man. This philosophy leads Raskolnikov to a standstill.
What fate does the hero choose F. Dostoevsky? “Crime and Punishment” as a warning novel
Even the worst villain has the right to be acquitted. Raskolnikov’s act can be understood: the author first deprives him of reason, and then directs him to let truth. Rodion feels the torment of conscience, not because he committed a crime, but because he considered himself "entitled to have."
Raskolnikov is very young and stupid, and it will be wrong to condemn him. Submitting himself to the slogan "the end justifies the means," he kills Alena Ivanovna, but not just like that - he takes care of his mother and future sister, helps the family of the late Marmeladov, thinks of disadvantaged children and is going to allocate part of the money to needy orphans. If he were a wealthy man, he would never go to murder, and then crime and punishment would not have been accomplished. The main characters - Rodion's friend, his mother and sister - do not blame him, but try to understand. Sincere repentance exalts any criminal, and the repentant Raskolnikov will be worthy of another life with a person who will always be there, will help and support - with Sonya Marmeladova. Dostoevsky chooses the ending when a person’s life does not end on the scaffold, but has a continuation.
Sonechka Marmeladova: savior and guardian angel
Love can work miracles. It changes a person from within, directs him to the path of truth and provides an incentive to live on. For Rodion Raskolnikov, Sonia was the salvation. “Crime and Punishment” tells of how the main character changes after meeting this girl: without her, he would have died in prison from illness and boredom, he would have hardly realized his act, had not repented. Before confessing to the murder, he goes outside and kisses the earth, sincerely regrets what happened.
The work describes the love of two unfortunate people who became happy in their own way. One day, Raskolnikov will be released from prison, and he and Sonya will live a full life and will thank fate for the fact that after many trials it allowed them to meet each other.