“Crime and Punishment,” the history of which lasted almost 7 years, is one of the most famous novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky both in Russia and abroad. In this creation, the classic of Russian literature, as never before, revealed his talent as a psychologist and expert on human souls. What prompted Dostoevsky to write a work about a murderer and torment of conscience, because this topic is not peculiar to the literature of that time?
Fedor Dostoevsky - master of the psychological novel
The writer was born on November 11, 1821 in the city of Moscow. His father, Mikhail Andreevich, was a nobleman, a court adviser, and his mother, Maria Fedorovna, came from a merchant family.
In the life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky there was everything: loud fame and poverty, dark days in the Peter and Paul Fortress and many years of hard labor, a passion for gambling and an appeal to the Christian faith. Even during the writer's life, such an epithet as “ingenious” was applied to his work.
Dostoevsky died at the age of 59 from emphysema. He left behind a huge legacy - novels, poems, diaries, letters, etc. In Russian literature, Fyodor Mikhailovich is given the place of chief psychologist and expert on human souls. Some literary critics (for example, Maxim Gorky), especially of the Soviet period, called Dostoevsky “an evil genius” because they believed that the writer in his works defended “wrong” political views - conservative and even monarchical at some point in their lives. However, one can argue with this: Dostoevsky’s novels are not political, but always deeply psychological, their goal is to show the human soul and life itself as it is. And the work “Crime and Punishment” is the most vivid confirmation of this.
The story of the creation of the novel "Crime and Punishment"
Fedor Dostoevsky in 1850 was sent to hard labor in Omsk. “Crime and Punishment,” the story of which began there, was first published in 1866, and before that, the writer had to go through not the best days in his life.
In 1854, the writer received freedom. Dostoevsky wrote in a letter to his brother in 1859 that the idea of a certain confession novel came to him when he was lying on dirty plank beds in the 1950s and was experiencing the most difficult moments in his destiny. But he was in no hurry to begin this work, because he was not even sure that he would survive.
And so, in 1865, Dostoevsky Fedor Mikhailovich, who was in dire need of money, signed an agreement with one publisher, according to which he undertook to submit a new novel by November 1866. Having received a fee, the writer corrected his affairs, but the addiction to roulette played a trick on him: he lost all the remaining money in Wiesbaden, the hotel owners did not evict him, but they stopped feeding him and even turned off the lights in his room. It was in these circumstances that Dostoevsky began Crime and Punishment.
The story of the creation of the novel was nearing completion: the deadlines were running out - the author worked in a hotel, on a ship, on his way home to Petersburg. He almost finished the novel, and then ... he took and burned the manuscript.
Dostoevsky began work anew, and while the first two parts of the work were published and the whole Petersburg was read by them, he created the remaining three, including the epilogue, at an accelerated pace.
Contents I - II of the novel
“Crime and Punishment” - the theme of the novel is clearly visible already in the title of the work.
The main character - Rodion Raskolnikov - decides to kill and rob the old usurious woman. On the one hand, a young man justifies his action by the fact that he and his family are in need. Rodion feels his responsibility for the fate of loved ones, but to help at least something with his sister and mother, he needs a large sum of money. On the other hand, killing remains an immoral and sinful act.
Rodion successfully commits a crime. But in the second part of the novel, he is faced with a problem more serious than poverty - his conscience begins to torment him. He becomes nervous, it seems to him that everyone around knows about his act. As a result, Rodion begins to get seriously ill. After recovery, the young man seriously thinks about surrendering to the authorities. But acquaintance with Sonya Marmeladova, as well as the arrival of the mother and sister to the city for a while, make him abandon this undertaking.
Contents III - IV of the novel
The heroes of the novel “Crime and Punishment” in the 3rd and 4th parts stubbornly pursue their goals.
Three grooms immediately claim Rodion’s sister - Duni: the court adviser Peter Luzhin, the landowner Svidrigailov and Rodion's friend - Razumikhin. Rodion and Razumikhin manage to upset the planned wedding of Dunya and Luzhin, but the latter leaves angry and thinks about how to take revenge on the offenders.
Rodion Raskolnikov is becoming increasingly attached to Sonya Marmeladova, the daughter of his late friend. They talk with the girl about life, spend time together.
But a black cloud hangs over Rodion - there were witnesses who confirmed at the police station that recently Raskolnikov often went to the murdered usurer. The young man is still being released from the police station, but he remains the main suspect.
The contents of the fifth part of the novel. Epilogue
The most important events of the novel Crime and Punishment by chapters fall on the 5th part of the work and epilogue.
Offended Luzhin is trying to substitute Sonya Marmeladova, passing her off as a thief and thereby quarreling with Raskolnikov. However, his plan does not succeed, but Rodion does not stand up and confesses to Sonya the perfect murder.
A stranger takes the blame for the crime of Raskolnikov, however, the investigator is sure that it was Rodion who committed the crime, therefore he visits the young man and tries to convince him again to confess.
At this time, Svidrigailov is trying to achieve Dunya’s favor by force, a frightened girl shoots him with a revolver. When the weapon misfires, and Dunya convinces the landowner that he does not love him, Svidrigailov releases the girl. Having sacrificed 15 thousand to Sonya Marmeladova and 3 thousand to the family of Raskolnikov, the landowner commits suicide.
Rodion confesses to the killing of a usurer and receives 8 years of hard labor in Siberia. Sonya goes after him in exile. The former life for the former student is over, but thanks to the girl’s love, he feels how a new stage in his fate begins.
The image of Rodion Raskolnikov
In the novel Crime and Punishment, the characterization of Rodion Raskolnikov and the assessment of his actions by the author himself are mixed.
The young man is handsome, smart enough, one might say, ambitious. But the life situation in which he found himself, or rather the social situation, does not allow him not only to realize his talents, but even to finish his studies at the university, to find a decent job. His sister is about to “sell herself” to an unloved person (to marry Luzhin for the sake of his condition). Raskolnikov's mother is in poverty, and her beloved girl is forced to engage in prostitution. And Rodion sees no way to help them and himself, except to raise a large sum of money. But the idea of instant enrichment can be realized only with the help of robbery (in this case, it led to the murder).
According to morality, Raskolnikov did not have the right to take the life of another person, and the argument that the old woman did not have much time to live, or that she did not have the right to "gobble" on the grief of other people, was neither an excuse nor a reason for murder. But Raskolnikov, although tormented by his act, considers himself innocent to the last: he explains his actions by the fact that at that moment he thought only about how to help relatives.
Sonya Marmeladova
In the novel Crime and Punishment, the description of Sonya’s image is as contradictory as Raskolnikov’s: the reader immediately recognizes
soul mates in them
.Sonya is kind and selfless in a sense, this is evident from her actions in relation to other people. The girl is read by the "Gospel", but at the same time she is a prostitute. Pious prostitute - what could be more paradoxical?
However, Sonya does not engage in this business because she has a craving for debauchery - this is the only way for an uneducated attractive girl to earn a living, not only for herself, but also for her large family: stepmother Katerina Ivanovna and three half-brothers and sisters. As a result, Sonya is the only one who went to Siberia after Rodion to support him in difficult times.
Such paradoxical images are the basis of Dostoevsky’s realism, because in the real world things cannot be only black or just white, like people. Therefore, a pure-hearted girl in certain life circumstances can engage in such a dirty craft, and a noble-minded young man can decide to kill.
Arkady Svidrigailov
Arkady Svidrigailov is another character in the novel (a 50-year-old landowner), who in many aspects literally duplicates Raskolnikov. This is not an accident, but a technique chosen by the author. What is its essence?
“Crime and Punishment” is filled with dualistic images, perhaps in order to show: many people have equally positive and negative traits, can walk along the same paths of life, but they always choose the outcome of their life themselves.
Arkady Svidrigailov is a widower. Even with his living wife, he molested Raskolnikov’s sister, who was in their service. When his wife - Martha Petrovna - died, the landowner came to ask for the hands of Avdotya Raskolnikova.
Svidrigailov has many sins behind him: he is suspected of murder, violence and debauchery. But this does not prevent the man from becoming the only person who took care of the family of the late Marmeladov not only financially, but even took the children to an orphanage after the death of their mother. Svidrigailov in a barbaric way tries to win Dunya to himself, but at the same time he is deeply hurt by the girl’s dislike and commits suicide, leaving Raskolnikov’s sister an impressive amount of inheritance. Nobleness and cruelty in this man are combined in their bizarre patterns, as in Raskolnikov.
P.P. Luzhin in the system of images of the novel
Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin (“Crime and Punishment”) is another “double” of Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov, before committing a crime, compares himself to Napoleon, and so Luzhin is Napoleon of his time in its purest form: unprincipled, caring only for itself, striving to make capital at any cost. Perhaps that is why Raskolnikov hates a successful young man: after all, Rodion himself believed that for the sake of his own prosperity he had the right to kill a man whose fate seemed to him less important.
Luzhin (Crime and Punishment) is very straightforward, like a character, caricatured and devoid of the contradictions inherent in the heroes of Dostoevsky. It can be assumed that the writer intentionally made Peter just so that he would become the explicit embodiment of that bourgeois permissiveness that played such a cruel joke with Raskolnikov himself.
Publications of the novel abroad
“Crime and Punishment,” the history of which took more than 6 years, was also highly praised by foreign publications. In 1866, several chapters from the novel were translated into French and published in Courrier russe.
In Germany, the work came out under the name "Raskolnikov" and by 1895 its published circulation was 2 times larger than any other work by Dostoevsky.
At the beginning of the XX century. the novel Crime and Punishment was translated into Polish, Czech, Italian, Serbian, Catalan, Lithuanian, etc.
Adaptations of the novel
The heroes of the novel Crime and Punishment are so colorful and interesting that they repeatedly took on the adaptation of the novel both in Russia and abroad. The first film, Crime and Punishment, appeared in Russia as early as 1909 (dir. Vasily Goncharov). This was followed by a film adaptation in 1911, 1913, 1915.
In 1917, the world saw the picture of American director Lawrence McGill, in 1923 the film "Raskolnikov" was released by German director Robert Wien.
After that, about 14 adaptations were shot in different countries. Of the Russian works, the latest was the serial film “Crime and Punishment” 2007 (directed by Dmitry Svetozarov).
A novel in popular culture
In the movies, Dostoevsky’s novel often flashes in the hands of the heroes serving the conclusion: in the movie “The Incredible Adventures of Wallace and Gromit: Haircut“ to zero ”, t / c“ She-Wolf ”,“ Desperate Housewives ”, etc.
In the computer game “Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments” in one of the episodes, the book with the title of Dostoevsky’s novel is clearly visible in Sherlock Holmes’s hands, and in GTA IV, “Crime and Punishment” is the name of one of the missions.
Raskolnikov House in Petersburg
There is an assumption that Dostoevsky Fedor Mikhailovich put his hero in a house that really exists in St. Petersburg. The researchers made such conclusions, since Dostoevsky in the novel mentions: Raskolnikov’s house is located in the “Sm” lane, next to the “Km” bridge. At Stolyarny Lane-5, there really is a house that could well serve as a prototype for the novel. Today this building is one of the most visited tourist points in St. Petersburg.