Dostoevsky wrote his novel Crime and Punishment after hard labor. It was at this time that the convictions of Fedor Mikhailovich took on a religious coloring. The denunciation of an unfair social system, the search for truth, the dream of happiness for all mankind were combined in this period in its character with the disbelief that the world can be redone by force. The writer was convinced that evil could not be avoided under any structure of society. He believed that it comes from the human soul. Fedor Mikhailovich raised the question of the need for moral improvement of all people. Therefore, he decided to turn to religion.
Sonya - the ideal of the writer
Sonia Marmeladova and Rodion Raskolnikov are the two main characters of the work. They represent as if two oncoming streams. The ideological part of "Crime and Punishment" is their worldview. Sonechka Marmeladova is the moral ideal of the writer. It is a carrier of faith, hope, sympathy, love, understanding and tenderness. According to Dostoevsky, this is what every person should be. This girl is the personification of the truth. She believed that all people have an equal right to life. Sonechka Marmeladova was firmly convinced that happiness cannot be achieved through crime - neither someone else's nor her own. Sin always remains sin. It does not matter who committed it and in the name of what.
Two worlds - Marmeladova and Raskolnikov
Rodion Raskolnikov and Sonya Marmeladova exist in different worlds. Like the two opposite poles, these heroes cannot be without each other. The idea of ​​rebellion is embodied in Rodion, while Sonechka Marmeladova personifies humility. This is a deeply religious moral girl. She believes that there is a deep inner meaning in life. Rodion’s ideas that everything that exists is meaningless is incomprehensible to her. Sonechka Marmeladova sees divine predestination in everything. She believes that nothing depends on the person. The truth of this heroine is God, humility, love. For her, the meaning of life is the great power of sympathy and compassion for people.
Raskolnikov, however, mercilessly and passionately judges the world. He cannot put up with injustice. It is from here that his crime and mental torment in the work "Crime and Punishment" flows. Sonechka Marmeladova, like Rodion, also steps over herself, but she does this completely differently from Raskolnikov. The heroine sacrifices herself to other people, not kills them. In this, the author embodied the idea that a person has no right to personal, selfish happiness. You need to learn patience. True happiness can only be achieved through suffering.
Why Sonya takes Rodion’s crime to heart
According to the thought of Fyodor Mikhailovich, a person needs to feel responsibility not only for his actions, but also for any evil that is happening in the world. That is why Sonya feels that there is her fault in the crime committed by Rodion. She takes the action of this hero to heart and shares his difficult fate. Raskolnikov decides to reveal his terrible secret to this very heroine. Her love revives him. She resurrects Rodion to a new life.
High internal qualities of the heroine, attitude to happiness
The image of Sonia Marmeladova is the embodiment of the best human qualities: love, faith, sacrifice and chastity. Even being surrounded by vices, forced to sacrifice her own dignity, this girl maintains the purity of her soul. She does not lose faith that comfort is not happiness. Sonya says that "a man will not be born for happiness." It is bought by suffering, it must be earned. The fallen woman Sonia, who ruined her soul, turns out to be a "man of high spirit." This heroine can be put in one "rank" with Rodion. However, she condemns Raskolnikov for contempt for people. His "rebellion" Sonya can not accept. But the hero seemed that his ax was raised in her name.
Clash of Sonya and Rodion
According to Fyodor Mikhailovich, this heroine embodies the Russian element, the popular principle: humility and patience, love of God and man. The clash of Sonya and Rodion, their opposing worldviews are a reflection of the writer’s internal contradictions that troubled his soul.
Sonya hopes for a miracle, for God. Rodion is convinced that there is no god, and there is no sense in waiting for a miracle. This hero reveals to the girl the futility of her illusions. Raskolnikov says that her compassion is useless, and her victims are futile. It’s not because of the shameful profession that Sonechka Marmeladova is a sinner. The characterization of this heroine given by Raskolnikov during the collision does not hold water. He believes that her feat and sacrifices are in vain, but at the end of the work it is this heroine who revives him to life.
Sony's ability to penetrate the soul of a person
Driven by life in a hopeless situation, the girl is trying to do something in the face of death. She, like Rodion, acts according to the law of free choice. However, unlike him, she did not lose faith in humanity, which Dostoevsky notes. Sonechka Marmeladova is a heroine who does not need examples to understand that people are kind in nature and deserve the brightest share. It was she, and only she, who was able to sympathize with Rodion, since neither the ugliness of his social fate nor physical ugliness confused her. Sonya Marmeladova penetrates the essence of the soul through her "scab". She is in no hurry to condemn anyone. The girl understands that behind the external evil there are always hidden incomprehensible or unknown reasons that led to the evil of Svidrigailov and Raskolnikov.
The heroine's attitude to suicide
This girl is outside the laws of the world tormenting her. She is not interested in money. She of her own free will, wanting to feed her family, went to the panel. And it was by her indestructible and firm will that she did not commit suicide. When the girl faced this question, she carefully considered it and chose the answer. In her position, suicide would be an egoistic act. Thanks to him, she would be spared the torment and shame. Suicide would have pulled her out of the "fetid pit." However, the thought of the family did not allow her to decide on this step. Marmeladova’s measure of determination and will is much higher than Raskolnikov assumed. In order to give up suicide, she needed more stamina than in order to commit this act.
Debauchery for this girl was worse than death. However, humility rules out suicide. This reveals all the strength of character of this heroine.
Sonya's love
If you define in one word the nature of this girl, then the word is loving. Her love for her neighbor was active. Sonya knew how to respond to the pain of another person. This was especially evident in the episode of Rodion's confession of murder. This quality makes her image "perfect." The verdict in the novel is pronounced by the author from the standpoint of this ideal. Fyodor Dostoevsky in the image of his heroine presented an example of all-forgiving, all-encompassing love. She does not know envy, does not want anything in return. This love can even be called unspoken, because the girl never talks about her. However, this feeling overwhelms her. Only in the form of actions does it come out, but never in the form of words. Silent love only becomes more beautiful from this. Even the desperate Marmeladov bow before her.
Before the girl prostrates herself and the crazy Katerina Ivanovna. Even Svidrigailov, this eternal libertine, respects Sonya for her. Not to mention Rodion Raskolnikov. This hero, her love healed and saved.
The author of the work, through reflection and moral search, came to the idea that any person who finds God, looks at the world in a new way. He begins to rethink it. That is why in the epilogue, when Rodion’s moral resurrection is described, Fedor Mikhailovich writes that “a new story begins”. The love of Sonechka Marmeladova and Raskolnikov, described at the end of the work, is the brightest part of the novel.
The immortal meaning of the novel
Dostoevsky, rightly condemning Rodion for his rebellion, leaves the victory for Sonya. It is in her that he sees the highest truth. The author wants to show that suffering purifies, that it is better than violence. Most likely, in our time, Sonechka Marmeladova would be an outcast. The image in the novel of this heroine is too far from the norms of behavior accepted in society. And not every Rodion Raskolnikov will suffer and suffer today. However, as long as the "world stands", the soul of man and his conscience will always live and live. This is the immortal meaning of the novel by Dostoevsky, who is rightly considered a great writer and psychologist.