CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Fyodor Mikhailovich
Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
NineteenthCentury Russia
• major upheaval, political
uncertainty and war
• Napoleonic Wars 1803-1815
• Fyodor Dostoevsky born 1821
• Czars Nicholas I and Alexander
II
• Nihilists
Biographical
Information
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family background- middle class (had once
achieved nobility but then fallen into
decline)
poverty, gambling addiction (Marmeladov?)
strained relationship with father
temperamental: "He was almost
pathologically high strung, morose,
suspicious... either sullen and silent or else
outspoken and polemical.”
epileptic- man as "the sick animal”
joined a group of Christian socialist
intellectuals, arrested, sentenced to 8
years of hard labor in Siberia, then death
by firing squad, reprieved by the czar, then
4 years of Siberia and 4 years in Russian
army
The Mystery of
Man
• Romantic vision of man as a
unique creature composed of
conflicting elements
• "Our world is the purgatory of
heavenly spirits darkened by
sinful thoughts."
• sanctification through
suffering
• the concept of the double
Crime and
Punishment
• published in 1866 as a monthly
serial in a Russian literary
journal
• Can evil means justify
honorable ends?
• Who is the real criminal?
• Character as mystery
Purposes
• Expose of social conditions in 19th cent.
Russia
• Satirical analysis of liberal and
radical politics
• Religious call for redemption through
suffering
• Study of the nature of good and evil,
intellect and emotion
• Psychological account for crime,
search for motive
Robert Louis Jackson – Dialogues with Dostoevsky.
"Dostoevsky," he continues, "has become an icon-in some respects a cliche--for twentieth-century
self-consciousness: to know him has been to know
ourselves and our century."
Author Profile
• Inherent in Dostoevsky’s literary canon is the
primacy of the freedom of the individual.
• He argued in The Double and other works that the
problems of society were caused by the absence
of freedom; humankind had been “overcome” by
the impact of human institutions—the church, the
state, and economic structures—and by the
assumed beliefs in God and in economic and social
values.
Author Profile cont.
• SO - Dostoevsky advanced a radical philosophy in
which he condemned encumbrances to freedom.
• He maintained that the so-called “laws of nature”
did not exist; sustaining a belief in these laws
would inevitably result in the restriction of
freedom.
– It was only through unbridled and anarchical freedom
that the individual would be totally free and thus
recognize his or her own identity.
Author Profile cont.
• This condition would preclude all forms of ethics
except for a hedonistic ethics based on the
interests of the self.
• Dostoevsky recognized the anarchical
ramifications of his argument and attempted
unsuccessfully to address them in Crime and
Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.
• If truth does not exist, there is no basis for ethical
principles.
Crime and Punishment
• In this novel Dostoevsky brings to a high pitch the
intellectual and emotional conflicts of human
beings.
– Raskolnikov’s way of thinking, his sense of superiority
over other human beings, is brilliantly dramatized at the
same time that Dostoevsky reveals his isolation, his
moral vacuity, and his inability, despite possessing great
intellect, to attain a sense of humanity.
• In this novel Dostoevsky profoundly questions the
value of human intellect apart from emotional,
indeed religious, feelings.
Intellect- Raskolnikov
and Luzhin
• Both men have projects that fail – and both
blame the failure on a “blunder” – a mere
mistake – and see nothing else
blameworthy in what they have done.
• In both men, pure intellect dominates
without the softer human emotion.
After Crime and
Punishment
• In much of his subsequent work Dostoevsky
probes deeply into human compulsiveness
and into the sins that human beings commit
against one another.
• Distrustful of purely rationalistic and
political panaceas (an attitude that was, in
part, a reaction against his early radicalism),
he stresses compassion for human beings
and the inevitability of suffering.
nietzsche’s superman
See notes for explanation.
nihilism
•
1. An extreme form of skepticism that
denies all existence.
•
2. A doctrine holding that all values
are baseless and that nothing can be
known or communicated.
• A diffuse, revolutionary movement of
mid 19th-century Russia that scorned
authority and tradition and believed
in reason, materialism, and radical
change in society and government
through terrorism and assassination.
nihilism
• It is a philosophical position developed in Russia
in the 1850s and 1860s, known for “negating
more,” in the words of Lebezyatnikov.
• It rejected family and societal bonds and
emotional and aesthetic concerns in favor of a
strict materialism, or the idea that there is no
“mind” or “soul” outside of the physical world.
utilitarianism
• Linked to nihilism is utilitarianism, or the idea that moral
decisions should be based on the rule of the greatest
happiness for the largest number of people. (56)
– Raskolnikov originally justifies the murder of Alyona on
utilitarian grounds, claiming that a “louse” has been removed
from society.
• Whether or not the murder is actually a utilitarian act,
Raskolnikov is certainly a nihilist; completely unsentimental
for most of the novel, he cares nothing about the emotions
of others.
• Similarly, he utterly disregards social conventions that run
counter to the austere interactions that he desires with the
world. However, at the end of the novel, as Raskolnikov
discovers love, he throws off his nihilism. Through this
action, the novel condemns nihilism as empty.
Setting-a social
narrative
• St. Petersburg misery
• Raskolnikov is a child of that misery, patently
belonging to the world of the insulted and
injured, though in him the humility and
submissiveness of that world’s human mixture
are turned inside out.
• He is the first of its inhabitants to attempt its
redemption by making a bid, in however futile
and hideous a fashion, for freedom and power.
Russian meanings
Name
Word
Meaning (in Russian)
Rodion Romanovich
Raskolnikov
raskol
a schism, or split;
"raskolnik" is "one who splits“
(*doppleganger)
Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin
luzha
a puddle
Dmitri Prokofych
Razumikhin
razum
reason, intelligence
Alexander Grigorievich
Zamyotov
zametit
to notice, to realize
Semyon Zakharovich
Marmeladov
marmelad
marmalade/jam
Arkady Ivanovich
Svidrigailov
Svidrigailo
a Lithuanian prince
More than just one
crime…
• The novel contains many examples of
crime – or transgression translated from
the Russian “prestuplenie”
• Raskolnikov, Sonya, Luzhin, Svidrigailov
– All of these characters engage in
transgressions as a means to an end
Plot structure
Parts I-III: present the predominantly rational and proud
Raskolnikov
-the progressive death of the first ruling principle of his
character
*point of change in the middle of the novel
Parts IV-VI: the emerging "irrational" and humble
Raskolnikov
-progressive birth of the new ruling principle
Monomania and
malaise and ennui
• Monomania = pathological obsession with one
idea or subject; intent concentration on or
exaggerated enthusiasm for a single subject or
idea (re: murder of pawnbroker and Lizaveta) (23)
• Malaise = a vague feeling of bodily discomfort, as
at the beginning of an illness; a general sense of
depression or unease (R’s pathological condition
or soul-sickness?)
• Ennui (Fr. boredom) = listlessness and
dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest;
boredom (sensuality as a flight from it –
Svidrigaylov)
Three thematic
elements
• Primary theme of Raskolnikov’s crime and
its consequences
• Minor theme of the lowly and good
Marmeladovs
• Minor theme of the wealthy immoralist
Svidrigaylov
*Latent theme = right to violent rebellion
Sacrifice
• Many examples of sacrifice / self sacrifice
• In general, Dostoevsky emphasizes the
ironic ineffectuality of the sacrifices being
made.
• Sonya – for the Marmeladovs, Lizaveta –
for her sister, Dunya – for her mother and
brother, Raskolnikov – for the sake of a
theory
Suffering
• Suffering is a major component of the novel.
– The characters are citizens of St. Petersburg – poor and
miserable – and almost without exception, they suffer
• Some of the characters seem to need to suffer:
Marmeladov (18-19), Katerina (martyr?), Mikolka
• There is a connection between piety and the
acceptance of suffering – Sonya, Lizaveta,
Mikolka
• What does suffering have to with Raskolnikov in
the Epilogue?
suffering…
• Porfiry says to Raskolnikov, “Do you,
Rodion Romanovich, know what some
of these people mean by ‘suffering’?. . .
It is not suffering for somebody’s sake,
but simply ‘suffering is necessary’ – the
acceptance of suffering, that means,
and if it is at the hands of the
authorities, so much the better” (VI, 2).
Moral Standards
• The moral standards in the novel are
Christian.
• They are represented by Sonya,
Razumikhin, and Porfiry – although never
stated directly by any of them.
• Christian morality / these characters
recognize crime and find no excuse for
wrongdoing. No class of man is exempt;
all men must accept responsibility.
Lazarus
• After learning that Alyona will be home alone at 7
o’clock, he goes “like a man condemned to
death” (I,5).
• On his way to murder Alyona, he compares
himself to a man going to execution
• Before his encounter in the tavern with Zamyotov,
he thinks of a condemned man given the choice to
die or live on “a hand’s breadth of ground” (II,6).
• The story of Lazarus brought back from the dead
becomes an important part of the story.
Lazarus
• Porfiry first mentions Lazarus: “A-a-and,
do you believe in the raising of Lazarus?”
(III,5)
• Raskolnikov asks Sonya to read the story
of Lazarus
• Raskolnikov’s resurrection / return to life /
renewal occurs in the Epilogue or at least
ends there. Like Lazarus, it may be
connected to the fourth day.
“a modern case”
• Porfiry: “a modern [contemporary] case” (385) =
a spiritual and mental self-division and selfcontradiction
• Problematical nature of modern personality and
of its tortuous efforts to stem the disintegration
threatening it
• The search for the “true cause” = (1) ideas bearing
on the nature of crime and its relation to psychic
illness; (2) ideas about two kinds of human beings
(ordinary and extraordinary); (3) ideas concerning
the supernal value of suffering and the promise of
deliverance in Christ
TEXT - CRIMINALITY
• PART ONE – CHAPTER SIX (p. 54-7 in my book)
– Superstitious events
• PART ONE – CHAPTER SIX (p. 60-1 in my book)
– Nature of crime/criminal
• PART THREE – CHAPTER FIVE (p. 216-225 in my
book)
– Is there such a thing as crime?
• PART FOUR – CHAPTER FIVE (p. 286-290 in my
book)
– Porfiry on crime
CHARACTERS
Characters
• Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov (ROH-dyon rohMAH-noh-vihch ras- KOL-nih-kov), called Rodya, a
psychologically complex young law student who
murders not for wealth but as an experiment, to
see if he is one of those who can circumvent
society’s restrictions.
• Impoverished and weakened by illness and
hunger, he decides to rid society of a worthless
person in order to preserve his genius for
posterity, to relieve his devoted mother and sister
from compromising themselves, and to prove that
he is above conscience.
Characters
• Pulcheria Alexandrovna (pewl- CHEH-ryah ahlehk-SAHN-drov-nah), his long- suffering mother,
whose faith in her son sustains her but whose
mind gives way under the strain of his deed and
guilt.
• A handsome, middle-aged woman of distinction,
a widow who has supported her family and urged
her son to make his way in life, Pulcheria is a
study of motherhood thwarted, a woman
tortured by her inability to fathom her favorite’s
depravity.
Characters
• Avdotya Romanovna (ahv-DOT-yah rohMAH-nov-nah), called Dounia (DEW-nyah),
her daughter and the younger sister who
has aided in her mother’s effort to make
something of her brother through working
and skimping.
• A mirror of her mother’s fortitude and
faith, Dounia is the beautiful,
impoverished, clear- sighted savior of her
family.
Characters
• Dmitri Prokofitch Razumihin (DMIH-tree proh-KOH-fihch
rah-zew- MEE-hihn), Raskolnikov’s devoted friend.
• Enamored of Dounia, he is the savior of the family honor.
Like Dounia, he has all the normal responses of a generous
nature and works unceasingly to discover and repair the
tragic situation of his friend. Affianced to the beautiful
Dounia, he founds a publishing company to aid the hapless
girl, mother, and brother.
• He is one of the few characters with a sense of humor; his
good deeds lighten a psychologically gloomy and depthinsighted plot.
Characters
• Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladov (soh- FYAH sehMYOH-nov-nah mahr-meh- LAH-dov), called Sonia,
the daughter of a drunken clerk and stepdaughter
of the high-strung Katerina Ivanovna.
• From gratitude, the benevolent though soiled
child of the streets comforts the murderer and
supports him in his transgressions so that he
finally will confess. Forced to support her father,
her stepmother, and their three children, she
remains unsullied, and her spirit transcends these
morbid conditions.
Characters
• Arkady Ivanovitch Svidrigailov (ahr- KAH-dee eeVAH-noh-vihch svih-drih- GAY-lov), the sensualist
in whose house Dounia had been a governess. He
is both the would-be seducer and savior of
Dounia, and through her of Sonia’s orphaned half
sisters and brother, when he gives her money as
atonement for his conduct.
• A complicated character, sometimes considered,
with Raskolnikov, one of the alter egos of the
writer, he is obsessed by guilt and driven by libido.
Characters
• Porfiry Petrovitch (pohr-FIH- ree pehTROH-vihch), a brilliant detective more
interested in the rehabilitation than the
prosecution of the murderer.
• Somewhat disturbed and neurotic himself,
Porfiry seconds Sonia’s influence and
causes Raskolnikov to confess his crime
and thus begin his redemption.