Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky
Chapter 6 & Epilogue Frame Analysis Document
Natalia Garcia, Alissa Kushner, Deepti Singam, Kendra Blandon, Ricky Chavez, Alexa
Orovitz, and Guo Qian
Character List with brief description:
1.
Rodya Raskolnikov - Raskolnikov is the protagonist. He’s a handsome, intelligent and proud man who was once a student but now lives in a tiny, destitute apartment. In part
VI, Raskolnikov is repeatedly ill. The internal conflict he faces is whether or not to confess to the murders of the two women and serve his sentence. It is affecting his health, his mind and his relationships with those around him, most significantly his mother and sister. He’s confessed his crime to Sonya and she convinces him to declare his crimes to the police. Raskolnikov confesses and is sentenced to 8 years in a Siberian prison, where he finds peace of mind, love and even religion.
2.
Sonya Marmeladov - The daughter of a drunk whom Raskolnikov meets in a tavern.
Sonya is the only character in the novel that truly has any sort of meaningful connection with Raskolnikov. He confesses his crimes to her and she later finds a loving relationship with him, travelling to Siberia during his time in prison. Prior to Raskolnikov’s confession, she gives him a cross and has him say a prayer. She is his motivation to admit his crime, and is his reminder of why he is coming clean during the several times he backs out. She is meek but strong and maintains a powerful religious faith. She is a symbol of self-sacrifice and compassion.
3.
Razumikhin - Raskolnikov’s best friend. He falls in love with Raskolnikov’s sister and is the person who takes care of her and her mother when Raskolnikov goes to prison. He shows true loyalty, almost that of a brother, when at Raskolnikov’s trial he tells only good things to the court about Raskolnikov. It describes his many charitable acts while he was at university. When Raskolnikov goes to prison, Razumikhin marries Dounia. He is a hard worker and a caring, compassionate individual.
4.
Dunya Raskolnikov - Rodya’s sister who moves to St. Petersburg with their mother in order to be near her brother, for whom she would give anything up for. Another reason she moved there is to get away from her former employer who harassed her and whose wife believed Dunya was attempting to have “relations” with. She is as good-looking and intelligent as Raskolnikov but she is much more humble and kind. She is deeply hurt by her brother’s crimes. She finds out about it on the last day that she saw him, when
Raskolnikov went to tell her he could not be in her life any longer.
5.
Pulcheria Alexandrovna - She is Rodya Raskolnikov’s mother. She and Dunya would sacrifice anything for Raskolnikov. For a very long time they would send every available cent they had to him in order to help him. She believes her son is a genius and the greatest man on Earth. She is unable to handle the news that her son is a murderer and she falls terribly sick. She dies while he is in Siberian prison.

6.
Porfiry Petrovich - He is the magistrate in charge of the investigation of the murders of the two women. He is highly suspicious of Raskolnikov and is fully aware of every single thought that goes through Raskolnikov’s head throughout the novel. He understands and is conscious of Raskolnikov’s mental state at all times. Although practically certain of
Raskolnikov’s guilt, he doesn’t go after him and gives him the opportunity to confess, which he does. Petrovich is the closest thing to an antagonist that one can find in this novel.
7.
Arkady Svidrigailov - Dunya’s former employer who follows her to St. Petersburg and pressures her to marry him. He is the “bad guy” in the novel. He attempts to rape Dunya, and threatens to report Raskolnikov after hearing him confess to Sonya. He is a terrible human and a horrid person to deal with, something that Raskolnikov immediately notices.
His beliefs about Svidrigailov are confirmed during a confrontation he has with him where Svidrigailov tells him about a 15 year-old girl he is now engaged to. After the confrontation with Dunya, Svidrigailov has a great internal conflict and take his own life.
Plot Summary:
Coming to admonish Raskolnikov for his “mad” treatment of his family, Razumikhin visits Rodya, mentioning that Porfiry finally believes that Nikoloy is the murderer, and that
Dunya had received a terrible note from Svidrigailov. Upon Razumikhin’s exit, Raskolnikov finds Porfiry waiting outside his door. Porfiry reveals that he knows Raskolnikov is Alyana and
Libabeta’s murderer; he just doesn’t have enough evidence to arrest him yet. Porfiry urges
Rodya to turn himself in because the judges will be less harsh, but Raskolnikov continues to claim his innocence.
Raskolnikov resolves to find and punish Svidrigailov, thinking that Svidrigailov had told his secret. Rodya wanders around St. Petersburg, encountering Svidrigailov in a tavern. They discuss Svidrigailov’s relationship with his deceased wife, and briefly talk about Dunya, who
Rodya is convinced is still in danger by Svidrigailov. They depart as Svidrigailov leaves to meet
Dunya, unknown to Rodya.
In their meeting, Svidrigailov tells Dunya of her beloved brother, the murderer. He then tries to rape her, despite him being betrothed, and she shoots him on the temple. She escapes, and
Svidrigailov leaves with her gun. He then goes around, giving charity and telling his own goodbyes. He goes to a hotel, having vivid dreams of children and flooding. The next morning he commits suicide, telling the witness to tell everyone he went to America.
With the seed planted by Porfiry, Rodya realizes his options are to turn himself in or commit suicide. With this in mind, he goes to see his mother, apologizing for being a bad son, and began his string of goodbyes. They embrace and forgive each other, and he exits. At his apartment, he finds Dunya waiting for him. They discuss his crime, and Dunya urges him to turn himself in as repentance. He eventually agrees, and they part ways. He then goes to his final goodbye: Sonya. She gives him her cross, and tells him to go to the crossroads and confess to the world. He leaves her and does so, kissing the ground, and then goes to the police station to turn

himself in. Greeted by a friendly Ilya Petrovich, they chat for a while, and then Rodya leaves.
Outside, crushed by Sonya’s disappointment in him, he goes back in and tells all.
Sonia visits Rodya and the other men every day at Siberian prison, eventually becoming the men’s deliverer of messages and gifts from relations in the outside world. Rodya’s mother dies, his crimes too much for her to handle. Rodya realizes he loves Sonia, and the book ends, with Rodya’s positive outlook on the next seven years he will no longer have to “endure” in prison.
Imagery:
1.
“He kept dwelling on the images of flowers, he fancied a charming flower garden, a bright, warm, almost hot day, a holiday-Trinity day. A fine, sumptuous country cottage in the English taste overgrown with fragrant flowers, with flower beds going round the house, the porch, wreathed in climbers, was surrounded with beds of roses.” (Pg. 501)
The description of the flowers relate to the fragility of life. When people die, they are laid in flowers sometimes, and it may be a sign of self-indulgence, for Svidrigailov was a selfindulgent man. This imagery contributes to the overall text by suggesting that some humans ultimately end their lives with the notion that they are still superior and deserve indulgence in death.
2. “A sly crafty eye peeped out with an unchildlike wink, as though the little girl were not asleep but pretending...shameless, provocative in that quite unchildish face; it was depravity, it was the face of a harlot, the shameless face of a French harlot.” (Pg. 504)
The description of the young girl’s actions in Svidrigailov’s dream describes a loss of innocence at a young age. The scenes leading up to her seductive glances imply that the young girl was suffering from abuse by her mother and had nowhere to turn. This describes the reality of many women who turn to prostitution in order to survive a harsh upbringing. This imagery relates to the corruption of a woman’s innocence, such as Dunya and Sonya, when they have to sacrifice everything that makes them pure to survive.
3. “He knelt down in the middle of the square, bowed down to the earth, and kissed that filthy earth with bliss and rapture. He got up and bowed down a second time.”
This act of humility and repentance, to kiss the ground, shows how deeply moved
Raskolnikov is by Sonya’s ideology and support. This gesture shows what people will do for those they care about. Although Raskolnikov himself was not feeling repentance, he was willing to do so for Sonya. Furthermore, the image of him kissing the earth is similar to Biblical illusions of repentance and respectfulness.
4. “Men attacked by them became at once mad and furious. But never had men considered themselves so intellectual and so completely in possession of the truth as these sufferers, never

had they considered their decisions, their scientific conclusions, their moral convictions so infallible.” (Pg. 539)
The implications of this vivid dream that Raskolnikov is a criticism of human beliefs.
Humans fall to such deep convictions that they have “fought and killed each other” over such beliefs. With such conflicting ideologies, humans “did not know how to judge” and killed each other over “senseless spite”. This is a criticism of conflicts. Only the purest people, or those who were open minded, were able to survive, therefore dividing mankind into two groups of people.
Motifs:
1.The color yellow
The color yellow is constantly used throughout the novel to represent the poverty and disgustingness of St. Petersburg. In the beginning, it is used to represent the hopelessness and of
Raskolnikov’s state of mind, his mental illness and the seemingly inevitable end of life. The yellow ticket that Sonya carries represents the societal view of prostitution and how it is looked down upon. When we move into Part 6 and the Epilogue, the color yellow becomes a representation of the beginning of life and hope. The guilt that Rodya goes through because of his crime and the final acceptance of his love for Sonya helping him release his “superman complex” belief is what the color yellow becomes.
2.“Going to America”
The American image is considered to be an image of evil and destruction to the reader but an image of privacy and acceptance by Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov. "But if you are convinced that one mustn't listen at doors, but one may murder old women at one's pleasure, you'd better be off to America and make haste”. This statement made by Rodya underlines the thought that
America is a place to hide, a place that welcomes all, including murderers and criminals of all sorts. "Why, be starting for America, and be stopped by rain! Ha, ha! Good-bye, Sonya
Semyonovna, my dear!”, said by Svidrigailov, represents his idea of how the journey to America is a tedious one and almost impossible to achieve. It is an ideal and Svidrigailov’s words before his suicide, “When you are asked, you just say he was going, he said, to America. "He put the revolver to his right temple.”, upholds his notion that he would never be able to achieve
“America”. The only way for him to possibly achieve that would be committing suicide, because he has no chance in the real world.
3. The Bridges of St. Petersburg
One of the recurring images in this novel is the bridge. It seemed that with every bridge came a major point or turn within the plot. There is a stark contrast, yet beautiful intertwining between

the first and last mention of the bridges of St. Petersburg. At first, Raskolnikov crossed the bridge to go to the pawnbroker’s home, committing his crime , making the beginning of the novel seem like Rodya’s end. In the last scene, we have Raskolnikov state "In another week, another month I shall be driven in a prison van over this bridge, how shall I look at the canal then? I should like to remember this. “ When he crosses the bridge this time, he is accepting the punishment of his crime, thus he finds a new beginning at the end of the novel. After he talks about the bridge, we see him kissing the crossroads at Haymarket, and then confess to the police because of the overwhelming guilt and because of Sonya telling him to do so through psychological means. The bridges connected Raskolnikov to every major decision he made, and all the crime that occurred was interconnected. The final bridge scene seems to renounce the crime and take in the punishment that goes with murder.
Symbols:
The Hay Market is the center of St. Petersburg that is overrun by criminals and prostitutes. Throughout the novel, the craziness of Haymarket mirrors Raskolnikov’s insanity as he learns to cope with his actions. In Part 6, Chapter 8, Raskolnikov wants to go confess the murder to the police on his own, but Sonya convinces him to do so in a public place. By bowing in Haymarket and giving a kopeck to an old woman, he is cleansing his mind of his crimes.
While those around him dismiss him as a drunk, the public ‘confession’ gives him the strength to talk to the police.
The Lazarus story is also central to the Epilogue of the novel. Earlier in Crime and
Punishment , Sonya gave a Bible to Raskolnikov and read him the story of Lazarus. The man had died and been buried, but Jesus Christ revived him to prove the power of God. The Lazarus story, brought up again in the epilogue when Raskolnikov is imprisoned, is reminiscent of
Raskolnikov’s transformation. He figuratively died when he killed the pawnbroker, and he is emotionally revived, like Lazarus, through the power of Sonya’s love for him.
While none of the characters have been to America, it is a recurring symbol in Section 6 and the epilogue. Svidrigailov suggests to Sonya that America is a scary place and that she’ll be
“stopped by rain.” After being rejected by Dunya, Svidrigailov kills himself and tells the guard he is going to America. For thousands of Russians, America represents an impossible ideal and dream that they cannot reach.
At the beginning of the novel, the cross is only a symbol of redemption from sin in
Christian mythology. At the end of Part Six, Sonya uses a wood and copper cross to represent her engagement to Raskolnikov. “She made the sign of the cross over herself and over him” before putting them around their necks. Additionally, Raskolnikov is constantly described as crossing the street, crossing the market, and crossing into new realities. The cross in Crime and
Punishment is a symbol for transitions and breaking social boundaries.
Discussion Points

1.
How does Svidrigalov’s reaction to his fantasy being fractured affect your interpretation of him as a villain? a.
“There followed a moment of terrible, dumb struggle in the heart of Svidrigalov
(p.492).” b.
“He thought a little, put the revolver in his pocket, took his hat and went out
(p.492).”
2.
Does Svidrigailov’s suicide make him stronger than Rodya in his convictions?
Svidrigailov ultimately dies with his convictions while Rodya crumbles under societal punishment. a.
“‘I’m going to foreign parts, brother… to America’. Svidrigailov pulled the trigger (p.506).”
3.
Was Rodya, in fact, insane at the time of the murder? Is he insane? a.
“But they immediately drew the deduction that the crime could only have been committed through temporary mental derangement, through homicidal mania, without object or the pursuit of gain (p.528).” b.
“All this pointed strongly to the conclusion that Raskolnikov was not quite the ordinary murderer and robber, but that there was another element in the case
(p.528).”
4.
Is the epilogue ultimately necessary in the scheme of the novel? a.
Can section 6 serve as the book’s ending? b.
Does the reader really need to know what Rodya’s consequences are? c.
Does the relationship between Sonya and Rodya take away from the graveness of punishment? i.
“Sonia had long ago made her preparation to follow the party of convicts in which he was dispatched to Siberia (p.531).”
5.
In line with the religious undertones of the epilogue: a.
Will Rodya’s new love with Sonya result in a Lazarus-like resurrection? i.
“They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other (p.541).” b.
Is there a link between Rodya’s finding of religion and his imminent reintegration into society? i.
“Under his pillow lay the New Testament… The book belonged to Sonya; it was the one from which she had read the rising of Lazarus to him
(p.542).” ii.
“Till now he had not opened it [the bible] (p.542).” c.
Is Sonya herself representative of a miracle/ angel? i.
“Why were they all so fond of Sonya? She did not try to win their favour; she rarely met them (p.528)...” ii.
“Suddenly he found Sonya beside him; she had come up noiselessly and sat down at his side (p.540).”

Themes
1.
The self-destructiveness of nihilism.
In the epilogue, a new facet of the protagonist, Raskolnikov, is introduced, which we hadn’t previously seen. He has finally come to the realization that his nihilist view towards life was ultimately self- destructive, which was evident when he finally started to feel guilty about the crime he committed. The reason Raskolnikov behaved antisocially, completely detached from society, was mainly because of his surroundings, which greatly affected the reason for the assassination of the pawnbroker. The fact that he was constantly surrounded by poverty and miserableness, and being frequently exposed to the hopeless drunkards in the taverns, makes it not at all odd that he had acquired a pessimistic aura. But, he eventually found a reason to exist, even if it wasn’t explicit. The reason that he was able to feel hope again was because of Sonya’s strong devotion and fondness. “But that is the beginning of a new start-the story of a gradual renewal of a man, the story of his gradual regeneration, of his passing from one world into another, of his initiation into a new unknown life. That might be the subject of a new story, but our present story is ended.”
2. Finding the inner peace of religion
In order to understand Raskolnikov’s attitude towards religion, it is important to contrast it with another character with a different attitude, which in this case is Sonya. She develops a particular vision of humanity regarding the bible. Both characters represent a different ethical system. It is evident that Raskolnikov is focused on the rationality, whereas Sonya is clearly devoted to religion. This is a predominant conflict throughout the novel, specifically in the epilogue. It is clearly evident how faith triumphs at the end. Only Sonya and her conversion are capable of saving Raskolnikov. It helps him, most importantly, to recuperate his human dignity in order to bring more sense and meaning to his life. Even though Sonya is humiliated by her profession, she represents purity and innocence. Her interior balance is what guarantees her profound faith in God. Raskolnikov starts to slowly understand how inner peace can be achieved by incorporating religion in his life. This happens primarily with the reading of the Bible. A mystical change starts to develop within him. The invincible superhero that once admired the laws of reason has now been confronted with something that he isn’t capable to explain. This is the truth revealed. This faith is, indeed, much stronger than the truth of reason.
The impact of family and punishment:
The punishment that he receives in prison is comparatively minor with the moral punishment that comes with it. The physical commitment to the conviction is insignificant compared to the moral condemnation. Prior to his redemption, Raskolnikov frequently questioned himself in the prison, asking himself whether there was a purpose in life.
Nevertheless, after his redemption, Raskolnikov returns to his cell and noticed immediately that

the other detainees and enemies respond to his greetings with kindness and a different air. This is because of love. Raskolnikov fuses himself into society once more. Not only does he achieve this path because of the punishment, but also because of the love that he receives from his family. It is pivotal to highlight the key role that family plays within this work; his mother and sister are undoubtedly concerned with Raskolnikov’s mental delirium and are willing to sacrifice their well being for him. In conclusion, we see that pride and selfishness causes the consequence of the separation of men, while love is the union.