Just to the east of riotous, industrialising Western Europe sat Imperial Russia, pendent between tradition and modernity, a vast empire of duality. As if trying to vent her frustrations, 19th century Russia produced a selection of history's finest writers; each writer packing their work with themes of duplicity, hope, and heavy social criticism. Duality was the cardinal theme for Imperial Russia. 19th century Russia was a peasant-filled, agrarian empire rushed through the gawky adolescence of industrialisation. The serfs were only freed in 1861, and by 1900 around 2.3 million Russians worked inside factories: in a century, Russia had moved from a feudal system of serfdom to the shores of modernity. A theme of duplicity was carried throughout. The new industries and arterial railroads were European inventions, so was Russia a European nation? Or, did Russia's devotion to the Tsar and the peasant commune separate her from the growingly liberal, economically individualistic West? The theme of duality is spread throughout Crime and Punishment (in Russian, Преступление и наказание) written by F. M. Dostoevsky . Dostoevsky expresses duality through both symbolism and the actions of his characters. The nihilist Svidrigailov and the prostitute Sonya Semyonova are symbols of the internal duality of Crime and Punishment's main protagonist, R. R. Raskolnikov. The plot orbits Raskolnikov's double-edged and Daedal personality, both indulgent and redemptive, active and introverted, murderous and self-destructive. Raskolnikov could slip Svidrigailov and Sonya on like hats: this hat for the self, and this one... ... middle of paper ... ...vsky, 1984. Moscow: Russkiy Yazik. Anna Karenina, L.N. Tolstoy. Fictionbook.ru [online]. Available at: http://www.fictionbook.ru/author/tolstoyi_lev/anna_karenina/tolstoyi_anna_karenina.txt.zip (Last accessed 06.06.05) The Lady with the Little Dog, AP Chekhov. Lib.ru [online]. Available at: http://lib.ru/LITRA/CHEHOW/d.txt (Last accessed 06.06.05) Fathers and Sons, I.S. Turgenev. Fictionbook.ru [online]. Available at: http://www.fictionbook.ru/author/turgenev_ivan_sergeevich/otciy_i_deti/turgenev_otciy_i_deti.txt.zip (Last accessed 06.06.05).
In the early eighteenth-century, a letter from Peter the Great’s court was sent to Russian publishers declaring that all material must be printed with the intention to maintain “The glory of the great sovereign and his tsardom and for the general usefulness and profit of the nation” (The Cambridge History of Russia). The effects of this proclamation reverberated throughout Russia for centuries and laid the foundation on which future rulers such as Catherine the Great and later Alexander III fortified the position of the censor. The strengthening of the Russian censor, consequently, manipulated and stifled the country’s most influential wordsmiths. No Russian writer was safe from the censor, not even a master like Leo Tolstoy. Specifically,
Rodion Raskolnikov is a murderer, a damning criminal. Yet, he also has a warm heart that no one can equal. This character of paradox, of contradictions, of irony, is the true Raskolnikov. He is the Jekyll, and he is the Hyde; the zenith and the nadir. This hallowed literature of human nature provides us with important moral lessons, and at the same time helps the reader understand Dostoevsky’s philosophy on society better. Raskolnikov is not entirely a cold-blooded murderer, since he still has a feeling of love: The love towards Sofya Marmeladov. In this paper, we will go in-depth of how Sofya has an impact on Raskolnikov, by discussing their similarities and differences.
Gurov embodies the power of change that true love can have even on the most cynical characters. He is an island of hope in an ocean of turmoil represented by revolutionary Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
Dostoyevsky's writing in this book is such that the characters and setting around the main subject, Raskolnikov, are used with powerful consequences. The setting is both symbolic and has a power that affects all whom reside there, most notably Raskolnikov. An effective Structure is also used to show changes to the plot's direction and Raskolnikov's character. To add to this, the author's word choice and imagery are often extremely descriptive, and enhance the impact at every stage of Raskolnikov's changing fortunes and character. All of these features aid in the portrayal of Raskolnikov's downfall and subsequent rise.
Dostoevsky was made aware of the problems with Nihilistic ideas while he was exiled in Siberia. Crime and Punishment was Dostoevsky’s first attempt at a psychological analysis of a person’s inner struggles to rationalize this radicalism. Raskolnikov represents that intelligentsia and is being used by Dostoevsky to portray and warn against succumbing to these ideals. Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov’s life to illustrate the implications and applications of this Nihilist to the public and then expands upon it in Demons.
Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg is a large, uncaring city which fosters a western style of individualism. As Peter Lowe notes, “The city is crowded, but there is no communality in its crowds, no sense of being part of some greater ‘whole.’” Mrs. Raskolnikov initially notices a change in her son marked by his current state of desperate depression, but she fails to realize the full extent of these changes, even after he is convicted for the murder. The conditions and influences are also noticed by Raskolnikov’s mother who comments on the heat and the enclosed environment which is present throughout the city. When visiting Raskolnikov, she exclaims "I'm sure...
Svidrigailov is one of the most unfathomable characters in Crime and Punishment. As the novel goes on, Svidrigailov’s pursuit of Dunya progresses into sheer harassment. After eavesdropping on Raskolnikov’s confession to Sonya, he uses his newly acquired information to lure Dunya into his room. Svidrigailov proceeds to promise help to Raskolnikov if she will give him her hand in marriage. He then threatens to rape her when she tries to run away. Right when Svidrigailov appears to be purely evil, he surprises us all when his rational side kicks in and allows Dunya to leave. Although he may seem to be the cold-hearted villain of the book, his good deeds cannot go unnoticed. It cannot be forgotten that he is willing to give Dunya the three thousand rubbles in his wife’s will and offers ten thousand rubbles to help Dunya because he thinks her marriage will be a disadvantage to her in the end. Once Katerina Ivanonva dies, Svidrigailov also promises to pay for the funeral arrangements and to provide for the children, who will be sent to an orphanage. Although...
Dostoevsky’s crime and punishment, is set in Tsarist Russia in the 19th century. Rodya Raskolnikov, the main character, is a student at a University in St. Petersburg. By the early stages of the novel, he has dropped out of school and is left in his one room shanty, to ponder his own philosophical questions. He is poor, hungry and desperate for money. He begins to sell some of his possessions to a pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, to gain money for his basic survival. He begins to see the poverty and desperation of St. Petersburg at this time. Rodya would begin to look at Alyona as a source of this problem. Alyona, in Rodya’s eyes, was profiting off of the poverty and misery of others by buying off their possession at unreasonably low prices. She would then horde the money for herself while the people outside of her own apartment starved to death. Raskolnikov decides to murder the pawnbroker for the sake of humanity. His plan is not deeply thought out in advance and i...
Raskolnikov is obsessed with his “superman theory”. He is constantly trying to prove that he is part of the 10% of extraordinary people in the world. He wants to become an eminent figure such as Napoleon. At first he believed that the murders he committed would make him part of this elite class. Once he realized that he had made mistakes during the crime he began to question his theory. After much frustration he decided to go to the scene of the crime. This gave him a rush that made him feel invincible. He believed that this would prove if, or if not he was “super”. Once he realized that he wasn’t part of this class, he suffered a mental breakdown. This pushed him to confess his crime to Sonya. She helped him rationalize his crime and admit his guilt. The outcome of this conversation was that it helped him admit his fate.
From youthfulness, to abusiveness, to persecution of the already downtrodden, horses in literature are able to reveal many things to us. They symbolize and give vitality, through their importance, love, and companionship; they show inner personality of their owners and the dreadful interpersonal reactions and relationships, and they even teach us things about history. Horses truly were not just important to the Russian population, but still remain important to us, through their use in literature.
In his novel Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov as a vessel for several different philosophies that were particularly prominent at the time in order to obliquely express his opinions concerning those schools of thought. Raskolnikov begins his journey in Crime and Punishment with a nihilistic worldview and eventually transitions to a more optimistic one strongly resembling Christian existentialism, the philosophy Dostoevsky preferred, although it could be argued that it is not a complete conversion. Nonetheless, by the end of his journey Raskolnikov has undergone a fundamental shift in character. This transformation is due in large part to the influence other characters have on him, particularly Sonia. Raskolnikov’s relationship with Sonia plays a significant role in furthering his character development and shaping the philosophical themes of the novel.
A. The Epic of Russian Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1950. 309-346. Tolstoy, Leo. "
...nfess his crimes in front of everyone. By admitting to his crimes, God would forgive his sins. Sonya is an important individual in Raskolinkov’s life because she gives him strength to confess and redeem himself.. As they both found in love at the ending, Raskolinkov starts following the theory of the ordinary men. He has a relationship with another ordinary person who helps him understand morals.
Since the beginning of time, the Russian country has made several tremendous impacts on the world that will go down in history forever. One of the major impacts that Russia has affected the world with was literature. Russian literature became significant during the time where everything politically was drastically changing in the 19th century. Russian literature became an interest because the stories were been written about the everyday Russian life that the rest of the world knew very little about, especially Europe: “. . . it was a European stereotype to refer to the Russians as “barbarians” (Massie, 169). The style of literature that focuses on everyday living is known as realism and romanticism. These were the highlighted points in literature that portrayed politics and culture to represent Russia to what it truly is. Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are two of the main writers that wrote their stories like The Nose and The Double to show a representation of the Russian government system through the people of that time.
Matlaw, Ralph E. Anton Chekhov¡¦s Short Stories: Texts of the Stories Bachgrounds Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 1979.