Gaining Back Trust in the Cross: An Examination of Sonya in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment In Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Raskolnikov kills two innocent people, and the crime leads him to a mental illness and a death of his soul. Sonya plays a major role in Raskolnikov’s spiritual awakening. Raskolnikov sins and repents and Sonya contributes significantly to the outcome of Raskolnikov’s future. Sonya is introduced to us as poor girl who provides for her family “with a yellow pass...(Dostoevsky, 14)” and one never may think that she will help Raskolnikov. One feels bad for he as she gives so much of herself to make other’s lives better. Sonya is fearful of others of the higher class “He felt pity for her. And when she made …show more content…
a move to run away in fear…” (Dostoevsky, 236). Raskolnikov is immediately attracted to this poor woman when he meets her for the first time in this scene. When he meets her for the second time, he is attracted again.“Timidly and inaudibly, … in the midst of poverty, rags, death and despair… She, too, was in rags” (Dostoevsky, 183). He does not know the reasons for this attraction; he may be attracted to someone in almost the same situation as him. They both try the best that they can and wear rags on a day to day basis. They both act differently, however, about their situation. Sonya sacrifices everything for her family and Raskolnikov forgets about his family and only does things that will better himself. He kills the old louse to see if his theory will work or not, he does not do it for the greater good. He hides the money he stole and forgets about it in his crazed state. “‘The traces are covered! And who, who would think of looking under that stone?”’ (Dostoevsky, 109). The crime made him crazy and unable to control himself and the poor position that Sonya is in only makes her stronger. Sonya is the person that Raskolnikov chooses to first tell his secret to and through Sonya, Raskolnikov decides to take the first step to better life for himself. Sonya is first Raskolnikov’s punching bag. “Sonya spoke at first with despair, worrying and suffering…” (Dostoevsky, 317). Raskolnikov decides to take all the anger about his family and stress about the crime out on Sonya. Raskolnikov realizes his own situation by looking at the situation that Sonya is in. “But he fully understood the monstrous pain she suffered and had long been suffering… of her dishonorable and shameful position” (Dostoevsky, 323). Raskolnikov decides to act on the situation he is in after seeing someone that he cares about suffer. Raskolnikov now understands that the anger he was expressing toward Sonya is really about himself. “Because you destroyed yourself and betrayed yourself in vain” (Dostoevsky, 322). Sonya sins by being a prostitute and Raskolnikov sins by murder; these two people are brought together to help one another. Raskolnikov sees that he is being pulled in a direction he does not want.“‘Can it be that this being, who has still kept her purity in spirit, in the end will be consciously pulled into this vile, sinking hole? Can it be the pulling has already begun?’” (Dostoevsky, 323).Raskolnikov realizes that he is being pulled under and he needs help. Sonya leads Raskolnikov through this spiritual awakening.
Sonya very religious and brings Raskolnikov to put trust in God again and brings him into the kingdom of heaven. She believes in God and believes that he does everything for her and her siblings. “‘What would I be without God?’ she whispered quickly, energetically” (Dostoevsky, 323). Raskolnikov expresses his doubts in God and torments Sonya about His existence. “ And what does God do for you in return?’ he asked”’(Dostoevsky, 324). Raskolnikov thinks that God is no longer playing a role in his life and he needs Sonya to help him to believe once again. Through the reading of the Lazarus, Raskolnikov discovers something. “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though were dead, yet shall live… ‘We’re cursed together, so let’s go together!’” (Dostoevsky, 326-329). Raskolnikov realizes that Sonya is his way to a better life and having his sins forgiven. He realizes that just as Jesus did with Lazarus, Sonya can do for him. Raskolnikov believes in God through Sonya and he believes that prayer will work. “No, but kneel and pray to God for me. Maybe your prayer will be heard…. It was if his heart softened all at once” (Dostoevsky, 515). Raskolnikov is changed here, he believes that the power of prayer will work and embraces his mother in a way that he has not before. Through Sonya, he is able to repent and kiss the ground. “ caught fire in his soul from a single spark… He knelt in the middle of the square, bowed to the earth, and kissed that filthy earth with delight and happiness” (Dostoevsky, 525). Something in Raskolnikov has changed, he has become closer with his family and
confessed. Sonya brings Raskolnikov’s family together after they have drifted apart. “You might have dropped everything and come to us, on foot if you had to, because I know your character and your feelings” (Dostoevsky, 31). Raskolnikov loved his family very much before the crime and would do everything for them. The crime made that love perish. “‘My mother and my sister, how I loved them! Why do I hate them now?’”(Dostoevsky, 275). He has distanced himself from others and his family. Sonya has taught him the importance of confession to others and how others can help you through your suffering. “ remain utterly alone, even for his whole life, he would have counted happy” (Dostoevsky, 441). Sonya has taught him to confess to others and how the love for your family is very important. “You must know all the same that your son loves you right now more than he loves himself, and whatever you may have thought about me being cruel and not loving you, it’s all untrue. I’ll never cease to love you’… they both wept embracing each other” (Dostoevsky, 514-515). Sonya has taught Raskolnikov to love his family more than he does himself and not to selfishly put himself first. She is the strong person in Raskolnikov’s life. His family is not strong enough to support him through his spiritual awakening. Dunya stresses Raskolnikov out because of sacrificing herself too much. “she’s secretly tormented by remorse at having agreed to sacrifice her daughter for the sake of her son?’’ (Dostoevsky, 41). Dunya and Pulcheria Alexandrovna are too concerned about Raskolnikov’s well-being and this stresses Raskolnikov out to a point that he cannot stand to be around them after his crime. Sonya really cares about Raskolnikov’s future. Even when he confesses to her, she may be afraid, but she continues to be the support Raskolnikov needs in his life. She wants to suffer with Raskolnikov and do what it takes to better himself. “He had sought out a human being when he needed a human being and she would go with him wherever fate sent him” (Dostoevsky, 521). She is willing to sacrifice herself to make Raskolnikov a better person and able to go through thick and thin with him. She was willing to even be sent to Siberia with Raskolnikov because she knew that he needed her to continue his long recovery. She is shown as the motherly figure in Siberia. “Why had they all come to love Sonya so much?... And yet they all knew her, knew also that she had followed after him” (Dostoevsky, 546). The prisoners know that Sonya is very loving and seeking some of the love themselves. All of the prisoners trust her with their letters to their loved ones and look forward to her next visit. “ She wrote letters for them to their families and posted them. … leave things and even money for them in Sonya’s hands” (Dostoevsky, 546). The prisoners trust her, just as Raskolnikov did with his spiritual awakening. She even goes through the recovery with him and is motivated to help him anyway that she can. “ he not only was not interested in her visits, but was even almost vexed with her, spoke reluctantly and was even rude to her” (Dostoevsky, 542). He is rude to her when he is sent to Siberia and “he was indeed ashamed (Dostoevsky, 542)”. Raskolnikov knows that he needs Sonya as his leader and she gladly takes the large role. Sonya resurrects Raskolnikov by love and affection for his soul full of sin. Sonya loves Raskolnikov with all her heart and she lets him know that. Sonya is a portrayed as a weak character at first in the novel, but we see her grow as Raskolnikov grows himself. Sonya was there when Raskolnikov needed her the most and did not miss his recovery in Siberia. Sonya leads Raskolnikov through his spiritual awakening when others had given up on Raskolnikov.
People have goals everyday, believe it or not some people think that dreams aren't worth it. I believe that it is worth it to dream because it gives a person a goal, it makes them feel good, and it makes them stronger. I know this from The Pearl, A Cubs video, the Susan Boyle video, and We Beat the streets.
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...
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.
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.
The main character in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov, has nihilistic ideas, which ultimately lead to his own suffering. Raskolnikov, an impoverished student, conceives of himself as being an extraordinary man who has the right to commit any crime. He believes that as an extraordinary man that he is beyond good and evil. Since he does not believe in God, he cannot accept any moral laws. To prove his theory, he murders an old pawnbroker and her step sister. Besides, he rationalizes that he has done society a favor by getting rid of the evil pawnbroker who would cheat people. Immediately after the murders, he begins to suffer emotionally. Raskolnikiv “[feels] a terrible disorder within himself. He [is] afraid of losing his control…” (Dostoevsky 95). He becomes ill and lies in his room in a semi-conscious state. As soon as he is well and can walk again, he goes out and reads about the crime in all the newspapers of the last few days. The sheer mention of the murder...
Crime and Punishment takes us in the puzzle centered on Raskolnikov, a young man in old Russia who commits murder and then after a lot of lies and deceit finally pays for his wrongdoings.
From the moment when Raskalnikov murders the old woman, his personality begins to change drastically. Dostoevsky challenges the reader to understand the madness which ensues by first demonstrating that the ideas and convictions to which Raskalnikov clung died along with the women. While the reader struggles with this realization, Dostoevsky incorporates the Biblical legend of Lazarus as a symbolic mirror for Raskalnikov's mind. By connecting the two, the reader encounters the foreshadowing of a rebirth of morals and beliefs, though what form this may assume remains cryptic. As references to Lazarus continue to occur, the feeling of parallelism increases in intensity. Just as Raskalnikov slowly struggled through madness, Lazarus lay dying of a terrible disease. When Lazarus eventually dies, Raskalnikov mimes this by teetering on the edge of insanity, the death of the mind. Eventually Sonya begins to pull Raskalnikov back to reality by relieving a portion of his guilt. As his Christ figure, she accomplishes this by providing the moral and spiritual sturdiness which Raskalnikov lost after his debasement during the murders. Sonya affects him not by active manipulation, but via her basic character, just as Christ personified his beliefs through the manner in which he lived his life. No matter what Raskalnikov says or does to her, she accepts it and looks to God to forgive him, just as Jesus does in the Bible. This eventually convinces Raskalnikov that what he did was in fact a crime and that he must repent for it and"seek atonement".
In the saying of “Character is what you are in the dark” by Dwight Lyman Moody, can meaning many different things. One being, “you are most yourself when no one is watching”, another one also being, “dark and troubled times bring out a person's true nature”, and “your true nature is on the inside”. This quote can or cannot apply to the play of “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare.
In such poor living conditions, those that the slums of Russia has to offer, the characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment1 struggle, living day to day. Raskolnikov, the protagonist, experiences multiple layers of suffering (the thought of his murder causes him greater suffering than does his poverty) as does Sonia and Katerina Ivanovna (1). Through these characters as well as Porfiry Petrovitch, Dostoevsky wants the reader to understand that suffering is the cost of happiness and he uses it to ultimately obliterate Raskolnikov’s theory of an ubermensch which allows him to experience infinite love.
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...
The people she loves most take her life of commitment and sacrifice for granted. The reader is thus also inclined to give little emphasis to her role in their lives and in the novel as a whole. As someone who has essentially nothing, Sonya is willing to give everything she has to those she loves. She gives of herself willingly and thanklessly. This life of sacrifice truly embodies Sonya's generous character. This genuine nature of her character allows her to reveal so much about those with whom she interacts throughout the novel. With Sonya's seeming "simplicity" in the background, Tolstoy fully develops the characters of Natasha and Nicholas. He uses Sonya as a contrast for his heroine, Natasha, and also as a chart of growth for Natasha's brother, Nicholas. Tolstoy even uses Sonya as a contrast to Princess Mary. Here, if one looks deeper, one will find that there is very little contrast at all between the two women. Most importantly, Sonya is an illustration of society's effects on a poor selfless young girl who puts her needs below those of all others. Tolstoy employs Sonya's character in a variety of situations. Without Sonya, a great deal of his novel's depth and richness would be lost.
It is apparent that the love between Sonia and Raskolnikov plays a crucial role in Crime and Punishment, pushing Raskolnikov in a direction he otherwise would not have gone. Dostoevsky uses their relationship as a tool to develop the philosophical themes in the novel and prompt profound changes in Raskolnikov’s character. Through their love, Dostoevsky demonstrates the importance of human relationships in finding and maintaining happiness. He also seeks to condemn nihilism and disprove the idea that one cannot make one’s own meaning in life by having Raskolnikov adopt Christian existentialism and find his purpose through Sonia.
Crime and Punishment revolves around main character, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, and the physical, mental, and spiritual repercussions he endures after he commits murder. In other words, “the whole novel is built around the unique process of disintegration in the hero's soul” (Bem 2). When we first meet Raskolnikov, we learn he is a relatively young ex-student who has fallen into the poverty stricken slums of St. Petersburg, Russia. He has become unhealthily anti-social and bitter towards humanity and is now trapped within and tortured by his own thoughts. It is revealed that he is struggling internally with the idea of murdering a pawnbroker, Alena Ivanovna, with...
The moral side of Raskolnikov's mind requires absolution in a Christian manner. This need obliviates his claim to be a Nietzchean superman, and illustrates that all humans have a desire for morality. Throughout the book, he constantly desires to confess, even when visiting the police station. "I'll go in, fall on my knees, and confess everything" (p.84), he thought; later, he considered if it was "better to cast off the burd...
When Raskolnikov surrenders he accepts his mistakes and rejects his self-centered attitude. "It was I who killed the old woman and her sister, Lizaveta, with an axe, and robbed them," Raskolnikov confesses. (476) With his surrender he not only accepts his methodical mistakes in the execution of the crime, but he sees something beyond himself. He begins to see the magnitude and horror of his act. He had taken a life. By realizing the immorality of his crime and rejecting his self glorifying mind set, Raskolnikov accepts his own humanity.