The most conspicuous example of such a character is Sonia Semyonovna Marmeladov, breaking social norms in that she is the breadwinner of her family. Sonia is a prostitute, relinquishing her dignity and bodily autonomy for the sake of saving her poverty-stricken family from starvation and a shameful life of beggary. Sonia’s father is a relentless alcoholic, drinking away money needed for food, whose wife tries to save him and their family from his vices by furious beatings. While Sonia sins through her prostitution, she is actually the most virtuous and moral character in the novel (Mercer). She is deeply religious, having the New Testament memorized, as evident when she reads the story of the rising of Lazarus to Rodion Raskolnikov. She …show more content…
is solely inspired by her compassionate familial love and benevolent nature, in a way justifying her sins.
Raskolnikov predicts that poverty may force Sonia’s sister Polenka into prostitution as well to alleviate the suffering of the Marmeladov family. Despite the righteousness of Sonia’s sacrifice, society commonly looks down upon Sonia due to her source of income. Raskolnikov’s sister, Dounia, is willing to sacrifice more than her body, however. Dounia agrees to a heartless marriage to a cold, wealthy man for financial benefit so that she may help get her deeply cared for brother back on his feet. Though Dounia never admits to her intentions, Raskolnikov sees right through her, saying, “...for herself, for her comfort, to save her life she would not sell herself, but for someone else she is doing it! For one she loves, for one she adores, she will sell herself!...for her brother, for her mother, she will sell herself! She will sell everything!” (Dostoevsky 39). Raskolnikov compares Dounia’s sacrifice with Sonia’s, claiming that Dounia will be no happier and no more righteous in marrying for money than in living a life of prostitution. Dounia receives harsh vituperation from her brother due to …show more content…
the engagement. Additionally, a minor character who is never directly met within Crime and Punishment is Marfa Petrovna, who saves both her husband and Luzhin in a way. Her impact on her husband, Svidrigailov, is evident. She paid his debts to free him from prison and used her financial influence to avoid his prosecution for influencing the suicide of a young girl. Marfa even grants Svidrigailov the freedom to seek any lover that he desires, yet Svidrigailov refuses to live contently under the financial support of a woman. He revolts against this economic oppression by beating and whipping Marfa, eventually leading her to give him the estate, money, and a document that binds him. Once Svidrigailov “...has no need of his wife, he murders her” (Phillips). Marfa also aids Luzhin in a way by helping him to find a penniless wife, having arranged the marriage between him and Dounia. All of these women receive harsh backlash from the men they seek to rescue. The role as savior places women in a position where their own story is less significant than their role in assisting a man’s development. Dostoevsky scarcely grants female characters within Crime and Punishment a voice to tell their own story. The reader first meets Sonia and Katerina through a drunken Semyon Marmeladov’s telling of his family background to Raskolnikov. Through this narration, the audience forms its first opinions of the Marmeladovs. Elizabeth Blake, a specialist in Dostoevsky’s works, writes within her article “Sonya, Silent No More…” that Sonia “...herself has no chance to define her own moral dilemma before her father, Raskolnikov, and Luzhin each take their turn shaping their own images of her in order to fit her into their own stories” (253). It is not until part two of the novel that we actually meet Sonia, after already having a preconception of her. Sonia is very diffident, speaking only when necessary and clearly uncomfortable in the presence of higher-esteemed peoples. This personality trait keeps Sonia from authoring herself into her role. The interpretations of Sonia that Raskolnikov, Luzhin, and Marmeladov impress upon the reader range “...from a model of Christian self-sacrifice to a common prostitute” (Blake 255). Marmeladov is so fixated upon his perspective of Sonia as a saintly woman that he struggles to recognize his own daughter while wearing her work attire. “”Who’s that? Who’s that?” he said...He looked wildly and fixedly for some time on his daughter, as though not recognising her. He had never seen her before in such attire. Suddenly he recognised her...meekly awaiting her turn to say goodbye to her dying father” (Dostoevsky 163). This lack of recognition signals that even Sonia’s father views her through a lens of the archetype he created of her in his mind. Dostoevsky did not even grant Sonia Marmeladov dialogue in her first scene, despite its being a major event in Sonia’s life. Furthermore, Dostoevsky introduces Pulcheria, Raskolnikov’s mother, and Dounia through Pulcheria’s letter to Raskolnikov, but the intended meanings of her words are immediately fuddled by Raskolnikov’s responsive inner monologue and his own interpretation of the writings. In actuality, Raskolnikov is the only one to propose that Dounia’s marriage is distinctly for financial benefit, but this undertone is evident in regards to Dounia’s engagement throughout the whole work. Dounia hardly gets to voice her own opinions as to her life’s happenings; this is because Raskolnikov, Razumihin, Luzhin, and Svidrigailov all portray her character through their personal perspective, analyzing her behavior so that she has no opportunity to explain herself (Blake 254). Even Dounia’s marriage arrangements are described to Raskolnikov by Pulcheria, not by Dounia. Moreover, Katerina Ivanovna fits the stereotype of a stay-at-home mother dependent on others to support the family (Murphy 2). Though Sonia and Katerina are the ones caring for the children, Marmeladov is the central figure of the family despite providing no benefit to anyone but himself. Katerina often abuses her children for being hungry and upset, but Raskolnikov’s perspective leads readers to sympathize with Katerina while they do not sympathize with Alyona for the same abusive habits. Additionally, Alyona Ivanovna is a “wordless” woman who the story revolves around the murder of, but the audience sees very little of her prior to murder. The majority of Raskolnikov’s opinions on her stem from an overheard conversation at the bar, in which two conversing men describe Alyona as a “terrible harpy” and rich “as a Jew”, bringing forth more harmful stereotypes in Dostoevsky’s writing that prevent female characters from playing legitimate roles (Phillips). Ultimately, the role of women in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is to serve as a symbol.
Women in general within the novel stand as a representation for economics. Women throughout Crime and Punishment are repeatedly attacked and slandered for their financial standings. Raskolnikov murders the pawnbroker for having stable financial grounding and cheating him out of fair pawnings, feeling financially powerless. He expresses while at Alyona’s house that he wishes to leave her curt interactions behind but has no other place to turn. Raskolnikov’s perception of Alyona’s superior monetary value leads readers to believe that she is very wealthy. In contrast, however, Alyona’s “rags” are described as “completely worn out and yellow with age” (Phillips). Dounia’s sacrifice of freedom is all due to economic vulnerability. If her family were well off, she would have no desire whatsoever to marry Luzhin. Marfa Petrovna holds power over Svidrigailov due to her wealth; this wealth also incurs the wrath of Svidrigailov’s abuse, eventually causing her allowance of Svidrigailov to control the estate and finances. When a woman kindly gives Raskolnikov money, thinking him to be a beggar, he is offended and throws the needed-money into the river. Sonia’s poverty also allows for her attacks by Luzhin and even Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov is poverty stricken, but financial vulnerability does not impact a man in the same way as a woman. While the women’s lives revolve around finding
security, Raskolnikov is, “...crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him” (Dostoevsky 1). In a less significant sense, women serve as religious symbols. The female characters are more religious than almost any of the males. Sonia and Lizaveta commonly come together to read the Bible. Dounia spent all night praying after Luzhin’s proposal. Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov, the true transgressors, show no religious attitudes. Sonia Marmeladov is a general symbol of suffering and compassion, but comes even further to represent Jesus Christ (Mercer). Marmeladov describes Sonia as his “only begotten daughter”, echoing Jesus being God’s only begotten son. She houses with the Kapernaumovs, which is eerily similar to the town in which Jesus stayed, called Capernaum. Lastly, Sonia is a symbol for Christ in her self-sacrifice for the improvements of others’ lives. Sonia as well as Marmeladov speak of crucifixion for their sins. Overall, in Crime and Punishment, women serve more as symbols than true characters.
In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, General Zaroff is shown as crazy, Fearless, and Playful. General Zaroff is shown to be crazy in the story when he traps people on his island and then hunt them. “No animal had a chance with me anymore”(. This quote shows that Rainsford is crazy because during this part, he is hunting real living humans. During the story, General Zaroff is also Fearless. He shows that he is when he is hunting Rainsford and he knows he is in the tree but doesn't kill him because he wants a better fight. “His eyes stopped before they got to the limb where Rainsford laid and he smiled”. General Zaroff shows that he is fearless during this scene because he could get killed if he lets him live for a better fight but
“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson.That quote is my favorite because it shows you that everyone is the same ,but there is some people that stand out more than others like my hero Fernando Valenzuela.
The man was running, running for his life. He did not want to look back, for he was being hunted. He ran and ran, until finally he could not run anymore. But, he was an intelligent man, therefore he had a plan. He ran and jumped off the cliff. This caused the hunter to believe he was dead. However the huntee was just getting started. He got back to the hunters mansion and bam! He fed him to the dogs therefore, through his madness, General Zaroff drives the book’s theme of walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, it’s what’s inside counts” This quote reminds people about how they should not judge other people from the outside but look deep into their true personalities. Looking from the appearance and how Chris lives, everyone would assume that Chris is a crazy, foolish person and does everything without thinking. If people try to know more about Chris, they would have different perspective. Chris is intelligent, determined, independent and follows what he believes. He went into the wilderness to escape from the society that tries to suppress him and look for the meaning of life.
Another fear erected from this novel is the power of seduction over feebleminded women. Evident in a passage from Zofloya, Victoria was swooned even by the sound of his voice, ‘Oh, Flattery, like heavenly dew upon the earth, gratefully dost thou descend upon the ear of woman! Indescribable pleasure dilated the bosom of Victoria, as she listened to the honied accents of the delicate Moor’ (Dacre 156). This villain had a hold over her making it easier to push her towards evil deeds. He promised her security after committing the crimes she wished, ‘…you shall see your desire fulfilled, and I will preserve you from every danger and suspicion’ (Dacre 181). Victoria had wished Berenza dead and Lilla out of the way but required the extra push from Zofloya.
And readers are thus exposed to the exploitation and extortion that goes on in this cycle of sympathizers. While the gathering of the women is supposed to be a period of preparing the widows for their confinement, it turns to a period of financial exploitation of the widows. Ramatoulaye succinctly expresses her displeasure,
This essay will analyze the themes of sexual and class exploitations in the story “The Wife’s Resentment” by Delariviere Manley. By exploring these themes we are able to get an idea of why Manley wrote this story. That is, she hoped to make young women, whether rich or poor, aware of the value of their virtue as well as their rights as married or single women to protect that virtue or honor. By revealing the themes that are presented in the story, we can see what Manley stood for and why she wrote this story in the period she lived in.
The relationship they had with one another in Crime and Punishment were allusions to the depiction of Jesus’ relationships with sinners. Jesus’ love for people is unconditional and he loves everyone, regardless of what they’ve done. His love for sinners is similar to Sonia’s love for Raskolnikov because she followed him all the way to Siberia and continued to love him, even when he rejected her. Then, in the end when Raskolnikov finally realizes that she loves him, in spite of his crime, he cries in her arms and she “understood, and a light of infinite happiness came into her eyes. She knew and had no doubt that he loved her above everything else and at last that moment had come...” (Dostoevsky 520). After this, Raskolnikov is like a totally different person and is so different that “all the convicts who had been his enemies looked at him differently; he had even started talking to them and they answered him in a friendly way.” (Dostoevsky 520). Like Jesus, Sonia was there for Raskolnikov when he finally repented. This was one of the most important scenes in the book because it gave the reader an example of how coming to Jesus can change a person’s life and turn them into a completely new, if not better,
Through trials and tribulations the character Shukhov faces many horrible and gruesome form of physical torment, the worst tragedy he endures is mental torture. "A convict's thoughts are no freer than he is; they come back to the same place, worry over the same thing continually" (19). As a prisoner, he fears that he will have another sentence slapped onto his previous sentence, which will not allow him to be free and be with his family. The Soviet Union forces the prisoners to experience physical brutality and mental struggle. They are constantly worn down by the thoughts of being free, which will never happen. The prisoners fear that they will never see the light of day but in fact to continue to live through the criminal injustice system.
Sonia and Raskolnikov are two characters that interact with each other in the novel, Crime and Punishment. They interact on multiple levels, sharing several likenesses. Both of these characters are at-times self-sacrificing, both are struggling for meaning in a dreary existence, and both are generally unhappy people, but brighten and seem to enjoy each other's presence--even when Raskolnikov is berating her religion. What is self-sacrifice, for which these characters and so many people around the world engage in? It is a desire to help those around us more than we wish to help ourselves. This is not normal human state, although it can be brought about easily by societal pressures, and sometimes even political societies can compel this attitude. Sonia practices a form of altruism for her family however. She acquires a yellow card and takes her body off to the moral slaughter by sacrificing it to others for money--money that will go to her starving, poor family. Though not his predominant state of mind or action, Raskolnikov does have temporal tendencies towards self-sacrifice. It seems that part of his state of mind when considering the murder of the pawnbroker is that he will be helping society as a whole--definitely a motive that comes from outside the self. Sonia and Raskolnikov share many characteristics that make them an interesting encounter for each other. A tendency to self-sacrifice for one, and a life of it for another, provides for an amalgam of psychological likenesses which help the characters relate.
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.
The centre of economy and the focus of many lives, the power of money is punctuated by the difference in wealth in Bhima and Sera’s lives in The Space Between Us. The importance of money is stressed in A Thousand Splendid Suns with the contrast between Mariam’s father’s prosperity and her mother’s poverty and the difference in Laila and Mariam’s lives before and after war. Centred on the newly abolished caste system, the distinction between Bhima and Sera’s financial situations underlines the difference money makes in their society. While Bhima is forced to live in a slum, Sera enjoys the luxury of her home and the employment of Bhima. Another luxury Bhima can’t afford is to welcome Maya’s baby. Instead she is forced to watch her granddaughter suffer from the emotional effects of an abortion. While Sera eagerly awaits the birth of her own grandchild she is the one who financially facilitates the abortion of Bhima’s great-grandchild. Furthermore, because of the pre-existing social constraints of the caste system, Bhima is not permitted to sit on the same furniture or use the same dishes as Sera. Similarly, Mariam’s life is also restricted by her mother’s pove...
Rebekka, Lina, Florens, and Sorrow all experience the unimportant role of females during this time. The four women live in fear for their lives, and are subject to the merciless world filled with men and hierarchy. It does not matter whether you are a slave, free, European, or African. If you are a woman, you are presumed to aid for others, and anything that you want to do or be in life is disregarded. Women are not given the chance to truly live they way that they want to, and are stripped of their right to freedom and an unrestricted
Raskolnikov kills the pawnbroker ,Alena Ivanovna, not for the money or the valuables she had in her apartment.The reasoning behind Raskolnikov wanting to kill Alena is because she is immoral, who cheats the poor and considers her as a creature. She would brutally beat and abuse her step-sister, and pressure her do all the dirty work for her. After killing Alyona Ivanovna, Raskolnikov steals her possessions. Instead of selling the items , Raskolnikov hides the objects under a rock. Raskolnikov reasons this murder was for the greater good for the people, because Alyona’s money could go to help the people of the town. Raskolnikov knew no one would have the strength or means to get rid of “this creature” referring to Alyona Ivanovna. Raskolnikov thoug...
When the main character of the novel asks how she could love and admire her step-mother who has constantly been cruel to her from his point of view, she responds to him in defense of Katarina Ivanovna. She shocks Raskolnikov because of her admiration for the woman who curses her and treats her as if Sonya is a less than worthy of existence. Sonya recognizes the determination behind her step-mother who is trying to raise three children while in a constant state of poverty. Sonya can also recognize that Raskolnikov can be saved from whatever horrible thing he has done. She wants to help him reach self-actualization.