Crime and punishment Esteban Molina -Book by Fyodor Doestoevsky -Translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky Born November 11, 1821 in Moscow His mother died in 1837 and he left to enter the Nikolayev Military Engineering Institute He wrote his first novel in the mid-1840s Arrested in 1849 After his punishment, he worked as a journalist and later wrote the majority of his literary works Died on February 9, 1881 after a series of pulmonary haemorrhages

Dostoevsky’s other notable works Notes From the Underground The Idiot Demons The Brothers Karamazov

Political environment Oppressive rule under Tsar Nicholas I Succeeded in 1855 by Tsar Alexander II Liberal reform Growth of middle/low class “Men of the Sixties” and Rationalism Opposition to Tsarist Russia, led to the birth of Communism Derek Offord has found that: These radical thinkers craved the facts that reason could verify and valued the scientific laws, the ‘laws of nature,’ that could be established by use of the empirical method of the natural sciences, which they considered applicable to the humanities and social sciences no less than to the study of the natural world (Offord 228-229)

Psychological realism Realism: A literary movement which attempts to present things as they really are, instead of in a Romanticized or Idealist lens. part of a larger realist art movement in the mid-nineteenth century Through polyphony, Dostoevsky creates Psychological Realism, the first of its kind (later known as psychological novels) Presents the viewpoints of his characters to display the interior motives for their actions through their interior characterization

Characters Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov (“Rodya”, “Rodka”) Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladov (“Sonya,” “Sonechka”)- Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikov (“Dunya,” “Dunechka”)- Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov- Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin Alyona Ivanovna Dmitri Prokofych Razumikhin Alexander Grigorievich Zamyotov

Basic Plot Raskolnikov murders a pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, and her sister, Lizaveta Ivanovna, believing he is both above the law and capable of dealing with the emotional and moral repercussions of it. Instead, he is haunted by his actions and stumbles towards redemption.

Critical argument Crime and Punishment serves as an argument against the ideas of Rationalism, in which his characters serve as examples against Rationalism, pushing readers to discover the dangers of it.

The importance of Raskolnikov “raskol” means “split,” and his split personality serves as the primary battleground between Rationalism and Christianity “...boundless loathing had begun to oppress and sicken his heart… He went down the sidewalk like a drunk man… and was in the next street before he came to his senses” (9/10) “But now something suddenly drew him to people” (11) “As he was leaving, raskolnikov managed to thrust his hand into his pocket, rake up whatever coppers  he happened to find from the rouble he had changed in the tavern, and put them unobserved on the windowsill.” (27)

The importance of raskolnikov (cont.) As the novel progresses, so to does Raskolnikov. “We find that Raskolnikov goes from pride to humility, hate to love, reason to faith, and from separation from his fellow men to communion with them.” (Wasiolek 132) “Parts I-III present the predominantly rational and proud Raskolnikov; Parts IV-VI, the emerging “irrational” and humble Raskolnikov. The first half of the novel shows the progressive death of the first ruling principle of his character; the last half, the progressive birth of the new ruling principle.” (Wasiolek 133) Both Raskolnikov’s progression and his experiences throughout the novel serve the vehicle for Dostoevsky’s principle argument.

Rationalism v. religion in other characters Characters portrayed in a negative light often follow the ideology of Rationalism, as shown by Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin in the quote below. “Hitherto, for instance, if I were told, ‘love thy neighbour,’ what came of it?... It came to my tearing my coat in half to share with my neighbour and we both were left half naked. As a Russian proverb has it, ‘Catch several hares and you won’t catch one.’ “ (148) Characters portrayed in a positive light often denounce or disregard Rationalism in favor of some other way of life., as shown by Razumikhin below. “[Razumikhin] knew an endless number of sources to draw from--by means of working, of course. Once he went a whole winter without heating his room, asserting that he even found it more pleasant, because one sleeps better in the cold.”(51)

The effects of rationalism on Raskolnikov “Long, long ago this present anguish had been born in him, had grown, accumulated, and ripened recently  and become concentrated, taking the form of a horrible, wild, and fantastic question that tormented his heart and mind, irresistibly demanding resolution” (45). “Exhausted, Raskolnikov fell back on the sofa, but could no longer close his eyes; he lay for about half an hour in such suffering, such an unbearable feeling of boundless horror, as he had never experienced before.”(116)

Dostoevsky’s thoughts on Rationalism “[Dostoevsky] argued that the universe does not make sense and that there are no rational patterns discernible in it. Order is a deceptive mask that the universe wears and which may break down at any time. According to him reason only leads man astray.”(Uwasomba 142) “Dostoevksy held that dialects, self-seeking, and exclusive reliance on reason (“reason and will” in Raskolnikov’s theories and again in his dream of the plague) lead to death-in-life.”(Gibian 979)

The impact crime and punishment has on the reader “Dostoevsky’s novels focus on the theme of man as a subject of his environment. His novels can be seen as ‘a means of penetrating into the hidden depths of human psychology and tearing of all the different kinds of veils and masks which conceal the nature and content of man’s inner world.’”(Uwasomba 142) “In Crime and Punishment he set himself a task of exposing the evils of rationalism by presenting a laboratory case of an individual who followed its precepts and pushed them to their logical conclusion.” (Gibian 979)

Works cited Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Vintage- Random House, 2007. Gibian, George. “Traditional Symbolism in Crime and Punishment.” PMLA, vol. 70, no. 5, 1955, pp. 979–996. Offord, Derek. “Lost in Translation: The Spirit of Rationalism in the Thought of Tkachev.” The Russian Review, vol.71, 2012, pp.226–245. Uwasomba, Chijioke. “A socio-psychological exploration of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s crime and punishment.” Educational Research and Review, vol. 4, pp.141-147, 2009

Works cited (Cont.) Wasiolek, Edward. “On the Structure of Crime and Punishment.” PMLA, vol. 74, no. 1, 1959, pp. 131–136.