Raskolnikov in the novel "Crime and Punishment" by FM Dostoevsky

"Crime and Punishment" is a famous work of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. For the first time it was published by the magazine Russky Vestnik in 1866. The work is considered the first great novel in the period of already mature creativity of the author. It is becoming popular not only among contemporaries. To date, it is included in the school curriculum. Young readers are engaged in a thorough analysis of the act of the main character and write an essay on Raskolnikov.

Why the crime was committed

The narrative focuses on mental suffering and the moral dilemma Rodion Raskolnikov, the main character, tried to solve. "Crime and Punishment" tells of an impoverished student who not only developed, but also fulfilled the plan of killing an unscrupulous moneylender because of her condition.

Raskolnikov argues that with money from the pawnshop he can do good deeds. To somehow justify the crime, the character argues that he saved the world from a useless parasite. Moreover, he commits murder in order to test his hypothesis that some people are not only able to do this, but even have the right to do so. Raskolnikov in the novel "Crime and Punishment" several times compares himself with Napoleon Bonaparte. Rodion believes that murder is permissible if it is committed in pursuit of a high goal.

The meaning of the work, or the theory of the protagonist

The novel "Crime and Punishment" is quite complicated. Strictly speaking, this work is a detective. But this is where the reader knows who killed, from the very beginning. There is no intrigue connected with the search for a murderer. Here the solution of the crime is not a criminal, but a philosophical and psychological sense. The murder itself is not easy. It is, rather, theoretical.

What is the theory followed by Rodion Raskolnikov in the novel "Crime and Punishment"? There are two categories to which the human race is divided. Some people are great, leading all of humanity to the goal, carrying out great plans and moving the story forward. They can afford absolutely everything. Even a crime - in order to achieve their bright goals.

Other small and insignificant, unremarkable people. Their life is of no interest to anyone and is not important. Their history ruthlessly ramps into its own foundation. And then Raskolnikov asks himself the question of what kind of people he himself, Rodion Romanovich, belongs to. Seeking to respond to him, the hero goes to the crime.

Sympathy of the reader and other characters of the work to Rodion

Is Raskolnikov in the novel "Crime and Punishment" a negative hero? Even when everyone knows that he is a murderer, he does not lose the favor of his loved ones: neither his mother, nor his sister, nor even Sonya. Even the reader's liking Rodion is not deprived. Despite his crime, he still appears as a pure soul.

This is a person who is very susceptible to the pain of the whole world, to social injustice. Rodion Romanovich is responsive. But the worst thing is that he is the theoretician. His thought seems to be repressing life itself, coming into conflict with it and even trying to impose some kind of scheme on it.

Benefit, or Self-deception Mechanism

All the events in the work "Crime and Punishment" are on the threshold - on the verge of life and death, common sense and insanity. This is one of the characteristic features of the poetics of Fyodor Dostoevsky. The mechanism of self-deception is described very clearly in the novel. Raskolnikov after the crime tries to convince himself that he committed it in order to become a benefactor, to save the family, sister and mother.

In fact, he deceives himself. This crime was committed by Rodion Romanovich for himself, in order to prove not only the probability of his theory, but also that he can do this, because he is not a "louse," as Raskolnikov himself puts it. Quotations from his work are also filled with the meaning of the theory, which the character so stubbornly embodies in life. But in order to understand the error of Rodion's opinion, it is enough to consider, for example, Sonya, who is in his novel his antipode. She also crossed a certain line, but at the same time the girl really sacrificed herself to others.

Rodion Raskolnikov. Crime and Punishment, or Fall of Personality

Dostoevsky's novel is a work about the fall and resurrection of a person. On the struggle in her soul of a false idea with a conscience. And the conscience for Fyodor Dostoyevsky is the voice of God, the herald of higher meaning and truth. It would seem that it is - to kill a harmful old woman, no one needed and spiteful. And it turned out that by killing her, Rodion Raskolnikov killed himself. He drove himself into a corner of solitude, isolation and loneliness.

And the output is only possible on the way to overcoming the false idea. And in this helps Rodion Romanovich the heroine of the novel Sonechka Marmeladova. She is the bearer of the highest truth in this work. The truth of love, self-sacrifice and forgiveness. With her help, the identity of the murderer Rodion Raskolnikov can be revived.

Possible resurrection of the main character

The reader sees how Marmeladov and Raskolnikov in the novel "Crime and Punishment" are transferred to the shore of the great Siberian river. This happens at the end of the work. It's not the stony Petersburg under the feet of the characters, but the usual land, the soil. Around the greens, the forest and the river. And this is very important. It is here that the resurrection of the hero is possible. But he has not yet repented.

The only thing that regrets Rodion Romanovich - that he made a confession. This convicts feel and hate him, but they love Sonia. Because for any Russian person, according to Fyodor Dostoevsky, it is important to know that although he has sinned, the very concept of sin does not refute. There is a supreme court. A Raskolnikov is his and would like to cancel. For this, convicts hate him.

Cure Rodion Romanovich with the help of Sonechka

Further in the work follows Raskolnikov's dream of an ulcer that swept the whole earth, about murders, that people can not agree among themselves. And this is all a consequence of the idea of Rodion Romanovich. In that case, if it covered the whole earth. It is after this dream that the recovery of the main character begins.

As Fyodor Mikhailovich himself says, his heroes were resurrected by love. But the work remains open. The novel ends with words about a new story, which is yet to come. The author does not say the last word about the hero and the world. The space of the text remains unclosed. Apparently, just as the fate of Dostoevsky himself was discovered.

History of writing a work

"Crime and Punishment" is a turning point for Fyodor Mikhailovich in his personal life and literary life. Dostoevsky conceived his novel in the summer of 1865. At that time, he lost most of his fortune, could not pay the bills and even afford the proper food.

At that time, the author owed large sums of money to his creditors, but nevertheless tried to help the family of his brother Mikhail, who died at the beginning of the previous year. And it was at this difficult moment that Fyodor Mikhailovich got acquainted with Anna Snitkina, who at first was his stenographer. And later became the second wife.

Marrying her, Dostoevsky goes abroad, fleeing from creditors. He also takes on the huge debts of his brother. Abroad, they spend four years, and all this time Fedor Mikhailovich continues to create his new works. But nevertheless, the novel "Crime and Punishment" can be considered the most crucial for the writer.