"Crime and Punishment"- a novel by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, first published in 1866 in the magazine “Russian Messenger” (No. 1, 2, 4, 6-8, 11-12). The novel was published as a separate edition (with a change in the division into parts, some abbreviations and stylistic corrections) in 1867.

History of creation

The first parts of “Crime and Punishment” first appeared in 1866 in eight issues of the magazine “Russian Messenger”. The novel is published in parts in January-December. Dostoevsky has been working on the novel all year, rushing to add written chapters to the next book of the magazine.

Soon after the publication of the novel in the magazine was completed, Dostoevsky published it in a separate edition: “A novel in six parts with an epilogue by F. M. Dostoevsky. Corrected edition." For this edition, Dostoevsky made significant cuts and changes in the text: three parts of the magazine edition were transformed into six, and the division into chapters was partially changed.

Plot

The plot revolves around the main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, in whose head a theory of the crime is ripening. According to his idea, humanity is divided into “chosen” and “material”. The “chosen ones” (Napoleon is a classic example) have the right to commit a murder or several murders for the sake of future great achievements. Raskolnikov himself is very poor; he cannot pay not only for his studies at the university, but also for his own living expenses. His mother and sister are very poor, he soon finds out that his sister (Avdotya Romanovna) is ready to marry a man she does not love, for the sake of money, for the sake of her brother. This was the last straw, and Raskolnikov commits the deliberate murder of an old money-lender (“louse” by his definition) and the forced murder of her sister, a witness. But Raskolnikov cannot use the stolen goods, he hides them. From now on it begins terrible life a criminal, restless, feverish consciousness, his attempts to find support and meaning in life, justification of the act and its evaluation. Subtle psychologism, existential comprehension of Raskolnikov’s act and further existence are colorfully conveyed by Dostoevsky. More and more new faces are involved in the action of the novel. Fate pits him against a lonely, frightened, poor girl, in whom he finds a kindred spirit and support, Sonya Marmeladova, who has taken the path of self-sale due to poverty. Sonya, a believer in God, is trying to somehow hold on in life after losing her parents. Raskolnikov also finds support in his university friend Razumikhin, who is in love with his sister Avdotya Romanovna. Such characters appear as investigator Porfiry Petrovich, who understood Raskolnikov’s soul and wittily brought him to light, Svidrigailov, a libertine and scoundrel - a vivid example of a “chosen” person (according to Raskolnikov’s theory), Luzhin, a lawyer and a cunning egoist, etc. In the novel, they reveal social reasons crimes and disasters, moral contradictions, oppressive circumstances of the fall, the life of the St. Petersburg poor, drunkenness and prostitution is described, dozens of peculiar characters and characters. Throughout the novel, Raskolnikov tries to understand whether he is a worthy person, whether he has the right to judge other people. Unable to bear the burden of his crime, the main character admits to the murder he committed, writing a sincere confession. However, he sees the guilt not in the fact that he committed the murder, but in the fact that he committed it without appreciating his inner weakness and pitiful cowardice. He renounces the claim to being chosen. Raskolnikov ends up in hard labor, but Sonya remains next to him. These two lonely people found each other at a very difficult time in their lives. In the end, the hero finds support in love and religious consciousness.

Location

The novel takes place in the summer in St. Petersburg.

Characters

• Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a mendicant former student, the protagonist of the story. He believes that he has the moral right to commit crimes and murder is only the first step on an uncompromising road that will lead him to the top. Unconsciously, he chooses as a victim the weakest and most defenseless member of society, justifying this by the insignificance of the life of an old pawnbroker, after whose murder he is faced with a severe psychological shock: murder does not make a person “the chosen one.”
• Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova, the mother of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, comes to him in St. Petersburg in the hope of marrying her daughter to Luzhin and establishing family life. Disappointment in Luzhin, fear for life and peace of mind Rodion, her daughter’s misfortune leads her to illness and death.
• Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova, sister of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov. An intelligent, beautiful, chaste girl, in love with her brother to the point of self-sacrifice. Has the habit of walking from corner to corner around the room in moments of thoughtfulness. In the struggle for his happiness, she was ready to agree to a marriage of convenience, but she could not make contact with Luzhin for the sake of his salvation. She marries Razumikhin, finding in him a sincere and loving person, a true comrade of her brother.
• Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, fiancé of Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova, lawyer, enterprising and selfish businessman. Avdotya Romanovna's fiancé, who wanted to make her his slave, owing her position and well-being to him. Hostility towards Raskolnikov and the desire to quarrel between him and his family underpin an attempt to dishonor Marmeladova and falsify the theft allegedly committed against her.
• Dmitry Prokofievich Razumikhin, former student, friend of Raskolnikov. Strong, cheerful, smart guy, sincere and spontaneous. deep love and affection for Raskolnikov explain his concern for him. He falls in love with Dunechka and proves his love with his help and support. Marries Duna.
• Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, former titular councilor, degenerate drunkard, alcoholic. It reflects the features of the heroes of Dostoevsky’s unwritten novel “The Drunken Ones,” to which the writing of the novel genetically dates back. Sonya Marmeladova's father, himself burdened by his addiction to alcohol, is a weak, weak-willed man who, however, loves his children. Crushed by a horse.
• Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova, wife of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, staff officer’s daughter. A sick woman, forced to raise three children alone, is not entirely healthy mentally. After her husband’s difficult funeral, undermined by constant work, worries and illness, she goes crazy and dies.
• Sonya Semyonovna Marmeladova, daughter of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov from his first marriage, a girl desperate for self-sale. Despite this type of occupation, she is a sensitive, timid and shy girl, forced to earn money in such an unsightly way. She understands Rodion’s suffering, finds in him support in life, and the strength to make him a man again. She follows him to Siberia and becomes his lifelong girlfriend.
• Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov, nobleman, former officer, landowner. Libertine, scoundrel, cheater. It is introduced in contrast to Raskolnikov as an example of a person who stops at nothing to achieve his goals and does not think for a second about methods and “his right” (Rodion talks about such people in his theory). Avdotya Romanovna became the object of Svidrigailov’s passion. An attempt to gain her favor through the help of Rodion was unsuccessful. Sliding into madness and the abyss of depravity, despite his terrible fear of death, he shoots himself in the temple.
• Marfa Petrovna Svidrigailova, his late wife, of whose murder Arkady Ivanovich is suspected, according to whom she appeared to him as a ghost. She donated three thousand rubles to Dunya, which allowed Dunya to reject Luzhin as a groom.
• Andrey Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov, a young man serving in the ministry. A “progressive”, a utopian socialist, but a stupid person who does not fully understand and exaggerates many of the ideas of building communes. Luzhin's neighbor.
• Porfiry Petrovich, bailiff of investigative cases. A seasoned master of his craft, a subtle psychologist who saw through Raskolnikov and invited him to confess to the murder himself. But he was unable to prove Rodion’s guilt due to lack of evidence.
• Amalia Ludvigovna (Ivanovna) Lippevehzel, I rented out an apartment to Lebezyatnikov, Luzhin, and Marmeladov. A stupid and quarrelsome woman, proud of her father, whose origins are generally unknown.
• Alena Ivanovna, collegiate secretary, pawnbroker. A dry and vicious old woman, killed by Raskolnikov.
• Lizaveta Ivanovna, stepsister Alena Ivanovna, an accidental witness to the murder, killed by Raskolnikov.
• Zosimov, doctor, friend of Razumikhin

Film adaptations

Based on the novel, films and films have been repeatedly filmed. animated films. The most famous of them:

• Crime and Punishment(English) Crime and Punishment) (1935, USA featuring Peter Lorre, Edward Arnold and Marian Marsh);
• Crime and Punishment(fr. Crime et Châtiment) (1956, France directed by Georges Lampin, with the participation of Jean Gabin, Marina Vlady and Robert Hossein);
• Crime and Punishment(1969, USSR, with the participation of Georgy Taratorkin, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Tatyana Bedova, Victoria Fedorova);
• Crime and Punishment(English) Crime and Punishment) (1979, short film starring Timothy West, Vanessa Redgrave and John Hurt);
• Shock(English) Astonished) (1988, USA with Lilian Komorowska, Tommy Hollis and Ken Ryan);
• Crime and Punishment of Dostoevsky(English) Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment ) (1998, USA, TV movie starring Patrick Dempsey, Ben Kingsley and Julie Delpy);
• Crime and Punishment(English) Crime and Punishment) (2002, USA-Russia-Poland)
• Crime and Punishment(2007, Russia, with the participation of Vladimir Koshevoy, Andrey Panin, Alexander Baluev and Elena Yakovleva).

Theater productions

The novel has been dramatized many times in Russia and abroad. The first attempt to dramatize the novel by A. S. Ushakov in 1867 did not take place due to the ban on censorship. The first production that took place in Russia dates back to 1899. The first known foreign production took place at the Odeon Theater in Paris ().

Translations

The first Polish translation (Zbrodnia i kara) was published in 1887-88.

An imperfect Lithuanian translation by Juozas Balciunas was published in 1929. Its reissue in

Crime and Punishment is the most famous novel by F.M. Dostoevsky, who made a powerful revolution public consciousness. Writing a novel symbolizes the opening of a higher, new stage of creativity brilliant writer. The novel, with Dostoevsky's characteristic psychologism, shows the path of the restless human soul through the thorns of suffering to the comprehension of the Truth.

History of creation

The path to creating the work was very difficult. The idea of ​​the novel with the underlying theory of the “superman” began to emerge during the writer’s stay in hard labor; it matured for many years, but the idea itself, revealing the essence of “ordinary” and “extraordinary” people, crystallized during Dostoevsky’s stay in Italy .

The beginning of work on the novel was marked by the merger of two drafts - the unfinished novel “Drunk” and the outline of a novel, the plot of which is based on the confession of one of the convicts. Subsequently, the plot was based on the story of a poor student Rodion Raskolnikov, who killed an old money-lender for the good of his family. The life of a big city, full of dramas and conflicts, became one of the main images of the novel.

Fyodor Mikhailovich worked on the novel in 1865-1866, and almost immediately after finishing it in 1866, it was published in the Russian Messenger magazine. The response among reviewers and the literary community of the time was quite stormy - from enthusiastic admiration to sharp rejection. The novel was subjected to repeated dramatizations and was subsequently filmed. First theatrical production took place in Russia in 1899 (it is noteworthy that it was staged abroad 11 years earlier).

Description of the work

The action takes place in a poor area of ​​St. Petersburg in the 1860s. Rodion Raskolnikov, a former student, pawns the last valuable thing to the old pawnbroker. Filled with hatred for her, he is plotting a terrible murder. On the way home, he looks into one of the drinking establishments, where he meets the completely degraded official Marmeladov. Rodion listens to painful revelations about the unfortunate fate of his daughter, Sonya Marmeladova, who, at the suggestion of her stepmother, was forced to earn a living for her family through prostitution.

Soon Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother and is horrified by the moral violence against his younger sister Dunya, which was inflicted on her by the cruel and depraved landowner Svidrigailov. Raskolnikov’s mother hopes to arrange the fate of her children by marrying her daughter to Pyotr Luzhin, a very wealthy man, but at the same time everyone understands that there will be no love in this marriage and the girl will again be doomed to suffering. Rodion’s heart breaks with pity for Sonya and Dunya, and the thought of killing the hated old woman is firmly fixed in his mind. He is going to spend the pawnbroker's money, earned unjustly, for a good cause - delivering suffering girls and boys from humiliating poverty.

Despite the disgust for bloody violence rising in his soul, Raskolnikov still commits a grave sin. In addition, in addition to the old woman, he kills her meek sister Lizaveta, an unwitting witness to a serious crime. Rodion barely manages to escape from the crime scene, while he hides the old woman's wealth in a random place, without even assessing their real value.

Raskolnikov's mental suffering causes social alienation between him and those around him, and Rodion falls ill from his experiences. He soon learns that another person has been accused of the crime he committed - a simple village guy, Mikolka. A painful reaction to others talking about a crime becomes too noticeable and suspicious.

Further in the novel, the difficult ordeals of the soul of a student killer, trying to find peace of mind and find at least some moral justification, are described. crime committed. A bright thread running through the novel is Rodion’s communication with the unhappy, but at the same time kind and highly spiritual girl Sonya Marmeladova. Her soul is troubled by the discrepancy between her inner purity and her sinful lifestyle, and Raskolnikov finds a kindred spirit in this girl. Lonely Sonya and university friend Razumikhin become support for the tormented former student Rodion.

Over time, the investigator in the murder case, Porfiry Petrovich, finds out the detailed circumstances of the crime and Raskolnikov, after much moral torment, admits himself to be a murderer and goes to hard labor. Selfless Sonya does not leave her closest friend and goes after him; thanks to the girl, the protagonist of the novel undergoes a spiritual transformation.

The main characters of the novel

(Illustration by I. Glazunov Raskolnikov in his closet)

The duality of spiritual impulses is contained in the name of the main character of the novel. His whole life is permeated with the question: will violations of the law be justified if they are committed in the name of love for others? Under the pressure of external circumstances, Raskolnikov in practice goes through all the circles of moral hell associated with murder for the sake of helping loved ones. Catharsis comes thanks to the dearest person - Sonya Marmeladova, who helps the soul of a restless student killer find peace, despite the difficult conditions of a hard labor existence.

The image of this amazing, tragic, and at the same time sublime heroine carries wisdom and humility. For the sake of the well-being of her neighbors, she trampled on the most precious thing she has - her feminine honor. Despite her way of earning money, Sonya does not evoke the slightest contempt; her pure soul and commitment to the ideals of Christian morality delight the readers of the novel. Being faithful and loving friend Rodion, she goes with him to the very end.

The mystery and ambiguity of this character makes us once again think about the versatility of human nature. A cunning and vicious person on the one hand, by the end of the novel he shows his care and concern for his orphaned children and helps Sonya Marmeladova restore her damaged reputation.

A successful entrepreneur, a person with a respectable appearance gives a deceptive impression. Luzhin is cold, selfish, does not disdain slander, he does not want love from his wife, but exclusively servility and obedience.

Analysis of the work

The compositional structure of the novel is a polyphonic form, where the line of each of the main characters is multifaceted, self-sufficient, and at the same time actively interacts with the themes of the other characters. Another feature of the novel is the amazing concentration of events - the time frame of the novel is limited to two weeks, which, given such a significant volume, is a rather rare phenomenon in world literature of that time.

The structural composition of the novel is quite simple - 6 parts, each of them in turn is divided into 6-7 chapters. A special feature is the lack of synchronization between Raskolnikov’s days and the clear and concise structure of the novel, which emphasizes the confusion of the protagonist’s internal state. The first part describes three days of Raskolnikov’s life, and from the second, the number of events increases with each chapter, reaching an amazing concentration.

Another feature of the novel is hopeless doom and tragic fate most of her heroes. Until the end of the novel, only the young characters will remain with the reader - Rodion and Dunya Raskolnikov, Sonya Marmeladova, Dmitry Razumikhin.

Dostoevsky himself considered his novel “a psychological report of a crime,” he is sure that mental anguish prevails over legal punishment. Main character departs from God and is carried away by the ideas of nihilism that were popular at that time, and only towards the end of the novel does a return to Christian morality occur; the author leaves the hero the hypothetical possibility of repentance.

Final conclusion

Throughout the novel “Crime and Punishment,” Rodion Raskolnikov’s worldview transforms from one close to Nietzsche, who was obsessed with the idea of ​​a “superman,” to a Christian one, with his teaching about Divine love, humility and mercy. The social concept of the novel is closely intertwined with the Gospel teaching about love and forgiveness. The entire novel is imbued with the true Christian spirit and makes you perceive all the events and actions of people in life through the prism of the possibility of spiritual transformation of humanity.

Introduction

F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” is socio-psychological. In it, the author raises important social issues that worried people of that time. The originality of this novel by Dostoevsky lies in the fact that it shows the psychology of a person contemporary to the author, trying to find a solution to pressing problems. social problems. At the same time, Dostoevsky does not give ready answers to the questions posed, but makes the reader think about them. The central place in the novel is occupied by the poor student Raskolnikov, who committed murder. What led him to this terrible crime? Dostoevsky tries to find the answer to this question through a thorough analysis of the psychology of this person. The deep psychologism of F. M. Dostoevsky’s novels lies in the fact that their heroes find themselves in complex, extreme life situations, in which their inner essence is revealed, the depths of psychology, hidden conflicts, contradictions in the soul, ambiguity and paradox are revealed. inner world. To reflect the psychological state of the main character in the novel “Crime and Punishment,” the author used a variety of artistic techniques, among which dreams play an important role, since in an unconscious state a person becomes himself, loses everything superficial, alien and, thus, his thoughts and feelings manifest themselves more freely. Throughout almost the entire novel, a conflict occurs in the soul of the main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, and these internal contradictions determine his strange state: the hero is so immersed in himself that for him the line between dream and reality, between sleep and reality is blurred, an inflamed brain gives rise to delirium , and the hero falls into apathy, half-sleep, half-delirium, so it is difficult to say about some dreams whether it is a dream or delirium, a play of the imagination.

The history of the creation of “Crime and Punishment”

Creative history of the novel

“Crime and Punishment,” originally conceived in the form of Raskolnikov’s confession, stems from the spiritual experience of hard labor. It was there that F.M. Dostoevsky first encountered strong personalities standing outside the moral law, it was during penal servitude that the change in the writer’s beliefs began. “It was clear that this man,” Dostoevsky describes the convict Orlov in “Notes from the House of the Dead,” was able to control himself, infinitely despised all kinds of torment and punishment, and was not afraid of anything in the world. In him you saw one endless energy, a thirst for activity, a thirst for revenge, a thirst to achieve the intended goal. By the way, I was amazed at his strange arrogance.”

But in 1859 the “confessional novel” was not started. The hatching of the plan lasted 6 years, during which F.M. Dostoevsky wrote “The Humiliated and Insulted” and “Notes from the Underground.” The main themes of these works - the theme of poor people, rebellion and the theme of the individualist hero - were then synthesized in Crime and Punishment.

In a letter to the Russian Messenger magazine, talking about his new story, which he would like to sell to the editors, Dostoevsky described his story like this: “The idea of ​​the story cannot, as far as I can assume, contradict your magazine in any way, even on the contrary. This is a psychological report of one crime. The action is modern, this year. A young man, expelled from university students, living in extreme poverty, due to frivolity, due to unsteadiness in concepts, succumbing to some strange, unfinished ideas that were floating in the air, decided to get out of his situation at once. He decided to kill one old woman, a titular councilor who gave money for interest. The old woman is stupid, deaf, sick, greedy, takes Jewish interest, is evil and eats up someone else's life, torturing her younger sister as her worker. “She’s no good,” “what does she live for?”, “is she useful to anyone,” and so on - these questions are confusing young man. He decides to kill her, rob her, in order to make his mother, who lives in the district, happy, to save his sister, who lives as a companion with some landowners, from the voluptuous claims of this landowner family - claims that threaten her with death - to finish the course, to go abroad and then all your life be honest, firm, unswerving in the fulfillment of your “humane duty to humanity” - which, of course, will atone for the crime, if you can call this act against an old woman deaf, stupid, evil, sick, who herself does not know, for what lives in the world, and which in a month, perhaps, would die by itself.

Despite the fact that such crimes are terribly difficult to commit - i.e. they almost always expose ends, evidence, etc. to the point of rudeness. and they leave an awful lot to chance, which always almost betrays the culprit; he - completely by chance - manages to commit his crime both quickly and successfully.

He spends almost a month after that, until the final catastrophe, there is no suspicion of him and there cannot be any. This is where the psychological process of crime unfolds. Unsolvable questions confront the killer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. God's truth and earthly law take their toll, and he ends up being forced to denounce himself. Forced, although to die in hard labor, to join people again, the feeling of isolation and disconnection from humanity, which he felt immediately after committing the crime, closed him off. The law of truth and human nature took their toll, killing convictions, even without resistance. The criminal decides to suffer torment himself in order to atone for his deed. However, it is difficult for me to explain my thought.

In my story there is, in addition, a hint of the idea that the imposed legal punishment for a crime frightens the criminal much less than legislators think, partly because he himself morally demands it.

I have seen this even in the most undeveloped people, in the rudest accidents. I wanted to express this specifically on a developed person, on a new generation, so that the thought would be brighter and more clearly visible. Several cases that were at the very lately, they convinced me that my plot was not eccentric at all, namely that the killer was a young man with developed and even good inclinations. Last year in Moscow I was told (correctly) about a student's story - that he decided to break the mail and kill the postman. There are still many traces in our newspapers about the extraordinary instability of concepts that lead to terrible deeds. In a word, I am convinced that my plot partly justifies modernity.”

The plot of the novel is based on the idea of ​​an “ideological killer”, which splits into two unequal parts: the crime and its causes and, the second, main part, the effect of the crime on the soul of the criminal. This two-part concept will be reflected in the final version of the title of the novel - “Crime and Punishment” - and in the structural features: of the six parts of the novel, one is devoted to the crime and five to the influence of this crime on the essence of Raskolnikov and his gradual overcoming of his crime.

Dostoevsky sent the chapters of the new novel in mid-December 1865 to the Russian Messenger. The first part had already appeared in the January 1866 issue of the magazine, but the novel had not yet been completely completed. Work on further text continued throughout 1866.

The first two parts of the novel, published in the January and February books of the Russian Messenger, brought F.M. Dostoevsky success.

In November and December 1866, the last, sixth part and epilogue were written. The magazine finished publishing the novel in its December 1866 book.

Three notebooks with drafts and notes for “Crime and Punishment” have been preserved, i.e. three handwritten editions: the first (short) “story”, the second (lengthy) and the third (final) edition, characterizing three stages, three stages of work: Wiesbaden (letter to Katkov), St. Petersburg stage (from October to December 1865, when Dostoevsky began the “new plan”) and, finally, the last stage (1866). All handwritten editions of the novel have been published three times, the last two being done at a high scientific level.

So, in creative process While hatching the plan for “Crime and Punishment,” two opposing ideas collided in the image of Raskolnikov: the idea of ​​love for people and the idea of ​​contempt for them. The draft notebooks for the novel show how painfully F.M. Dostoevsky searched for a way out: either to leave one of the ideas, or to reduce both. In the second edition there is an entry: “The main anatomy of the novel. It is imperative to bring the matter to a real conclusion and eliminate uncertainty, that is, to explain the whole murder one way or another and make its character and relationships clear.” The author decides to combine both ideas of the novel, to show a person in whom, as Razumikhin says about Raskolnikov in the final text of the novel, “two opposing characters alternately alternate.”

Dostoevsky also painfully searched for the ending of the novel. In one of the draft entries: “The ending of the novel. Raskolnikov is going to shoot himself.” But this was the finale only for “Napoleon’s idea.” The writer also outlines the finale for the “idea of ​​love,” when Christ himself will save the repentant sinner.

But what is the end of a person who combines both opposite principles? F.M. Dostoevsky understood perfectly well that such a person would not accept either the author’s court, or the legal court, or the court of his own conscience. Raskolnikov will face only one court - the highest court, the court of Sonechka Marmeladova, the same Sonechka in whose name he raised his ax, the same humiliated and insulted one who has always suffered since the earth stood.

The meaning of the novel's title

The problem of crime is considered in almost every work of F. M. Dostoevsky. The writer talks about crime in a universal human sense, comparing this view with various social theories popular at that time. In “Netochka Nezvanova” it is said: “Crime will always remain a crime, sin will always be sin, no matter what degree of greatness a vicious feeling ascends to.” In the novel “The Idiot” F. M. Dostoevsky states: “It is said “thou shalt not kill!”, so for the fact that he killed, and kill him? No, that’s not possible.” The novel “Crime and Punishment” is almost entirely devoted to the analysis of the social and moral nature of crime and the punishment that follows it. In a letter to M.N. Katkov, F.M. Dostoevsky said: “I am writing a novel about a modern crime.” Indeed, crime for a writer becomes one of the most important signs of the time, a modern phenomenon. The writer sees the reason for this in the decline of public morality, which was in late XIX centuries obvious. The old ideals on which more than one generation of Russian people were brought up are crumbling, life gives rise to various social theories, promoting the idea of ​​a revolutionary struggle for a wonderful, bright future (let us recall N. Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?”). Elements of bourgeois actively penetrate into the existing way of Russian life. European civilization, And - most importantly - Russian society begins to move away from the centuries-old tradition of the Orthodox view of the world, atheism becomes popular. Pushing his hero to murder, F. M. Dostoevsky strives to understand the reasons why such a cruel idea arises in the mind of Rodion Raskolnikov. Of course, his “environment stuck.” But she ate poor Sonechka Marmeladova, and Katerina Ivanovna, and many others. Why don't they become murderers? The fact is that the roots of Raskolnikov’s crime lie much deeper. His views are greatly influenced by the theory of the existence of “supermen”, popular in the 19th century, that is, people who are allowed more than to an ordinary person, that “trembling creature” that Raskolnikov reflects on.

Accordingly, the writer understands the crime of Rodion Raskolnikov much more deeply. Its meaning is not only that Raskolnikov killed the old money-lender, but also that he himself allowed this murder, imagining himself as a person who is allowed to decide who lives and who does not. According to Dostoevsky, only God is capable of deciding human destinies. Consequently, Rodion Raskolnikov puts himself in the place of God, mentally equates himself with him. What does this entail? F. M. Dostoevsky had no doubt that only God, Christ, should be the moral ideal of man. The commandments of Christianity are unshakable, and the way to approach the ideal is to fulfill these commandments. When Rodion Raskolnikov puts himself in the place of God, he himself begins to create a certain system of values ​​for himself. This means that he allows himself everything and gradually begins to lose everything best qualities, trampling generally accepted moral norms. F. M. Dostoevsky has no doubt: this is a crime not only of his hero, but also of many people of this era. “Deism gave us Christ, that is, such a high concept of man that it is impossible to understand him without reverence, and one cannot help but believe that this is the eternal ideal of humanity. What did the atheists give us?” - F. M. Dostoevsky asks Russia and answers himself: theories that give rise to crime, because atheism inevitably leads to the loss of the moral ideal, God in man. Can the criminal return to normal life? Yes and no. Maybe, if he goes through long physical and moral suffering, if he can abandon those “theories” that he created for himself. This was Raskolnikov’s path.

“Crime and Punishment,” the creation of which lasted almost 7 years, is one of the most famous novels Fyodor Dostoevsky both in Russia and abroad. In this creation of a classic of Russian literature, his talent as a psychologist and connoisseur of human souls was revealed as never before. What gave Dostoevsky the idea to write a work about a murderer, and this topic was not typical of the literature of that time?

Fyodor Dostoevsky - master of the psychological novel

The writer was born on November 11, 1821 in the city of Moscow. His father, Mikhail Andreevich, was a nobleman, a court councilor, and his mother, Maria Fedorovna, came from a merchant family.

The life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky had it all: great fame and poverty, dark days in Peter and Paul Fortress and many years of hard labor, addiction to gambling and conversion to the Christian faith. Even during the writer’s lifetime, the epithet “brilliant” was applied to his work.

Dostoevsky died at the age of 59 from emphysema. He left behind a huge legacy - novels, poems, diaries, letters, etc. In Russian literature, Fyodor Mikhailovich is given the place of the main psychologist and expert on human souls. Some literary critics (for example, Maxim Gorky), especially Soviet period, called Dostoevsky " evil genius", because they believed that the writer in his works defended the "infidels" Political Views- conservative and at some period of life even monarchical. However, one can argue with this: Dostoevsky’s novels are not political, but they are always deeply psychological, their goal is to show human soul and life itself as it is. And the work “Crime and Punishment” is the most striking confirmation of this.

The history of the creation of the novel “Crime and Punishment”

Fyodor Dostoevsky was sent to hard labor in Omsk in 1850. “Crime and Punishment,” the creation of which began there, was first published in 1866, and before that the writer had to go through some difficult days in his life.

In 1854 the writer received freedom. In 1859, Dostoevsky wrote in a letter to his brother that the idea of ​​a certain confessional novel came to him when, back in the 50s, he was lying on dirty bunks and experiencing the most difficult moments in his life. But he was in no hurry to start this work, because he was not even sure that he would survive.

And so, in 1865, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, in dire need of money, signed an agreement with one publisher, according to which he undertakes to provide a new novel by November 1866. Having received the fee, the writer improved his affairs, but his addiction to roulette played a cruel joke on him: he lost all the remaining money in Wiesbaden, the hotel owners did not evict him, but they stopped feeding him and even turned off the light in the room. It was under such conditions that Dostoevsky began Crime and Punishment.

The story of the creation of the novel was nearing completion: deadlines were running out - the author was working in a hotel, on a ship, on the way home to St. Petersburg. He practically finished the novel, and then... he took and burned the manuscript.

Dostoevsky began work anew, and while the first two parts of the work were being published and the whole of St. Petersburg was reading them, he was rapidly creating the remaining three, including the epilogue.

“Crime and Punishment” - the theme of the novel is clearly visible in the very title of the work.

The main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, decides to kill and rob an old moneylender. On the one hand, the young man justifies his action by the fact that he and his family are in need. Rodion feels responsible for the fate of his loved ones, but in order to help his sister and mother in any way, he needs a large amount of money. On the other hand, murder remains an immoral and sinful act.

Rodion successfully commits his planned crime. But in the second part of the novel, he is faced with a problem more serious than poverty - his conscience begins to torment him. He becomes nervous, it seems to him that everyone around him knows about his action. As a result, Rodion begins to get seriously ill. After recovery, the young man seriously thinks about surrendering to the authorities. But his acquaintance with Sonya Marmeladova, as well as the arrival of his mother and sister in the city, temporarily force him to abandon this idea.

Three suitors are vying for the hand of Rodion's sister Dunya: court councilor Pyotr Luzhin, landowner Svidrigailov and Rodion's friend Razumikhin. Rodion and Razumikhin manage to upset the planned wedding of Dunya and Luzhin, but the latter leaves angry and thinks about

Rodion Raskolnikov becomes increasingly attached to Sonya Marmeladova, the daughter of his late friend. They talk with the girl about life, spend time together.

But a black cloud hangs over Rodion - there were witnesses who confirmed at the police station that recently Raskolnikov had often visited the murdered moneylender. The young man has so far been released from the police station, but he remains the main suspect.

The most important events The chapters of the novel “Crime and Punishment” fall on the 5th part of the work and the epilogue.

The offended Luzhin tries to frame Sonya Marmeladova by passing her off as a thief and thereby quarreling with Raskolnikov. However, his plan fails, but Rodion cannot stand it and confesses to Sonya that he committed the murder.

Raskolnikova takes the blame for the crime upon herself stranger, however, the investigator is confident that it was Rodion who committed the crime, so he visits the young man and tries once again to convince him to confess.

At this time, Svidrigailov tries to woo Dunya by force, the frightened girl shoots him with a revolver. When the weapon misfires and Dunya convinces the landowner that she does not love him, Svidrigailov lets the girl go. Having donated 15 thousand to Sonya Marmeladova and 3 thousand to Raskolnikov’s family, the landowner commits suicide.

Rodion confesses to the murder of a moneylender and receives 8 years of hard labor in Siberia. Sonya goes into exile after him. The former student’s former life is over, but thanks to the girl’s love, he feels a new stage in his life beginning.

Image of Rodion Raskolnikov

In the novel “Crime and Punishment,” the characterization of Rodion Raskolnikov and the assessment of his actions by the author himself is ambiguous.

The young man is good-looking, quite smart, one might say, ambitious. But the life situation in which he finds himself, or rather the social situation, does not allow him not only to realize his talents, but even to finish his studies at the university or find a decent job. His sister is about to “sell herself” to an unloved person (marry Luzhin for the sake of his fortune). Raskolnikov's mother is poor, and his beloved girl is forced into prostitution. And Rodion does not see a single way to help them and himself other than to get a large amount of money. But the idea of ​​instant enrichment can only be realized through robbery (in this case it also entailed murder).

According to morality, Raskolnikov did not have the right to take the life of another person, and reasoning that the old woman did not have long to live anyway, or that she did not have the right to “live” on the grief of other people, was not an excuse or a reason for murder. But Raskolnikov, although he is tormented by his action, considers himself innocent to the last: he explains his actions by saying that at that moment he was only thinking about how to help his loved ones.

Sonya Marmeladova

In the novel Crime and Punishment, the description of the image of Sonya is as contradictory as that of Raskolnikov: the reader immediately recognizes them as

Sonya is kind and in some sense selfless, this can be seen from her actions towards other people. The girl reads the “Gospel”, but at the same time is a prostitute. A pious prostitute - what could be more paradoxical?

However, Sonya is engaged in this trade not because she has a craving for debauchery - this is the only way for an uneducated, attractive girl to earn a living, not only for herself, but also for her large family: her stepmother Katerina Ivanovna and three half-brothers and sisters. As a result, Sonya is the only one who went to Siberia after Rodion to support him in difficult times.

Such paradoxical images are the basis of Dostoevsky's realism, because in the real world things cannot be only black or only white, just like people. Therefore, a pure-hearted girl in certain life circumstances can engage in such a dirty craft, and a noble-spirited young man can decide to kill.

Arkady Svidrigailov

Arkady Svidrigailov is another character in the novel (a 50-year-old landowner), who in many aspects literally duplicates Raskolnikov. This is not an accident, but a technique chosen by the author. What is its essence?

“Crime and Punishment” is filled with dual images, perhaps in order to show: many people have equally positive and negative traits, they can walk along the same paths in life, but they always choose the outcome of their lives themselves.

Arkady Svidrigailov is a widower. While his wife was still alive, he harassed Raskolnikov’s sister, who was in their service. When his wife, Marfa Petrovna, died, the landowner came to ask for Avdotya Raskolnikova’s hand in marriage.

Svidrigailov has many sins behind him: he is suspected of murder, violence and debauchery. But this does not prevent the man from becoming the only person who took care of the family of the late Marmeladov not only in a financial sense, but even placed the children in an orphanage after the death of their mother. Svidrigailov tries to win Dunya over in a barbaric way, but at the same time he is deeply wounded by the girl’s dislike and commits suicide, leaving Raskolnikov’s sister an impressive amount as an inheritance. Nobility and cruelty in this man are combined in their own bizarre patterns, as in Raskolnikov.

P.P. Luzhin in the system of images of the novel

Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin (“Crime and Punishment”) is another “double” of Raskolnikov. Before committing a crime, Raskolnikov compares himself to Napoleon, so Luzhin is the Napoleon of his time in its purest form: unprincipled, caring only about himself, striving to make capital at any cost. Perhaps this is why Raskolnikov hates the successful young man: after all, Rodion himself believed that for the sake of his own prosperity he had the right to kill a person whose fate seemed less important to him.

Luzhin (“Crime and Punishment”) is very straightforward as a character, caricatured and devoid of the inconsistency inherent in Dostoevsky’s heroes. It can be assumed that the writer deliberately made Peter this way, so that he would become a clear personification of that bourgeois permissiveness that played such a cruel joke on Raskolnikov himself.

Publication of the novel abroad

“Crime and Punishment,” the creation of which took more than 6 years, was highly appreciated by foreign publications. In 1866, several chapters from the novel were translated into French and published in Courrier russe.

In Germany, the work was published under the title “Raskolnikov” and by 1895 its published circulation was 2 times larger than that of any other work by Dostoevsky.

At the beginning of the 20th century. the novel “Crime and Punishment” was translated into Polish, Czech, Italian, Serbian, Catalan, Lithuanian, etc.

Film adaptations of the novel

The heroes of the novel “Crime and Punishment” are so colorful and interesting that the film adaptation of the novel has been taken up more than once both in Russia and abroad. The first film - “Crime and Punishment” - appeared in Russia back in 1909 (dir. Vasily Goncharov). This was followed by film adaptations in 1911, 1913, 1915.

In 1917, the world saw the film by American director Lawrence McGill; in 1923, the film “Raskolnikov” was released by German director Robert Wiene.

After that, about 14 more film adaptations were shot in different countries. Of the Russian works, the most recent was the serial film “Crime and Punishment” in 2007 (dir. Dmitry Svetozarov).

Novel in popular culture

In films, Dostoevsky’s novel often appears in the hands of imprisoned heroes: in the film “The Incredible Adventures of Wallace and Gromit: A Haircut,” t/c “She Wolf,” “Desperate Housewives,” etc.

IN computer game“Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments” in one of the episodes a book with the title of Dostoevsky’s novel is clearly visible in Sherlock Holmes’s hands, and in the game GTA IV “Crime and Punishment” is the name of one of the missions.

Raskolnikov's house in St. Petersburg

There is an assumption that Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich settled his hero in a house that actually exists in St. Petersburg. The researchers made such conclusions because Dostoevsky mentions in the novel: it is located in the “S-m” lane, next to the “K-m” bridge. At the address Stolyarny Lane 5 there really is a house that could well serve as a prototype for the novel. Today this building is one of the most visited tourist spots in St. Petersburg.

Still from the film “Crime and Punishment” (1969)

60s of the XIX century. A poor area of ​​St. Petersburg, adjacent to Sennaya Square and the Catherine Canal. Summer evening. Former student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov leaves his closet in the attic and takes the last valuable thing as a pawn to the old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna, whom she is preparing to kill. On the way back, he goes into one of the cheap taverns, where he accidentally meets the official Marmeladov, who has drunk himself and lost his job. He tells how consumption, poverty and her husband’s drunkenness pushed his wife, Katerina Ivanovna, to a cruel act - to send his daughter from her first marriage, Sonya, to earn money on the panel.

The next morning, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother from the provinces describing the troubles suffered by his younger sister Dunya in the house of the depraved landowner Svidrigailov. He learns about the imminent arrival of his mother and sister in St. Petersburg in connection with Dunya's upcoming marriage. The groom is a calculating businessman Luzhin, who wants to build a marriage not on love, but on the poverty and dependence of the bride. The mother hopes that Luzhin will financially help her son complete his course at the university. Reflecting on the sacrifices that Sonya and Dunya make for the sake of their loved ones, Raskolnikov strengthens his intention to kill the pawnbroker - a worthless evil “louse”. After all, thanks to her money, “hundreds, thousands” of girls and boys will be spared from undeserved suffering. However, disgust for bloody violence rises again in the hero’s soul after a dream-memory of his childhood he saw: the boy’s heart breaks with pity for the nag being beaten to death.

And yet, Raskolnikov kills with an ax not only the “ugly old woman,” but also her kind, meek sister Lizaveta, who unexpectedly returned to the apartment. Miraculously leaving unnoticed, he hides the stolen goods in a random place, without even assessing its value.

Soon Raskolnikov discovers with horror the alienation between himself and other people. Sick from his experience, he is, however, unable to reject the burdensome concerns of his university friend Razumikhin. From the latter’s conversation with the doctor, Raskolnikov learns that the painter Mikolka, a simple village guy, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering the old woman. Reacting painfully to conversations about crime, he himself also arouses suspicion among others.

Luzhin, who came for a visit, is shocked by the squalor of the hero’s closet; their conversation develops into a quarrel and ends in a breakup. Raskolnikov is especially offended by the closeness of practical conclusions from Luzhin’s “reasonable egoism” (which seems vulgar to him) and his own “theory”: “people can be cut...”

Wandering around St. Petersburg, a sick young man suffers from his alienation from the world and is ready to confess to a crime to the authorities when he sees a man crushed by a carriage. This is Marmeladov. Out of compassion, Raskolnikov spends his last money on the dying man: he is carried into the house, the doctor is called. Rodion meets Katerina Ivanovna and Sonya, who is saying goodbye to her father in an inappropriately bright outfit of a prostitute. Thanks to a good deed, the hero briefly felt a sense of community with people. However, having met his mother and sister who had arrived at his apartment, he suddenly realizes that he is “dead” to their love and rudely drives them away. He is lonely again, but he has hope of getting closer to Sonya, who, like him, “transgressed” the absolute commandment.

Razumikhin, who almost at first sight fell in love with the beautiful Dunya, takes care of Raskolnikov’s relatives. Meanwhile, the insulted Luzhin puts the bride before a choice: either he or his brother.

In order to find out about the fate of the things pawned by the murdered woman, and in fact to dispel the suspicions of some acquaintances, Rodion himself asks for a meeting with Porfiry Petrovich, the investigator in the case of the murder of the old pawnbroker. The latter recalls Raskolnikov’s recently published article “On Crime,” inviting the author to explain his “theory” about “two classes of people.” It turns out that the “ordinary” (“lower”) majority is just material for the reproduction of their own kind; it is they who need a strict moral law and must be obedient. These are “trembling creatures.” “People themselves” (“higher ones”) have a different nature, possessing the gift of a “new word”, they destroy the present in the name of the better, even if it is necessary to “step over” the moral norms previously established for the “lower” majority, for example, by shedding someone else’s blood. These “criminals” then become “new legislators.” Thus, not recognizing the biblical commandments (“thou shalt not kill,” “thou shalt not steal,” etc.), Raskolnikov “allows” “those who have the right” - “blood according to conscience.” The smart and insightful Porfiry discerns in the hero an ideological murderer who claims to be the new Napoleon. However, the investigator has no evidence against Rodion - and he releases the young man in the hope that his good nature will overcome the delusions of his mind and will itself lead him to confess to his crime.

Indeed, the hero is increasingly convinced that he has made a mistake in himself: “the real ruler is destroying Toulon, committing massacres in Paris, forgetting the army in Egypt, wasting half a million people on the Moscow campaign,” and he, Raskolnikov, is tormented by “vulgarity” and “ meanness" of a single murder. It is clear that he is a “trembling creature”: even after killing, he “did not step over” the moral law. The very motives of the crime are twofold in the hero’s consciousness: this is both a test of oneself for the “highest level”, and an act of “justice”, according to revolutionary socialist teachings, transferring the property of “predators” to their victims.

Svidrigailov, who came after Dunya to St. Petersburg, apparently guilty of the recent death of his wife, meets Raskolnikov and notices that they are “birds of a feather,” although the latter has not completely conquered the “Schiller” in himself. Despite all the disgust for the offender, Rodion’s sister is attracted by his apparent ability to enjoy life, despite the crimes he has committed.

During lunch in the cheap rooms where Luzhin, out of economy, settled Dunya and his mother, a decisive explanation takes place. Luzhin is accused of slandering Raskolnikov and Sonya, to whom he allegedly gave for base services the money selflessly collected by his poor mother for his studies. The relatives are convinced of the purity and nobility of the young man and sympathize with Sonya’s fate. Expelled in disgrace, Luzhin is looking for a way to discredit Raskolnikov in the eyes of his sister and mother.

The latter, meanwhile, again feeling a painful alienation from his loved ones, comes to Sonya. From her, who “transgressed” the commandment “thou shalt not commit adultery,” he seeks salvation from unbearable loneliness. But Sonya herself is not alone. She sacrificed herself for the sake of others (hungry brothers and sisters), and not others for herself, like her interlocutor. Love and compassion for loved ones, faith in the mercy of God never left her. She reads the gospel lines to Rodion about Christ’s resurrection of Lazarus, hoping for a miracle in her life. The hero fails to captivate the girl with the “Napoleonic” plan for power over “the entire anthill.”

Tormented by both fear and the desire to be exposed, Raskolnikov again comes to Porfiry, as if worried about his mortgage. A seemingly abstract conversation about the psychology of criminals eventually leads the young man to a nervous breakdown, and he almost gives himself away to the investigator. What saves him is his unexpected confession to the murder of the pawnbroker Mikolka.

In the passage room of the Marmeladovs, a wake was held for her husband and father, during which Katerina Ivanovna, in a fit of morbid pride, insults the owner of the apartment. She tells her and the children to move out immediately. Suddenly Luzhin, who lives in the same house, enters and accuses Sonya of stealing a hundred-ruble banknote. The girl’s “guilt” is proven: money is found in her apron pocket. Now in the eyes of others she is also a thief. But unexpectedly there is a witness that Luzhin himself quietly slipped Sonya a piece of paper. The slanderer is put to shame, and Raskolnikov explains to those present the reasons for his action: having humiliated his brother and Sonya in the eyes of Dunya, he hoped to regain the favor of the bride.

Rodion and Sonya go to her apartment, where the hero confesses to the girl about the murder of the old woman and Lizaveta. She pities him for the moral torment to which he has doomed himself, and offers to atone for his guilt with voluntary confession and hard labor. Raskolnikov only laments that he turned out to be a “trembling creature”, with a conscience and a need for human love. “I’ll still fight,” he disagrees with Sonya.

Meanwhile, Katerina Ivanovna and her children find themselves on the street. She begins to bleed from the throat and dies, refusing the services of a priest. Svidrigailov, who is present here, undertakes to pay for the funeral and provide for the children and Sonya.

At his home, Raskolnikov finds Porfiry, who convinces the young man to confess: the “theory”, which denies the absoluteness of the moral law, tears away from the only source of life - God, the creator of humanity, united by nature - and thereby dooms its captive to death. “Now you need air, air, air!” Porfiry does not believe in the guilt of Mikolka, who “accepted suffering” out of an primordial popular need: to atone for the sin of not conforming to the ideal - Christ.

But Raskolnikov still hopes to “transcend” morality. Before him is the example of Svidrigailov. Their meeting in the tavern reveals to the hero a sad truth: the life of this “insignificant villain” is empty and painful for himself.

Dunya's reciprocity is the only hope for Svidrigailov to return to the source of being. Having become convinced of her irrevocable dislike for himself during a heated conversation in his apartment, he shoots himself a few hours later.

Meanwhile, Raskolnikov, driven by the lack of “air,” says goodbye to his family and Sonya before confessing. He is still convinced of the “theory” and is full of self-contempt. However, at Sonya’s insistence, in front of the people, he repentantly kisses the land before which he “sinned.” At the police office, he learns about Svidrigailov’s suicide and makes an official confession.

Raskolnikov finds himself in Siberia, in a convict prison. The mother died of grief, Dunya married Razumikhin. Sonya settled near Raskolnikov and visits the hero, patiently enduring his gloom and indifference. The nightmare of alienation continues here: the common convicts hate him as an “atheist.” On the contrary, Sonya is treated with tenderness and love. Once in the prison hospital, Rodion sees a dream reminiscent of pictures from the Apocalypse: mysterious “trichinas”, moving into people, give rise to a fanatical conviction in everyone’s own righteousness and intolerance to the “truths” of others. “People killed each other in senseless rage” until the entire human race was exterminated, except for a few “pure and chosen.” It is finally revealed to him that the pride of the mind leads to discord and destruction, and the humility of the heart leads to unity in love and to the fullness of life. “Endless love” for Sonya awakens in him. On the threshold of "resurrection in new life"Raskolnikov picks up the Gospel.

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