The theme of the “little man” in the novel “Crime and Punishment”
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky entered the history of Russian and world literature as genius artist, humanist and democrat, as a researcher human souls. In the spiritual life of a man of his era, Dostoevsky saw a reflection of deep processes historical development society. With tragic power, the writer showed how people’s souls are crippled social injustice, what unbearable oppression and despair a person experiences, fighting for a humane relationship between people, suffering for the humiliated and insulted.
Dostoevsky's novels are called social and philosophical. In a collision different ideas and beliefs, the writer strives to find that highest truth, that only idea that can become common to all people. In the most difficult years for the Russian people, he continued to look for ways to save people from the suffering and troubles that the inhumane system brings with it. The writer was especially fascinated by fate “ little man” in society. Pushkin and Gogol thought about this topic. This painful theme permeates Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment.”
Dostoevsky's characters usually appear before the reader with already formed beliefs and express a certain idea. The heroes of “Crime and Punishment” are no exception. In the novel, the “little people” are endowed with a certain philosophical idea. These are thinking people, but overwhelmed by life. For example, Semyon Zakharych Marmeladov. His conversation with Raskolnikov, the conversation of the drunken official, is essentially Marmeladov’s monologue. He stands on one idea, the idea of self-destruction. He enjoys beatings, and he trains himself not to pay attention to the attitude of those around him like a fool, and he is accustomed to spending the night wherever he has to. Marmeladov is not able to fight for life, for his family. He doesn’t care about his family, society, or even Raskolnikov. The reward for all this is a rising picture.” doomsday”, when the Almighty will accept Marmeladov and similar “pigs” into the kingdom of heaven precisely because not a single one of them “considered himself worthy of this.” “And he will judge and forgive everyone, both the good and the evil, both the wise and the humble... And when he has finished with everyone, then he will say to us: “Come out,” he will say, you too! Come out drunk, come out weak, come out drunk!” And we will all go out without shame and stand. And he will say: “You pigs!” the image of the beast and its seal; but come you too!”... And he will stretch out his hands to us and we will fall down..."
Dostoevsky describes a weak-willed drunkard who drove his wife to consumption, let his daughter in with a “yellow ticket,” but while condemning him, the writer simultaneously appeals to people. Well, people, have at least a drop of pity for him, take a closer look at him, is he really that bad. After all, he “offered his hand to the unfortunate woman with three children, because he could not look at such suffering”; For the first time, I lost my place through no fault of my own. He suffers most of all from the consciousness of guilt in front of his children. Is this “little man” really that bad? We can say that he was made this way by a society more indifferent and cruel than he himself in his drunkenness.
Raskolnikov meets Marmeladov’s wife Katerina Ivanovna only four times. But all four times he observes her after severe mental shock. He himself did not engage in lengthy speeches with her, and he only listened with half an ear. But he caught that in her speeches there was indignation at the behavior of those around her, a cry of despair, the cry of a person who has nowhere else to go, but vanity suddenly boils up, a desire to rise in his own eyes, in the eyes of Raskolnikov. If the idea of self-destruction is associated with Marmeladov, then the idea of self-affirmation is associated with Katerina Ivanovna. We see that the more hopeless the situation, the more uncontrollable the fantasy. She talks about the story of her life with vain exaggeration, sees herself in her dreams as the owner of a boarding house for noble maidens. After she is kicked out into the street, she continues to tell everyone that her children have the most aristocratic connections. And she herself makes them behave.
We see that any attempt to internally withstand the conditions to which people are doomed fails. Neither self-deprecation nor self-affirmation, even with the help of lies, helps. A person inevitably collapses morally and then dies physically. But Katerina Ivanovna’s self-affirmation echoes Raskolnikov’s thought about the right of the chosen ones to a special position, about power over all people. The fact is that Marmeladov’s wife is not a chosen person. It is shown by Dostoevsky as a parody. The path of excessive pride leads her to the street. She is simply the “little person” we are talking about today. And Katerina Ivanovna’s megalomania does not reduce her tragedy. Of course, the writer speaks about her fate with great bitterness.
Another character in the novel is one of the “little people.” This is Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin. This type is not capable of self-abasement, of immense self-affirmation through pride, he is not capable of murder, he does not profess any democratic ideas. Luzhin, on the contrary, is for the dominance of egoistic relations, purely bourgeois, inhuman relations. Luzhin's ideas lead to the slow murder of people, to the rejection of goodness and light in their souls. Raskolnikov understands this well: “... is it true that you told your bride... at the very hour when you received her consent that you were most glad that... that she was a beggar... because it is more profitable to take a wife out of poverty in order to then rule over her ... and reproach her for the fact that you have benefited her?..”
Only his own benefit, career, success in the world worries Luzhin. He is ready to humiliate himself, to humiliate, to give everything and everyone for his well-being, to take away the last for his own benefit. But he will not kill, he will find a lot of ways, cowardly and vile, to crush a person with impunity. This is manifested in its entirety in the wake scene. Such a character was developed by Dostoevsky as the personification of the world that Raskolnikov hates. It is the meadows that push the Marmalades to their death and force young girls to go to the panel.
The type of puddles, the type of vile and low “little people” who will never have a place in any society.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky created a wide canvas of immeasurable human torment, suffering and grief, peering intently into the soul of the so-called “little man.” He discovered in him not only suffering, but also meanness, cowardice and thirst for profit, like Mr. Luzhin. He discovered in him hopelessness and self-destruction, like Marmeladov, and immense destructive pride, like Katerina Ivanovna.
Dostoevsky's worldview is based on one enduring fundamental value- on love for a person, on recognition of a person’s spirituality. And all the writer’s quests are aimed at creating better living conditions worthy of the title of human being.
The theme of the “little man” is fundamental to all of F.M.’s work. Dostoevsky. Who are the “little people”? These are the poor, invisible in ordinary life characters. They do not have a high rank or a huge fortune, but they have retained spiritual wealth, kindness and humanity.
Rodion Raskolnikov is a prominent representative of “people offended by life.” The creation of his theory is inextricably linked with living conditions. He is doomed to live his life in poverty and deprivation. The author skillfully emphasizes the wretched living conditions of the student, describing his housing, life and clothing. Rodion lives in the slums, in his dirty neighborhood you can always smell the unbearable smells of cheap drinking establishments. Rodion’s closet is so small that it can be compared to an old stuffy closet, from the walls of which the old yellow wallpaper has long peeled off.
The main character’s home is a symbol of hopelessness.
The author creates a contrast between a tall, well-built young man and his old, shabby wardrobe. Rodion is ashamed to wear such clothes, but he has no other choice. Expulsion from educational institution, lack of means of subsistence, and a sense of injustice suppress the hero and push him to commit a crime.
A feeling of deep loneliness haunts the hero, despite the fact that everything around huge amount people. After all, he is surrounded by the same poor, pitiful and embittered characters. They have long been incapable of compassion and humanity. This fact is proven by the reaction of the crowd to the confession of the drunken Marmeladov. The petty official openly talks about his humiliating situation in which he can no longer exist. Every day he has to silently watch the humiliation of his wife, the hunger of his children, and most importantly, the crippled fate of his beloved daughter Sonechka. Marmeladov, exhausted by mental torment, expects sympathy and understanding from his listeners, but the cruel crowd is only capable of ridicule and humiliation.
The description of the suffering of the Marmeladov family reveals the theme of “little people” in the best possible way. Thanks to detailed description difficult living conditions, everything around is shrouded in darkness and cold. Even the luxurious capital, St. Petersburg, is changing its appearance. In the work, she creates the impression of a gray, indifferent, dead and cruel city. The novel demonstrates reverse side of this city. Luxurious facades replace old dilapidated buildings in which people living offended by life live.
Another representative of the humiliated and insulted is Katerina Ivanovna. Famous author describes an exhausted woman. Every day she tries to clean up the house and feed hungry children. Her stepdaughter, Sonya, is also trying with all her might to help the family, but, unfortunately, she makes the only possible decision - to go to the panel. Rodion's sister, Dunya, also deserves sympathy. She, like her brother, has to restrain her pride and pride, endure ridicule and bullying.
The novel “Crime and Punishment” is filled with similar images; the heroes of the work are constantly in need, are in conditions of existence that are unsuitable for the life of normal people. These inhumane conditions make characters do difficult choice: endure and live like this or die?
A sense of duty and responsibility does not allow Sonechka Marmeladova to decide to commit suicide. “What will happen to them?” - the girl says when Rodion is thinking about how to get out of their situation with dignity. She refuses physical death out of a desire to help her family, but thereby chooses complete spiritual death. The same can be said about Dunya. She decides to marry an unloved person, dooming herself to a joyless existence. For Dunya, her brother’s education and the well-being of her family are more important than other joys in life.
All this means that despite the severity of their situation, the most important things remain in these people. human qualities- compassion, nobility and generosity. The author sympathizes with his heroes and at the same time admires their spiritual wealth, which they were able to preserve in such terrible conditions.
The theory of Rodion Raskolnikov is a product of a cruel world. It represents a protest against such conditions of existence. Committing a crime did not restore justice and did not make Rodion a “rightful” person. On the contrary, it brought a feeling of remorse and disappointment. But at the same time, even in a world of poverty and deprivation there is a place bright feelings: love, friendship, compassion. This fills the author with the belief that over time, society can still improve and become less cruel. Love and respect for the people around us is the only way to create a civilized, humane society. Perhaps this is precisely the meaning the author tried to convey in his famous work.
(349 words) The plot of the novel “Crime and Punishment” is inextricably linked with its main character, Rodion Raskolnikov: we watch how he worries about making decisions that define him future fate. Choosing his path, he communicates with different people. These relationships influence his choices. It is on the characteristics of individual minor characters I'd like to stop.
Almost all the images of the heroes whom F.M. Dostoevsky in the novel brings him closer to Rodion Raskolnikov, built on the criteria of a single type - a little man. IN Russian literature the phrase “little man” defines the type of characters who are unable to withstand life’s disasters and occupy a low rank in the service. They are limited by modest needs and even more modest capabilities. In Crime and Punishment, the author exaggerates the problem of these people, placing them at the very bottom: the heroes waste their days in poverty and have no chance to return to a normal lifestyle.
The hero who most clearly reflected the features of a little man is Semyon Marmeladov. His story can cause the reader both regret and misunderstanding. Although Mr. Marmeladov lives on the brink of poverty, while having a lot of debts, it is difficult to justify the hero’s problem. The retired official brought himself to this state. Without even intending to look for a way out of the current situation, he found solace in alcohol. Ignoring his children and wife, Marmeladov spent his last pennies on himself and his vicious desires. The hero complained that no one was waiting for him at home, but that was only his fault.
But F.M. Dostoevsky introduces the image of Marmeladov into his novel not only to amaze the reader with his misfortune: in the work, acquaintance with the retired official should reveal Rodion’s positive traits character. Semyon Marmeladov's story about his “drunk” life causes bewilderment in the main character. The former student does not understand the actions of the “little man,” which once again proves that Raskolnikov’s soul is still alive and capable of rebirth. In addition, the grief of this family pushes Rodion to murder, justifying the sacrifice for the greater good.
Of course, Semyon Marmeladov is not the only hero of the novel on whose fate the stamp of the “little man” is left. In addition to him, Sonya Marmeladova, her stepmother, Razumikhin, Dunya and many others have the features of a common image. These heroes have only one main goal - to awaken contradictory feelings in Rodion, which are the psychological engines of the plot.
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F. M. Dostoevsky in his work showed the immensity of the suffering of humiliated and insulted people and expressed enormous pain for this suffering. The writer himself was humiliated and insulted by the terrible reality that broke the fate of his heroes. Each of his works looks like a personal bitter confession. This is exactly how the novel “Crime and Punishment” is perceived. It reflects a desperate protest against the cruel reality that crushed millions of people, just as the unfortunate Marmeladov was crushed to death.
The story of the moral struggle of the novel's protagonist, Rodion Raskolnikov, unfolds against the backdrop of everyday life cities. The description of St. Petersburg in the novel makes a depressing impression. Everywhere there is dirt, stench, stuffiness. Drunken cries are heard from the taverns, poorly dressed people crowd the boulevards and squares: “Near the taverns on the lower floors, in the dirty and smelly courtyards of Sennaya Square, and most of all near the taverns, there were crowds of many different and every kind of industrialists and rags... There are no rags here. attracted no one’s arrogant attention, and one could walk around in any form without scandalizing anyone.” Raskolnikov is one of this crowd: “He was so poorly dressed that he was different, even ordinary person, I would be ashamed to go out into the street in such rags during the day.”
The life of the other heroes of the novel is also terrible - the drunken official Marmeladov, his wife Katerina Ivanovna, who is dying of consumption, Raskolnikov’s mother and sister, who are experiencing the bullying of landowners and rich people.
Dostoevsky depicts various shades psychological experiences of a poor man who has nothing to pay his landlord’s rent. The writer shows the torment of children growing up in a dirty corner next to a drunken father and a dying mother, amid constant abuse and quarrels; the tragedy of a young and pure girl, forced due to the desperate situation of her family to start selling herself and dooming herself to constant humiliation.
However, Dostoevsky is not limited to describing everyday phenomena and facts of terrifying reality. It seems to connect them with the image complex characters heroes of the novel. The writer strives to show that the everyday everyday life of the city gives rise not only to material poverty and lack of rights, but also cripples the psychology of people. The “little people” driven to despair begin to have various fantastic “ideas” that are no less nightmarish than the reality around them.
This is Raskolnikov’s “idea” about Napoleons and “trembling creatures,” “ordinary” and “extraordinary” people. Dostoevsky shows how this philosophy is born from life itself, under the influence of the terrifying existence of “little people.”
But not only Raskolnikov’s fate consists of tragic trials and painful searches for a way out of the current situation. The lives of the other heroes of the novel - Marmeladov, Sonya, and Dunya - are also deeply tragic.
The heroes of the novel are painfully aware of the hopelessness of their situation and the cruelty of reality. “After all, it is necessary that every person at least have somewhere to go. For there comes a time when you absolutely have to go somewhere!.., after all, it is necessary that every person has at least one place where they would be pitied!.. Do you understand, do you understand... what does it mean, when there is nowhere else to go?..” - from these words of Marmeladov, sounding like a cry for salvation, the heart of every reader contracts. They, in fact, express the main idea of the novel. This is the cry of the soul of a man, exhausted, crushed by his inevitable fate.
The main character of the novel feels a close connection with all humiliated and suffering people, feels a moral responsibility towards them. The destinies of Sonya Marmeladova and Dunya are connected in his mind into one knot of social and moral problems. After committing the crime, Raskolnikov is overcome by despair and anxiety. He experiences fear, hatred of his persecutors, horror of a committed and irreparable act. And then he begins to look more closely than before at other people, to compare his fate with theirs.
Raskolnikov brings Sonya's fate closer to his own; in her behavior and attitude to life, he begins to look for a solution to the issues that torment him.
Sonya Marmeladova appears in the novel as a bearer moral ideals millions of “humiliated and insulted.” Like Raskolnikov, Sonya is a victim of the existing unjust order of things. Her father's drunkenness, the suffering of her stepmother, brother and sisters, doomed to hunger and poverty, forced her, like Raskolnikov, to cross the line of morality. She begins to sell her body, giving herself over to the vile and depraved world. But, unlike Raskolnikov, she is firmly convinced that no hardships in life can justify violence and crime. Sonya calls on Raskolnikov to abandon the morality of the “superman” in order to steadfastly unite his fate with the fate of suffering and oppressed humanity and thereby atone for his guilt before him.
“Little people” in Dostoevsky’s novel, despite the severity of their situation, prefer to be victims rather than executioners. It's better to be crushed than to crush others! This conclusion is gradually being reached main character. At the end of the novel, we see him on the threshold of a “new life,” “a gradual transition from one world to another, acquaintance with a new, hitherto completely unknown reality.”
- The theme of the “little man” is a cross-cutting theme in Dostoevsky’s work.
- Peculiarities of the image of “little people” in Dostoevsky.
- The image of Marmeladov and Ekaterina Ivanovna..
- The image of Sonechka Marmeladova.
- Raskolnikov and his family.
The theme of the “little man” is a cross-cutting theme for F. M. Dostoevsky throughout his work. Thus, already the first novel of the outstanding master, called “Poor People,” touched on this topic, and it became the main one in his work. In almost every novel by Dostoevsky, the reader encounters “little people,” “humiliated and insulted,” who are forced to live in a cold and cruel world, and no one is able to help them. In the novel “Crime and Punishment” the theme of the “little man” is revealed with special passion, with special love for these people.
Dostoevsky had a fundamental new approach to the image of “little people”. These are no longer dumb and downtrodden people, as they were in Gogol. Their soul is complex and contradictory, they are endowed with the consciousness of their “I”. In Dostoevsky, the “little man” himself begins to speak, talk about his life, fate, troubles, he talks about the injustice of the world in which he lives and the same “humiliated and insulted” as he.
In the novel “Crime and Punishment”, the fate of many “little people”, forced to live according to the cruel laws of cold, hostile St. Petersburg, passes before the reader’s eyes. Together with the main character Rodion Raskolnikov, the reader meets the “humiliated and insulted” on the pages of the novel, and experiences them with him. mental tragedies. Among them is a dishonored girl being hunted by a fat dandy, and an unfortunate woman who threw herself from a bridge, and
Marmeladov, and his wife Ekaterina Ivanovna, and daughter Sonechka. And Raskolnikov himself also belongs to the “little people,” although he tries to elevate himself above the people around him.
Dostoevsky not only depicts the misfortunes of the “little man”, not only evokes pity for the “humiliated and insulted,” but also shows the contradictions of their souls, the combination of good and evil in them. From this point of view, the image of Marmeladov is especially characteristic. The reader, of course, feels sympathy for the poor, exhausted man who has lost everything in life, so he has sunk to the very bottom. But Dostoevsky is not limited to sympathy alone. He shows that Marmeladov's drunkenness not only harmed himself (he is kicked out of work), but also brought a lot of misfortune to his family. Because of him, small children are starving, and the eldest daughter is forced to go out into the streets in order to somehow help the impoverished family. Along with sympathy, Marmeladov also arouses contempt for himself; you involuntarily blame him for the troubles that befell the family.
The figure of his wife Ekaterina Ivanovna is also contradictory. On the one hand, she is trying in every possible way to prevent her final fall, remembering her happy childhood and carefree youth when she danced at the ball. But in fact, she is simply consoled by her memories, allows adopted daughter engage in prostitution and even accept money from her.
As a result of all the misfortunes, Marmeladov, who has “nowhere to go” in life, becomes an alcoholic and commits suicide. His wife dies of consumption, completely exhausted by poverty. They could not stand the pressure of society, soulless St. Petersburg, and did not find the strength to resist the oppression of the surrounding reality.
Sonechka Marmeladova appears completely different to readers. She is also a “little person”; moreover, nothing could be worse than her fate. But despite this, she finds a way out of the absolute dead end. She was used to living according to the laws of her heart, according to Christian commandments. It is from them that she draws strength. She understands that the lives of her brothers and sisters depend on her, so she completely forgets about herself and devotes herself to others. Sonechka becomes a symbol of eternal sacrifice; she has great sympathy for man, compassion for all living things. It is the image of Sonya Marmeladova that becomes the most obvious exposure of the idea of blood according to Raskolnikov’s conscience. It is no coincidence that, together with the old money-lender, Rodion also kills her innocent sister Lizaveta, who is so similar to Sonechka.
Troubles and misfortunes haunt the Raskolnikov family. His sister Dunya is ready to marry a man who is disgusting to her in order to financially help her brother. Raskolnikov himself lives in poverty, he cannot even feed himself, so he is even forced to pawn the ring, a gift from his sister.
The novel contains many descriptions of the destinies of “little people.” Dostoevsky described with deep psychological accuracy the contradictions reigning in their souls, was able to show not only the downtroddenness and humiliation of such people, but also proved that it was among them that there were deeply suffering, strong and contradictory personalities.
