Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova

Daughter of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov from his first marriage, a girl desperate for self-sale. Despite this occupation, she is sensitive, timid and shy; forced to earn in such an unsightly way. He understands the suffering of Rodion, finds in him support in life and the strength to make him a man again. Leaves for him in Siberia, becomes his lifelong girlfriend.

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 the uncompromising road that will lead him to the top. Unconsciously he chooses the weakest and most defenseless member of society as a victim, justifying this by the insignificance of the life of an old woman-pawnbroker, after whose murder she faces a severe psychological shock: murder does not make a person “chosen”.

The great Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky strove to show the ways of the moral renewal of human society. Man is the center of life, to which the eyes of the writer are riveted.

"Crime and Punishment" is Dostoevsky's novel, which for more than a century has served as a reason for intense reflections on the value of human life, on the moral boundaries of self-will, on how much a person has from the devil, and how much from God.

From the very first pages of the novel, one can feel the whole weight and despair of the life of its protagonist. Former student Raskolnikov lives in a closet "under the very roof of a high five-story building." The main qualities of the space depicted in the novel are tightness and narrowness. The hero, trapped in such a space, feels spiritual emptiness and loneliness: "... he was in an irritable and tense state ... he went deep into himself and retired from everyone ..." Throughout the entire novel, Raskolnikov will languish, selfishly fencing himself off from others people, and only at the end will come to the crossroads, that is, an open space to ask forgiveness from the whole world. From this moment, his spiritual resurrection will begin.

But while Rodion, as if in delirium, rushes about the dirty streets of St. Petersburg, smelly staircases and attics, gloomy drinking places. The hero decided to take an action that would completely change his life. This idea originated in him when he laid a ring in the old woman-usurper - a gift from his sister. Raskolnikov then experienced hatred for a harmful and insignificant old woman who profited from someone else's misfortune. The old woman also causes negative feelings in the reader: she looks at the visitor incredulously, not wanting to let him in at first, her eyes sparkle! in the dark, she coughs and groans, and her neck resembles a "chicken leg". And now Raskolnikov had an idea that led him to a crime.

He accidentally hears a conversation between a student and an officer about "a stupid, senseless, insignificant, evil, sick old woman, useless to anyone and, on the contrary, harmful to everyone." The student says that the murder of the old woman will not be a crime: "One death and one hundred lives in return - why, there is arithmetic!" These words are engraved in Rodion's memory.

Then, in the tavern, Raskolnikov listens to the confession of a drunken Marmeladov and learns about his daughter Sonechka, who sells herself to save the family. The story of Sonya Marmeladova echoes the fate of Dunya, Raskolnikov's sister, who gives her hand to an unloved person for the sake of "invaluable Rodi". The symbols of eternal sacrifice appear before the hero's imagination: "Sonechka, Sonechka Marmeladova, eternal Sonechka, as long as the world stands!" Dostoevsky crime punishment novel

The circumstances of external life and the ideological impulses of the hero result in an integral philosophy of the "right" of the newly-minted Napoleon. If Pushkin's Herman from The Queen of Spades is a man of action, whose passion for wealth turns into an obsession, then Raskolnikov is not like that. In Dostoevsky's hero, on the contrary, the idea becomes a passion. He lives by his idea, hones it, for the sake of it he makes a terrible "experiment". But a false idea cannot serve as an integral personality, therefore it introduces a split in the inner world of a person. It was no accident that the writer chose the name Raskolnikov for his hero.

Raskolnikov lives a kind of double life: real and logically abstract. It is difficult for him to distinguish reality from delirium. Internal foundations in it are destroyed. He appears to be a morally devastated person even before the crime, because he mentally more than once commits the murder of the old woman-pawnbroker. Raskolnikov comes to the conclusion that it is he who will "take the blood upon himself." He thinks he has the right to do so. The idol of Rodion is a lord who knows no doubt. His ideal is freedom and "power over the anthill",

The desire to establish himself in this thought leads Rodion to a crime in life. The moment of the murder is the beginning of the collapse of Raskolnikov's theory. The whole month, from murder to confession, the hero of the novel experiences moral torment, fights with himself. It does not immediately come to him to understand the horror of what he had done. At first, Rodion is tormented by the question: could he cross the line that separates man from the "trembling creature." It is difficult for him to comprehend everything alone, and Raskolnikov goes to people, tells his life to Sonya. Sonya makes Rodion look at his deed in a new way.

Sonechka Marmeladova denies the hero the right to decide human fate, to be a judge who gives the right to life or brings death. Raskolnikov begins to realize the fallacy of his idea: "Walking the same road, I would never repeat the murder." Rodion is ruining not the old woman, but himself.

Raskolnikov's theory is collapsing rapidly. He talks about the murder to Svidrigailov, but he is only amazed why Raskolnikov is suffering. "We are of the same berry field," says Svidrigailov, horrifying the poor young man. Svidrigailov believes that Raskolnikov has taken up not his own business, that he is not a murderer in his character. Just as the philosophy of Luzhin, who is able to trample and morally destroy a person, so the cynicism of Svidrigailov deeply outrages Raskolnikov. He is indignant: "... Bring to the consequences that you just preached, and it turns out that people can be cut." But Rodion's theory also allows blood to be shed. And then Raskolnikov finally realizes that he has committed a crime.

Dostoevsky revealed the destructive effect of a false, individualistic idea on human consciousness. Thus, not only the "environment" is capable of influencing a person's actions, but a thought, an idea. Outrage at social injustice received a perverse, false decision. Raskolnikov's protest against the universal grief turned into an egoistic self-affirmation, an anarchic rebellion. Dostoevsky showed that the bourgeois philosophy of individualism leads to crime.

The idea of ​​evil in the name of good is failing. Raskolnikov's confession opens the way to the salvation of the human soul. Rodion's mental anguish, which leads to repentance, helps him avoid the fate of Svidrigailov. Raskolnikov goes to hard labor. He is still morally ill, he has a lot to go through and comprehend in order to heal his soul, to come to an understanding of the true value of man, the idea of ​​universal good.

This is Raskolnikov's path from crime to punishment. Dostoevsky contrasts the terrible theory of the superman with the ideals of humanism, love and forgiveness. In moral perfection, the writer sees the ideal of a person and a society in which there is no place for violence and evil.

There is a story about the last days of Dostoevsky's life by his wife Anna Grigorievna Snitkina. On the night of January 25-26, Dostoevsky, wanting to get the fallen insert with a feather, moved the heavy bookcase, after which his throat began to bleed. At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the bleeding recurred. Alarmed, Anna Grigorievna sent for a doctor. When the doctor began to tap the patient's chest, the bleeding was repeated and so severe that Fyodor Mikhailovich lost consciousness. When the writer came to his senses, he asked to immediately call the priest. The doctor assured that there was no particular danger, but in order to calm the patient down, his wife fulfilled his wish. Half an hour later, the priest of the Vladimir Church was already with them. Fyodor Mikhailovich calmly and good-naturedly met the priest, confessed for a long time and received Communion. When the priest left, and the wife and children entered the study, he blessed his wife and children, asked them to love each other. The night passed quietly. On the morning of January 28, Anna Grigorievna, waking up at seven in the morning, saw Dostoevsky looking in her direction. When asked about his state of health, he replied: "You know, Anya, I have not slept for three hours and I keep thinking, and I realize clearly that I will die today ..." terrible anxiety - after all, you are better now, the blood does not go anymore ... You will still live, I assure you ... "" No, I know, I must die today. Light a candle, Anya, and give me the Gospel. " This was the same Gospel that the wives of the Decembrists gave him back in Tobolsk. Fyodor Mikhailovich did not part with this book all the time he was in hard labor. He often, thinking or doubting about something, opened this Gospel at random and read what was on the first page (to the left of the reader). And now Dostoevsky wanted to test his doubts. He himself opened the holy book and asked to read it. The Gospel of Matthew was opened, ch. 3, v. 14-15. ("John restrained Him and said: I need to be baptized by You, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him: do not restrain; for this is how we must fulfill all righteousness") "You hear -" do not restrain ", - so, I will die, - said the husband and closed the book ... "Fyodor Mikhailovich began to console his wife, thanked for the happy life that he lived with her. Then he said the words that a rare husband could say to his wife after fourteen years of marriage: "Remember, Anya, I have always loved you dearly and have never cheated on you, even mentally!" At about 9 am he fell asleep, but at 11 o'clock he woke up, got up from the pillow, the bleeding resumed. Several times he whispered to his wife: "Call the children." Children came, kissed him and, at the order of the doctor, immediately left. About two hours before his death, when the children came to his call, Dostoevsky ordered to give the Gospel to his son Fedya ... In the evening many people gathered, waiting for Professor D.I. Koshlakov. Suddenly Fyodor Mikhailovich shuddered, rose slightly on the sofa, and a streak of blood painted his face again. Dostoevsky was unconscious, the children and his wife were on their knees at his head and wept, holding back with all their might from loud sobs, as the doctor warned that the last feeling that leaves a person is hearing, and any violation of the silence can slow down the agony and prolong the suffering dying. "I felt that my pulse was beating weaker and weaker. At 8 hours 28 minutes in the evening, Fyodor Mikhailovich departed for eternity." It happened on January 28 (February 9), 1881. On February 1, 1881, with a huge crowd of people, the writer was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra of St. Petersburg. Anna Grigorievna recalled that Dostoevsky wanted to be buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in St. Petersburg, but the Lavra offered any place for his burial in its cemeteries. A representative of the lavra said that monasticism "asks to be accepted for free and will consider it an honor if the ashes of Dostoevsky, who zealously stood for the Orthodox faith, rests within the walls of the lavra." The place was found near the graves of Zhukovsky and Karamzin. The funeral procession left Dostoevsky's house at about 11 o'clock in the morning, but only after two o'clock in the afternoon reached the laurel. The coffin was carried by the family and friends of the writer. The procession was opened by students of all St. Petersburg educational institutions, then there were artists, actors, a deputation from Moscow: "a long line of wreaths carried on poles, numerous choirs of youth, singing funeral chants, a coffin that rose high above the crowd, and a huge mass of several tens of thousands. people who followed the cortege ". The procession was attended by up to 60 thousand people. The Tikhvin cemetery was so crowded that "people climbed the monuments, sat in the trees, clung to the trellises, and the procession moved slowly, passing under the wreaths leaning on both sides." According to A.P. Milyukov, Dostoevsky "were not buried by relatives, not friends - he was buried by Russian society." In 1883, a monument was erected on the grave (architect Kh.K. Vasiliev, sk. N.A. Laveretsky). And in 1968, next to the writer, the ashes of Anna Grigorievna (1846-1918), who died in Yalta, and her grandson, A.F. Dostoevsky (1908-1968). Other relatives of the writer - brother Andrey Mikhailovich (1825-1897), nephews Alexander Andreyevich (1857-1894) and Andrey Andreyevich (1863-1933) and niece Varvara Andreyevna Savostyanova (1858-1935) are buried in the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery. Despite the fame that Dostoevsky received at the end of his life, truly enduring, worldwide fame came to him after his death. In particular, even Friedrich Nietzsche admitted that Dostoevsky was the only one who was able to explain to him what human psychology is.

In the work of Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" there are many female images. There is a whole gallery of them. These are Sonechka Marmeladova, killed by the circumstances of Katerina Ivanovna, Alena Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta. These images play an important role in the work.

Sonya Marmeladova - the main character

One of the main female characters in the novel Crime and Punishment is Sonya Marmeladova. The girl was the daughter of an official who drank himself and subsequently could no longer support his family. Due to the constant abuse of alcohol, he is fired from his job. In addition to his own daughter, he has a second wife and three children. The stepmother was not angry, but poverty acted depressingly on her, and sometimes she blamed her stepdaughter for her troubles.

And Raskolnikov decides to dwell on this idea. After all, he likes this explanation more than any other. If the main character had not seen such a crazy woman in Sonya, then perhaps he would not have told her about his secret. At first, he just cynically challenged her humility, saying that he had killed only for his own sake. Sonya does not answer his words until Raskolnikov directly asks her the question: "What should I do?"

The combination of the low way and Christian faith

The role of female characters in Crime and Punishment, especially Sonechka, cannot be underestimated. After all, gradually the main character begins to adopt Sonya's way of thinking, to understand that she is not really a prostitute - she does not spend the money she earned in a shameful way on herself. Sonya sincerely believes that as long as the life of her family depends on her earnings, the Lord will not allow her illness or madness. Paradoxically, FM Dostoevsky was able to show how she combines the Christian faith with a completely unacceptable, terrible way of life. And the faith of Sonya Marmeladova is deep, and does not, like many, only formal religiosity.

A school homework assignment for literature may sound like this: "Analyze the female characters in the novel Crime and Punishment." Preparing information about Sonya, it must be said that she is a hostage of the circumstances in which life put her. She had little choice. She could stay hungry, watching her family suffer from hunger, or start selling her own body. Of course, her act is reprehensible, but otherwise she could not act. Looking at Sonya from the other side, you can see the heroine who is ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of her loved ones.

Katerina Ivanova

Katerina Ivanovna is also one of the important female characters in the novel Crime and Punishment. She is a widow left alone with three children. She has a proud and ardent disposition. Due to hunger, she was forced to marry an official - a widower who has a daughter, Sonya. He takes her as a wife only out of compassion. She has been trying all her life to find ways to feed her children.

The environment seems to Katerina Ivanovna to be a real hell. She is very painfully wounded by human meanness, which comes across almost at every step. She does not know how to be silent and endure, as her stepdaughter Sonya does. A sense of justice is well developed in Katerina Ivanovna, and it is this that pushes her to decisive actions.

What is the hard part of the heroine

Katerina Ivanovna is of noble birth. She comes from a ruined noble family. And for this reason, it is much harder for her than for her husband and stepdaughter. And this is not only due to everyday difficulties - Katerina Ivanovna does not have the same outlet as Semyon and his daughter. Sonya has consolation - this is prayer and the Bible; her father can forget himself for a while in the tavern. Katerina Ivanovna differs from them in the passion of her nature.

The ineradicability of Katerina Ivanovna's self-esteem

Her behavior suggests that love cannot eradicate any difficulties from the human soul. When an official dies, Katerina Ivanovna says that this is for the better: "The loss is less." But at the same time, she takes care of the patient, straightens the pillows. Also, love connects her with Sonya. At the same time, the girl herself does not condemn her stepmother, who once pushed her to such unseemly actions. Rather, on the contrary - Sonya seeks to protect Katerina Ivanovna in front of Raskolnikov. Later, when Luzhin accuses Sonya of stealing money, Raskolnikov has the opportunity to observe how Katerina Ivanovna protects Sonya with zeal.

How her life ended

The female images of "Crime and Punishment", despite the variety of characters, are distinguished by a deeply dramatic fate. Poverty drives Katerina Ivanovna to consumption. However, self-esteem does not die in her. FM Dostoevsky emphasizes that Katerina Ivanovna was not one of those who were killed. Despite the circumstances, it was impossible to break the moral principle in her. The desire to feel like a full-fledged person made Katerina Ivanovna arrange an expensive commemoration.

Katerina Ivanovna is one of the most proud female characters of Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment. The great Russian writer constantly strives to emphasize this quality of her: "she did not deign to answer", "she examined her guests with dignity." And along with the ability to respect herself, another quality lives in Katerina Ivanovna - kindness. She realizes that after the death of her husband, she is doomed to starvation with her children. Contradicting himself, Dostoevsky refutes the concept of consolation, which can lead humanity to well-being. The end of Katerina Ivanovna is tragic. She runs to the general to beg for help, but the doors are closed in front of her. There is no hope of salvation. Katerina Ivanovna goes to beg. Her image is deeply tragic.

Female images in the novel "Crime and Punishment": the old woman-pawnbroker

Alena Ivanovna is a dry old woman about 60 years old. She has evil eyes and a pointed nose. Hair, which has turned gray a little, is abundantly oiled. On a thin and long neck, which can be compared with a chicken leg, there is a rag of some sort. The image of Alena Ivanovna in the work is a symbol of a completely useless existence. After all, she takes someone else's property at interest. Alena Ivanovna takes advantage of the plight of other people. By assigning a high percentage, she is literally stealing from others.

The image of this heroine should arouse a feeling of disgust in the reader and serve as a mitigating circumstance in assessing the murder committed by Raskolnikov. However, according to the idea of ​​the great Russian writer, this woman also has the right to be called a man. And violence against her, like against any living being, is a crime against morality.

Lizaveta Ivanovna

Analyzing female images in the novel "Crime and Punishment", mention should be made of Lizaveta Ivanovna. This is the younger half-sister of the old woman-pawnbroker - they were from different mothers. The old woman constantly kept Lizaveta in "complete enslavement." This heroine is 35 years old, by her origin she is a bourgeois family. Lizaveta is an awkward girl of fairly tall stature. Her character is quiet and meek. She works for her sister all day and night. Lizaveta suffers from mental retardation, and because of her dementia, she is almost constantly pregnant (it can be concluded that people of low morality use Lizaveta for their own purposes). Together with her sister, the heroine dies at the hands of Raskolnikov. Although she is ugly, many people like her image.

First he learns about her from the story-confession of Marmeladov in the "drinking room": "Katerina Ivanovna, my wife, is an educated person and a born headquarters officer's daughter. Let, let me be a scoundrel, she is full of a high heart and feelings, ennobled by upbringing.<...>And although I myself understand that when she fights my whirlwinds, she fights them only out of pity of the heart.<...>Do you know, do you know, my sir, that I even drank her stockings on drink? Not shoes, sir, for though that would be in the least bit like the order of things, but her stockings, her stockings had been cut off, sir! I also drank her little braid made of goat down, a gift, the old one, her own, not mine; but we live in a cold coal, and this winter she caught a cold and went coughing, already with blood. We have three little children, and Katerina Ivanovna at work from morning to night scrapes and washes and washes the children, for she has become accustomed to cleanliness since childhood, but with weak breasts and inclined consumption, and I feel it.<...> You should know that my wife was brought up in a noble provincial noble institute and, when she graduated, she danced with a shawl in the presence of the governor and in front of other persons, for which she received a gold medal and a certificate of commendation. The medal ... well, the medal was sold ... a long time ago ... um ... the certificate of commendation is still in their chest, and until recently I showed it to the mistress. And although she had the most uninterrupted quarrels with the mistress, at least she wanted to be proud of someone and report on the happy days gone by. And I do not condemn, I do not condemn, for this last thing remained with her in her memories, and the rest all went to dust! Yes Yes; the lady is hot, proud and unyielding. The floor washes herself and sits on black bread, but she will not tolerate disrespect for herself. That is why the rudeness of Mr. Lebezyatnikov did not want to let him down, and when Mr. Lebezyatnikov nailed her for that, it was not so much from beatings as from feeling that she fell into bed. The widow has already taken her, with three children, small, small. She married her first husband, an infantry officer, out of love, and with him fled from her parents' house. She loved her husband excessively, but he started playing cards, got on trial, and died with that. He beat her at the end; and although she did not let him down, which I know for certain and from documents, she still remembers him with tears and reproaches me with it, and I am glad, I am glad, because although in her imaginations she sees herself once happy. And she stayed after him with three young children in a distant and brutal district, where I was then, and remained in such hopeless poverty that although I had seen many different adventures, I was not even able to describe. Relatives all refused. Yes, and she was proud, too proud ... And then, my dear sir, then I, too, a widower, and having a fourteen-year-old daughter from my first wife, offered my hand, for I could not look at such suffering. You can judge because to what extent her misfortunes reached that she, educated and brought up and with a well-known surname, agreed to go for me! But she went! Crying and sobbing and wringing my hands - let's go! For there was nowhere to go. Do you understand, do you understand, my dear sir, what it means when there is nowhere else to go? No! You still don't understand this ... And for a whole year I performed my duty piously and sacredly and did not touch it (he jabbed his finger at the half-duster), for I have a feeling. But this could not please either; but here he lost his place, and also not through fault, but due to a change in the states, and then he touched! .. A year and a half ago, we finally found ourselves, after wanderings and numerous disasters, in this magnificent capital decorated with numerous monuments. And here I got a place ... I got it and lost it again. Do you understand, sir? Here I have already lost it through my own fault, for my line has come ... We are now living in the coal, with the mistress Amalia Fyodorovna Lippevekhzel, and I don’t know how we live and what we pay. Many live there and besides us ... Sodom, sir, the ugliest ... um ... yes ... And in the meantime my daughter also grew up, from her first marriage, and what only she, my daughter, endured from her stepmother growing, I keep silent about that. For although Katerina Ivanovna is full of generous feelings, the lady is hot and irritated, and she will cut off ... "
Raskolnikov, taking the drunken Marmeladov home, and saw his wife with his own eyes: “It was a terribly thin woman, thin, rather tall and slender, still with beautiful dark blond hair and really flushed cheeks. She walked up and down her small room, her hands clasped on her chest, with parched lips, and breathing unevenly, irregularly. Her eyes glittered as if in a fever, but her gaze was sharp and motionless, and this consumptive and agitated face produced a painful impression, in the last illumination of a burning cinder that trembled on her face. She seemed to Raskolnikov about thirty years old, and really was not a match for Marmeladov ... She did not listen to the incoming people and did not see them. The room was stuffy, but she did not open the window; there was a stench from the stairs, but the door to the stairs was not closed; waves of tobacco smoke rushed from the interior through the open door, she coughed, but did not close the door. The smallest girl, about six years old, slept on the floor, somehow sitting, curled up and buried her head in the sofa. The boy, a year older than her, was trembling all over in the corner and crying. It probably just got nailed. The eldest girl, about nine years old, tall and thin as a match, in one slender shirt that was torn everywhere and in a shabby Dra-Dama burnusik thrown over her bare shoulders, sewn to her probably two years ago, because it did not even reach her knees now, stood in in the corner next to the little brother, clasping his neck with my long, dry hand like a match ... "
Katerina Ivanovna herself adds a few touches to her portrait and biography in the scene of her husband's commemoration in a conversation with Raskolnikov: “Having amused herself, Katerina Ivanovna immediately got carried away with various details and suddenly started talking about how, with the help of the secured pension, she would certainly start in her hometown T ... boarding house for noble maidens. This had not yet been reported to Raskolnikov by Katerina Ivanovna herself, and she was immediately carried away by the most seductive details. It is not known how she suddenly found herself in her hands the same "commendation sheet" about which the deceased Marmeladov informed Raskolnikov, explaining to him in the tavern that Katerina Ivanovna, his wife, upon graduation from the institute, danced with a shawl "in the presence of the governor and with other persons "<...>it really was indicated,<...>that she is the daughter of a court councilor and gentleman, and therefore, in fact, almost a colonel's daughter. Inflamed, Katerina Ivanovna immediately spread about all the details of the future beautiful and quiet life in T ...; about the gymnasium teachers whom she will invite for lessons at her boarding school; about one venerable old man, the Frenchman Mango, who taught Katerina Ivanovna the very same French at the institute and who is still living out his days in T ... and, probably, will go to her for a very similar fee. Finally, it came to Sonya, "who will go to T ... together with Katerina Ivanovna and will help her in everything" ... "
Alas, the dreams and plans of the poor widow were not destined to come true: literally in a few minutes, the dispute with the mistress would develop into a furious scandal, then a monstrous scene would take place with Sonya being accused of theft, and Katerina Ivanovna could not stand it, grab the children in her arms and go out into the street, finally go mad and die in Sonya's room, where they manage to transfer her. The picture of her death is terrible and deeply symbolic: “- Enough! .. It's time! .. Farewell, poor wretch! .. They drove away the nag! .. - She shouted desperately and hatefully and banged her head on the pillow.
She forgot herself again, but this last forgetting did not last long. Her pale yellow, withered face tilted backward, her mouth opened, her legs stretched convulsively. She took a deep, deep breath and died ... "

PEACE HEROES OF DOSTOEVSKY

("Crime and Punishment")

Alena Ivanovna- a collegiate receptionist, a pawnbroker, “... a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty, with keen and evil eyes, with a small pointed nose ... Her fair-haired, slightly gray hair was greased with oil. On her thin and long neck, like a chicken leg, there was some kind of flannel rags, and on her shoulders, despite the heat, dangled all the frayed and yellowed fur katsaveika. " Her image should be disgusting and thus, as it were, partly justify the idea of ​​Raskolnikov, who carries her mortgages and then kills her. The character is a symbol of a worthless and even harmful life. However, according to the author, she is also a person, and violence against her, as against any person, even in the name of noble goals, is a crime of the moral law.

Amalia Ivanovna(Amalia Lyudvigovna, Amalia Fedorovna) - the apartment owner of the Marmeladovs, as well as Lebeziatnikov and Luzhin. She is in constant conflict with Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova, who in moments of anger calls her Amalia Ludwigovna, which causes her sharp irritation. Invited to Marmeladov's funeral, she reconciles with Katerina Ivanovna, but after the scandal provoked by Luzhin orders her to move out of the apartment.

Zametov Alexander Grigorievich- clerk in the police office, comrade Razumikhina. "About twenty-two years old, with a swarthy and mobile face, looking older than her ice, dressed in fashion and a veil, with a parting on the back of the head, combed and anointed, with many rings and rings on white brushed fingers and gold chains on a vest." Together with Razumikhin, he comes to Raskolnikov during his illness immediately after the murder of the old woman. He suspects Raskolnikov, although he pretends that he is simply interested in him. Accidentally meeting him in a tavern, Raskolnikov teases him with a conversation about the murder of an old woman, and then suddenly stuns him with a question: "What if it was I who killed the old woman and Lizaveta?" Pushing these two characters together, Dostoevsky compares two different modes of existence - the intense search for Raskolnikov and the well-fed philistine vegetation like Zametovsky.

Zosimov- Doctor, friend of Razumikhin. He is twenty-seven years old. "... A tall and fat man, with a puffy and colorless pale, smooth-shaven face, with straight blond hair, glasses and a large gold ring on a finger swollen with fat." Self-confident, knows his own worth. "His manner was slow, as if sluggish and at the same time haggardly cheeky." Brought by Razumikhin during Raskolnikov's illness, he later took an interest in his condition. He suspects insanity in Raskolnikov and does not see anything further, absorbed in his idea.

Ilya Petrovich (Gunpowder)- "a lieutenant, an assistant to the district overseer, with a reddish mustache sticking out horizontally on both sides and with extremely small features, however, nothing special, except for some insolence, did not express." With the summoned to the police about non-payment of the promissory note, Raskolnikov is rude and aggressive, causing a protest and provoking a scandal. During his confession, Raskolnikov finds him in a more benevolent mood and therefore does not dare to confess right away, comes out and only the second time makes a confession, which throws I.P. into shock.

Katerina Ivanovna- wife of Marmeladov. From among the "humiliated and insulted." Thirty years old. A thin, rather tall and slender woman, with fine dark blond hair, with consumptive spots on her cheeks. Her gaze is sharp and motionless, her eyes shine as if in a fever, her lips are parched, her breathing is uneven and intermittent. The daughter of a court counselor. She was brought up at the provincial noble institute, graduated with a gold medal and a certificate of merit. She married an infantry officer and fled with him from her parents' house. After his death, she was left with three young children in poverty. As Marmeladov describes her, "... the lady is hot, proud and unyielding." Compensates for feelings of humiliation with fantasies in which she herself believes. In fact, he forces his stepdaughter Sonechka to go to the panel, and after that, feeling guilty, they bow before her self-sacrifice and suffering. After the death of Marmeladov, he arranges a memorial service for the last money, in every possible way trying to demonstrate that her husband and she herself are quite respected people. Constantly in conflict with the landlady Amalia Ivanovna. Despair deprives her of her sanity, she takes the children and leaves home to beg, forcing them to sing and dance, and soon dies.

Lebezyatnikov Andrey Semyonovich- a ministerial official. “... A thin and scrofulous man, small in stature, who served somewhere and strangely blond, with sideburns in the form of cutlets, of which he was very proud. Moreover, his eyes hurt almost constantly. His heart was rather soft, but his speech was very self-confident, and sometimes even extremely arrogant - which, in comparison with his figure, almost always came out funny. The author says about him that he “... was one of that countless and variegated legion of vulgarities, dead bums and all half-educated tyrants who instantly stick to the most fashionable walking idea in order to immediately vulgarize it in order to instantly caricature everything they sometimes serve in the most sincere way. " Luzhin, trying to join the newest ideological trends, actually chooses L. as his "mentor" and expounds his views. L. is insane, but kind in character and in his own way honest: when Luzhin puts a hundred rubles in Sonya's pocket to accuse her of theft, L. exposes him. The image is somewhat caricatured.

Lizaveta- the younger, half-sister of the pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna. "... A tall, awkward, timid and humble girl, almost an idiot, thirty-five years old," who was in complete slavery to her sister, worked for her day and night, trembled in front of her and even endured beatings from her. " Before the murder, she knew Raskolnikov, washed his shirts, was also on friendly terms with Sonechka Marmeladova, with whom she even exchanged crosses. the pawnbroker will remain at home alone at seven o'clock the next day. meek, unrequited, agreeable, agreeable to everything "and therefore constantly pregnant. During the murder of the pawnbroker L. unexpectedly returns home and also becomes a victim of Raskolnikov. Sonya is reading to Raskolnikov.

Luzhin Petr Petrovich- the type of businessman and "capitalist". He is forty-five years old. Prim, dignified, with a cautious and grumpy face. Gloomy and arrogant. He wants to open a law office in St. Petersburg. Having got out of insignificance, he highly values ​​his mind and abilities, he is used to admiring himself. However, L. values ​​money the most. He defends progress "in the name of science and economic truth." He preaches from hearsay, which he has heard enough from his friend Lebezyatnikov, from young progressives: “Science says: love, first of all, one yourself, for everything in the world is based on personal interest ... a society of organized private affairs ... all the more solid foundations for it, and all the more the common business is arranged in it ”.

Struck by the beauty and education of Dunya Raskolnikova, L. proposes to her. His pride is flattered by the thought that a noble girl who has experienced many misfortunes will be in awe of him and obey him all her life. In addition, L. hopes that "the charm of a charming, virtuous and educated woman" will help his career. In St. Petersburg, L. lives with Lebezyatnikov - with the aim of "running ahead just in case" and "curry favor" with the youth, thereby insuring himself against any unexpected demarches on her part. Expelled by Raskolnikov and feeling hatred for him, he tries to embroil his mother and sister with him, provoke a scandal: during the commemoration for Marmeladov, he gives Sonechka ten rubles, and then imperceptibly puts another hundred rubles in her pocket, in order to publicly accuse her of theft a little later. Unmasked by Lebeziatnikov, he is forced to retire shamefully.

Marmeladov Semyon Zakharovich- Titular Counselor, Sonechka's father. “He was a man over fifty years old, of medium height and solid build, with gray hair and a large bald spot, with a yellow, even greenish face that was swollen from constant drunkenness and with swollen eyelids, because of which tiny, like slits, but animated reddish eyes. But there was something very strange about him; his gaze seemed to be glowing with even ecstasy - perhaps there was both meaning and intelligence - but at the same time there was a glimpse of madness. " Lost his place "on the change of states" and from that moment began to drink.

Raskolnikov meets with M. in a tavern, where he tells him his life and confesses his sins - that he drinks and drank his wife's things, that his own daughter Sonechka, because of poverty and his drunkenness, went to the panel. Realizing all his insignificance and deeply repenting, but not having the strength to overcome himself, the hero nevertheless tries to elevate his own weakness to a world drama, flirting and even making theatrical gestures, which are intended to show his not completely lost nobility. “To be sorry! why pity me! - Marmeladov suddenly cried, standing up with his hand outstretched, in decisive inspiration, as if he was just waiting for these words ... "Twice Raskolnikov accompanies him home: the first time drunk, the second time - crushed by horses. The image is associated with one of the main themes of Dostoevsky's work - poverty and humiliation, in which a person who gradually loses his dignity and clings to him with the last of his strength perishes.

Marmeladova Sonechka- Marmeladov's daughter, a prostitute. Belongs to the "meek" category. "... Small in stature, about eighteen, thin, but pretty pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes." For the first time, the reader learns about her from Marmeladov's confession to Raskolnikov, in which he tells how S., at a critical moment for the family, went to the panel for the first time, and when she returned, gave the money to her stepmother Katerina Ivanovna and lay face down to the wall. shudder. " Katerina Ivanovna, on the other hand, stood on her knees all evening at her feet, "and then both fell asleep together, embracing." First appears in the episode with the knocked down horses Marmeladov, who before his death asks her forgiveness. Raskolnikov comes to her to confess to the murder and thus shift some of his torment onto her, for which he hates S.

The heroine is also a criminal. But if Raskolnikov transgressed through others for himself, then S. transgressed through herself for others. With her, he finds love and compassion, as well as a willingness to share his fate and carry the cross with him. She, at the request of Raskolnikov, reads him the Gospel brought by S. Lizaveta, the chapter about the resurrection of Lazarus. This is one of the most majestic scenes in the novel: "The stub has long been extinguished in a crooked candlestick, dimly illuminating in this beggarly room a murderer and a harlot, who strangely converged on reading the eternal book."

S. pushes Raskolnikov to repentance. She follows him as he goes to confess. She goes to hard labor after him. If prisoners do not like Raskolnikov, then they treat S. with love and respect. He himself is cold and alienated from her, until an insight finally comes to him, and then he suddenly realizes that there is no man closer to her on earth.

Through love for S. and through her love for him, Raskolnikov, according to the author, is resurrected to a new life. "Sonechka, Sonechka Marmeladova, eternal Sonechka, while the world stands!" - a symbol of self-sacrifice in the name of one's neighbor and endless "unsatisfied" suffering.

Marfa Petrovna- landowner, wife of Svidrigailov. The reader learns about her from a letter to Raskolnikov's mother and from the story of Svidrigailov, whom she saved from a debt prison by paying a large sum for him. When Svidrigailov began to look after Dunya Raskolnikova, who served as her governess, she kicked her out, but upon learning of her innocence, she repented and assigned her three thousand in her will. After death, the culprit (poisoning) of which Svidrigailov may have been, is to him, according to his confession, as a ghost. Nastasya is the cook and maid of the landlady of Raskolnikov. From country women, very talkative and funny. Serves Raskolnikov. At other moments of illness, hermitage and "thinking" the hero becomes his only link with the world, distracting him from the obsessive idea.

Nikodim Fomich- quarterly overseer. A prominent officer, with an open fresh face and superb thick blond whiskers. Appears during the flaring conflict between his assistant Ilya Petrovich and Raskolnikov, who came to the police office on a call for non-payment, calms both of them, is present when Raskolnikov faints, who overheard a conversation about the murder of an old woman. His second meeting with Raskolnikov takes place in the episode with Marmeladov, who was knocked down by horses.

Nikolay (Mikolka)- a dyer who repaired an apartment in the entrance of an old woman-lender. "... Very young, dressed like a commoner, average height, thin, with hair cut in a circle, with thin, as if dry features." Of the schismatics. I was with the elder under the spiritual leadership, I wanted to flee to the desert. Naive and simple at heart. Together with his partner Mitri, he is suspected of murdering an old woman. Porfiry Petrovich bursts in during the interrogation of Raskolnikov and declares that he is a “killer”. Takes on crime because he wants to accept suffering.

Porfiry Petrovich- bailiff of investigative affairs, lawyer. “... About thirty-five years old, shorter than average, full and even with an abdomen, shaved, without a mustache and sideburn, with tightly cropped hair on a large round head, somehow especially convexly rounded at the back of the head. His plump, round and slightly snub-nosed face was the color of a sick person, dark yellow, but rather cheerful and even mocking. It would even be good-natured, if it were not for the expression of the eyes, with a kind of liquid watery shine, covered with almost white blinking eyelashes, as if winking at a coma. The look of these eyes somehow strangely did not harmonize with the whole figure, which even had something of a woman's in it, and gave her something much more serious than one could expect from her the first time. "

Raskolnikov's first meeting with P.P. takes place at the apartment where Raskolnikov comes along with Razumikhin supposedly to inquire about his mortgages. A good actor, an investigator constantly provokes Raskolnikov by asking tricky and seemingly ridiculous questions. P.P. deliberately distorts the idea of ​​Raskolnikov's article about a crime, the publication of which Raskolnikov learns from him. A kind of duel takes place between P.P. and Raskolnikov. An intelligent and subtle psychologist, the investigator is really interested in Raskolnikov. He has no factual evidence against Raskolnikov, however, he harshly and purposefully leads him to confession, and only at the last moment everything breaks down due to the unexpected appearance of the dyer Mikolka, who takes upon himself the murder of the old woman. P. P. is forced to release Raskolnikov, but soon comes to him and, no longer doubting, speaks of his guilt. P.P. invites Raskolnikov to appear himself with a confession that he will ease the punishment, and he, for his part, will pretend that he did not know anything. P.P.'s attitude to Raskolnikov is ambiguous: on the one hand, he is a murderer, a criminal for him, on the other hand, he has respect for him as a person capable of looking "over the edge", experiencing an idea on himself.

Razumikhin Dmitry Prokofievich- a former student, nobleman, Raskolnikov's friend at the university. Temporarily left it due to lack of funds. “His appearance was expressive - tall, thin, always badly shaven, black-haired. Sometimes he raged and was reputed to be a strong man ... He could drink indefinitely, but he could not drink at all; sometimes he played pranks even impermissible, but he could not play pranks at all. R. was still remarkable because no setbacks never bothered him and no bad circumstances, it seemed, could crush him. "

Raskolnikov is clearly drawn to him as a person of living life, simple, whole, energetic and, most importantly, kind-hearted. He goes to him right after the murder, to ask him to find lessons for him to earn money, but in fact he is looking for a living soul that can respond to his suffering, share his torment. A good and devoted comrade, R. takes care of the sick Ras-Kolnikov, brings Doctor Zosimov to him. He also introduces Raskolnikov to his distant relative, investigator Porfiry Petrovich. Knowing about suspicions against Raskolnikov, he tries in every possible way to shield him, innocently explaining all his actions by illness. He takes Raskolnikov's mother and sister, who have come to St. Petersburg, under his wing, falls in love with Dunya and subsequently marries her.

Raskolnikov Rodion Romanovich is the main character. We correlate with Pushkin's Hermann (The Queen of Spades), Balzac's Rastignac (Father Goriot), Julien Sorel from Stendhal's novel Red and Black. Dostoevsky himself, in draft materials for the novel, compares R. with. Jean Sbogard, the hero of the novel of the same name by the French writer C. Nodier (1818). "... Remarkably good-looking, with beautiful dark eyes, dark-Russian, taller than average, thin and slender." A dreamer, romantic, proud, strong and noble person, completely absorbed in the idea. He studied at the university at the Faculty of Law, which he left due to lack of funds, as well as because of the idea that captured him. However, he still considers himself a student. At the university he had almost no comrades and was averse to everyone. He worked hard, not sparing himself, he was respected, but not loved because of his pride and arrogance. He is the author of an article in which he examines "the psychological state of the criminal throughout the entire course of the crime." The idea of ​​killing an old woman evokes in R. not only moral, but also aesthetic disgust (“The main thing: dirty, filthy, disgusting, disgusting! ..”). One of the main internal contradictions tearing the hero apart is the attraction to people and the repulsion from them.

According to the original plan of Dostoevsky, the hero succumbs to "some strange" unfinished "ideas that are in the air." This is a utilitarian morality that deduces everything from the principle of reasonable utility. Over time, the motivations for R.'s crime are clarified and deepened. They are connected with two main ideas: is it allowed to commit a small evil for the sake of a great good, does a noble end justify a criminal means? According to this concept, the hero is portrayed as a magnanimous dreamer, a humanist, eager to make all mankind happy. He has a kind and compassionate heart, wounded by the spectacle of human suffering. Trying to help the disadvantaged, he comes to the realization of his own powerlessness in the face of world evil. In despair, he decides to "violate" the moral law - to kill out of love for humanity, to do evil for the sake of good.

R. seeks power not out of vanity, but in order to effectively help people perishing in poverty and lack of rights. However, next to this idea, there is another - "Napoleonic", which is gradually coming to the fore, pushing back the first. R. divides all of humanity into “... two categories: into the lower (ordinary), that is, so to speak, into the material that serves solely for the generation of their own kind, and actually into people, that is, those who have a gift or talent. say a new word in their midst. " The first category, the minority, was born to rule and command, the second - "to live in obedience and be obedient." The main thing for him is freedom and power, which he can use as he pleases - for good or for evil. He confesses to Sonya that he killed because he wanted to know: "Do I have the right to have power?" He wants to understand: “Am I a louse, like everyone else, or a human? Will I be able to overstep or will I not be able to! Am I a trembling creature or have the right. " It is a self-test of a strong personality trying his own strength. Both ideas possess the hero's soul, tear his consciousness.

R. is the spiritual and compositional center of the novel. External action only reveals his internal struggle. He must go through a painful split, "drag all pro and contra on himself," in order to understand himself and the moral law, indissolubly connected with human essence. The hero solves the riddle of his own personality and at the same time the riddle of human nature.

At the beginning of the novel, the hero is surrounded by mystery, constantly mentions a certain "case" on which he wants to encroach. He lives in a coffin-like room. Disconnected from everyone and locked in his corner, he nurtures the idea of ​​murder. The world around him and people cease to be true reality for him. However, the "ugly dream" that he has been nursing for a month disgusts him. He does not believe that he can commit murder, and despises himself for being abstract and incapable of practical action. He goes to the old woman-pawnbroker for a trial - a place to examine and try on. He thinks about violence, and his soul writhes under the burden of world suffering, protesting against cruelty. In a dream-memory of a horse (one of the most impressive episodes), which is whipped in the eyes, the truth of his personality is revealed, the truth of the earthly moral law, which he nevertheless intends to transgress, turning away from this truth.

The hopelessness of the situation pushes him to the implementation of the idea. From a letter to his mother, he learns that his beloved sister Dunya, in order to save him and herself from poverty and hunger, is going to sacrifice herself by marrying the businessman Luzhin. Reasonably accepting the idea, but resisting it with his soul, he at first renounces his plan. He prays as in childhood and seems to be freed from obsession. However, his triumph is premature: the idea has already penetrated into the subconscious and gradually again takes possession of his entire being. R. no longer controls his life: the idea of ​​rock is steadily leading him to crime. By chance, on Sennaya Square, he hears that tomorrow at seven o'clock the old woman-pawnbroker will be left alone.

After the murder of the old woman and her sister Lizaveta, R. experiences the deepest emotional turmoil. Crime puts him “on the other side of good and evil”, separates him from humanity, surrounds him with an icy desert. "A gloomy sensation of painful, endless solitude and alienation suddenly consciously affected his soul." He has a fever, he is close to insanity and even wants to commit suicide. He tries to pray and laughs at himself. Laughter gives way to despair. Dostoevsky emphasizes the motive of the hero's alienation from people: they seem disgusting to him and cause "... endless, almost physical disgust." Even with those closest to him, he cannot speak, feeling the insurmountable border between them. Nevertheless, he goes to his former university acquaintance Razumikhin, helps the family of Marmeladov, crushed by horses, giving the last money received from his mother.

At some point, R. seems that he is able to live with this black spot on his conscience, that the old life is over, that finally "the kingdom of reason and light will prevail now ... and will, and strength ...". Pride and self-confidence are reawakened in him. With the last of his strength, he tries to fight the investigator Porfiry Petrovich, feeling that he seriously suspects him. At the very first meeting with Porfiry Petrovich, explaining his article, he expounds the idea of ​​"extraordinary people" who have the right to "... allow their conscience to step over ... over other obstacles, and only if the implementation of the idea ( sometimes salutary, maybe for all mankind) will require it. " In a conversation with the investigator, R. firmly answers his question that he believes in God and in the resurrection of Lazarus. However, when meeting with Sonya, he gloatingly objected to her: "Yes, maybe there is no God at all?" He, like many of Dostoevsky's heroes and ideologists, is more likely to rush between faith and unbelief than to really believe or not to believe.

Tired of “theory” and “dialectics,” R. begins to realize the value of ordinary life: “No matter how you live, just live! What a truth! Lord, what a truth! A scoundrel man! And a scoundrel is the one who calls him a scoundrel for this. " He, who wanted to be an "extraordinary person" worthy of true life, is ready to put up with a simple and primitive existence. His pride is crushed: no, he is not Napoleon, with whom he constantly correlates himself, he is just an “aesthetic louse”. Instead of Toulon and Egypt -

"Skinny ugly receptionist", but even that is enough for him to fall into despair. R. laments that he should have known about himself in advance, about his weakness, before going to "bloody". He is not able to bear the gravity of the crime alone and confesses him to Sonechka. On her advice, he wants to repent publicly - he kneels in the middle of Haymarket, but he still cannot say "I have killed." He goes to the office and confesses. In hard labor, R. is sick for a long time, which is caused by wounded pride, but, not wanting to accept, continues to remain alienated from everyone. He has an apocalyptic dream: some "trichines" that infiltrate the souls of people, make them consider themselves the main bearers of truth, as a result of which universal enmity and mutual extermination begins. He is resurrected to a new life by the love of Sonechka that has finally reached his heart and his own love for her.

In the unfolding controversy around "Crime and Punishment" and, in particular, the image of R., one can single out the article by D.I. the inhumanity and unnaturalness of the existing system. In the article by the critic N. Strakhov "Our graceful literature" (1867), the idea is highlighted that Dostoevsky brought out in the person of R. a new image of a "nihilist", depicting "... nihilism is not as a miserable and wild phenomenon, but in a tragic form as a distortion of the soul, accompanied by cruel suffering. " Strakhov saw in R. the trait of a "true Russian man" - a kind of religiosity with which he indulges in his idea, the desire to reach "to the end, to the edge of the road on which his lost mind led him."

Raskolnikova Dunya (Avdotya Romanovna)- Raskolnikov's sister. A proud and noble girl. “Remarkably good-looking - tall, surprisingly slender, strong, self-confident, which was expressed in every gesture of her and that, incidentally, did not take away from her movements softness and grace. Her face looked like her brother, but she could even be called a beauty. Her hair was dark blond, a little lighter than that of her brother; eyes are almost black, sparkling, proud and at the same time, sometimes, for minutes, unusually kind. She was pale, but not painfully pale; her face shone with freshness and health. Her mouth was a little small, but the lower lip, fresh and scarlet, protruded slightly forward, along with the chin - the only irregularity in this beautiful face, but giving it a special character and, by the way, as if arrogance. "