Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступле́ние и наказа́ние, romanization Prestupléniye i nakazániye) is a novel of a psychological nature written by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was published for the first time, in installments, in the magazine The Russian Messenger, between 1866 and 1867, in twelve parts, and later published as a book. Together with War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, is considered one of the most influential and international novels in Russian literature. Likewise, the dialogues between the protagonist, Raskolnikov, and the police inspector are considered by some authors, such as the prestigious writer Stefan Zweig, one of the tops of universal literature.

Structure

The novel Crime and Punishment is divided into six parts plus the epilogue. Much has been said about the notion of dualism in the work, suggesting the existence of a certain degree of symmetry in it. The key episodes are distributed first in one half and then again in the other. Edward Wasiolek resembles the structure of Crime and Punishment with a "squashed X": and an open x

Parts I-III present to the originally rational and proud Raskólnikov: Parts IV-VI, to the emerging irrational and humble Raskólnikov. The first part of the novel shows the progressive destruction of the principle governing its character; the last, the progressive birth of a new principle. The moment of change is drawn to the same half of the novel

Edward Wasiolek, On the Structure of Crime and Punishment in: PMLA, March 1959, vol. LXXIV, No. 1, 132-133.

Raskólnikov and Marmeládov. By Mikhail Petróvich Klodt, representation of the work Crime and Punishment which is considered by some critics as the masterpiece of Dostoyevski and is undoubtedly one of the best known.

Crime and Punishment is written in the third person, through an omniscient narrator. The main perspective is that of Raskolnikov, occasionally switching to that of Svidrigailov, Razumikhin, and Dunya.

Puns on words

Dostoevsky uses puns in Crime and Punishment, playing especially with polysemy.

In the original Russian text, the reader can see the double meaning in the names of the main characters, which cannot be seen in the translations.

Summary

The story follows the life of Rodion Raskolnikov, a student in the capital of Imperial Russia, Saint Petersburg. This young man is forced to suspend his studies due to the misery in which he finds himself involved, despite the efforts made by his mother Pulqueria and his sister Dunia to send him money. In need of financing to pay his expenses, he had turned to a vile and selfish old moneylender, in whose house he pawns some valuables.

His sister Dunia, with the intention of helping him, accepts a marriage proposal from a rich lawyer, a fact that makes her brother angry when he learns that the proposal has been accepted without having been consulted. But although he does not want to accept this help, Rodion has airs of grandeur, and in his delusions he believes he deserves a great future, even comparing himself to Napoleon. So he gets the idea to kill and rob Aliona Ivanovna, the old usurer. That idea haunts her for days, growing inside her like a seed.

Raskolnikov decides to murder the old woman, not only with the aim of robbing her -in fact, he leaves her in a hiding place and does not make use of the loot he hastily takes from the pawnbroker's house after her murder- but also because he considers her a being useless human for society, a louse that can only hinder those around her. However, Raskolnikov's position is much more complex: he has assumed that society is divided into two types of human beings; those superiors who have the right to commit crimes for the general welfare of society and those inferiors who must be subject to the laws, whose only function is the reproduction of the human race. The only moral justification that Raskolnikov's action can have is that he is a superior man, in which case he should not feel any kind of regret for his action. When he executes his plan, he is forced to also kill Lizaveta, the usurer's sister, since he surprises him at the scene of the crime.

The crime leaves Rodion in a state of great confusion. For days, he plunges into delirious fevers, caused by the act itself, wandering aimlessly and losing track of reality at times, while in others he is terribly lucid. He shows us a mind as brilliant as it is disturbed, obsessed by the act committed.

In his wanderings around St. Petersburg, Raskolnikov meets the former civil servant Marmeladov, a drinker who ends up dying, drunk, run over by a horse; and his unfortunate family, whom Raskolnikov financially helps after Marmeladov's death, with the few rubles he receives from his mother. The eldest daughter of this family, Sonia, a devoted young woman who prostitutes herself to help her stepmother and her brothers, will be the only person to whom Raskolnikov explicitly confesses her crime. The psychological culmination of the book occurs when Raskolnikov, seized with anxiety, nervous agitation and remorse, assumes that he cannot become a superior man and therefore belongs to the type of man he so despises. Raskolnikov then turns himself in to the authorities, despite the fact that there is no conclusive evidence against him and an innocent man has pleaded guilty, a victim of police pressure. He is sent to jails in Siberia to serve his sentence and Sonia (Marmeladov's daughter) goes with him to accompany him to the prison, where Raskolnikov realizes that he loves her and that he wants to finish his sentence to live with her.

The following is a summary of the most important facts of each part:

• Part one: It starts with the "assay" visit that Raskólnikov makes to the old woman's house. Then he tells the internal conflicts he has until he decides and, in the last chapter, kills the old usury.

• Part two: Most of it takes place during the illness or delirium of Raskólnikov, who is cared for by Razumijin. He starts with his visit to the police station and includes very important facts such as: when he hides the stolen, the interview with Luzhin, the interview with Zamétov, the Marmeládov accident, etc. Finish the arrival of Rodia's mother and sister to St. Petersburg.

• Part three: He starts with the hard interview between Raskólnikov and his sister and mother, then he continues with his reconciliation. A very important fact and one of the most stressful in the novel occurs in this part, the interview with the investigating judge, which tends to him several traps to Raskólnikov in order for him to confess. It ends with the sudden appearance of Svidrigáilov, the stalker of his sister.

• Part IV: Start with the strange interview between Rodia and Svidrigáilov, which lets you notice bad and strange intentions. Then the break between Dunia and her boyfriend occurs, followed by the conversation between Sonia and Raskólnikov. It concludes with another, also loaded with tension, interview with the investigating judge, who almost succeeded in bringing the confession to Raskólnikov, made avoided by a strange event.

• Fifth part: It begins with the vengeful thoughts of Luzhin, which then puts them into practice wanting to make Sonia remain as a thief so as to indispose Raskólnikov with his family. Made it was avoided by Raskólnikov and a friend of Luzhin, escaping this without re-appearing in the novel. Then Sonia fled and Raskólnikov went with her and confessed to her the crime, and then became aware of the madness and death of Sonia's stepmother. She blames when Svidrigáilov tells Rodia laughter that she heard her confession to Sonia and can sink her.

• Part 6: Raskólnikov is very thoughtful about what to do. Suddenly the investigating judge appears and tells him he is convinced of his guilt and that it is better to surrender. Then Rodia will definitely talk to Svidrigáilov to try to get his real intentions out, though he doesn't. Svidrigáilov tells Raskólnikov's sister the truth about crime and then try to rape her, but at the last moment she repents and lets her go. The next day he committed suicide. In the end, Raskólnikov fired his mother, and after talking to his sister and Sonia, he surrendered.

• Epilogue: Raskólnikov goes to Siberia sentenced to eight years of forced labour, Sonia decides to accompany him. Raskólnikov's sister marries Razumikín and then her mother dies, suffering from febrile and senile madness. Rodion in prison still has negative thoughts and feels hatred and repulsion for other prisoners. But as he spent a year, and after getting sick, he repents of everything and realizes that he loves Sonia, being over understood that after the remaining seven years, Rodion would marry Sonia and together start a new life.

Characters

• Rodion Romanovich Raskólnikov (Rodia(Родиóн Ромáнович Раскльников / Родя): is the protagonist of the novel; the story is mainly told from its perspective. He is a student who, plunged into poverty, leaves the university. He lives in a small and grim apartment in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. The title of the novel relates more to the crime committed by Raskólnikov and to his internal and personal punishment, a psychological punishment born of his internal struggle. He commits the murder by believing that he possesses sufficient force, both intellectual and individual, to endure it; he believes it is a species of Napoleon, but paranoia and guilt soon begin to devour him. Only in the epilogue his punishment is formal, when he decides to confess the crime and end his alienation. His name, which in Russian derives from "excision", is an allusion to the separation of Raskólnikov from Russian society, imposed by himself, as well as his intimate separation from personality and emotions.
• Sofia Semiónovna Marmeládova (Софья Семёновна Мармеладова): known for its diminutives Sonia or Sónechka; she is an eighteen-year-old prostitute, the oldest daughter of Marmeládov, capable of infinite sacrifices. It is shameful and his character will probably be the most punished for injustice and bad luck. However, it is the most complete and noble one. His personality is so strong that not all the worst events make him change in his line of servitial and generous person. He's still thinking about keeping his family. This behavior, as interpreted by some readers, may obey a certain complex of guilt for which it is forced to respond with acts of help and understanding.
• Porfiri Petróvich (Порфирий Петрович): judge, uncle of Razumijin, who works in the murder of the usurera. Through the talks with Raskólnikov, talks of a marked philosophical and intellectual character, he discovers who the murderer is, despite lack of proof. In the end, he urged Rodion to surrender to the authorities, after accusing him directly, in private.
• Avdotia Románovna Raskólnikova (Aвдотья Романовна Раскольникова): also known for its diminutive, Dunia, she is Raskólnikov's older sister, a modest, educated, simple, principled girl and, like Sonia, is able to sacrifice for her family. Like the rest of the female characters, he is capable of infinite sacrifices and that justifies his existence he is willing to immolate in an absurd marriage. It represents the selfless femininity. It is physically very similar to Rodion: clear, high and robust chestnut. His face is characterized by having the most prominent lower lip, which gives him a serious and safe look.
• Arkadi Ivánovich Svidrigáilov (Aркадий ванович Свидрийлов): Perhaps he is the antagonist character of the work. It reflects deep evil and moral perverty. However, in an instant of the work, when the love of his life, Dunia, points him with a weapon, he seems to try to change morally so that Dunia accepts him at his side. He is a complex character, like all of Dostoyevski, since in only a superficial analysis one can see in him pure evil. His past turns out to be extremely dark, as he is accused of having raped and murdered a blind and deaf girl, tortured and ill-treated a servant until he took him to suicide and killed his wife poisoning her. However at the end of the work, before committing a spectacular suicide, he performs works of charity with some unprotected children, in a disturbing and subjective kind of personal redemption.
• Marfa Petrovna Svidrigáilova (Mарфа Петровна Свидрийлова): is the late wife of Arkadi Svidrigáilov, who is suspected of having murdered her, and supposedly visits him in spirit form. Leave Dunia three thousand rubles in inheritance, allowing him to reject Luzhin as a fiancé.
• Dmitri Prokófich Razumijin (Demitri Прокофьич Разумихин): also called Dmitri, or Razumijin, former university partner of Raskólnikov, is a helpful, applied, competent, full of good intentions, and protector. Despite this, it is impulsive and irritable. Great communicator, has a careless and helpful character, active, full of strength and vigor; it is perhaps the only friend of Raskólnikov in all the work. In the end he ends up marrying Avdotia Románovna, sister of Raskólnikov.
• Katerina Ivánovna Marmeládova (Катерина вановна Мармеладова): the second wife of Semión Marmeládov, and stepmother of Sonia.
• Aleksándrovna Raskólnikova (Пульхерия Александровна Раскольникова): is the sacrificed mother of Rodion and Avdotia. Like all the women of this work, she is humble, patient and as a mother, she gives everything so that her children can be happy. She's a widow and forty-three years old. As for the physical traits, he has the hair tired and the cheeks sunk, but he seems to be younger than he really is.
• Piotr Petróvich Luzhin: (Пётр Петрович Lуин) is presented almost as the saviour of the family of his girlfriend, although they begin to guess their airs of dictatorial grandeur, their visions of powerful entrepreneur. She intends to marry Raskólnikov's sister, Dunia.
• Semión Zajárovich Marmeládov (Семён Zахарович Мармеладов): it is an alcoholic ex-functional, married and with five children, who has his family in misery and disease. He was hit by a carriage.
• Nastasia Petrovna (Настасья Петровна): Criada de Praskovia Pávlovna. He usually served Raskólnikov as regards food and correspondence.
• Praskovia Pávlovna (Прасковья Павловна): Patrona de Raskólnikov. Your daughter dies of tuberculosis. It demands, by means of a letter of exchange, to the police station, the payment of a debt that Raskólnikov has for the use of one of his rooms.
• Aliona Ivánovna (Aлёна Íвановна): It is an old, ugly woman, exploitative, able to take money to her own sister. His behavior is parasitic, taking advantage of the weakest, especially of students. It's the usurera, the person Raskólnikov murdered.
• Lizaveta Ivanovna (Lísāvета вановна): It is a seamstress and the sister of the usurera (also killed Raskólnikov). It's a nice, very religious girl. His figure is the one that makes us see to what extent the ruin of the usurera comes, he is a direct victim of the abuses committed by his sister and his son who died.

Analysis

The author creates complete chaos in Raskolnikov's mind because of the events experienced by the situation economically, this mental chaos becomes worse at the moment when the young man perpetrates the crime from this he finds himself facing many mental problems. Characters similar to Raskolnikov in their behavior and beliefs can be found in other works by Dostoyevsky, such as Memories from Underground or The Brothers Karamazov (he is especially similar to Ivan Karamazov from The Karamazov brothers). Raskolnikov himself produces the sufferings of him by killing the moneylender and living in such precarious conditions when he could get a job. Razumikhin, who is in the same situation as him, lives in much better conditions, however, when he offers to get the former a job, Raskolnikov refuses. Afterward, Raskolnikov arrogantly insinuates to the police that he is the murderer, both for the sake of taking the blame off himself and for the hilarity of the mind game. This makes it possible to capture and see deeply the psychological debate between good and evil and how powerful the mind is. He constantly tries to challenge the limits of what he can and cannot do to realize whether or not he is the extraordinary man he describes. on his own theory or one more loser (throughout the novel he measures his own fear, trying to reason with himself to overcome it). He constantly tries to rationalize his irrationality and paranoia as transcendental claims of his own consciousness and as a rejection of reason and rationality.

This is a common theme in existentialism; Friedrich Nietzsche, in The decline of idols, or how one philosophizes with hammer blows praises the Russian writer: "Dostoyevski, the only psychologist, by the way, from whom something could be learned, is one one of the happiest accidents of my life, even happier than Stendhal's discovery". Walter Kaufmann considers Dostoevsky's work as an inspiration for Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. On the other hand, Dostoevsky uses the character of Sonia to show that only faith can cure man's depravity, which is where he differs from other existentialists. Although this philosophy is particular to Dostoevsky, due to the aforementioned emphasis on Christianity and also on Existentialism (although whether or not it is existentialist is still debated), similar themes can be found in writers such as Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Herman Hesse or Kafka..

The novel makes biblical allusions, specifically to New Testament stories, such as that of Lazarus, whose death and resurrection can be seen as paralleling Raskolnikov's spiritual death and resurrection. It also refers to the Book of Revelations, in the dream that Raskolnikov had once already imprisoned in Siberia, regarding earthly desolation and certain plagues that affect man and that violently and disorderly transform him into a nihilistic being. And in the end, the eight-year sentence that he must serve for his crime is also the time he must pay to finally be with Sonia, in a clear allusion to the biblical story of the Israelite Jacob and the seven years he had to work to be able to pair up with Raquel.

Movie adaptations

There are more than 25 film adaptations based on Crime and Punishment. Between them:

Advertising photo of the 1935 film Josef von Sternberg: Tala Birell (1907 - 1958) and Douglass Dumbrille (1889 - 1974).

• Prestuplenie i nakazanie (1909, Russian Empire), by Vasili Goncharov (extraviated);
• Prestuplenie i nakazanie (1913, Russian Empire) of Ivan Petróvich Vronski, with Pável Orlénev and Iván Petróvich Vronsky;
• Crime and Punishment (1917, USA), Lawrence B. McGill, with Derwent Hall Caine, Marguerite Courtot and Cherrie Coleman;
• Raskolnikow (1923, Republic of Weimar), Robert Wiene, with Gregori Chmara and Maria Kryshanovskaya;
• Crime et Châtiment (1935, France), Pierre Chenal, Pierre Blanchar, Madeleine Ozeray and Marcelle Géniat;
• Crime and Punishment (1935, USA), by Josef von Sternberg, with Peter Lorre, Edward Arnold and Marian Marsh;
• Crime and punishment (1951, Mexico) by Fernando de Fuentes, with Roberto Cañedo and Lilia Prado;
• Crime et Châtiment (1956, France) by Georges Lampin, with Jean Gabin, Marina Vlady, Ulla Jakobson, Bernard Blier and Robert Hossein;
• Crime and Punishment, U.S.A (1959, USA) by Denis Sanders, with George Hamilton, Mary Murphy, Frank Silvera and Marian Seldes;
• Преступление и наказание (Crime and punishmentLev Kulidzhánov (1969, USSR), with Gueorgui Taratorkin, Innokenti Smoktunovski, Tatiana Bedova and Victoria Fiódorova;
• Crime and Punishment (1979, short film with Timothy West, Vanessa Redgrave and John Hurt);
• Rikos ja frogaistus (Crime and punishment(1983, Finland, Aki Kaurismäki);
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (Crimes and sins (1989, USA, Woody Allen);
• No compassion (1994, by Francisco José Lombardi). Based on the novel, the film was shot in Lima, Peru.
• Crime and punishment (1998) with Ben Kingsley and Patrick Dempsey.
• Crime and Punishment (2002) with Crispin Glover and Vanessa Redgrave.
• Nina. (2004, Brazil), Heitor Dhalia, with Guta Stresser, Milhem Cortaz, Anderson Faganello.
• Match Point (2005), Woody Allen
• Преступление и наказание (Crime and punishment(2007, Russia, with Vladimir Koshevói and Andréi Panin).
• Irrational Man (2015), Woody Allen