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$Unique_ID{MON00562}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime And Punishment (1866)}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Dostoyevsky, Fydor}
$Affiliation{Associate Professor Of Modern Languages, Florida State University}
$Subject{crime
punishment
raskolnikov
russian
first

}
$Date{}
$Log{}
Title:       Works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Book:        Crime and Punishment
Author:      Dostoyevsky, Fydor
Critic:      Simons, John D.
Affiliation: Associate Professor Of Modern Languages, Florida State University

Crime And Punishment (1866)

     This novel was written in 1865 and serialized the next year in The
Russian Messenger. An instant success, the book definitely reestablished its
author. The interwoven tale, a veritable odyssey through the human psyche,
left many gasping for breath. Robert Louis Stevenson remarked after reading
it: "All I can say is, it nearly finished me. It was like having an illness."
The book deals with the problems first raised in Notes from Underground.
Raskolnikov views himself as a wholly superior and independent man free to
determine his own destiny according to his own laws. He kills to prove his
freedom only to find that he is unable to exist without relating to his fellow
men. To escape his loneliness he finally confesses the crime and eventually
welcomes the punishment as a first step toward redemption. The conclusion is
somewhat forced in that Dostoyevsky nudges Raskolnikov into God's camp, saying
that freedom is a destructive force if not committed to the principles of
Christianity.

Textual Analysis: "Crime And Punishment"

Characters' Names: Pronunciation And Meaning

     The transliteration of Russian names into English is phonetic. Depending
on the translation, the author's name is spelled Dostoevsky, Dostoievsky,
Dostoyevsky, Dostoyevski, or Dostoievskij. There is no correct English
spelling as such. The Russians pronounce it dus-Toy-evsky.

     Russian middle names are patronymics, derived from the first name of the
person's father. Thus, all the children of the family will bear the same
patronymic. The masculine and feminine forms vary slightly.

     Raskolnikov, Rodion Romanovich. Rodya for short. (Raskol = split,
breaking-off. The Raskolniki is a religious sect that split off from Russian
Orthodoxy in the seventeenth century.)

Raskolnikov, Pulcheria Alexandrovna. His mother.

Raskolnikov, Avdotya Romanovna. Dunya for short. His sister.

Razumikhin, Dmitri Prokofich. His best friend. (Razum = reason.)

Alyona Ivanovna. The moneylender.

Lizaveta Ivanovna. Her sister.

Marmeladov, Semyon Zaharovich. Unemployed government clerk. (marmelad =
marmelade.)

Marmeladov, Katerina Ivanovna. His wife.

Marmeladov, Sofya Semyonovna. Sonya for short. (Greek sofya = wisdom.)

Svidrigaylov, Arkady Ivanovich. Dunya's former employer.

Luzhin, Pyotr Petrovich. Dunya's suitor.

Lebeziatnikov. Luzhin's roommate. (lebezit = sycophant, fawner.)

Lippewechsel, Amalia Ivanovna. Marmeladov's landlady. (German
Lippewechsel = someone who constantly changes his mind.)

Zossimov. Raskolnikov's doctor.

Zametov, Alexander Grigorevich. Police clerk.

Porfiry Petrovich. Examining magistrate.

A Key Concept Lost In Translation

     Prestuplenie is the Russian word for "crime." It comes from pre which
means "across" or "trans-" and stuplenie "a stepping." It is similar to the
English word "transgression." Thus the Russian concept of crime is a "stepping
across" some barrier. Dostoyevsky plays upon this concept throughout the novel
which, however, is missed in the translation since the English word "crime"
has a different etymology.

The Central Problem

     Imagine the following hypothetical situation.

     Suppose that you have made a scientific discovery of such magnitude that
once it is put into practice hunger and disease together with all the scourges
of the human condition would disappear from the face of the earth. Everywhere
peace and happiness would prevail. But in order to make your discovery known,
it is somehow necessary that you kill a hundred innocent people. Does one have
the right, or even the duty, to eliminate these people in the name of human
progress? The arithmetic is tantalizing. A hundred lives in exchange for
universal happiness.

     In many ways, this is the central problem of Crime and Punishment. The
action of the novel revolves around what happens to a young man who kills in
accordance with the principle that a wrongful act is permissible if done for
the right reasons.

     What makes Crime and Punishment a great but difficult novel is that the
author constantly forces the reader not only to reappraise his conclusions
about its central character, Raskolnikov, but also provokes him into carefully
scrutinizing his own values. The technique is simple. First, the author
enlists our sympathy for the hero by showing him as intelligent and gifted but
unable to continue at the university because of poverty. His mother goes
hungry for him and his sister is about to sell herself into voluntary
concubinage by marrying a rich blackguard. A few blocks away lives a cunning
old pawnbroker woman amassing a fortune so as to erect some monument to her
soul after death. Based on these considerations, it seems justifiable to kill
her for humanitarian reasons. The life of a worthless old hag for many useful
ones. Thus, the attacks on our sympathy is quickly transformed into an assault
on our values, our judgment. Murder suddenly appears as virtue, evil as good.
This reversal of values is in turn reinforced by Raskolnikov's "superman
theory." Laws, he declares, are made for the benefit of the ignorant
multitude, not for the highly gifted, exceptional people of superior spirit
who know what crimes benefit humanity. This theory makes the same kind of
claim on our moral system as the first motive, challenging us to reconsider
our views.

ature, but
we never laugh at him. We feel pity because we understand that he has
undergone every experience of degradation in a futile attempt to preserve his
dignity as a human being.

     Not unlike Marmeladov, Katerina Ivanovna remains an object of pity
throughout the narrative. Yet despite the appearances, we realize that she is
largely the cause and not the victim of her own misery. By constantly
comparing her present husband to her late beloved one and her present living
standard to that of her childhood, she drives Marmeladov, who wants to be
accepted for what he is and appreciated for what he can provide, into profound
desperation. Yet she blames everybody but herself. When she contracts
tuberculosis, she uses it as another accusation. She intentionally exacerbates
the disease by refusing to close the door to the next apartment although
clouds of tobacco smoke pour in. She will not open the windows despite the
fact that a terrible stench arises from the staircase. She enjoys irritating
her lungs and feels a perverse satisfaction in coughing up blood. From this it
is clear that she, like her husband, intentionally exaggerates her
destitution. Surprising as it may seem, both have chosen their misery.

Chapter Three

     Theme. This chapter introduces the theme of Raskolnikov's feelings of
inadequacy. As more and more is revealed about the student, we realize that
one of the major reasons for the crime is his conviction that he is a useless
person and that the murder will be an effort to prove the contrary. The theme
of inadequacy is brought out for the first time in the letter from
Raskolnikov's mother. This letter provides essential information about the
past and introduces several new characters who will play their parts in the
rest of the novel. Most important, the letter severely irritates Raskolnikov's
already overwrought mind and impels him toward the murder.

     The Letter. What at first appears to be a newsy letter from a doting
mother is on closer scrutiny a medley of accusations against her son mixed
with veiled cries for help for herself and for Raskolnikov's sister.
Furthermore, it contains a devastating moral condemnation of her prospective
son-in-law Luzhin. The first she accomplishes by the well worn tactic of
introducing each attack with a statement of how much she admires her son and
how praiseworthy he is. In this way she is able to convey her displeasure at
her son's actions while remaining the devoted mother. For example, she begins
by reminding him that he is their only hope for the future: "...you are all we
have to look to... You are our all, our one hope, our one stay." She then
accuses him of his failures: "What a grief it was to me when I heard that you
had given up the university some months ago, for want of means to keep
yourself and that you had lost your lessons and your other work." This, of
course, under the guise of blaming her own inability to send him money. There
follows a list of sacrifices which she and Dunya have made in his behalf,
ranging from his sister's humiliating position as governess in Svidrigaylov's
house to borrowing money on her own small pension. Finally, she tells her son
that his sister Dunya plans to marry Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin chiefly to help
Raskolnikov continue his studies. Although she describes Dunya's fiance as
acceptable, "It is true that he is forty-five years old, but he is of fairly
prepossessing appearance, and might still be thought attractive by women ...
though he is not a man of great education, he is clever and seems to be good
natured." The reader immediately senses the real Luzhin behind the kind words.
He is an opinionated philistine of the worst kind who literally plans to
enslave Dunya. Already before meeting Raskolnikov's sister he had decided that
for him the ideal wife would be a girl without a dowry yet with an education
and of a good family. By marrying her, he would be raising her to his station
of wealth and prestige and so be assured of her everlasting gratitude. In
short, he looks for a wife who will submit her will permanently to his,
regarding him as her benefactor for life.

     She reports yet another example of Luzhin's underhanded nature by telling
Raskolnikov that when Dunya brought up the subject of assisting her brother
in Petersburg, he became evasive and non-committal. Neither did he offer to
help with their debts nor will he pay for their trip to the capital. He even
lets it be known that there will be no place in his house for his wife's
mother.

     The meaning underlying the letter is clear. Raskolnikov's mother and
sister are at the end of their resources and can no longer support themselves
or him. The deprivations suffered for his sake are now to be followed by a
culminating act of self-sacrifice in which Dunya will sell herself. It is
clear whom the mother holds responsible for Dunya's sacrifice: "Nor has either
Dunya or I breathed a word to him of the great hopes we have of his helping to
pay for your university studies." The letter ends with the worst news of all
for Raskolnikov, the arrival of his mother and sister. He must now confront
his unintentional victims, two women whom he loves and whom at the same time
he intensely hates for their sacrifices. He is weighed down by feelings of
guilt and responsibility. To complicate matters, he is powerless to help.

Chapter Four

     Theme. The letter throws Raskolnikov into a severe depression accompanied
by fits of self-contempt. The letter is particularly significant because it
marks the end of his lethargical inactivity. He can no longer lie about
dreaming of riches and building air castles. He knows he must prevent the
marriage at all costs. Furthermore, he can no longer bear the prospect of
being further indebted to his family. The necessity to bring some kind of
order into his life forces him back to his original plan to kill the old
woman. But this time there is a difference. Until this point, Raskolnikov is
not fully convinced he will actually go through with it. Now, sheer necessity
forces the decision upon him. Viewing the murder form this new perspective,
it takes on all the hues of reality. As the magnitude of his plan dawns on
him he has to sit down in the street to keep from fainting.

     Girl In The Street. A few steps ahead he sees a young girl acting
strangely. She appears to move unsteadily, waving her arms about in a strange
way. Looking closer, he sees that her clothes are torn in several places and
that they are all awry. When she reaches a nearby bench sinking back in
exhaustion, Raskolnikov realizes that she is severely intoxicated. She appears
to have been seduced with the help of liquor, or even raped, and then turned
out on the street. To the dismay of Raskolnikov, her condition attracts yet
another man. He decides to save her by giving a policeman money to take care
of her.

     Raskolnikov feels compelled to help the girl for several reasons. As we
have already pointed out, the young man feels that he is of no use to anyone,
and is a burden to his family. By helping the girl he tries to "prove" to
himself that he is of use. But his effort is doomed to failure. In the first
place he knows enough about himself to realize that he is indifferent to the
young girl as an individual and that his act of charity is really an attempt
to soften the accusations of his mother's letter. In other words, he is using
the girl to buy off his conscience and thus to recover some of his
self-esteem. He also realizes that he cannot really change the course of the
girl's life. This is clearly brought out when he curses himself for giving
the policeman money and speculates that after this experience the girl will
probably be turned out by her parents and end as a prostitute.

Chapter Five

     The Mare Beating. This cruel dream is highly charged with psychological
symbols. Dostoyevsky was far ahead of his time in using dreams as evidence of
psychic illness. The interpretation of the dream is one of the more hotly
debated episodes of the book. Some authorities suggest that we should take the
dream at face value: a little boy watching an incredible display of man's
bestiality. Many say that Raskolnikov is the mare while others insist that he
is the peasant Mikolka. Each view has its valid points. More likely,
Raskolnikov can be identified with all the characters of the dream, the
innocent child, the suffering horse, as well as Mikolka and the jeering crowd.
The horse is beaten and killed because it cannot pull the load just as the
student is being symbolically jeered and derided because he cannot pull the
weight of his family. Like the mare, all he can do is kick impotently.
Significantly, he awakes with aching muscles and burning eyes, as if he had
undergone the beating himself. We may also regard the horse as a symbol of the
novel's victimized and persecuted individuals such as the girl in the street,
his sister, Sonia, his mother. Marmeladov, even the old money-lender. All of
them. For Raskolnikov, the world has revealed its true nature: the helpless
are victimized by the strong.

     This dream fills the young man with horror because he identifies with
the drunken peasant and looks upon the dream as a sign that he will kill the
old woman.

     Coincidence At The Haymarket. Although, under the influence of the dream,
Raskolnikov thinks that he will never go through with the crime, he has an
experience that changes his mind. On the way home he passes through the
Haymarket and overhears a conversation between two rag mongers and Lizaveta.
He learns that the next evening at seven o'clock Alyona Ivanovna will be
alone. Taking this event as a sign of providence, Raskolnikov returns to his
room delirious, feeling that his will has been seized by an irresistible force
and that everything has been decided. As we will see, he commits the murder in
just this way. He goes through the motions of the crime almost like a robot
obediently carrying out the directives of some master. The "master" in this
case is Raskolnikov's idea, his theory of the rights of superior men.

     Fate. The narrator tells us that Raskolnikov would not have overhear the
fateful conversation if he had not walked through the Haymarket. In fact, to
walk through the square involves taking a circuitous route. This is emphasized
four times within the space of one paragraph. Here the author introduces the
theme of Fate which allows Raskolnikov to blame the murder and its
consequences on forces other than himself.

Chapter Six

     Background. This chapter and the next are divided into three distinct
parts: the psychological and philosophical background leading to the crime is
given in Chapter Six. Raskolnikov's preparations immediately preceding the
deed and the events of the murder are told in Chapter Seven. The hero had
learned about the moneylender the previous winter through an acquaintance. A
few months later, he had taken an object to pawn. When he met the old woman
he was overwhelmed with revulsion for her. By coincidence, that very evening
he learned more about her, overhearing a conversation between a young officer
and a student. The woman's personal circumstances and the goal of her greed
had affected the two young men in much the same way as Raskolnikov was
affected. They expressed the same ideas that were then taking shape in
Raskolnikov's mind. Would it not be a great service to mankind to murder the
old woman and put the money to good use? Why, it would not be a crime at all
because the perpetrator would simply be removing a force of evil. Innumerable
lives could be improved at the price of one.

     Literary Techniques. That the reader should be informed only now of this
essential information is in keeping with Dostoyevsky's technique. The author
reveals only enough information to focus the reader's attention on the
student's reasons for committing the crime. In the Notebooks to the novel,
Dostoyevsky says flatly that an author must keep his audience in ignorance
about the hero's motivations.

     We should also point out that for whatever reasons Raskolnikov commits
the crime, this is not the central problem of the novel. The author's chief
interest is rather with the effect of the crime and the problem of guilt and
redemption. Hence, the murder takes place at the beginning of the novel rather
than at the end.

     Theory Of The Superman. Although we are introduced to the superman
theory much later in the book when Porfiry brings out the student's essay
"On Crime," it is useful to learn about it here since it represents one of
the motives for the murder.

     Raskolnikov's essay expands on the idea of the humanitarian criminal. In
the article he divides humanity into two classes, the superior and the
inferior. Accordingly, he maintains that if the discoveries of Kepler and
Newton could not have been made public without sacrificing a hundred or more
men, they would have had the right, even the duty to eliminate the men
for the sake of making their discoveries known and benefiting the whole of
humanity. The laws of society and nature do not exist for the superior men.
In different ways, they seek to destroy something in the present for the sake
of a better future. Consequently, Raskolnikov reasons that "...if such a one
is forced for the sake of his idea to step over a corpse or wade through
blood, he can, I maintain, find within himself, in his conscience, a sanction
for wading through blood."

     The second class is composed of the common herd, men who only serve to
reproduce their kind. They willingly live under control. Raskolnikov even
believes it is their duty to be controlled because it is their vocation. The
first class moves the world and leads it to new goals, the second merely
preserves the world as it is and populates it with followers. After
Raskolnikov develops this theory, he wonders what Napoleon might have done
in his place if he had had no Toulon or Egypt with which to begin his career.
What if there had been nothing but the murder of an old pawnbroker as the
only possibility to start his career?

     Thus, the hero romantically reasons that he should commit the murder to
find out whether he is a Napoleon or a member of the common herd. Here it
must be emphasized that Raskolnikov is not willing to accept and act on this
theory alone. Surprisingly, he casts about for other justifications that are
more socially acceptable. He is destitute and needs the money for his
education. His mother is hopelessly in debt and his sister is about to marry
a blackguard for his sake. With the stolen money he will become a great
benefactor and redeem his crime a thousand times over by innumerable good
acts.

     Thus it is easy for him to justify the crime on humanitarian grounds. An
atheist, Raskolnikov is convinced that Christian humility and sacrifice are
self-destructive. What kind of a religion asks its believers to accept their
fate as "God's will" and do nothing to extricate themselves? Can it be
possible that human beings have no right to life? Is it truly moral and
Christian that Raskolnikov and his family should be destroyed for lack of
money while others like Luzhin and the old woman are allowed to amass fortunes
through misdeeds? He is particularly incensed at the idea that Alyona
Ivanovna's fortune will be spent on perpetual masses for her soul. Will not
her grotesque edifice be erected upon the sufferings of thousands? And, he
asks, what kind of God would accept such blasphemous adulation? For
Raskolnikov, Christian truth and social justice have become lies.

     In motivating Raskolnikov's crime, Dostoyevsky has done three things.
First, he justifies the crime from economic necessity and in so doing
transforms the necessity into a right. Crime is now presented as virtue, evil
as good. Next, the author shows that from the historical perspective certain
"superior" men are above the law. Finally, he justifies the crime on
humanitarian, very nearly Christian, grounds.

     After struggling with these powerful arguments, which on more than one
level are distressingly believable, we nervously sit back and watch a brutal
and savage murder.

     While on the surface Raskolnikov appears resolute and determined to carry
out his plans for good, solid reasons, on another, deeper level, he realizes
the invalidity of his theory. An examination of his actions before and during
the crime indicates that he wants to be proved wrong, caught, and punished.
He actually works at getting caught. With this in mind let us take a close
look at the murder.

Chapter Seven

     The Murder. On the day of the murder Raskolnikov lies in bed daydreaming
about oases, palms, and clear blue waters until it is after six o'clock and
really too late to get ready. It soon becomes clear that most of his
preparations are faulty. To be sure, he has made a sling for the axe,
prepared the false pledge to distract Alyona, and laid out needle and thread.
But he has been amazingly careless about the axe. He plans to slip into the
landlady's kitchen for it as he leaves, incredibly assuming that no one will
be there, then returning it in the same manner. Neither does he concentrate on
the final details as he walks through the street. Instead, he fantasizes about
fountains and municipal improvements. And, of course, he has forgotten to get
rid of his easily identifiable hat. He swears at himself for this oversight,
but he does not take it off.

     Despite his efforts to sabotage his own plans, luck is with him at every
step. He finds an axe in the porter's shed and no one notices him in the
street. His entrance into Alyona's house is concealed by a passing cart, and
he arrives at the fourth floor landing unseen. He hesitates several minutes
on the landing listening to the sounds hoping, so it seems, for someone to
come along. Once he is inside the apartment, the old woman conveniently
turns away giving him time to get out the axe and strike her with it.

     At this point he makes one mistake after another. He snatches up the key
ring and runs into the next room. Although he sees that a key will not fit, he
tries it anyway. Then he goes back to see if Alyona is dead. While he is
filling his pockets with trinkets from the strong box, Lizaveta, the old
woman's gentle sister, comes in and he is forced to kill her too. Incredibly,
he had forgotten to lock the door. Instead of leaving the place immediately,
he wastes several minutes washing the axe and looking for bloodstains. The
door is still open! Finally, as if in answer to his desire to get caught, he
hears footsteps on the stairs. There upon follows one of the most gripping
scenes in literature. The visitiors ring the bell and batter at the door while
the murderer watches the latch bob up and down in the catch, too petrified to
hold it down with his finger. But Raskolnikov's luck holds until the last.
While the visitors go downstairs for help, he is able to get out and conceal
himself in a vacant apartment on the second floor until he can safely leave.

     Viewing the crime in this light, it can be seen that the murderer's
actions are hardly those of a man committing the perfect crime. Rather, his
behavior indicates that he is bungling on purpose, that he is making every
effort to sabotage his crime. The reason, to be more fully elaborated upon
later, is simply this: The student unconsciously knows that all his
rationalizations are false, that the end, whether for humanitarian or personal
reasons, does not justify the means.

