Immortal image
Some heroes classical literature gain immortality, live next to us, this is exactly what the image of Sonya turned out to be in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky. From her example, we learn the best human qualities: kindness, mercy, self-sacrifice. She teaches us to love devotedly and selflessly believe in God.
Meet the heroine
The author does not immediately introduce us to Sonechka Marmeladova. She appears on the pages of the novel when terrible crime has already been committed, two people died, and Rodion Raskolnikov lost his soul. It seems that nothing in his life can be improved. However, meeting a modest girl changed the hero’s fate and revived him to life.
The first time we hear about Sonya is from the story of the unfortunate drunken Marmeladov. In confession, he talks about his unhappy fate, about his starving family and gratefully pronounces the name of his eldest daughter.
Sonya is an orphan, the only one own daughter Marmeladova. Until recently, she lived with her family. Her stepmother Katerina Ivanovna, a sick, unhappy woman, was exhausted so that the children would not die of starvation, Marmeladov himself drank away his last money, the family was in dire need. Out of despair, the sick woman often became irritated over trifles, made scandals, and reproached her stepdaughter with a piece of bread. Conscientious Sonya decided to desperate step. In order to somehow help her family, she began to engage in prostitution, sacrificing herself for the sake of her loved ones. The story of the poor girl left a deep mark on Raskolnikov’s wounded soul long before he personally met the heroine.
Portrait of Sonya Marmeladova
A description of the girl’s appearance appears on the pages of the novel much later. She, like a wordless ghost, appears on the threshold of her home during the death of her father, crushed by a drunken cab driver. Timid by nature, she did not dare enter the room, feeling vicious and unworthy. An absurd, cheap, but bright outfit indicated her occupation. “Meek” eyes, “a pale, thin and irregular angular face” and the whole appearance betrayed a meek, timid nature, which had reached the extreme degree of humiliation. “Sonya was small, about seventeen years old, thin, but quite pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes.” This is how she appeared before Raskolnikov’s eyes, this is how the reader sees her for the first time.
Character traits of Sofia Semyonovna Marmeladova
A person's appearance can often be deceiving. The image of Sonya in Crime and Punishment is full of inexplicable contradictions. A meek, weak girl considers herself a great sinner, unworthy of being in the same room with decent women. She is embarrassed to sit next to Raskolnikov’s mother, and cannot shake hands with his sister for fear of offending them. Sonya can easily be offended and humiliated by any scoundrel, like Luzhin or the landlady. Defenseless against the arrogance and rudeness of the people around her, she is unable to stand up for herself.
A complete description of Sonya Marmeladova in the novel “Crime and Punishment” consists of an analysis of her actions. Physical weakness and indecision are combined in her with enormous mental strength. At the core of her being is love. For the love of her father, she gives him her last money for a hangover. For the sake of love for children, he sells his body and soul. For the sake of love for Raskolnikov, she follows him to hard labor and patiently endures his indifference. Kindness and the ability to forgive distinguish the heroine from other characters in the story. Sonya does not hold a grudge against her stepmother for her crippled life, and does not dare condemn her father for his weak character and eternal drunkenness. She is able to forgive and regret Raskolnikov for the murder of Lizaveta, close to her. “There is no one more unhappy than you in the whole world,” she tells him. To treat the vices and mistakes of people around you this way, you have to be a very strong and integral person.
Where does a weak, fragile, humiliated girl have such patience, endurance and inexhaustible love for people? Faith in God helps Sonya Marmeladova to survive herself and lend a helping hand to others. “What would I be without God?” – the heroine is sincerely perplexed. It is no coincidence that the exhausted Raskolnikov goes to her for help and tells her about his crime. The faith of Sonya Marmeladova helps the criminal to first confess to the murder he has committed, then sincerely repent, believe in God and start a new happy life.
The role of the image of Sonya Marmeladova in the novel
The main character of F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” is considered to be Rodion Raskolnikov, since the plot is based on the story of the hero’s crime. But it is impossible to imagine the novel without the image of Sonya Marmeladova. Sonya's attitude, beliefs, and actions reflect life position author. The fallen woman is pure and innocent. She fully atones for her sin with all-encompassing love for people. She is “humiliated and insulted”, not a “trembling creature” according to Raskolnikov’s theory, but a person worthy of respect, who turned out to be much stronger than the main character. Having gone through all the trials and suffering, Sonya did not lose the basic human qualities, did not change herself and suffered happiness.
Sonya's moral principles, faith, and love turned out to be stronger than Raskolnikov's egoistic theory. After all, only by accepting the beliefs of his girlfriend does the hero gain the right to happiness. The favorite heroine of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is the embodiment of his most secret thoughts and ideals of the Christian religion.
Work test
The Marmeladov family and its role in the novel “Crime and Punishment”
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” is one of the most complex works of Russian literature, in which the author told about the story of the death of the soul of the main character after he committed a crime, about the alienation of Rodion Raskolnikov from the whole world, from the people closest to him - his mother, sister, friend. Dostoevsky rightly asserted that it is possible to return to this world, to become a full member of society again, only by resisting misanthropic ideas and purifying oneself through suffering.
Reading the novel thoughtfully, you involuntarily realize how deeply the author penetrated into the souls and hearts of his characters, how he comprehended human character, and with what genius he told about the moral upheavals of the main character.
The central figure of the novel is, of course, Rodion Raskolnikov. But there are many others in Crime and Punishment characters. These are Razumikhin, Avdotya Romanovna and Pulcheria Alexandrovna, the Raskolnikovs, Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov, the Marmeladovs.
The Marmsladov family plays special role in the novel. After all, it was Sonechka Marmeladova, her faith and selfless love Raskolnikov owes his spiritual rebirth. Her great love, a tormented but pure soul, capable of seeing a person even in a murderer, empathizing with him, suffering with him, saved Raskolnikov. Yes, Sonya is a “harlot,” as Dostoevsky writes about her, but she was forced to sell herself in order to save her stepmother’s children from starvation. Even in her terrible situation, Sonya managed to remain human; drunkenness and debauchery did not affect her. But in front of her was shining example a fallen father, completely crushed by poverty and his own powerlessness to change anything in his life. Patience of Sonya and her life force largely stem from her faith. She believes in God, in justice with all her heart, without going into complex philosophical reasoning, she believes blindly, recklessly. And what else can an eighteen-year-old girl believe in, whose entire education is “a few books of romantic content,” seeing around her only drunken quarrels, squabbles, illnesses, debauchery and human grief?
Dostoevsky contrasts Sonya's humility with Raskolnikov's rebellion. Subsequently, Rodion Raskolnikov, not accepting Sonya’s religiosity with his mind, decides with his heart to live by her beliefs. But if the image of Sonya appears to us throughout the entire novel, then we see her father, Semyon Zakharych and stepmother Katerina Ivanovna with her three small children only in a few episodes. But these few episodes are incredibly significant.
The first meeting of Semyon Zakharych Marmeladov and Rodion Raskolnikav occurs at the very beginning of the novel, precisely when Raskolnikov decides to kill, but has not yet fully believed in his “Napoleonic” theory. Rodion is in some kind of feverish state: the world around him exists, but as if in unreality: he sees and hears almost nothing. The brain drills only one question: “To be or not to be?” For Raskolnikov, Marmeladov is just a drunken regular at the tavern. But, at first inattentively listening to Marmeladov’s monologue, Raskolnikov soon becomes imbued with curiosity and then sympathy for the narrator. This dirty retired official, who has lost all human dignity, robs his own wife and asks his prostitute daughter for money for a hangover, somehow touches Raskolnikov, he remembers him. In Semyon Zakharych, through his repulsive appearance, something human still peeks through. One feels that his conscience is tormenting him, that his current situation is painful and disgusting to him. He does not blame his wife for the fact that she, perhaps, unwittingly (“this was not said in common sense, but with excited feelings, in illness and with the crying of children who had not eaten, and it was said more for the sake of insult than to in the exact sense..."), pushed Sonya out into the street. Marmeladov’s daughter generally considers him a saint. Semyon Zakharych repents of his “weakness”, it is hard for him to see hungry children and consumptive Katerina Ivanovna, in his temper he shouts: “...I am a born beast!” Marmeladov is a weak, weak-willed person, but, in my opinion, he is better and more honest than those who laughed at him in the tavern. Semyon Zakharych is able to acutely feel other people's pain and injustice. His soul did not harden, and, in spite of everything, did not become deaf to the suffering of people. Marmeladov loves his wife and her small children. Particularly touching are the words of Katerina Ivanovna at Marmeladov’s wake that after his death a mint cockerel was found in her husband’s pocket.
Marmeladov may be ridiculous and pathetic with his plea for forgiveness, but he is sincere in it, and this unfortunate man doesn’t need much: just to be listened to without ridicule and at least tried to understand.
Sonya was able to understand the murderer Raskolnikov, which means Marmeladov deserves, if justification, then at least compassion. Katerina Ivanovna is a completely different person. She is of noble origin, from a bankrupt noble family, so it is many times harder for her than for her stepdaughter and husband. The point is not even in everyday difficulties, but in the fact that Katerina Ivanovna does not have an outlet in life, like Sonya and Semyon Zakharych. Sonya finds solace in prayers and in the Bible, and her father forgets himself at least for a while in a tavern. Katerina Ivanovna is a passionate, daring, rebellious and impatient person. The surrounding environment seems like a real hell to her, and the human meanness that she encounters at every step hurts her painfully. Katerina Ivanovna does not know how to endure and remain silent, like Sonya. Her strongly developed sense of justice prompts her to take decisive action, which leads to a misunderstanding of her behavior by those around her.
The author of “Crime and Punishment” talks about the plight of the Marmeladov family, the death of Katerina Ivanovna and Semyon Zakharych so that the reader feels that stuffy, cramped, unbearable atmosphere of St. Petersburg in the sixties of the nineteenth century, in which the lower classes of society were forced to live.. But after all belonged to them main character novel, and the theory of the “superman” was born precisely in such a situation.
The term “Dostoevsky’s Petersburg” is widely known. In “Crime and Punishment” “Dostoevsky’s Petersburg” is entertainment establishments, taverns, drunken suicidal women, meanness, anger and cruelty of most people, petty quarrels, terrifying external living conditions: “dust, brick and mortar, the stench from shops and taverns ...", rooms - "coffins" in dilapidated houses.
The Marmeladov family is one of thousands of poor families like it. The history of this family is, as it were, the prehistory of Raskolnikov’s crime. However, the role of the Marmeladov family is not limited to just creating the background against which the tragedy of Rodion Raskolnikov’s crime developed.
F.M. Dostoevsky, by contrasting the characters of Marmeladov and Luzhin, Raskolnikov and Razumikhin, Svidrigailov and Dunechka Raskolnikova, emphasizes the contrasts between his contemporary reality and its social inequality, oppression of some and wealth, permissiveness of others. And, perhaps, the most important thing is that in the depiction of the Marmeladov family, the reader clearly sees Dostoevsky - a humanist with his love for “little people” and the desire to understand the soul of even the most terrible criminal.
Essay “Characteristics and lessons of Marmeladov.” Analysis of the episode where Raskolnikov met with Marmeladov in a tavern. The tragedy of the Marmeladov family
The St. Petersburg images in the novel “Crime and Punishment” form a gloomy picture of the morals of the city bottom, which was observed by Dostoevsky’s contemporaries. The Marmeladov family is the most vivid gallery of characters illustrating the depth of the fall of poor people. All members of this family seem to have broken wings: they have fallen and cannot rise, they are only powerlessly tossing and turning on the ground. They could have been sleepy city dwellers who would not have attracted our attention, but their only breadwinner took to drinking and dragged his household to the bottom. It is Marmeladov who is to blame for the fact that his family has become poor and immoral. One of the main mysteries of the novel: why did he do it? Therefore, what interested me most in the work was the image of the former official Marmeladov.
It is noteworthy that the author gives this image great value. The dialogue between Raskolnikov and Marmeladov in the tavern goes beyond the plot and tells us about something more important for Dostoevsky’s plan, and not for its implementation. The writer wanted to convey to us not a specific life story, but all the horror of poverty, to which people simply turn a blind eye so as not to see how moral collapse comes after financial collapse.
It is from this moment that we begin to recognize Semyon Zakharovich. This man immediately attracted Raskolnikov's attention. In Marmeladov’s eyes “there seemed to be even enthusiasm shining—perhaps there was sense and intelligence—but at the same time there seemed to be a flicker of madness.” Marmeladov’s appearance revealed him as a poor alcoholic who had degenerated to the last degree. No one would have thought that he was once a titular councilor. Moreover, he even married a widow with three children, since he could provide them with a decent existence. But something broke in the hero’s heart: he began to drink and with his behavior brought his wife to consumption, and only daughter to the panel. Rodion learns all this from Marmeladov in the tavern and is once again convinced of the correctness of his theory, because his victim profited from such terrible stories.
Why did Marmeladov drink himself to death? How did Marmeladov’s fate turn out? little man? I think the reason is his weakness of character. He took Katerina Ivanovna as his wife out of pity, he didn’t achieve much in the service, and to all the disasters that befell him, he reacted like this: “And I... was lying drunk, sir.” When his wife was beaten, he remained silent. When his daughter went to the panel, he endured it. Moreover, the hero cannot even remain idle without support; he needs a listener who will console him. All this indicates that the official lost his dignity while still in service, when he was pushed around in every possible way by higher ranks. They broke him, because everyday humiliating lack of rights dulls people, makes them indifferent to everything. As we see, he is not bad person: compassionate, kind and responsive to the grief of others. But the slave position destroyed his personality, and from this loss he began to drink uncontrollably and selflessly. There is nothing left of him, he is poor in spirit, because he has lost his dignity.
The most tragic circumstance in Marmeladov's story - its typicality. The tavern is full of such Semenov Zakharovichs, and they are all looking for how to fill this spiritual emptiness, where there used to be dignity. These people are trampled, humiliated and pushed to the limit. And these countless crimes against the individual are the fault of each of us. Dostoevsky created Semyon Marmeladov to show us this.
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The author focuses on the terrible reality of Russia in the 19th century - poverty, lack of rights, a morally decaying personality, suffocating from its own powerlessness, as a result of which it rebels against an unjust environment. And so Raskolnikov challenges reality - he decides to commit a pre-planned murder in order to help disadvantaged and unhappy people. One of these heroes is Semyon Zakharych Marmeladov - one might say, an oppressed man who has reached the edge - a man truly tragic fate. His role in the work is important. It is he who, with his stories in the tavern about the sacrifice of his daughter Sonya and the poverty of the family, provokes, in addition to other circumstances, Raskolnikov’s desire to “cleanse the world” of the evil and stupid old woman in the name of justice. Thus, marmalade influences the decision - to kill - not to kill (and killed - get punished), which in fact is the entire basis of the novel.
Enough detailed description The author provides Marmeladov almost at the very beginning of the novel, immediately after the trial of the crime, however, the meeting and conversation (more precisely, confession) takes up literally a few pages of the first part, and what a role it plays! This episode draws full picture unfair life of that time, the real truth that society that cannot but arouse pity.
Let's move on to the portrait description of Marmeladov. “He was a man over 50 years old, of average height and heavy build, with gray hair and a large bald spot, with a yellow, even greenish face swollen from drunkenness and with swollen eyelids, from behind which tiny, like slits, but animated eyes shone... his gaze seemed to even glow with enthusiasm - perhaps there was meaning and intelligence - but... there was also a flash of madness...” The author dwells in detail on the description of Marmeladov’s eyes and gaze, as they say, eyes are the mirror of the soul, and here, despite his entire external ugly appearance, his “greenish face”, he has kind heart, sincere character, he knows how to love and sacrifice, he remained human - this is what can be emphasized from his animated and enthusiastic look against the background of his terrible appearance (“... sticks of hay were visible on his dress and hair, ... he did not undress or wash himself for 5 days . Especially the hands were dirty, greasy, red, with black nails..."). “Dressed in an old, completely tattered tailcoat with crumbling buttons..., a crumpled and stained shirtfront was sticking out from under the vest; the face is shaved like an official, but for a long time already...; and in his grip... there was something respectably bureaucratic..." The clothes he wears speak of a man who has been pretty battered by life, who has seemingly seen everything in his path in his insignificant existence. His “respectable bureaucratic” face and disheveled, dirty appearance are an indicator that he is a person who does not care about the opinions of others; perhaps the author is even trying to show the reader such a trait of Marmeladov as pride, albeit not clearly expressed, but still some kind of pride in the fact that I am a person, and it doesn’t matter who is a drunkard or anyone else, I don’t care about the opinion of the “stupid” people, the main thing is that I am a person, even if my fate is like road dust. “There was laughter and curses..., looking only at one figure of a retired official...”; He evokes laughter from those around him with his florid speech and dignified bureaucratic bearing, which is deplorable. In my opinion, he can only evoke pity (or rather his whole image, appearance), but how can you feel sorry for a person who stole the last penny from his children? Dostoevsky makes us feel sorry for those unworthy of pity, to feel compassion for those unworthy of compassion. But Marmeladov is acutely aware of his guilt. “Doesn’t my heart hurt that I’m groveling in vain?...” “...I am a born beast!” Through portraiture, it seems to me, author's attitude is this: Dostoevsky does not justify the hero’s behavior, he speaks of a completely capable personality, but already lost, perishing and bringing torment to himself and his loved ones. “...perhaps there was meaning and intelligence...”
If, for example, we compare Marmeladov with other heroes - Luzhin, then, of course, a bright contrast emerges, the contrast between the poor and disadvantaged and those individuals to whom everything is allowed in life. Luzhin: “The whole dress was just from the tailor... his face, very fresh and beautiful, already seemed younger than his 45 years. And if there was something repulsive, it happened for other reasons.” If we compare the portraits of Marmeladov and Luzhin, we can trace the following feature: Luzhin is a man with beautiful face, appearance, but he makes a repulsive impression, the arrogant character and typicality of the “Luzhins” are immediately visible, and in relation to Semyon Zakharych he does not evoke such associations, the author says “his animated eyes shone.”
In general conclusion: portrait characteristic the hero Marmeladov reflects the image of all the disadvantaged; Raskolnikov, seeing him for the first time and listening to the confession about Sonya’s sacrifice and the poverty of the family, rushes from edge to edge - he is tormented by terrible mental anguish, which subsequently leads to the decision that it is necessary to break the vicious circle; one might say, Marmeladov helped Rodion to commit “a crime against himself” “, this was Dostoevsky’s idea.
/ / / The image of Semyon Marmeladov in Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”
In the novel Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky depicted the hardships ordinary people and degradation high society. The poor man did not live, but rather survived as best he could. But for a proud man filled with a sense of justice, such a life was unbearable. This is exactly what the main character of the novel is. Disillusioned with the laws of his contemporary society, a poor former student is plotting a crime that, according to his theory, will be done for the greater good. But everything is ideal only in his theory, and the decision to act is not easy for him.
Raskolnikov is pushed to action by another character, Marmeladov.
The full name of the hero is Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov. He served as a titular councilor for a long time. But at the time of his acquaintance with Raskolnikov, he was already a retired official, drunk and degraded. Marmeladov finds an understanding listener in Rodion and trusts him with his story.
When he was still an official, and therefore had a certain wealth and respect in society, he took pity on one widow and took him as his wife. The young wife did not love Semyon, but for the sake of her three children she agrees to the marriage. They lived well for about a year, Marmeladov did not drink and behaved decently, and his wife “loved” him for this. But her love quickly disappeared after Semyon was laid off at work. Without work and without the support of his wife, Marmeladov seeks solace in drunkenness. And he is so addicted to this matter that he can no longer cope with his vicious habit. Even when he was lucky to be restored to rank, he only lasted until his first paycheck. By bringing the money he earned to the family, Marmeladov makes everyone happy. But he lacks self-control, and he steals money and goes on a drinking binge.
Semyon Zakharovich is already over 50 years old, but he has never made any money. He was a man of average height, stocky. The head was “decorated” by a huge bald spot. The face was swollen from constant drunkenness, and only some kind of liveliness was still visible in the eyes.
Marmeladov walked around in rags and did not wash or comb his hair for many days. And yet, in his habits and appearance one could still discern bureaucratic habits. It was clear that Marmeladov had once been shaved, as befits an official, and the rags were the remnants of a once respectable tailcoat. Such artistic detail shows that the hero is not just a drunkard, but a degraded person who used to be a respected member of society. And now he steals money from his family to drown his conscience in drinking.
Raskolnikov also learns about Marmeladov’s unfortunate daughter, who was forced for the sake of her family to go with a yellow ticket.
Semyon Marmeladov does not feel sorry for himself, but admits his guilt and weakness. But Raskolnikov sees in the example of this man the terrible fate of many poor people. The story of the former official Marmeladov encourages young man implement your theory.