The artistic originality of the novel "crime and punishment". Ideological and artistic originality of the novel “Crime and Punishment” Artistic originality of the novel Crime and Punishment

22.10.2020

The artistic originality of the novel "Crime and Punishment"

Abeltin E.A., Litvinova V.I., Khakass State University. N.F. Katanova

Abakan, 1999

The specificity of "Crime and Punishment" is that it synthesizes romance and tragedy. Dostoevsky extracted tragic ideas from the era of the sixties, in which the “free higher” personality was forced to test the meaning of life in practice alone, without the natural development of society. An idea acquires novelistic force in Dostoevsky's poetics only when it reaches extreme tension and becomes mania. The action to which it pushes a person must acquire the character of a catastrophe. The hero’s “crime” is neither criminal nor philanthropic in nature. Action in a novel is determined by an act of free will undertaken to transform an idea into reality.

Dostoevsky made his heroes criminals - not in the criminal, but in the philosophical sense of the word. The character became interesting to Dostoevsky when a historical, philosophical or moral idea was revealed in his willful crime. The philosophical content of the idea merges with him with the feelings, character, social nature of man, his psychology.

The novel is based on the free choice of a solution to a problem. Life had to knock Raskolnikov out of his knees, destroy the sanctity of norms and authorities in his mind, lead him to the conviction that he is the beginning of all beginnings: “everything is prejudice, only fears, and there are no barriers, and so it should be.” !" And since there are no barriers, then you need to choose.

Dostoevsky is a master of fast-paced plotting. From the first pages, the reader finds himself in a fierce battle; the characters come into conflict with established characters, ideas, and spiritual contradictions. Everything happens impromptu, everything comes together in the shortest possible time. Heroes, “who have decided the issue in their hearts and heads, break through all obstacles, neglecting their wounds...”

“Crime and Punishment” is also called a novel of spiritual quest, in which many equal voices are heard arguing on moral, political and philosophical topics. Each of the characters proves their theory without listening to their interlocutor or opponent. Such polyphony allows us to call the novel polyphonic. From the cacophony of voices, the voice of the author stands out, expressing sympathy for some characters and antipathy for others. He is filled either with lyricism (when he talks about Sonya’s spiritual world) or with satirical contempt (when he talks about Luzhin and Lebezyatnikov).

The growing tension of the plot is conveyed through dialogue. With extraordinary skill, Dostoevsky shows the dialogue between Raskolnikov and Porfiry, which is conducted in two aspects: firstly, each remark of the investigator brings Raskolnikov’s confession closer; and secondly, the whole conversation in sharp leaps develops the philosophical position expressed by the hero in his article.

The internal state of the characters is conveyed by the writer through the method of confession. “You know, Sonya, you know what I’ll tell you: if I had only killed because I was hungry, then I would now... be happy. If you knew that!” Old man Marmeladov confesses to Raskolnikov in the tavern, and Raskolnikov to Sonya. Everyone has a desire to open their souls. Confession, as a rule, takes the form of a monologue. The characters argue with themselves, castigate themselves. It is important for them to understand themselves. The hero objects to his other voice, refutes the opponent in himself: “No, Sonya, that’s not it!” he began again, suddenly raising his head, as if a sudden turn of thoughts had struck and aroused him again...” It’s common to think that if a person is struck a new turn of thoughts, then this is a turn of thoughts of the interlocutor. But in this scene, Dostoevsky reveals an amazing process of consciousness: the new turn of thoughts that occurred in the hero amazed him! A person listens to himself, argues with himself, contradicting himself.

The portrait description conveys general social features and signs of age: Marmeladov is a drunken aging official, Svidrigailov is a youthful, depraved gentleman, Porfiry is a sickly, intelligent investigator. This is not the writer's usual observation. The general principle of the image is concentrated in rough, sharp strokes, like masks. But the eyes are always painted on the frozen faces with special care. Through them you can look into a person’s soul. And then Dostoevsky’s exceptional manner of focusing attention on the unusual is revealed. Everyone’s faces are strange, everything in them is taken too far to the limit, they amaze with their contrasts. There was something “terribly unpleasant” in Svidrigailov’s handsome face; in Porfiry’s eyes there was “something much more serious” than should have been expected. In the genre of a polyphonic ideological novel, these are the only portrait characteristics of complex and divided people.

Landscape painting by Dostoevsky is not similar to the paintings of rural or urban nature in the works of Turgenev or Tolstoy. The sounds of a barrel organ, wet snow, the dim light of gas lamps - all these repeatedly repeated details not only give a gloomy flavor, but also conceal complex symbolic content.

Dreams and nightmares carry a certain artistic meaning in revealing ideological content. There is nothing lasting in the world of Dostoevsky’s heroes; they already doubt whether the disintegration of moral foundations and personality occurs in a dream or in reality. To penetrate the world of his heroes, Dostoevsky creates unusual characters and unusual situations that border on fantasy.

The artistic detail in Dostoevsky's novel is as original as other artistic means. Raskolnikov kisses Sonya's feet. A kiss serves to express a deep idea containing a multi-valued meaning.

A substantive detail sometimes reveals the entire plan and course of the novel: Raskolnikov did not kill the old woman - the pawnbroker, but “lowered” the ax on the “head with the butt.” Since the killer is much taller than his victim, during the murder the ax blade threateningly “looks him in the face.” With the blade of an ax, Raskolnikov kills the kind and meek Lizaveta, one of those humiliated and insulted for whose sake the ax was raised.

The color detail enhances the bloody undertone of Raskolnikov's crime. A month and a half before the murder, the hero pawned “a small gold ring with three red stones,” a souvenir from his sister. “Red pebbles” become harbingers of droplets of blood. The color detail is repeated more than once: red lapels on Marmeladov’s boots, red spots on the hero’s jacket.

The keyword orients the reader to the storm of feelings of the character. Thus, in the sixth chapter the word “heart” is repeated five times. When Raskolnikov, having woken up, began to prepare to leave, “his heart was beating strangely. He strained every effort to figure everything out and not forget anything, but his heart kept beating, pounding so that it became difficult for him to breathe.” Having safely reached the old woman’s house, “taking a breath and pressing his hand to his pounding heart, immediately groping and straightening the ax again, he began to carefully and quietly climb the stairs, constantly listening. In front of the old woman’s door, his heart beats even stronger: “Am I pale?” .. very,” he thought, “am I not particularly excited? She is incredulous - Shouldn’t we wait a little longer... until my heart stops?” But the heart did not stop. On the contrary, as if on purpose, the knocking became stronger, stronger, stronger..."

To understand the deep meaning of this key detail, we must remember the Russian philosopher B. Vysheslavtsev: “... in the Bible the heart is found at every step. Apparently, it means the organ of all senses in general and religious feeling in particular... such a thing is placed in the heart an intimate hidden function of consciousness, like conscience: conscience, according to the Apostle, is a law inscribed in hearts." In the beating of Raskolnikov's heart, Dostoevsky heard the sounds of the hero's tormented soul.

The symbolic detail helps to reveal the social specifics of the novel.

Pectoral cross. At the moment when the pawnbroker was overtaken by her suffering on the cross, hanging around her neck along with her tightly stuffed wallet were “Sonya’s icon”, “Lizavetin’s copper cross and a cypress cross”. While affirming the view of his heroes as Christians walking before God, the author simultaneously conveys the idea of a common redemptive suffering for all of them, on the basis of which symbolic fraternization is possible, including between the murderer and his victims. Raskolnikov's cypress cross means not just suffering, but the Crucifixion. Such symbolic details in the novel are the icon and the Gospel.

Religious symbolism is also noticeable in proper names: Sonya (Sofia), Raskolnikov (schism), Kapernaumov (the city in which Christ worked miracles); in numbers: “thirty rubles”, “thirty kopecks”, “thirty thousand silver pieces”.

The speech of the characters is individualized. The speech characteristics of the German characters are represented in the novel by two female names: Luiza Ivanovna, the owner of the entertainment establishment, and Amalia Ivanovna, from whom Marmeladov rented an apartment.

Luisa Ivanovna’s monologue shows not only the level of her poor command of the Russian language, but also her low intellectual abilities:

“I didn’t have any noise or fights... no scandal, but they came completely drunk, and I’ll tell it all... I have a noble house, and I always didn’t want any scandal. But they came completely drunk and then again He asked three potilki, and then one raised his legs and began to play the piano with his foot, and this is not at all good in a noble house, and he broke the piano, and there’s absolutely no manners here..."

Amalia Ivanovna’s speech behavior manifests itself especially clearly at Marmeladov’s wake. She tries to attract attention by telling a funny adventure “out of the blue.” She is proud of her father, who “was a very important man and went all out.”

Katerina Ivanovna’s opinion about the Germans is reflected in her response: “Oh, you fool! And she thinks it’s touching, and doesn’t know how stupid she is!...Look, she’s sitting there, her eyes are wide open. She’s angry! She’s angry! Ha-ha-ha ! Khi-khi-khi."

The speech behavior of Luzhin and Lebezyatnikov is described not without irony and sarcasm. Luzhin's stilted speech, containing fashionable phrases combined with his condescending address to others, betrays his arrogance and ambition. Nihilists are represented as a caricature in the novel by Lebezyatnikov. This “half-educated tyrant” is at odds with the Russian language: “Alas, he didn’t know how to communicate properly in Russian (not knowing, however, any other language), so he was completely exhausted, somehow at once, even It’s like I lost weight after my lawyer’s feat.” Lebezyatnikov’s chaotic, unclear and dogmatic speeches, which, as we know, represent a parody of Pisarev’s social views, reflected Dostoevsky’s criticism of the ideas of Westerners.

Dostoevsky individualizes speech according to one defining feature: in Marmeladov, the formal politeness of an official is abundantly strewn with Slavicisms; Luzhin has stylistic bureaucracy; Svidrigailov's is ironic negligence.

Crime and Punishment has its own system for highlighting key words and phrases. This is italics, that is, the use of a different font. The words trial, deed, suddenly are in italics. This is a way of focusing readers’ attention both on the plot and on the intended action. The highlighted words seem to protect Raskolnikov from those phrases that he is afraid to utter. Italics is also used by Dostoevsky as a way of characterizing a character: Porfiry’s “impolite sarcasm”; "Insatiable suffering" in Sonya's features.

Bibliography

Groysman V. Religious symbols in the novel “Crime and Punishment.” Literature. Supplement to the newspaper "First of September". 1997, N44, pp. 5-11.

Maykhel I. The language of facial expressions and gestures. Ibid., p.9.

Belkin A. Reading Dostoevsky and Chekhov. M., 1973, p. 56-84.

Lekmanov O. Looking at the “wide desert river.” Literature. Supplement to the newspaper "First of September", 1997, N15

F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” was published in 1866. Its author lived most of his life in rather cramped material conditions, caused by the need to pay off debts for the publication of the magazines “Epoch” and “Time”, undertaken by the Dostoevsky brothers before the death of their elder brother Mikhail. Therefore, F. M. Dostoevsky was forced to “sell” his novel to the publisher in advance, and then agonizingly rush to meet the deadline. He did not have enough time to, like Tolstoy, rewrite seven times and

Correct what you wrote. Therefore, the novel “Crime and Punishment” is quite vulnerable in some aspects. Much has been said about its length, the unnatural accumulation of individual episodes, and other compositional shortcomings.
But everything that has been said cannot obscure from us the fact that Dostoevsky’s work, his artistic perception of the world is so new, original and brilliant that he forever entered as an innovator, as the founder of a new school in the history of world literature.
The main artistic feature of the novel “Crime and Punishment” is the subtlety of psychological analysis. Psychologism has been known in Russian literature for a long time. Dostoevsky himself also uses the traditions of M. Yu. Lermontov, who sought to prove that “the history of the human soul. perhaps more interesting and instructive than the history of an entire people.” Dostoevsky's novel is characterized by penetration into the psychology of the characters portrayed (be it the crystal clear soul of Sonya Marmeladova or the dark bends of Svidrigailov's soul), the desire not only to convey their reaction to the then prevailing relations between people, but also a person's perception of the world in given social circumstances (Marmeladov's confession) .
The use of polyphony and polyphony in the novel helps the author to reveal the soul and worldview of the characters. Each character, in addition to participating in dialogues, pronounces an endless “internal” monologue, showing the reader what is happening in his soul. Dostoevsky builds the entire action of the novel not so much on real events and their descriptions, but on the monologues and dialogues of the characters (his own voice, the voice of the author, is also intertwined here). The writer subtly conveys the speech characteristics of each character, very sensitively reproduces the intonation system of speech of each character (this is clearly noticeable in Raskolnikov’s speech). From this creative attitude comes another artistic feature of the novel - the brevity of the descriptions. Dostoevsky is interested not so much in what a person looks like, but in what kind of soul he has inside. So it turns out that from the entire description of Sonya, only one bright feather on her hat is remembered, which does not suit her at all, while Katerina Ivanovna has a bright scarf or shawl that she wears.
An important artistic feature can also be considered that the novel “Crime and Punishment” requires us to have a deep philosophical understanding of life. His heroes (especially Raskolnikov) are seekers, obsessed with one idea. The idea of “blood according to conscience” becomes such an idea, forcing the protagonist to forget about his own well-being. Dostoevsky discusses it with the reader, Rodion with Marmeladov, Porfiry Petrovich, with readers in an article written by him. Throughout the entire novel, there is a philosophical debate about the content of the concept of “crime” (why is Sonechka a criminal, and Luzhin a decent person in the eyes of society, although in fact it’s the other way around?).
Even the plot of the novel itself is based on the story of a crime (it is known that Dostoevsky read about something similar in the incident column). The passions in the novel are taken to the limit; there are no halftones in it. A special feature of the novel is also the extreme intensity of the conflict. Normal, ordinary life is boring for its protagonist.
All of the above artistic features of the novel do. its masterpiece of Russian and world literature, and its author – the founder of a new “psychological” approach to depicting the phenomena of reality.

Essays on topics:

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At first glance, it may seem that the plot of “Crime and Punishment” fits into the standard scheme of the so-called “crime novel” with its obligatory components: crime, killer, investigator... But in crime novels the plot is usually kept secret: the identity of the criminal is usually revealed only on the last pages of the work. Meanwhile, in Dostoevsky’s novel, the reader knows from the very beginning who committed the murder. The writer highlights not the adventurous aspect of the crime theme, but the moral and psychological one. Dostoevsky is interested not so much in murder itself as in its causes and origins. In the foreground he has a psychological secret associated with the image of the main character.

The utmost tension of the plot is expressed in the escalation of the most acute dramatic situations that occur visibly, literally before the eyes of the readers: the murder of the old moneylender and the unfortunate Lizaveta, Sonya's departure to the street, Marmeladov's suicide, the death of Katerina Ivanovna, Svidrigailov's suicide... The narration has a clearly expressed dramatic character. . The characters are sharply opposed to each other, the disputes between them are not of an everyday, but of an ideological nature, the polemic reveals the contrast in the characters' characters.

In “Crime and Punishment” Dostoevsky uses a special form of narration, which in science is called “improper direct speech.” The story is told on behalf of the author, but as if through the prism of Raskolnikov’s perception. Not only his thoughts, but even his voice can be heard all the time. And although this is not his monologue, the impression of the intense rhythm of Raskolnikov’s inner speech is constantly preserved. From the very first page, the surrounding external world is included in the process of self-awareness of the hero, invariably transferred from the author’s horizons to Raskolnikov’s horizons. Therefore, the reader involuntarily becomes involved in the process of empathy, experiencing all the feelings that arise in the hero during the course of the action.

The depiction of human psychology in the novel is also extremely dramatized, for Dostoevsky's heroes are always obsessed with passion, expressed in intense dramatic situations. The complexity and inconsistency of the hero’s inner world, their characteristic introspection, which often takes the most painful forms, are combined with a thorough analysis of external reasons, under the influence of which the thoughts, stumps, and actions of certain characters are formed.

The writer has his own Petersburg - a city with dirty alleys, dark courtyards, gloomy staircases; a city described with specific everyday details and at the same time unreal, fantastic, giving an idea of the atmosphere in which Raskolnikov’s idea of his fantastic crime could have arisen. “I love,” the hero of the novel admitted, “how they sing to a barrel organ on a cold, dark and damp autumn evening, certainly on a damp one, when all passers-by have pale green and sick faces...” And Svidrigailov’s suicide takes place on a foggy rainy night, when the houses with closed shutters looked sad and dirty, and the cold and dampness were already gripping his body...

A suffocating narrow living space surrounds Dostoevsky’s heroes, and it seems that they will never get out of it into a wide and free space. Symbolic in this regard is the description of Raskolnikov’s home (a room that looked like a closet) or Sonya (a room that looked like an irregular quadrangle, which gave it an ugly appearance). Their lives are squeezed into this space, consisting of “terribly sharp” and “too ugly blunt” corners, and they are unable to leave it.

Dostoevsky was one of the first in world literature to talk about the tragedy of a thinking person who, experiencing discord with bourgeois society, denying its injustice and evil, himself feels the burden of ideas and illusions generated by this same society. On this basis, individualism and anarchism can arise, capable of justifying any crimes and establishing the principle of “permissiveness.” The significance of Crime and Punishment transcends its time; it is also addressed to the future, warning about the disastrous nature of individualistic rebellion, about those unpredictable catastrophes that can lead to the newly-minted Napoleons, who despise millions of ordinary people, their most legitimate and natural rights to life, freedom and happiness.

Moscow Financial and Industrial University

"Synergy"

in the discipline "Literature"

"The originality of the novel Crime and Punishment"

Completed:

Loginov Dmitry

Checked:

Khabarova T.M.

Bronnitsy, 2013

Plan

1. ARTISTIC ORIGINALITY OF THE NOVEL

2. Specifics of the novel "Crime and Punishment"

ARTISTIC ORIGINALITY OF THE NOVEL

Among the classics of world literature, Dostoevsky deservedly bears the title of master in revealing the secrets of the human soul and creator of the art of thought. Any thought a writer has, good or evil, in his own words, “pecks like a chicken from an egg.” All the artistic features and poetics of the novel “Crime and Punishment” serve as a means of revealing Dostoevsky’s special spirituality. While working on the work, the writer mainly sought to trace the “psychological process of the crime.” That is why “Crime and Punishment” is considered a work in which the originality of the writer’s psychologism was most clearly outlined. In the novel, literally everything matters: numbers, first names, surnames, St. Petersburg topography, the time of action, the situations in which the characters find themselves, and even individual words. Dostoevsky trusted his reader, so he deliberately did not say much, counting on the reader’s spiritual connection to his world. In this spiritual world, the different positions of the ax during Raskolnikov’s murder of the old pawnbroker and Lizaveta, and the description of Raskolnikov’s appearance, and the numbers “seven” and “eleven” “pursuing” the main character, and the yellow color often mentioned in the novel, and the word “suddenly,” mentioned on the pages of the novel about 500 times, and many other details that are invisible at first glance.

Each hero of the novel has his own, individual language, but they all communicate in a common language - the language of the writer’s “fourth dimension”. Each character in “Crime and Punishment” can have its own verbal description, but the most expressive is the linguistic portrait of Raskolnikov. Dostoevsky with great skill showed the duality of the main character of the novel, using for this purpose various stylistic devices: the intermittency of Raskolnikov’s speech, the disharmony of his syntax, and most importantly, the contrast between the external and internal forms of the hero’s speech. Everything in the style of a novel is subject to the “laws of the fourth dimension,” where gravity ceases to operate: portrait, landscape, place and time of action. The writer’s special, unique rhythm captivates the reader so much that he does not immediately appreciate every detail of the hero’s portrait.

The writer's methods of creating a psychological picture are extremely varied. Despite the fact that Dostoevsky rarely used portraits as such, he is considered a subtle and profound master of portraiture. The writer believed that man is a very complex creature and his appearance cannot in any way reflect his essence. More important for Dostoevsky is the hero’s costume or any detail in it that reflects the character’s character. So, for example, Luzhin’s attire (a smart suit, magnificent gloves, etc.) betrays his desire to look younger and make a favorable impression on others. It is enough to recall, for example, the portrait of an old pawnbroker, the expressiveness of which is created with the help of diminutives: “She was a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty years old, with sharp and angry eyes, with a small pointed nose and bare hair. Her blond, slightly gray hair was greased with oil... The old woman coughed and groaned every minute.”

The most important means of characterization in the novel “Crime and Punishment,” as in any work of fiction, are the actions of the heroes. But Dostoevsky draws more attention to the fact under the influence of which these actions are committed: either the action is performed by a person driven by feeling, or the action is performed under the influence of the character’s mind. The actions committed by Raskolnikov unconsciously are usually generous and noble, while under the influence of reason the hero commits a crime (the crime itself was committed from the mind; Raskolnikov was under the influence of a rational idea and wanted to test it in practice). Arriving at the Marmeladovs’ house, Raskolnikov instinctively left the money on the windowsill, but when leaving home, he regretted it. The contrast between feelings and rational spheres is very important for Dostoevsky, who understood personality as a combination of two principles - good, associated with feeling, and evil, associated with reason. The sensual sphere, according to the author, is the original, divine nature of man. Man himself is the battlefield between God and the Devil.

Interesting time. At first it flows slowly, then it accelerates, during hard labor it stretches out and stops completely during the resurrection of Raskolnikov, as if it unites the present, the past and the future. The tension of the psychological conflict is aggravated by such a technique as the subjective interpretation of time; it can stop (as, for example, in the scene of the murder of the old woman) or fly with feverish speed, and then faces, objects, events flash in the hero’s mind, as in a kaleidoscope. Another feature of the novel is the lack of consistency and logic in the conveyance of the characters’ feelings and experiences, which is also determined by their state of mind. Often the author resorts to “visions,” including hallucinations and nightmares (dreams of Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov). All this aggravates the drama of the events taking place, making the style of the novel hyperbolic.

Specifics of the novel "Crime and Punishment"

The artistic detail in Dostoevsky's novel is as original as other artistic means. Raskolnikov kisses Sonya's feet. A kiss serves to express a deep idea containing a multi-valued meaning.

The symbolic detail helps to reveal the social specifics of the novel.

Luisa Ivanovna’s monologue shows not only the level of her poor command of the Russian language, but also her low intellectual abilities:

Bibliography

Groysman V. Religious symbols in the novel “Crime and Punishment.” Literature. Supplement to the newspaper "First of September". 1997, N44, pp. 5-11.

Maykhel I. The language of facial expressions and gestures. Ibid., p.9.

Belkin A. Reading Dostoevsky and Chekhov. M., 1973, p. 56-84.

Lekmanov O. Looking at the “wide desert river.” Literature. Supplement to the newspaper "First of September", 1997, N15

Shapovalova O.A.. “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoevsky. Summary. Features of the novel. Works., 2005

The genre of “Crime and Punishment” (1866) is a novel in which the main place is occupied by the social and philosophical problems of contemporary Russian life for the writer. In addition, in “Crime and Punishment” one can note genre features: a detective story (the reader knows from the very beginning who the killer of the old pawnbroker is, but the detective intrigue remains until the end - Raskolnikov admits, will he fall into the trap of investigator Porfiry Petrovich or slip out?), an everyday essay (a detailed description of the poor quarters of St. Petersburg), a journalistic article (Raskolnikov’s article “On Crime”), spiritual writing (quotes and paraphrases from the Bible), etc.

This novel can be called social because Dostoevsky depicts the life of the inhabitants of the slums of St. Petersburg. The theme of the work is to show the inhuman conditions of existence of the poor, their hopelessness and embitterment. The idea of “Crime and Punishment” is that the writer condemns his contemporary society, which allows its citizens to live in hopeless need. Such a society is criminal: it dooms weak, defenseless people to death and at the same time gives rise to a retaliatory crime. These thoughts are expressed in Marmeladov’s confession, which he pronounces in a dirty tavern in front of Raskolnikov (1, II).

Describing the poverty and misfortune of the Marmeladov family, the Raskolnikov family, Dostoevsky continues the noble tradition of Russian literature - the theme of the “little man”. Classical Russian literature often depicted the suffering of the “humiliated and insulted” and attracted public attention and sympathy for people who found themselves, even through their own fault, at the “day of life.”

Dostoevsky shows in detail the life of poor St. Petersburg neighborhoods. He depicts Raskolnikov’s room, which looks like a closet, Sonya’s ugly apartment, and the passage room-corridor where the Marmeladov family huddles. The author describes the appearance of his poor heroes: they are dressed not just poorly, but very poorly, so that it is a shame to appear on the street. This concerns Raskolnikov when he first appears in the novel. Marmeladov, met by a beggar student in a tavern, “was dressed in a black, old, completely tattered tailcoat, with crumbling buttons. Only one of them still held the braid, and it was on this that he fastened it. A shirtfront was sticking out from under the nankeen vest, all crumpled, dirty and stained” (1, II). In addition, all the poor heroes are starving in the literal sense of the word: Katerina Ivanovna’s little children are crying from hunger, Raskolnikov is constantly dizzy from hunger. From the internal monologues of the main character, from Marmeladov’s confession, from the half-mad cries of Katerina Ivanovna before her death, it is clear that people are brought to the limit of suffering by poverty, the disorder of life, that they very keenly feel their humiliation. Marmeladov exclaims in confession: “Poverty is not a vice... But poverty, dear sir, poverty is a vice, sir. In poverty you still retain your nobility of innate feelings, but in poverty no one ever does. For poverty, they don’t even kick you out with a stick, but with a broom, you sweep them out of human company, so that it would be all the more offensive...” (1, II).

Despite his open sympathy for these heroes, Dostoevsky does not try to embellish them. The writer shows that both Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov and Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov are largely to blame for their sad fate. Marmeladov is a sick alcoholic who is ready to rob even his small children for the sake of vodka. He does not hesitate to come to Sonya and ask her for the last thirty kopecks for a drink, although he knows how she earns this money. He realizes that he is acting unworthily towards his own family, but still drinks himself to the cross. When he tells Raskolnikov about his latest binge, he is very worried that the children probably haven’t eaten anything for five days, unless Sonya brought at least some money. He sincerely regrets that his own daughter lives on a yellow ticket, but he himself uses her money. Raskolnikov understood this well: “Oh yes Sonya! What a well, however, they managed to dig and are using it!” (1, II).

Dostoevsky has an ambiguous attitude towards Raskolnikov. On the one hand, the writer sympathizes with the student who must earn his poor living with penniless lessons and translations. The author shows that the anti-human theory about “creatures” and “heroes” was born in the sick head of the protagonist when he was tired of honestly fighting shameful poverty, because he saw that scoundrels and thieves were thriving around him. On the other hand, Dostoevsky portrays Raskolnikov’s friend, student Razumikhin: life is even more difficult for him than for the main character, since he does not have a loving mother who sends him money from her pension. At the same time, Razumikhin works hard and finds the strength to endure all adversities. He thinks little about himself, but is ready to help others, and not in the future, as Raskolnikov plans, but now. Razumikhin, a poor student, calmly accepts responsibility for Raskolnikov’s mother and sister, probably because he truly loves and respects people, and does not think about the problem of whether it is worthy or not to shed “blood according to his conscience.”

In the novel, the social content is closely intertwined with the philosophical (ideological): Raskolnikov's philosophical theory is a direct consequence of his desperate life circumstances. An intelligent and determined man, he thinks about how to correct an unjust world. Maybe through violence? But is it possible to forcibly impose a fair society on people against their will? The philosophical theme of the novel is a discussion of the “right to blood,” that is, consideration of the “eternal” moral question: does a high goal justify criminal means? The philosophical idea of the novel is formulated as follows: no noble goal justifies murder, it is not a human matter to decide whether a person is worthy of living or unworthy.

Raskolnikov kills the moneylender Alena Ivanovna, whom the writer himself portrays as extremely unattractive: “She was a tiny, dry old woman of about sixty, with sharp and angry eyes, a small pointed nose and bare hair. Her blond, slightly gray hair was greased with oil. Some kind of flannel rag was wrapped around her thin and long neck, similar to a chicken leg...” (1, I). Alena Ivanovna is disgusting, starting with the above portrait and the despotic attitude towards her sister Lizaveta and ending with her usurious activities; she looks like a louse (5, IV), sucking human blood. However, according to Dostoevsky, even such a nasty old woman cannot be killed: any person is sacred and inviolable, in this respect all people are equal. According to Christian philosophy, a person’s life and death are in the hands of God, and people are not allowed to decide this (therefore, murder and suicide are mortal sins). From the very beginning, Dostoevsky aggravates the murder of the malicious pawnbroker with the murder of the meek, unrequited Lizaveta. So, wanting to test his capabilities as a superman and preparing to become a benefactor of all the poor and humiliated, Raskolnikov begins his noble activity by killing (!) the old woman and the holy fool, who looks like a big child, Lizaveta.

The writer’s attitude towards the “right to blood” is clarified, among other things, in Marmeladov’s monologue. Speaking about the Last Judgment, Marmeladov is confident that God will ultimately accept not only the righteous, but also degraded drunkards, insignificant people like Marmeladov: “And he will say to us: “You pigs!” the image of the beast and its seal; but come too!” (...) And he will stretch out his hands to us, and we will fall... and cry... and we will understand everything! Then we will understand everything!..” (1, II).

“Crime and Punishment” is a psychological novel, since the main place in it is occupied by the description of the mental anguish of a person who committed a murder. In-depth psychologism is a characteristic feature of Dostoevsky’s work. One part of the novel is devoted to the crime itself, and the remaining five parts are devoted to the emotional experiences of the killer. Therefore, the most important thing for the writer is to depict Raskolnikov’s torments of conscience and his decision to repent. A distinctive property of Dostoevsky’s psychologism is that it shows the inner world of a person “on the brink”, in a half-delusional, half-insane state, that is, the author tries to convey a painful mental state, even the subconscious of the heroes. This distinguishes Dostoevsky's novels, for example, from the psychological novels of Leo Tolstoy, where the harmonious, varied and balanced inner life of the characters is presented.

So, the novel “Crime and Punishment” is an extremely complex work of art, which closely combines pictures of Russian life contemporary to Dostoevsky (60s of the 19th century) and discussions about the “eternal” question of humanity - the “right to blood.” The writer sees the way out of Russian society from the economic and spiritual crisis (otherwise known as the first revolutionary situation) in people turning to Christian values. He gives his solution to the posed moral question: under no circumstances does a person have the right to judge whether another person should live or die; the moral law does not allow “blood according to conscience.”

Thus, Dostoevsky’s “eternal” question is resolved in a highly humane manner; the novel’s depiction of the life of the lower classes is also humane. Although the writer does not absolve the blame from either Marmeladov or Raskolnikov (they themselves are largely to blame for their plight), the novel is structured in such a way as to evoke sympathy among readers for these heroes.