In my opinion, compassion is the ability to provide support, to share the sorrows and sorrows of a person in need. It helps you get through difficult moments, and sometimes even saves your life. It is important to be able to use this quality, because it contains humanity and humanism, without which a person’s life would be at risk.
Many writers have addressed this problem in their works. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” was no exception.
Rodion Raskolnikov is a poor student who is dissatisfied with his position in society.
He is depressed by the inequality between rich and poor. Under pressure from constant problems, Rodion suffers. He wishes better life, therefore creates a theory that, in his opinion, gives him the right to take people's lives. He is unable to accept money from his sister, because for this Dunyasha wants to enter into a marriage of convenience. For Raskolnikov, the only way out is crime. The main character brutally kills an old pawnbroker and her sister Lizaveta, with an unborn child.
Let's imagine if there was a person capable of understanding and sharing the hardships of Raskolnikov's fate, would a crime be committed? I think not.
Support and compassion can remove the shackles of hopelessness from a person. Rodion needed this, but, alas, no one was able to help him before the murder.
After the crime, Raskolnikov realizes the inconsistency of his theory. Torment and remorse become worse than any punishment. It is almost impossible to live normally with such a burden on the soul. Sonechka Marmeladova, a girl with a “yellow” ticket, but with an incredibly pure, unspoiled soul, helps the hero to be reborn spiritually. She wants to help Rodion with all her heart. In the episode where Raskolnikov confesses to her that he has committed a crime, Sonya does not condemn him for his sin, but sympathizes with him and calls for nationwide repentance. She forces the student to pray to cleanse himself before God. Recognition by the people gives Raskolnikov a chance to new life. He is relieved and ready to be punished.
Sonya saw in Rodion, first of all, a person, and only then a criminal. She really knew how to sympathize and thus saved the student.
I believe that being compassionate is being human and treating others the way you would like to be treated. And this is so important in our world.
Updated: 2015-04-06
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It's enough to think about yourself alone,
live for yourself alone, look around,
won't you see something for your worries?
more noble than your boots.
F. M. Dostoevsky “Poor People”
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is a humanist writer, psychologist of human souls, a patriot of his homeland. Yes, yes, a patriot, and his patriotism rested on a deep faith in the spiritual strength of the people. “I don’t want a society where I couldn’t do evil, but one where I could do all sorts of evil, but didn’t want to do it myself...” the writer himself said.
All the great novels of Fyodor Mikhailovich from Crime and Punishment to The Brothers Karamazov are filled with faith, compassion and mercy.
Main goodies his novels, starting with Sonya Marmeladova and Prince Myshkin and ending with Elder Zosima and Alyosha Karamazov, preach these Christian commandments to one's neighbor, be it friend or enemy.
We see human tragedy, moral and physical death of people in the novel “Crime and Punishment.” And only one single force can change the order of things - mercy and compassion. Myself main character Raskolnikov, his family, as well as the Marmeladov family, revealed by the author with amazing depth and psychoanalysis, expect understanding and compassion from society. The poverty of these people threatens to ultimately turn into a thing that can be exchanged, sold, or simply thrown away, like throwing away an old sofa whose springs have already come out over time. Each of them needs moral support, a drop of mercy in a sea filled with tears of loneliness and sadness, a simple, but at the same time, such an important feeling of closeness of a stranger. And in the cruel world of the novel we see that not everything is lost; there are enough examples of not only human indifference, but also active sympathy. Rodion Raskolnikov himself helps the Marmeladov family, leaving his last money on the window, while visitors to the tavern, who heard the confession of the poor official, greet him with ridicule. A policeman helps a girl on the boulevard, but random passers-by didn’t even stop nearby (and they looked with obvious disgust and contempt, where can there be mercy?!). The repentant Svidrigailov could not look at Katerina Ivanovna’s needy children. So what is compassion? To co-suffer means to “suffer together,” and Svidrigailov’s suffering was not directed exclusively into himself. Even Lebezyatnikov can’t stand the sight human humiliation and helps out Sonya, who was falsely accused of theft. And all these are not isolated, random scenes. We see that the feeling of mercy is inherent in a person, the relationships of almost all heroes are built on it, it determines the beauty of the human soul, saves the world from complete collapse and is main faith to the best.
Dostoevsky himself said: “The human heart has become clouded...” - these reflections pushed him to the consciousness of a completely new image of a hero, different from everyone, not similar to those who preceded him. The image of Prince Lev Myshkin is the center of the entire novel and is truly “positively wonderful person", the embodiment of kindness, naivety and honesty. This hero, having once said, “Now I’m going to people,” was preparing himself for a certain mission and was ready to “do his job honestly and firmly” - he had to suffer, because suffering, in his own words, “is the most important and perhaps to be the only law of existence of all mankind.” He had to walk the earthly path with all people together, accept them all into his soul with all their melancholy and sins, and become everyone’s brother. His activity and participation in human destinies should awaken in people the dormant desire to “do” good. He fulfilled his mission: he loved everyone and suffered for everyone. Let us remember the episode with the slap in the face from the proud Ganya Ivolgin. “Oh, how ashamed you will be of your action!” - the hero says to a person who tramples on his own dignity; such a person exposes himself to humiliation. Isn't this mercy? Lev Myshkin can calmly, on an equal footing, talk with a footman, not paying attention to his unequal origin and position in society; he is filled with “purity of moral feeling,” which is why his conversation is courteous, reverent and polite. The hero put aside all conventions and principles. Can't this be called mercy? The prince wants to help all people - kind words, compassion, participation, he forgives human selfishness, realizing that its causes are misunderstanding and loneliness.
With his love and suffering, the prince awakens in each of those he meets the highest, purest and noblest. He inspires people, yes, yes! people accustomed to falsehood, selfishness and cruelty, self-interest and greed are being reborn. These are the miracles that mercy can create.
Let's take the passage "Boys". Here, as in other works, the world of the human soul is revealed, in particular the theme of childhood, childhood suffering and views on the world. We hear the author's pain and despair in these lines that he is trying to convey to us, the readers. The main characters - Alyosha, Snegirev, Ilyusha, Kostya Krasotkin - undergo changes in their souls, develop, go on their own life paths. They discover joy, bright feelings, empathy, sympathy, the ability to forgive and love. Alyosha Karamazov goes through a real path to compassion, mercy, kindness, and the ability to appreciate not only external beauty- the shell, but also true beauty the souls of people through suffering, pain and loss. We can say that he is a ray from heaven, foreshadowing a bright future, even if he himself is a “small-grown-up” child at heart. The hero personifies peace, goodness, mercy, for example, protecting Ilya from flying stones. This man played his role in the lives of each of the boys, uniting them and guiding them on the path of goodness, justice and happiness.
Speaking of mercy, one cannot help but recall the story “Poor People,” the originality of which lies in the fact that the work consists of letters. This allows the author to expand on the topic “ little man", sympathize with his grief, rejoice in his little joys. The hero of the story, Makar Devushkin, is a semi-impoverished official who lives on his own inner life. His letters are the only opportunity to open up to the girl Varenka. In them he writes about his modest way of life, thoughts and inner feelings. His money is barely enough to live on, but this poor but big-hearted man begins to help Varya, who has become a victim of social ill-being. Makar realized how difficult it must be for her to be completely alone in St. Petersburg. It turns out that the poor will help the even poorer, this is the heroism of the hero’s mercy. He cut all his expenses to the minimum in order to buy her geraniums or grapes, not thinking at all about the fact that he had taken his salary in advance and now had nothing to live on. And the hero does not at all expect any reward for good; on the contrary, he believes that the world is not perfect. In the person of this noble man, Dostoevsky shows us how much beauty, pure and good lies even in the most limited human nature. Sometimes a person who has absolutely nothing himself gives this very “nothing” without a trace, knows how to compassion and love.
In depicting human suffering and injustice reigning in the world, F.M. Dostoevsky expresses his own pain and suffering. The author is looking for his own ways to save humanity, he longs for happiness for people humiliated and insulted by fate, he reverently and compassionately treats anyone, even the most humiliated person. This is the humanity of all his works. This is the greatness of the task that the writer set for himself: “restoration dead person, crushed unjustly by the pressure of circumstances... justification for the humiliated and rejected parties of society"
“Which is better – truth or compassion?” Man - that's the truth! We must respect the person! M. Gorky It is unlikely that anyone will argue that Gorky is a humanist and great writer, who has gone through a great school of life. His works were not written to please the reading public - they reflect the truth of life, attention and love for people. And this can rightfully be attributed to his play “At the Bottom,” written in 1902. It still disturbs the questions posed by the playwright. Really, what is better – truth or compassion? If the question had been formulated a little differently - true or false, I would have answered unequivocally: true. But truth and compassion cannot be made mutually exclusive concepts by opposing one to the other; on the contrary, the whole play is pain for a person, it is the truth about a person. Another thing is that the bearer of truth is Satin, a gambler, a sharper, himself far from the ideal of a person, which he sincerely and with pathos proclaims: “Man! It's great! That sounds… proud!” He is contrasted with Luke - kind, compassionate and “evil”, deliberately invoking a “golden dream” to the suffering night shelters. And next to Luka and Satin there is another person who also argues about truth and compassion - M. Gorky himself. It is he, it seems to me, who is the bearer of the truth of compassion. This follows from the play itself, from how enthusiastically it was received by the audience. The play was read in bed at night, the tramps cried, shouted: “We are worse!” They kissed and hugged Gorky. It still sounds modern now, when people have begun to tell the truth, but have forgotten what mercy and compassion are. So, the action takes place in the Kostylevs’ rooming house, which is a “cave-like basement”, under “heavy stone arches”, where prison twilight reigns. Here tramps eke out a miserable existence, having fallen “to the bottom of life,” where they were mercilessly thrown out by a criminal society. Someone very accurately said: “At the Bottom” is an amazing picture of a cemetery where valuable people are buried alive.” It is impossible without an internal shudder to see the world of poverty and lawlessness drawn by the playwright, the world of anger, disunity, the world of alienation and loneliness, to hear screams, threats, ridicule. The heroes of the play have lost their past, they have no present, only Kleshch believes that he will break out of here: “I’ll get out... I’ll rip off my skin, but I’ll get out...” The thief, the “thief’s son” Vaska Pepel, has a faint hope for another life with Natasha, dreams of pure love prostitute Nastya, however, her dreams evoke malicious ridicule from those around her. The rest have resigned themselves, submitted, do not think about the future, have lost all hope and have finally realized their uselessness. But in fact, all the inhabitants are buried here alive. The actor who drank himself to death and forgot his name is pitiful and tragic; crushed by life, patiently suffering Anna, who is near death, is not needed by anyone (her husband awaits her death as liberation); smart Satin, a former telegraph operator, is cynical and embittered; the Baron is insignificant, who “expects nothing”, for him “everything is already in the past”; Bubnov is indifferent to himself and others. Gorky paints his heroes mercilessly and truthfully, “ former people”, writes about them with pain and anger, sympathizes with them who have found themselves in a dead end in life. The tick declares in despair: “There is no work... no strength! That's the truth! Shelter... there is no shelter! You have to breathe... this is the truth! “It is to these people who seem indifferent to life and themselves that the wanderer Luke comes, addressing them with the greeting: “Good health, honest people!” This is for them, the rejected ones, those who have renounced all human morality! Gorky’s attitude towards the passportless Luka is unambiguous: “And the whole philosophy, the whole preaching of such people is alms, given by them with hidden disgust, and under this preaching the words also sound beggarly, pitiful.” And yet I still want to understand it. Is he so poor, and what motivates him when he preaches his comforting lies, does he himself believe in what he calls for, is he a swindler, a charlatan, a scoundrel, or a sincerely thirsty person for good? The play was read, and, at first glance, the appearance of Luke brought only harm, evil, misfortune, and death to the shelters. He disappears, disappears unnoticed, but the 1000 illusions that he planted in the devastated hearts of people make their lives even more bleak and terrible, deprive them of hope, plunge their tormented souls into darkness. Let's once again see what motivates Luka when, after taking a close look at the tramps, he finds words of consolation for everyone. He is empathetic, kind to those who need help, and gives them hope. Yes, with his appearance under the arches of the gloomy shelter, hope settles in, previously almost imperceptible against the background of swearing, coughing, growling, groans. And a hospital for drunkards at Actor, and saving Siberia for the thief Ash, and real love for Nastya. “People are looking for everything, everyone wants what’s best... give them, Lord, patience!” - Luka says sincerely and adds: “Whoever seeks will find... You just need to help them...” No, it is not self-interest that drives Luka, he is not a swindler or a charlatan. Even the cynical Bubnov, who doesn’t trust anyone, understands this: “Luka... he lies a lot... and without any benefit for himself...” Unaccustomed to sympathy, Ash asks: “No, tell me - why are you doing all this...” Natasha asks him: “ Why are you so kind?” And Anna simply asks: “Talk to me, honey... I feel sick.” And it becomes clear that Luka is a kind person who sincerely wants to help and instill hope. But the trouble is that this good is built on lies and deception. Sincerely wanting good, he resorts to lies, believes that earthly life there cannot be another, therefore it takes a person into the world of illusions, into a non-existent righteous land, believing that “it is not always possible to cure a soul with truth.” And if it is impossible to change life, then you can at least change a person’s attitude towards life. I wonder what Gorky’s attitude is towards his hero in the play? Contemporaries recall that the writer was best able to read the role of Luke, and the scene at the bedside of the dying Anna brought tears to his eyes and delight to his listeners. Both tears and delight are the result of the merger of the author and the hero in a fit of compassion. And wasn’t it because Gorky argued so furiously with Luka because the old man was part of his soul?! But Gorky is not against consolation in itself: “The main question that I wanted to pose is what is better: truth or compassion? Is it necessary to take compassion to the point of using lies, like Luke?” That is, truth and compassion are concepts that are not mutually exclusive. From the truth that Kleshch realizes: “Living is the devil - you can’t live... here it is - the truth! “, Luka leads away, saying: “It’s true, maybe she’s a butt for you...” But is it really possible to heal with a butt? The old man thinks: “...We need to feel sorry for people! I’ll tell you – it’s time to feel sorry for a person... it happens well!” And he tells how he pitied and saved the night robbers. Bubnov opposes Luke’s stubborn, bright faith in man, in the saving power of pity, compassion, kindness: “In my opinion, I will give the whole truth as it is! Why be ashamed?” For him, the truth is a cruel, murderous oppression of inhumane circumstances, and Luke’s truth is so unusually life-affirming that the downtrodden, humiliated night shelters do not believe in it, taking it for a lie. But Luke wanted to inspire faith and hope in his listeners: “What you believe in, that is...” Luke brings to people the true, saving, human faith, the meaning of which was captured and expressed in the famous words by Satin: “Man is the truth!” Luke thinks that words, pity, compassion, mercy, attention to a person can lift his soul, so that the lowest thief understands: “You have to live better! You have to live this way... so that you can... respect yourself...” Thus, for Luke the question does not exist: “Which is better - truth or compassion?” For him, what is human is true. Then why is the ending of the play so hopelessly tragic? Although we hear that they say about Luke, he inspired Satin to make a fiery speech about a beautiful and proud man, but the same Satin indifferently asks the Actor to pray for him: “Pray yourself...” And to him, leaving forever, after his passionate monologue about a person shouts: “Hey, you, sicambre! Where?". His reaction to the death of the Actor seems creepy: “Eh... ruined the song... stupid cancer!” It's scary that an inhumane society kills and maims human souls. But the main thing in the play, in my opinion, is that Gorky made his contemporaries feel even more acutely the injustice of the social system, which destroys people, ruins them, made them think about man and his freedom. And what moral lessons did we extract? We must live without putting up with untruth, injustice, lies, but not destroy the person within us with his kindness, compassion and mercy. We often need consolation, but without the right to speak the truth, a person cannot be free. “Man – that’s the truth!” And he gets to choose. A person always needs real hope, not a comforting lie, even if it is for salvation.
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See also the work "Crime and Punishment"
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Other materials on the works of Dostoevsky F.M.
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1. Objective reality in the novel.
2. Sonya's moral purity.
3.The love of Sonya and Raskolnikov.
F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” is, to some extent, a great textbook of life. Where else can one find such intensity of passions, where else do heroes expose all the most secret corners of their souls and where human reality is shown so truthfully and harshly?
Sonya Marmeladova, one of the main heroines of the novel, is perhaps the most ideal example of self-sacrifice and mercy. She does not consider people from the point of view of intellectual sophistication; for her, every living person is necessary and valuable to God, and therefore to life. Perhaps, as a test, she is given love for a person whose reasoning at the beginning of the book sounds exactly the opposite.
Rodion Raskolnikov, a poor student driven to despair by his unenviable situation, develops a whole theory according to which everyone in such an imperfect society, one way or another, is a criminal. The world is imperfect and cruel, which means that every person has the right to dictate his own conditions to it, it would be enough vitality and resilience. In accordance with this, there is a division into “those with the right” and “louse”. Like any impetuous young man, Raskolnikov strives to prove, and above all to himself, that he belongs specifically to the category powerful of the world this. Therefore, Rodion’s act cannot be considered a spontaneous and thoughtless action. He hatches his idea for several weeks. Preparing the murder of the old pawnbroker, the young man is sincerely confident that this will only bring benefit to those around him. The murder of a worthless old woman reveals Raskolnikov’s rebellion against the order existing at that time. But life often makes its own adjustments to the course of events: “Lizaveta stood in the middle of the room, with a large bundle in her hands, looking in a daze at her murdered sister, all white as a sheet and as if unable to scream.”
Getting rid of an involuntary witness, Raskolnikov also kills a relative of the old woman, and with her she is not yet killed. born child. The young man is incredibly lucky: he leaves the crime scene almost unnoticed. Rodion was never able to get over himself and use the things of the pawnbroker he killed; moreover, her soul begins to be tormented by doubts, he suddenly realizes that he cannot continue to live with this burden. He needs to tell someone about everything. The confidant is Sonya, who believes that only sincere repentance will help her beloved to be reborn to life: “Accept suffering and atone for yourself with it, that’s what you need.” Scolding himself for his cowardice, Raskolnikov nevertheless comes to the police and confesses. The murder of the old woman and her sister completely “cuts off” the main character from the past. The new awareness of what has been accomplished leads to the fact that Rodion, feeling like the most pitiful and insignificant person in the world, does not even dare to hug his sister and mother when they meet. Sonya Marmeladova is the complete opposite of Raskolnikov. Her image absorbed Dostoevsky’s idea of “physical dirt” and “moral dirt.” Sacrificing her maiden honor and dignity for the sake of her family, the girl is forced to sell her body. She has no other way to feed her stepmother and stepsisters and brother. Being in “physical dirt,” she nevertheless retains her moral purity. Sonya meekly resigns herself to her unhappy lot. The suffering she endured only strengthens her faith. The girl is sure that God will not allow her little sisters to suffer the same fate. Here Sonya’s desire, and most importantly, her readiness for self-sacrifice, is most clearly manifested. At the same time, her soul and heart are not hardened. She does not hide in her resentment of fate and is open to kind people and actions, perhaps even more than before. The girl does not push away her unlucky drunkard father, because of whom in many ways her fate turned out this way, and sometimes even gives him money. She feels sorry for her stepmother and her children, realizing how difficult it is for them in this world.
Sonya is ready to lend a hand to anyone who turns to her for help. Perhaps this is why she becomes so close to the God-fearing and reliable Lizaveta, reading the lines of the sacred books with her. Of course, those around her cannot help but notice the girl’s moral purity. That is why the stepmother so furiously stands up for Sonya when Luzhin accuses the girl of theft. She, understanding the baseness of the nature of Dunya’s failed groom, declares that he is not worthy of her little finger. Katerina Ivanovna, perhaps more than anyone else, knows what a great sacrifice her stepdaughter made for the sake of other people’s children, and how hard it is for her to put up with surrounding reality. Raskolnikov, listening to the story of his casual acquaintance Marmeladov, is imbued with sympathy and sympathy for Sonya in absentia. Even among hardened criminals in prison, the girl evokes only bright feelings, although she does nothing specifically for this. Undoubtedly, it is infinitely far from Rodion’s reasoning about the human role in existing society. She is an integral nature and perceives the world around her as something harmoniously unified, where every creature is in its place. And above all this there is only one judge and protector - the Lord. She is perplexed, awaiting reasoning young man: “Is this man a louse?”
For her, man is God’s creation, and only God can control his destiny. Having learned about Rodion’s crime, the girl is not offended by him for the death of her friend, she is imbued with sympathy for him, seeing how difficult it is for this man to carry such a sin in his soul. Sonya, who perceives the unjust laws of this world only as tests that strengthen the soul and make a person only better, purer, takes pity on the young man: “What have you done to yourself?” She begs him to go to the crossroads, bow and repent of what he has done. Due to her moral purity and kindness, Sonya cannot push away the main character, because she feels that deep down Raskolnikov is a completely different person than he appears to others. Analyzing other actions of the young man and believing that Rodion is not essentially an evil person (he gave his last money to Katerina Ivanovna, saved two children during a fire, supported a sick fellow student for about a year), Sonya understands that her new acquaintance is simply confused. And the idea that haunts him is something like a disease, which, like any other illness, will definitely pass sooner or later. The girl loves Raskolnikov, and with all her soul longs for his recovery. She feels that only by repenting can her lover find peace and harmony in this life. After the end of the novel, in the epilogue, Dostoevsky briefly tells readers about later life main characters. Of course, attention is paid to Raskolnikov and Sonya, who followed her lover to hard labor. Rodion does not feel guilty for a long time; he only reproaches himself for being weak and turning himself in. His illness became the turning point that determined his entire future attitude and understanding of the world. A serious mental internal confrontation took place in Raskolnikov when he was rushing about in delirium. It seemed to him that the whole world was populated by microbes or spirits that infect people. These harmful creatures make those around them crazy and possessed. People simply do not understand how susceptible they are to infection; many are already simply sick, considering their opinion the most correct. It seemed to Rodion that the sick person himself began to kill and devour those around him. Having overcome the illness, the young man feels renewed. He is frightened by the news of Sonya's poor health.
He is eager to see her. Having made sure that the girl is no longer in danger, Rodion suddenly realizes that he loves her. He understands how much suffering this little fragile girl suffered because of him. In a fit of surging feelings, Raskolnikov throws himself at her feet and cries. Repentance also comes to him for everything he has done, which brings him spiritual relief and allows him to be reborn to a new life. Much of the credit for this goes to Sonina. Her self-sacrifice and kindness paid off.
Mercy and compassion in the novel "Crime and Punishment"
Charity consists not so much in material help, but in spiritual support of one's neighbor.
L.N. Tolstoy
Mercy and compassion.
I want swans to live
And from the white flocks
The world has become kinder...
A. Dementyev
Songs and epics, fairy tales and stories, stories and novels of Russian writers teach us kindness, mercy and compassion. And how many proverbs and sayings have been created! “Remember good and forget evil,” “A good deed lives for two centuries,” “While you live, you do good, only the path of good is the salvation of the soul,” says folk wisdom. So what are mercy and compassion? And why today does a person sometimes bring more evil to another person than good? Probably because kindness is a state of mind when a person is able to come to the aid of others, give good advice, and sometimes just feel sorry. Not everyone is able to feel someone else's grief as their own, to sacrifice something for people, and without this there is no mercy or compassion. a kind person attracts to himself like a magnet, he gives a piece of his heart, his warmth to the people around him. That is why each of us needs a lot of love, justice, sensitivity, so that we have something to give to others. We understand all this thanks to the great Russian writers and their wonderful works.
The heroes of the novel by F.M. are truly merciful and compassionate people. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment". The appearance of the novel “Crime and Punishment” was the result of the writer’s generalization of the most important contradictions of the 60s. Dostoevsky pondered his work for 15 years. Even at engineering school, the future writer was interested in the topic of a strong personality and his rights. In 1865, when Dostoevsky was abroad, the plan for the future novel took shape. Based on the original plot - dramatic story Marmeladov family, then the crime story came to the fore, and central theme became the topic of moral responsibility. “Crime and Punishment” is an ideological novel, social and philosophical in theme, tragic in the nature of the problems posed, adventurous in its plot. The writer's focus is on the terrible reality of Russia at the end of the 19th century, with its poverty, lack of rights, corruption and disunity of the individual, suffocating from the consciousness of his own powerlessness.
The main character of the novel, dropout student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, goes to terrible crime- taking the life of another person - under the influence of theories popular among young people of the 60s of the 19th century. Rodion is a dreamer, a romantic, a proud and strong, noble personality, completely absorbed in the idea. The thought of murder evokes in him not only moral, but also aesthetic disgust: “The main thing: dirty, dirty, disgusting, disgusting!..”. the hero asks the questions: is it permissible to commit small evil for the sake of great good, does a noble goal justify a criminal means? Raskolnikov has a kind and compassionate heart, wounded by the spectacle of human suffering. The reader is convinced of this by reading the episode in which Raskolnikov wanders around St. Petersburg. The hero sees terrible pictures big city and the suffering of the people in it. He is convinced that people cannot find a way out of the social impasse. The unbearably hard life of poor workers, doomed to poverty, humiliation, drunkenness, prostitution and death, shocks him. Raskolnikov perceives other people's pain more acutely than his own. Risking his life, he saves children from the fire; shares the latter with the father of a deceased comrade; a beggar himself, he gives money for the funeral of Mameladov, whom he barely knew. But the hero understands that he cannot help everyone, being a simple student. Raskolnikov comes to the realization of his own powerlessness in the face of evil. And in despair, the hero decides to “transgress” the moral law - to kill out of love for humanity, to commit evil for the sake of good. Raskolnikov seeks power not out of vanity, but in order to really help people dying in poverty and lawlessness. Mercy and compassion are the moral laws that prompted Raskolnikov to commit a crime. The hero feels sorry for everyone: his mother, his sister, the Marmeladov family. For their sake, he committed a crime. The hero wanted to make his mother happy. She helped her children all her life, sending her son the last money, trying to make her daughter’s life easier. Raskolnikov wanted to save his sister, who lived as a companion to the landowners, from the voluptuous claims of the head of the landowner family. WITH Marmeladov Rodion meets in a tavern, where Semyon Zakharovich talks about himself. A drunken official appears before Raskolnikov, the destroyer of his own family, who deserves sympathy, but not condescension. His unfortunate wife evokes burning compassion in Raskolnikov, but she is also guilty of the fact that, even though “the children were sick and crying, they didn’t eat,” she sent her stepdaughter to the panel... and the whole family lives in her shame, in her suffering. Raskolnikov's conclusion about the meanness of people seems inevitable. Only one thing stuck as a thorn in the hero’s mind: what is Sonya’s fault for sacrificing herself to save her sisters and brother? What are they themselves to blame for - this boy and two girls? For the sake of these children and all others, Raskolnikov decides to commit a crime. He says that children "cannot remain children." The hero explains to the frightened Sonya: “What to do? Break what is needed, once for all, and that’s all: and take on the suffering! What? Don’t you understand? Later you will understand... Freedom and power, and most importantly - power! With all the trembling creatures, we must all over the anthill!..” What kind of suffering is Raskolnikov talking about? Probably about murder. He is ready to step over himself by killing a person so that subsequent generations can live in harmony with their conscience.
Raskolnikov’s tragedy is that, according to his theory, he wants to act according to the principle “everything is permitted,” but at the same time, the fire of sacrificial love for people lives in him.
In the novel, almost every character is capable of empathy, compassion and be merciful. Sonechka transgresses through herself for others. To save the family, he goes to the panel. Sonecha finds love and compassion, a willingness to share his fate, Raskolnikov. It is to Sonechka that the hero confesses his crime. She does not judge Raskolnikov for his sin, but painfully sympathizes with him and calls on him to “suffer” and atone for his guilt before God and people. Thanks to his love for the heroine and her love for him, Rodion is resurrected to a new life. "Sonechka, Sonechka
Marmeladova, eternal Sonechka, while the world stands!” - a symbol of self-sacrifice in the name of one’s neighbor and endless “insatiable” compassion.
Raskolnikov’s sister, Avdotya Romanovna, who, according to Rodion, “would rather become a Negro to a planter or a Latvian to a Baltic German than to fuel her spirit and her moral sense by a connection with a person she does not respect,” is going to marry Luzhin. Avdotya Romanovna does not love this man, but with this marriage she hopes to improve the situation not so much for herself, but for her brother and mother.
In this work, Dostoevsky showed that it is impossible to do good relying on evil. That compassion and mercy cannot coexist in a person along with hatred of individual people. Here either hatred displaces compassion, or vice versa. A struggle between these feelings takes place in Raskolnikov’s soul, and in the end, mercy and compassion win. The hero understands that he cannot live with this black spot, the murder of the old woman, on his conscience. He understands that he is a “trembling creature” and had no right to kill. Every person has the right to life. Who are we to deprive him of this right?
Mercy and compassion play a significant role in the novel. The relationships of almost all the characters are built on them: Raskolnikov and Sonechka, Raskolnikov and Dunya, Raskolnikov and the Marmeladov family, Pulkhiriya Alexandrovna and Raskolnikov, Sonya and the Marmeladovs, Sonya and Dunya. Moreover, mercy and compassion in these relationships were manifested on both sides in contact.
Yes, life is harsh. Many human qualities heroes were tested. During these trials, some became lost among vices and evil. But the main thing is that, among the vulgarity, dirt and depravity, the heroes were able to preserve, perhaps, the most important human qualities - mercy and compassion.