The spiritual feat of Sonya Marmeladova. Sonechka Marmeladova: characteristics

F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” presents the reader with a gallery of characters who not only push Rodion Raskolnikov to commit a crime, but also directly or indirectly contribute to the protagonist’s recognition of his crime, Raskolnikov’s awareness of the inconsistency of his theory, which was the main cause of the crime.
One of the central places in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky is occupied by the image of Sonya Marmeladova, a heroine whose fate evokes our sympathy and respect. The more we learn about it, the more we are convinced of its purity and nobility, the more we begin to think about true human values. Sonya’s image and judgments force us to look deep into ourselves and help us appreciate what is happening around us.

This girl has a difficult fate. Sonya's mother passed away early, her father married another woman who has her own children. Need forced Sonya to earn money in a low way: she was forced to go to work. It would seem that after such an act, Sonya should have become angry with her stepmother, because she almost forced Sonya to earn money in this way. But Sonya forgave her, moreover, every month she brings money to the house in which she no longer lives. Sonya has changed outwardly, but her soul remains the same: crystal clear. Sonya is ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of others, and not everyone can do this. She could live “in spirit and mind,” but she must feed her family. She committed a sin, dared to sell herself. But at the same time, she does not require or expect any gratitude. She does not blame Katerina Ivanovna for anything, she simply resigns herself to her fate. “... And she just took our large green draded shawl (we have a common shawl, a draded damask one), covered her head and face with it completely and lay down on the bed, facing the wall, only her shoulders and body were all shaking...” Sonya closes face, because she is ashamed, ashamed of herself and God. Therefore, she rarely comes home, only to give money, she is embarrassed when meeting Raskolnikov’s sister and mother, she feels awkward even at her own father’s wake, where she was so shamelessly insulted. Sonya is lost under Luzhin's pressure; her meekness and quiet disposition make it difficult to stand up for herself.
All the heroine’s actions surprise with their sincerity and openness. She does nothing for herself, everything is for the sake of someone: her stepmother, stepbrothers and sister, Raskolnikov. The image of Sonya is the image of a true Christian and righteous woman. He is revealed most fully in the scene of Raskolnikov’s confession. Here we see Sonechkin’s theory - the “theory of God.” The girl cannot understand and accept Raskolnikov’s ideas; she denies his elevation above everyone, his disdain for people. The very concept of an “extraordinary person” is alien to her, just as the possibility of breaking the “law of God” is unacceptable. For her, everyone is equal, everyone will appear before the court of the Almighty. In her opinion, there is no person on Earth who would have the right to condemn his own kind and decide their fate. "Kill? Do you have the right to kill? - exclaims the indignant Sonya. Despite her reverence for Raskolnikov, she will never accept his theory.
The girl never makes an attempt to justify her position. She considers herself a sinner. Due to the circumstances, Sonya, like Raskolnikov, transgressed the moral law: “We are cursed together, we will go together,” Raskolnikov tells her. However, the difference between them is that he transgressed through the life of another person , and she - through hers. Sonya calls Raskolnikov to repentance, she agrees to bear his cross with him, to help him come to the truth through suffering. We have no doubt about her words, the reader is sure that Sonya will follow Raskolnikov everywhere, everywhere and always will be with him. And why does she need this? To go to Siberia, live in poverty, suffer for the sake of a person who is dry, cold with you, rejects you. Only she, the “eternal Sonechka”, could do this with with a kind heart and selfless love for people. Dostoevsky managed to create a unique image: a prostitute who evokes respect and love from everyone around her - the idea of ​​humanism and Christianity permeates this image. She is loved and honored by everyone: Katerina Ivanovna, and her children, and neighbors, and convicts whom Sonya helps for free. Reading the Gospel to Raskolnikov, the legend of the resurrection of Lazarus, Sonya awakens faith, love and repentance in his soul. “They were resurrected by love, the heart of one contained endless sources of life for the heart of the other.” Rodion came to what Sonya called him to, he overestimated life and its essence, as evidenced by his words: “Can her beliefs now not be my beliefs? Her feelings, her aspirations at least..."

In my opinion, the fate of Sonechka finally convinced Raskolnikov of the fallacy of his theory. He saw before him not a “trembling creature”, not a humble victim of circumstances, but a man whose self-sacrifice is far from humility and is aimed at saving the perishing, at effectively caring for his neighbors. Sonya, selfless in her devotion to family and love, is ready to share Raskolnikov’s fate. She sincerely believes that Raskolnikov will be able to resurrect for a new life.

The basis of Sonya Marmeladova’s personality is her faith in man, in the indestructibility of good in his soul, in the fact that compassion, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and universal love will save the world. Having created the image of Sonya Marmeladova, Dostoevsky outlined the antipode of Raskolnikov and his theories (goodness, mercy opposing evil). The girl’s life position reflects the views of the writer himself, his belief in goodness, justice, forgiveness and humility, but, above all, love for a person, no matter what he is.

In the novel Crime and Punishment, Sonya and Raskolnikov are the main characters. Through the images of these heroes, Fyodor Mikhailovich tries to convey to us the main idea of ​​the work, to find answers to the vital questions of existence.

At first glance, there is nothing in common between Sonya Marmeladova and Rodion Raskolnikov. Their life paths intertwine unexpectedly and merge into one.

Raskolnikov is a poor student who abandoned his studies at the Faculty of Law, created a terrible theory about the right of a strong personality and plotted a brutal murder. An educated man, proud and vain, he is closed and uncommunicative. His dream is to become Napoleon.

Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova is a timid, downtrodden creature who, by the will of fate, finds herself at the very bottom. An eighteen-year-old girl is uneducated, poor and unhappy. Having no other way to earn money, she sells her body. She was forced to lead such a lifestyle by pity and love for her loved ones.

The heroes have different characters, different social circles, levels of education, but the same unfortunate fate of the “humiliated and insulted.” They are united by the crime committed. Both crossed the moral line and found themselves outcasts. Raskolnikov kills people for the sake of an idea and glory, Sonya violates the laws of morality, saving her family from starvation. Sonya suffers under the weight of sin, but Raskolnikov does not feel guilty. But they are irresistibly drawn to each other...

Relationship stages

Acquaintance

A strange coincidence of circumstances, a chance meeting, brings the heroes of the novel together. Their relationship develops in stages.

Rodion Raskolnikov learns about Sonya's existence from the confusing story of the drunken Marmeladov. The fate of the girl interested the hero. Their acquaintance occurred much later and under rather tragic circumstances. Young people meet in the room of the Marmeladov family. A cramped corner, a dying official, unhappy Katerina Ivanovna, frightened children - this is the setting for the heroes’ first meeting. Rodion Raskolnikov unceremoniously looks at the girl who entered, “timidly looking around.” She is ready to die of shame for her obscene and inappropriate outfit.

Dating

The roads of Sonya and Raskolnikov in the novel Crime and Punishment often intersect as if completely by accident. First, Rodion Raskolnikov helps the girl. He gives her the last money for his father’s funeral, exposes Luzhin’s vile plan, who tried to accuse Sonya of theft. There is still no room in the young man’s heart for great love, but he increasingly wants to communicate with Sonya Marmeladova. His behavior seems strange. Avoiding communication with people, parting with his family, he goes to Sonya and only to her he confesses his terrible crime. Raskolnikov feels an inner strength that the heroine herself did not suspect.

Pity for the criminal

Rodion Raskolnikov and Sonya Marmeladova in Crime and Punishment are two outcasts. Their salvation is in each other. This is probably why the hero’s soul, tormented by doubts, is drawn to the destitute Sonya. He goes to her to feel sorry for her, although he himself needs compassion no less. “We are cursed together, we will go together,” thinks Raskolnikov. Unexpectedly, Sonya opens up to Rodion from the other side. She is not afraid of his confession, does not fall into hysterics. The girl reads aloud the Bible “The Story of the Resurrection of Lazarus” and cries with pity for her loved one: “What are you doing, that you did this to yourself!

There is no one more unhappy than you in the whole world now!” Sonya's power of persuasion is such that it makes her submit. Rodion Raskolnikov, on the advice of a friend, goes to the police station and makes a sincere confession. Throughout the journey, he feels Sonya's presence, her invisible support and love.

Love and devotion

Sonya is a deep and strong person. Having fallen in love with a person, she is ready to do anything for him. Without hesitation, the girl follows the convicted Raskolnikov to Siberia, deciding to stay nearby for eight long years of hard labor. Her sacrifice amazes the reader, but leaves the main character indifferent. Sonya's kindness resonates in the souls of the most brutal criminals. They rejoice at her appearance, turning to her and saying: “You are our mother, tender, sick.” Rodion Raskolnikov is still cold and rude when dating. His feelings awakened only after Sonya became seriously ill and fell ill. Raskolnikov suddenly realizes that she has become necessary and desirable to him. The love and devotion of a weak girl managed to melt the frozen heart of a criminal and awaken in him the good sides of his soul. F. M. Dostoevsky shows us how, having survived crime and punishment, they were resurrected by love.

Victory of good

The book of the great writer makes you think about the eternal questions of existence and believe in the power of true love. She teaches us goodness, faith and mercy. The kindness of the weak Sonya turned out to be much stronger than the evil that settled in Raskolnikov’s soul. She is omnipotent. “The soft and weak conquers the hard and strong,” said Lao Tzu.

Work test

Sonechka Marmeladova is a character in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. The book was written after hard labor. Therefore, it clearly shows a religious connotation of the author’s beliefs. He seeks the truth, exposes the injustice of the world, dreams of the happiness of humanity, but at the same time does not believe that the world can be remade by force. Dostoevsky is convinced that evil cannot be avoided under any social system as long as evil exists in the souls of people. Fyodor Mikhailovich rejected the revolution as a transformer of society; he turned towards religion, trying to solve exclusively the issue of improving the morality of each individual person. It is these ideas that the heroine Sonechka Marmeladova reflects in the novel.

Characteristics of the hero

The two main characters of the novel - Sonya Marmeladova and Rodion Raskolnikov - move through the plot like countercurrents. The ideological part of the work is presented to the reader through their worldview. Through Sonechka, Dostoevsky showed his moral ideal, which brings faith and love, hope and understanding, and warmth. According to the author, this is exactly how all people should be. Through Sonya, Fyodor Mikhailovich says that everyone, regardless of their position in society, has the right to live and be happy. The heroine is convinced that it is impossible to achieve happiness, both one’s own and that of others, through criminal means, and sin in any case remains a sin, in the name of whom or whatever it was committed.

If the image of Raskolnikov is rebellion, then Sonechka Marmeladova in the novel “Crime and Punishment” personifies humility. They are two opposite poles that cannot exist one without the other. However, literary scholars are still arguing about the deep meaning of this rebellion and humility.

Inner world

Sonechka Marmeladova deeply believes in God and has high moral qualities. She sees the deepest meaning in life and does not understand her antagonist’s ideas about the meaninglessness of existence, believing that behind every event there is a predestination from God. Sonya is sure that a person cannot influence anything, and his main task is to show humility and love. For her, things like empathy and compassion are both the meaning of life and great strength.

Raskolnikov judges the world only from the position of reason, with rebellious fervor. He does not want to come to terms with injustice. This becomes the cause of his mental anguish and crime. Sonechka Marmeladova in Dostoevsky’s novel also oversteps herself, but not in the same way as Rodion. She does not want to destroy other people and cause them suffering, but sacrifices herself. This reflects the writer’s idea that what should be more important for a person is not selfish personal happiness, but suffering for the benefit of others. This is the only way, in his opinion, to achieve true happiness.

Moral of the storyline

Sonechka Marmeladova, whose characterization and inner world are so carefully worked out in the novel, reflects the author’s idea that everyone should be aware of responsibility not only for their actions, but also for all the evil happening in the world. Sonya feels guilty for the crime Raskolnikov committed, so she takes everything to heart and tries to revive it with her compassion. Sonya shares Rodion's fate after he reveals his secret to her.

In the novel, this happens symbolically: when Sonya reads him the scene of the resurrection of Lazarus from the New Testament, the man correlates the plot with his own life, and then, coming to her the next time, he himself talks about what he did and tries to explain the reasons, after which he asks for her help. Sonya mentors Rodion. She calls on him to go to the square to repent of his crime before the people. The author himself here reflects the idea of ​​​​bringing the criminal to suffering so that through him he can atone for his guilt.

Moral qualities

Sonya Marmeladova in the novel embodies the best that can be in a person: faith, love, chastity, willingness to sacrifice oneself. She had to engage in prostitution, but, surrounded by vice, she kept her soul pure and continued to believe in people and in the fact that happiness is achieved only at the cost of suffering. Sonya, like Raskolnikov, who transgressed the gospel commandments, nevertheless condemns Rodion for his contempt for people and does not share his rebellious sentiments.

The author tried to reflect through it the whole essence of the people's origin and the Russian soul, to show natural humility and patience, love for one's neighbor and God. The worldviews of the two heroes of the novel are opposed to each other and, constantly colliding, show the contradictions in Dostoevsky’s soul.

Faith

Sonya believes in God, believes in miracles. Rodion, on the contrary, believes that there is no Almighty and miracles also do not happen. He tries to reveal to the girl how ridiculous and illusory her ideas are, proves that her suffering is useless and her sacrifices are ineffective. Raskolnikov judges her from his point of view, says that it is not her profession that makes her sinful, but her vain sacrifices and exploits. However, Sonya's worldview is unshakable, even when driven into a corner, she tries to do something in the face of death. The girl, even after all the humiliation and suffering, did not lose faith in people, in the kindness of their souls. She doesn't need examples, she just believes that everyone deserves a fair share.

Sonya is not embarrassed by either physical deformities or deformities of fate, she is capable of compassion, can penetrate into the essence of the human soul and does not want to judge, because she feels that any evil is committed by a person for some unknown, internal and incomprehensible reason to others.

Inner strength

Many of the author’s thoughts are reflected by Sonechka Marmeladova in the novel “Crime and Punishment.” Its characterization is supplemented by questions about suicide. The girl, forced to go to the panel so that her family would stop starving, at some point thought about committing suicide and with one jerk getting rid of the shame, getting out of the fetid pit.

She was stopped by the thought of what would happen to her loved ones, even if not exactly relatives. In order to refrain from suicide in such a life situation, much more inner strength is required. But the religious Sonya was not held back by the thought of mortal sin. She was worried “about them, her own.” And although debauchery was worse than death for the girl, she chose it.

Love and humility

Another feature that permeates Sonechka’s character is the ability to love. She responds to the suffering of others. She, like the wives of the Decembrists, follows Raskolnikov to hard labor. In her image, Dostoevsky presented an all-encompassing and all-consuming love that does not require anything in return. This feeling cannot be called fully expressed, because Sonya never says anything like that out loud, and silence makes her even more beautiful. For this, she is respected by her father, a drunken former official, and her stepmother Katerina Ivanovna, who has lost her mind, and even the libertine Svidrigailov. Raskolnikov is saved and healed by her love.

Author's Beliefs

Each hero has his own worldview and faith. Everyone remains true to their beliefs. But Raskolnikov and Sonechka come to the conclusion that God can show the path to everyone, if only they feel his closeness. Dostoevsky, through his characters, talks about the fact that every person who has come to God through the thorny path of moral torment and research will no longer be able to look at the world the same way as before. The process of renewal and rebirth of man will begin.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky condemns Raskolnikov. The author gives victory not to him, the smart, strong and proud one, but to the humble Sonya, whose image expresses the highest truth: suffering purifies. It becomes a symbol of the author’s moral ideals, which, in his opinion, are close to the Russian soul. This is humility, silent submission, love and forgiveness. Probably, in our time, Sonechka Marmeladova would also become an outcast. But conscience and truth have always lived and will live, and love and goodness will lead a person even from the abyss of evil and despair. This is the deep meaning of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel.

The impoverished and degraded student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is the central character of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s epoch-making novel “Crime and Punishment.” The author needs the image of Sonya Marmeladova to create a moral counterbalance to Raskolnikov’s theory. Young heroes are in a critical life situation when they need to make a decision on how to live further.
From the very beginning of the story, Raskolnikov behaves strangely: he is suspicious and anxious. The reader gradually penetrates into the sinister plan of Rodion Romanovich. It turns out that Raskolnikov is a “monomaniac,” that is, a person obsessed with a single idea. His thoughts boil down to one thing: at all costs, he must test his theory of dividing people into two “categories” - into “higher” and “trembling creatures”. Raskolnikov describes this theory in the newspaper article “On Crime.” According to the article, the “higher ones” are given the right to step over moral laws and, in the name of a great goal, sacrifice any number of “trembling creatures.” Raskolnikov considers the latter merely material for reproducing his own kind. It is these “simple” people who, according to Rodion Romanovich, need biblical commandments and morality. The “higher ones” are the “new legislators” for the gray masses. For Raskolnikov, the main example of such a “legislator” is Napoleon Bonaparte. Rodion Romanovich himself is forced to begin his “higher” path with actions of a completely different scale.
We first learn about Sonya and her life circumstances from the story of Marmeladov’s former titular adviser, her father, addressed to Raskolnikov. Alcoholic Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov vegetates with his wife Katerina Ivanovna and three small children - his wife and children are starving, Marmeladov drinks. Sonya, his daughter from his first marriage, lives in a rented apartment “on a yellow ticket.” Marmeladov explains to Raskolnikov that she decided to make such a living, unable to withstand the constant reproaches of her consumptive stepmother, who called Sonya a parasite who “eats and drinks and uses warmth.” In fact, she is a meek and unrequited girl. She tries with all her might to help the seriously ill Katerina Ivanovna, her starving stepsisters and brother, and even her unlucky father. Marmeladov tells how he gained and lost his job, drank away the new uniform he bought with his daughter’s money, and then went to ask her “for a hangover.” Sonya did not reproach him for anything: “I took out thirty kopecks, with my own hands, the last, everything that was, I saw myself... She didn’t say anything, she just looked at me silently.”
Raskolnikov and Sonya are at the same disastrous level of life. “The future Napoleon” lives in the attic in a wretched closet, which the author describes in the following words: “It was a tiny cell, about six steps long, which had the most pitiful appearance with its yellow, dusty wallpaper that was peeling off from the walls everywhere, and so ʜᴎɜ that a slightly tall person felt creepy in it, and it seemed like you were about to hit your head on the ceiling.” Rodion Romanovich has reached the extreme line of poverty, but in this situation he feels a strange greatness: “It was difficult to sink and become shabby; but for Raskolnikov it was even pleasant in his current state of mind.”
Rodion Romanovich considers murder to be a simple way out of a difficult financial situation. However, in this decision to turn into a bloody criminal, it is not money that plays the main role, but Raskolnikov’s crazy idea. First of all, he seeks to test his theory and make sure that he is not a “trembling creature.” To do this, you need to “step over” the corpse and reject universal moral laws.
The evil old money-lender Alena Ivanovna was chosen as the victim of this moral experiment. Raskolnikov considers her a “louse” that, according to his theory, he can crush without any pity. But, having hacked to death Alena Ivanovna and her half-sister Lizaveta, Rodion Romanovich suddenly discovers that he can no longer communicate normally with people. It begins to seem to him that everyone around him knows about his actions and is mocking him in a sophisticated way. The novel, with subtle psychologism, shows how, under the influence of this erroneous belief, Raskolnikov begins to play along with his “accusers.” For example, he deliberately starts a conversation about the murder of an old pawnbroker with Zametov, the clerk of the police office.
At the same time, Raskolnikov is still able to distract himself from time to time from his rich inner life and pay attention to what is happening around him. So, he witnesses an accident with Semyon Marmeladov - a drunken official gets run over by a horse. In the confession scene of Marmeladov, crushed and living his last minutes, the author gives the first description of Sofia Semyonovna: “Sonya was small, about eighteen years old, thin, but quite pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes.” Having learned about the incident, she runs to her father in her “work clothes”: “her outfit was a penny, but decorated in a street style, according to the taste and rules that have developed in her special world, with a brightly and shamefully outstanding purpose.” Marmeladov dies in her arms. But even after this, Sonya sends her younger sister Polenka to catch up with Raskolnikov, who donated his last money for the funeral, in order to find out his name and address. Later, she visits the “benefactor” and invites him to her father’s wake.
This peaceful event is not without a scandal: Sonya is unfairly accused of theft. Despite the successful outcome of the case, Katerina Ivanovna and her children are deprived of shelter - they are kicked out of their rented apartment. Now all four are doomed to quick death. Realizing this, Raskolnikov invites Sonya to tell her what she would do if she had the power to take the life of Luzhin, who slandered her, in advance. But Sofya Semyonovna does not want to answer this question - she chooses submission to fate: “But I can’t know God’s providence... And why are you asking what you can’t ask? Why such empty questions? How can it happen that this depends on my decision? And who made me the judge here: who should live and who should not live?”
Despite the beliefs that are alien to him, Raskolnikov feels a kindred spirit in Sonya, because they are both outcasts. He seeks her sympathy because he realizes that his theory was untenable. Now Rodion Romanovich indulges in the perverted pleasure of self-abasement. However, unlike the ideological killer, Sonya is “a daughter who was evil and consumptive to her stepmother, who betrayed herself to strangers and minors.” She has a clear moral guideline - the biblical wisdom of cleansing suffering. When Raskolnikov tells Marmeladova about his crime, she takes pity on him and, focusing on the biblical parable of the resurrection of Lazarus, convinces him to repent of his crime. Sonya intends to share with Raskolnikov the vicissitudes of hard labor: she considers herself guilty of violating biblical commandments and is willing to “suffer” in order to cleanse herself.
An important feature for characterizing both characters: the convicts who served their sentences with Raskolnikov feel a burning hatred for him and at the same time very much love Sonya, who visits him. Rodion Romanovich is told that “walking with an ax” is not a noble thing; they call him an atheist and even want to kill him. Sonya, following her once and for all established concepts, does not look down on anyone, she treats all people with respect - and the convicts reciprocate her feelings.
A logical conclusion from the relationship between this pair of central characters in the novel: without Sonya’s life ideals, Raskolnikov’s path could only end in suicide. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky offers the reader not only the crime and punishment embodied in the main character. Sonya's life leads to repentance and purification. Thanks to this “continuation of the path,” the writer managed to create a holistic, logically complete system of images. Looking at what is happening from two significantly different points of view gives the action additional volume and credibility. The great Russian writer managed not only to breathe life into his heroes, but also to lead them to a successful resolution of the most difficult conflicts. This artistic completeness puts the novel “Crime and Punishment” on a par with the greatest novels of world literature.

Lecture, abstract. Rodion Raskolnikov and Sonya Marmeladova in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment - concept and types. Classification, essence and features.




F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” is one of the most complex works of Russian classical literature. There are many heroes in it, each of whom has their own destiny, their own philosophy, their own point of view on the world. But the uniqueness of the author’s position in this novel lies in the fact that the writer finds points of intersection between different characters. Such heroes, of course, are Sonechka Marmeladova and Raskolnikov.

From the very beginning of the novel, we see that the girl’s fate somehow touched Raskolnikov’s heart. This happened at the moment when Marmeladov, in the tavern, spoke about her sacrificial act: she went out into the street to save her family from hunger.

In the most difficult, difficult days for him, Raskolnikov, having broken all ties with his loved ones, carries his pain in deep loneliness. And when she becomes unbearable, he goes to Sonya. It is in her soul, humiliated by circumstances and inherently beautiful, that he seeks peace.

Despite the complete dissimilarity of these two people, they have something in common. Sonya, like Raskolnikov, broke and trampled herself. Raskolnikov, denying the idea of ​​sacrifice, tells Sonya that she, too, “overstepped, was able to overstep.” We are talking about the moral death of the individual, in this sense both heroes are equally tragic. Raskolnikov is attracted to Sonya not only by the understanding of the commonality of their destinies (“a murderer and a harlot”), but also by the realization that a person cannot be alone. Even the drunkard Marmeladov, who brought a lot of grief to the family, believes: “After all, it is necessary that every person has at least one place where they would feel sorry for him.” In this sense, Raskolnikov sees salvation in Sonya’s mercy. Thanks to this attitude of Sonya, a very important turn from suffering to compassion takes place in Raskolnikov’s soul.

Sonya, with her characteristic kindness, not understanding Raskolnikov’s complex philosophical constructions, feels the main thing: “he is terribly, infinitely unhappy,” and he needs her. For Raskolnikov, Sonya is the embodiment of endless moral torment. But at the same time, Rodion knows: Sonya will never leave him, will follow him to prison, will share his fate, and this gives him strength, clarifying the future.

And although Raskolnikov internally resists accepting Sonya’s sacrifice, in hard labor he soon realizes that Sonya, with her religiosity, kindness and mercy, with a heart open to people, becomes part of his existence. As the completion of this discovery sounds like a request to bring him the Gospel. “Can her beliefs not now also be my beliefs,” he thinks. Raskolnikov sees that religion, faith is the only refuge for Sonya. Raskolnikov wants to accept her faith not out of conviction (he never opened the Gospel that she gave him), but out of trust and gratitude to her, which force him to look at the world through her eyes.

If Sonya adheres to the traditional faith, then for Raskolnikov God is the embodiment of humanity, the ability to serve the unfortunate, the fallen. Raskolnikov understood in essence what Sonya did. And then he turned his gaze to the convicts and felt that they needed him. Convicted, rejected, they expect help from him, just as he himself once expected it from Sonya. They are waiting for help. The feeling of alienation from people in Raskolnikov’s soul gives way to a sense of community, unity with them, which leads to the spiritual purification of the hero. At this point the story of crime and punishment is interrupted, and life continues.


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