What is the tragedy of Raskolnikov’s theory? What is Raskolnikov's tragic mistake? Testing the theory with life
I have long pondered the question of the relativity of the concepts of good and evil in life. Among humanity, Raskolnikov distinguished a small group of people who stood, as it were, above questions of good and evil, above ethical assessments of actions and deeds, people for whom, due to their genius, their high usefulness for humanity, nothing can serve as an obstacle to whom everything is allowed. The rest, who do not leave the circle of mediocrity, the masses, the crowd, must obey the existing general norms and laws and serve as a means of the high goals of the chosen people. Moral rules do not exist for the latter; they can break them, because their ends justify their means.
Raskolnikov's theory
“In my opinion,” says Raskolnikov, “if Keplerian and Newtonian discoveries, as a result of any combinations, could in no way become famous people Otherwise, as with the sacrifice of the lives of one, ten, a hundred, and so on, people who would interfere with this discovery, or who would stand in the way as an obstacle, then Newton would have the right to do so. He would even be obliged to eliminate these ten or even a hundred people in order to make his discoveries known to all humanity. All the legislators and founders of humanity, starting with the ancients, continuing with the Lycurgus, Solons, Mohammeds, Napoleons and so on, every single one of them were criminals, for the very fact that, by giving a new law, they thereby violated the ancient one, sacredly revered by society and passed down from the fathers , and, of course, they did not hesitate before blood, if only blood (sometimes completely innocent and valiantly shed for the ancient law) could help them. It’s even remarkable that most of these benefactors and founders of humanity were especially terrible bloodsheds.”
This is how Raskolnikov justifies the law exceptional personality to crimes in the name not of animals and selfish, but of common and lofty goals. Raskolnikov understands that this course of action must also correspond to the special mental structure of the personality of a person who is ready to “transgress” morality. He must be the owner for this strong will, iron endurance and in him, over the feelings of fear, despair, timidity, only the consciousness of the set intellectual goals should rule. Having fallen into despair and melancholy, Raskolnikov needs to prove to himself that he is not a “trembling creature”, that he dares, perhaps, that he is destined to go through all his destiny. “Power is given only to those who dare to bend down and take it. There’s only one thing: you just have to dare.”
Thus, the planned murder attracts Raskolnikov not as an opportunity for enrichment, but as a victory over himself, as a confirmation of his strength, as proof that he is not “material” for construction, but the builder himself. It is characteristic of Raskolnikov that, when contemplating a murder, he immerses himself entirely in theory, in philosophical reflections, and he is much more interested in logical conclusions than in the results of actions. He remains a theorist, a thinker, even when he fulfills all his plans. And, despite the fact that, as it seemed, he foresaw and provided for everything in advance in his thoughts, he could not foresee the most important thing precisely because he is a man of thought, not action.
Refutation of Raskolnikov's theory
Raskolnikov did not foresee precisely the fact that between the theoretical solution and practical implementation there often lies an abyss, that what seems so easy in theory and even fills with self-satisfaction and pride in reality reveals an unexpected, formidable and ominous meaning. He foresaw much of the planned plan and imagined almost all of its external consequences, but he could not foresee his inner well-being either at the moment of shedding blood, hitting the old woman’s skull with an ax, or in the following days and nights. Raskolnikov, as a theorist and as an individualist, considered only himself, his intellectual goals, while he was preparing to go and commit violence, to take the life of another.
At its core, the fallacy of Raskolnikov’s theory boils down to the fact that he ascribed a purely external meaning to moral laws in general and in particular the commandment “thou shalt not kill,” which should be externally obligatory for some and from the recognition of which some may be exempt. That is why, when preparing to kill, he mentally thinks about only his logical positions all the time, but does not consciously dwell on the essence of the very moment of the murder. And only vaguely something in him protests against decision taken, and he feels sadness and disgust at the thought of having to commit murder.
And after committing a crime, when he tries in vain to understand his feelings, he believes that the whole point is simply that he did not have the strength to “transgress” the norms, to dare. “I just killed a louse, Sonya,” he says to Sonya Marmeladova, “useless, disgusting, harmful”... - “Is this man a louse?” - Sonya exclaims, and this emphasizes her special, deeply religious attitude towards human life. For Sonya Marmeladova, moral laws, the commandments of life are embedded deeply in the foundation of the human soul, and no one, no matter what height a person reaches, can transgress these commandments and laws without disfiguring his life, without committing terrible violence against his own soul. That's why she exclaims, sobbing: “What are you, what are you? above oneself done! There is no one more unhappy than you in the whole world now.”
As for Raskolnikov himself, he remains until the end of the novel, until the final lines of the epilogue, not understanding this religious attitude of Sonya to life. But the author shows how in Raskolnikov’s immediate life his violation of the basic laws of human life is revealed. The author contrasts Raskolnikov’s theory, which allows murder for a few, with the elemental logic of life, not rational, like Raskolnikov’s, but irrational, subjugating the young theorist entirely and smashing to smithereens all his positions, which seemed to him so firmly established and inviolable.
Full condition mental disorder, into which Raskolnikov fell after the murder, the complete loss of all his life affirmations, the painful and terrible state showed how powerless personal human logic is when it runs counter to the general foundations of life.
Raskolnikov’s theory (based on Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”).
The social and philosophical novel “Crime and Punishment” was written in 1866. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky reproduces a picture of life in Russia in the mid-19th century, when the active struggle of new revolutionary forces began and deepened even more social contradictions. In his novel, the author opposes the existing social structure of society, which pushes a person to crime. Dostoevsky shows not just a crime, but the feelings, thoughts, experiences of a person and the reasons for his crime.
The main character of the novel is Rodion Raskolnikov, a former student, commoner, who lives in deep poverty without any hope of improving his situation. He is endowed with many positive qualities: intelligence, kindness, responsiveness. He has many good beginnings, but need and difficult life circumstances bring him to the point of exhaustion. And around him Raskolnikov sees poverty and lawlessness. It is in such an environment where the hero is forced to live that his inhuman theory could have arisen. According to Raskolnikov’s theory, people are divided into “trembling creatures” and special people who “have the right” to commit crimes for the sake of great goals. “Extraordinary” are those people who rule the world, reach heights in science, technology, and religion. They can and are obliged to destroy everything on their way to achieving the goal necessary for all humanity.
The theory is based on the assertion that happiness for the majority is possible through the destruction of the minority. Myself main character trying to find out who he is: “a trembling creature” or “one who has the right.” Raskolnikov tries to place himself in the latter category. He decides to take a test to make sure that he belongs to strong personalities. Raskolnikov goes to kill the old pawnbroker. Wanting to make the world a better place, to rid it of injustice, the hero becomes a murderer. The evil done does not benefit anyone. Dostoevsky begins a refutation of Raskolnikov's theory. The murder was the beginning of all Rodion’s moral suffering. His conscience torments him, he is afraid of being caught, afraid of giving himself away and doing extra step. The hero's self-experiment failed. He could not “step over the blood” without remorse. Raskolnikov comes to the conclusion that he is the same “trembling creature” as all other people. The consciousness of the senselessness of the committed crime weighs heavily on Rodion’s soul. But while he does not want to lose faith in his theory, he continues to consider his ideas correct. The death of the old woman cut him off from those around him. The theory that was supposed to lead him out of the dead end led him into an even more hopeless dead end. Raskolnikov feels completely cut off from the world and people. It is impossible to understand the truth of what happened in such solitude: the hero’s consciousness cannot independently break out of the circle of ideas, defined by theory. He rushes about in search of a living soul who could listen to him and ease his suffering. Rodion opens up to Sonya Marmeladova, who is also a criminal who violated the moral law and ruined her soul. Under the influence of Sonya, Raskolnikov confesses to the murder and receives a fair punishment. Even in hard labor he does not want to deviate from his theory. Awareness of guilt and repentance is not immediately given to Rodion. It is Sonechka Marmeladova’s kindness, faith in people and in God that help the hero abandon his inhuman theory. The final collapse of the idea occurs in his last dream, in which people kill each other in the name of the happiness of all mankind. Desert land is the logical result of Raskolnikov’s theory. And only after this dream begins his liberation from the power of the idea, his gradual return to people begins. Rodion begins to understand that all people are the same and everyone deserves happiness, which everyone should strive for by helping others. He abandons his theory, comes to Christian values, understands that happiness cannot be built on crime. The hero's idea of the right of the strong to commit crime turned out to be absurd. Life defeats this theory.
Thus, Dostoevsky in his novel conveys the idea that crime is unacceptable in human society that a theory aimed at destroying even one person has no right to exist.
The theoretical basis of Raskolnikov's idea
It is no coincidence that Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky devotes such attention to the description of Raskolnikov’s theory in the novel “Crime and Punishment”: great attention. She is not a figment of the imagination of a great writer. Among Dostoevsky's contemporaries there were many young educated people fascinated by the ideas of Nietzsche. It was his teaching that gave rise to similar beliefs, popular among young people trying to find a way out of a humiliating beggarly situation. The work of a talented writer raised actual problems modern society. Crime, drunkenness, prostitution - vices generated by social inequality, have overwhelmed Russia. Trying to escape from the terrible reality, people became carried away by the ideas of individualism and forgot about the eternal moral values and the commandments of the Christian religion.
The birth of an idea
The main character of the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky, possessing extraordinary abilities, dreaming of a great future, is forced to endure poverty and humiliation. This had a detrimental effect on psychological condition hero. He leaves his studies at the university, locks himself in his stuffy closet and ponders a plan for a terrible crime. A conversation overheard by chance seems like a strange omen to Raskolnikov. Individual thoughts and phrases repeated the theses of the article “On Crime,” which he wrote for the newspaper. Captivated by the idea, the young man decides to bring the theory to life.
The right of a strong personality to commit a crime
What was Raskolnikov’s famous theory? People, according to the student, from birth are divided into two categories. Some relate to upper class the chosen ones “who have the gift or talent to say a new word among themselves.” They are destined for an unusual fate. They make great discoveries, make history, and advance progress. A man like Napoleon can, for the sake of highest goal commit crimes, expose others to mortal danger, step through blood. They are not afraid of laws. Doesn't exist for them moral principles. Such individuals of the human race may not think about the consequences of their behavior and strive to achieve their goal no matter what. They are “entitled”. The rest of the mass of people is material “serving solely for the generation of their own kind.”
Testing the theory with life
Possessing exorbitant pride, Raskolnikov considered himself one of the chosen ones. The murder of a greedy old woman committed by a young man is a test of the theory on himself. The “Chosen One” easily steps over the blood in order to later benefit all of humanity. Feelings of regret and remorse are unknown to such a person. This is what the main character of the novel thinks. Life puts everything in its place. Rodion Raskolnikov, having committed terrible crime, finds himself in painful isolation. He, who has crossed the moral line, is unhappy, separated from communication with his family, and doomed to loneliness. “I didn’t kill the old woman, I killed myself,” exclaims Raskolnikov. The murder puts a young man, kind and noble by nature, on a par with such vicious personalities as Svidrigailov and Luzhin. After all, they also ignored moral laws and lived, thinking only about their own well-being. “We are birds of a feather,” Svidrigailov says to the hero. The protagonist's experiences are the most terrible punishment and proof of his delusions. Only by repenting of his deeds and turning to God does Raskolnikov gather his “shattered” soul and find peace and happiness. Sonya Marmeladova's devotion and love make her forget about her delusions and be reborn for a new life.
Lessons from a brilliant novel
Terrible consequences
Raskolnikov's inhuman theory, based on the idea of egoism and individualism, is inhumane. No one has the right to control the lives of other people. By committing such actions, a person violates the laws of morality and the commandments of Christianity. “Thou shalt not kill,” says the Bible. It is no coincidence that the smart Porfiry Petrovich, trying to understand the conclusions of Rodion Raskolnikov, is interested in how to distinguish unusual person. After all, if everyone imagines themselves to be special and starts breaking the law, chaos will begin! The author of the theory does not have a clear answer to this question.
Who is guilty
Who is to blame for the fact that smart, kind, noble people got carried away by such ideas, crippled their lives, ruined their souls. Dostoevsky tries to answer this question with his novel. Social inequality, poverty-stricken situation for the most part working people, “humiliated and insulted” pushed people onto this criminal and immoral path.
Good is the basis of life
In the novel Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov's theory fails. This helps to understand that a person is not a “trembling creature,” but a person who has the right to life. “You can’t build happiness on someone else’s misfortune,” says folk wisdom. Relations between people should be based on kindness, mercy and faith in God, as the novel of the great writer convinces us.
A description of the theory of the main character of the novel and proof of its inconsistency will be useful for 10th graders when writing the essay “Raskolnikov’s Theory in the Novel “Crime and Punishment”.”
Work test
Today we will talk about the theory that F. Dostoevsky introduces us to in the novel “Crime and Punishment”. What ideas did the author want to convey and what is wrong with Raskolnikov’s theory?
About the book
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky created a wonderful book about human madness called “Crime and Punishment.” It was written back in 1866, but remains relevant to this day. The writer lifts the veil on life ordinary people V Russia XIX century. At this time, the struggle between various revolutionary movements intensifies, and social contradictions become more acute. In his book, Dostoevsky did not pursue the goal of creating a negative hero: he brings to the fore the problems of society, which creates the reasons that force a person to commit a crime. To show this, he describes in detail Rodion's thoughts, doubts, torments and reasons.
Main character
The main character is Rodion Raskolnikov - humble person, a former student who works part-time wherever he can and lives in amazing poverty. He cannot see any brightness in life, he understands this perfectly well. Raskolnikov’s theory in the novel “Crime and Punishment” is revealed to readers gradually in order to convey all the depth and doom. It is worth understanding that Rodion is not the last scoundrel and idiot, he is quite smart, which is clearly visible in the process of reading the book. The guy is not without even such qualities as responsiveness and kindness. Isn't this the paradox of crime? After all, there are only a few from all over the world, who can be counted on one hand, who have truly animalistic, inexplicable rigidity, which is not dictated by anything other than a thirst for blood. There are incredibly few such people, and crimes are committed everywhere. How so? Every criminal also has something good in himself, no matter how difficult it may be to admit it at times. It’s easy to talk about this, in practice the situation is not so simple, but still the essence does not change. We understand that Rodion has a number of positive qualities, but the poverty surrounding him greatly hurts his feelings. In addition, he sees the complete lack of rights and doom of those like himself. All this brings the hero to complete spiritual exhaustion, under the conditions of which his inhuman theory is born.
The essence of Raskolnikov's theory
What thoughts did Rodion try to calm himself down with? Did he succeed? Raskolnikov’s theory in the novel “Crime and Punishment” is that it divides people into two types: people who are completely powerless and those who can break the law for their own personal purposes. This is the main idea that the main character develops throughout the book. Over time, it changes a little, some new features of two categories of people appear. The funny thing is that at first Raskolnikov himself thought his theory was a joke; he did not take it seriously, but considered it simply entertainment in order not to think about pressing matters. The more Rodion “entertains” in this way, the more truthful, rational and correct his own theory seems to him. He begins to bring everyone and everything under it and think about people only based on this position.
Finding yourself
We already know what Raskolnikov’s theory is, but what place does he himself have in it? Throughout the book, he tries to answer this question for himself. Raskolnikov's theory in the novel Crime and Punishment states that for the happiness and well-being of the majority, the destruction of the minority is necessary. Through difficult thoughts and analysis of his mind, Rodion decides that he belongs to the category of people who have the right to perform any actions in order to achieve a goal. In order to test his luck and make sure that he belongs to the “elite,” Rodion decides to kill the old pawnbroker. The essence of Raskolnikov's theory is deceptive, because, trying to make the world a better place, he commits a terrible crime - murder.
Consequences
Wanting to improve the world around him, Raskolnikov realizes over time that crime committed doesn't benefit anyone. He realizes the meaninglessness of his action. At this point, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky begins to refute the already known theory. In the book, this happens against the backdrop of Rodion’s intense torment that he experiences after the murder. Raskolnikov’s theory in the novel “Crime and Punishment” fails, and the main character himself feels like a hunted animal, because, on the one hand, he is tormented by his conscience, and on the other, he is afraid of making a mistake and giving himself away.
Comprehension
The main character conducts a very unsuccessful experiment on himself, which leads to apathy and depression, because the problems remain unresolved, and in addition, his conscience torments him every night. What is Raskolnik's theory after the crime? For him, she remained the same, but he had to accept the fact that he, apparently, was a powerless trembling creature. He tries to stick to his views until the very end. The death of the old woman cuts him off from the world around him, he is completely immersed in inner life. Raskolnikov’s theory, whose quotes amaze even adults with cruelty, was supposed to help young man to find peace, but led him into the terrible jungle of his own conscience.
He is trying to find some kind of salvation, because he feels that the oppression of thoughts will soon destroy him. Raskolnikov wants to find a person to whom he can tell his terrible secret. He decides to trust Sonya Marmeladova, a girl who violated moral laws. Raskolnikov lightens his soul. The young man continues to communicate with the girl and, under her influence, repents of his crime before the law. Raskolnikov's theory (it is described briefly in the article) fails.
Collapse
Giving up his views is very difficult for Rodion. Big influence He is influenced by faith in people, in God, and the immeasurable kindness of Sonya Marmeladova. Raskolnikov's theory (summarized above) fails completely only after he has a dream where everyone kills each other, and as a result the earth becomes devastated. Totally absurd. Finally, Rodion understands the fallacy of his theory, because its essence is that there will be no people left. After sleep, the main character gradually begins to regain his faith in people and goodness. This is not easy, he stubbornly refuses past views. Rodion begins to understand that happiness should be available to everyone. He will also come to a deep understanding of Christian values. Happiness and prosperity cannot be built on crime. It is unacceptable to kill even one person, because people are absolutely equal by nature. Below are some quotes from the book:
. “Power is given only to those who dare to bend down and pick it up. There’s only one thing, one thing: you just have to dare!”
. “The more cunning a person is, the less he suspects that he will be knocked down in a simple way. The most cunning man it is from the simplest that we must take it.”
. “...And you reach the line that if you don’t step over it, you’ll be unhappy, but if you step over it, maybe you’ll become even more unhappy...”
So, today we found out what Raskolnikov’s theory is.
Raskolnikov's tragic mistake lies in the contradiction between the hero's subjective humanistic motives and the objective anti-humanistic form of their manifestation.
11. What is the uniqueness of F.M.’s psychologism? Dostoevsky in the novel “Crime and Punishment”?
Psychologism F.M. Dostoevsky differs from the psychologism of I.S. Turgenev or L.N. Tolstoy. Revealing inner world heroes, F.M. Dostoevsky shows the clash of contradictory impulses, the struggle between consciousness and subconsciousness, desire and its implementation. His characters don’t just think, they suffer painfully, analyze their actions, and reflect.
F. M. Dostoevsky
Crime and Punishment
Poor district of St. Petersburg in the 60s. XIX century, adjacent to Sennaya Square and the Catherine Canal. Summer evening. Former student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov leaves his closet in the attic and takes the latter as a mortgage to the old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna, whom he is preparing to kill. valuable thing. On way back he enters one of the cheap drinking establishments, where he accidentally meets the official Marmeladov, who has drunk himself and lost his job. He tells how consumption, poverty and her husband’s drunkenness pushed his wife, Katerina Ivanovna, to a cruel act - to send his daughter from her first marriage, Sonya, to work at the panel to earn money.
The next morning, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother from the provinces describing the troubles he has suffered. younger sister Dunya in the house of the depraved landowner Svidrigailov. He learns about the imminent arrival of his mother and sister in St. Petersburg in connection with Dunya's upcoming marriage. The groom is a calculating businessman Luzhin, who wants to build a marriage not on love, but on the poverty and dependence of the bride. The mother hopes that Luzhin will financially help her son complete his course at the university. Reflecting on the sacrifices that Sonya and Dunya make for the sake of their loved ones, Raskolnikov strengthens his intention to kill the pawnbroker - a worthless evil “louse”. After all, thanks to her money, “hundreds, thousands” of girls and boys will be spared from undeserved suffering. However, disgust for bloody violence rises again in the hero’s soul after a dream he saw, a memory of his childhood: the boy’s heart breaks with pity for the nag being beaten to death.
And yet, Raskolnikov kills with an ax not only the “ugly old woman,” but also her kind, meek sister Lizaveta, who unexpectedly returned to the apartment. Miraculously leaving unnoticed, he hides the stolen goods in a random place, without even assessing its value.
Soon Raskolnikov discovers with horror the alienation between himself and other people. Sick from his experience, he is, however, unable to reject the burdensome concerns of his university friend Razumikhin. From the latter’s conversation with the doctor, Raskolnikov learns that the painter Mikolka, a simple village guy, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering the old woman. Reacting painfully to conversations about crime, he himself also arouses suspicion among others.
Luzhin, who came for a visit, is shocked by the squalor of the hero’s closet; their conversation develops into a quarrel and ends in a breakup. Raskolnikov is especially offended by the closeness of practical conclusions from Luzhin’s “reasonable egoism” (which seems vulgar to him) and his own “theory”: “people can be cut…”
Wandering around St. Petersburg, a sick young man suffers from his alienation from the world and is ready to confess to a crime to the authorities when he sees a man crushed by a carriage. This is Marmeladov. Out of compassion, Raskolnikov spends his last money on the dying man: he is carried into the house, the doctor is called. Rodion meets Katerina Ivanovna and Sonya, who is saying goodbye to her father in an inappropriately bright outfit of a prostitute. Thanks to good deed the hero briefly felt a community with people. However, having met his mother and sister who had arrived at his apartment, he suddenly realizes that he is “dead” to their love and rudely drives them away. He is lonely again, but he has hope of getting closer to Sonya, who, like him, “transgressed” the absolute commandment.
Razumikhin, who almost at first sight fell in love with the beautiful Dunya, takes care of Raskolnikov’s relatives. Meanwhile, the offended Luzhin confronts his bride with a choice: either he or his brother.
In order to find out about the fate of the things pawned by the murdered woman, and in fact to dispel the suspicions of some acquaintances, Rodion himself asks for a meeting with Porfiry Petrovich, the investigator in the case of the murder of the old pawnbroker. The latter recalls Raskolnikov’s recently published article “On Crime,” inviting the author to explain his “theory” about “two classes of people.” It turns out that the “ordinary” (“lower”) majority is just material for the reproduction of their own kind; it is they who need a strict moral law and must be obedient. These are “trembling creatures.” “People themselves” (“higher ones”) have a different nature, possessing the gift of a “new word”, they destroy the present in the name of the better, even if it is necessary to “step over” the moral norms previously established for the “lower” majority, for example, by shedding someone else’s blood. These “criminals” then become “new legislators.” Thus, not recognizing the biblical commandments (“thou shalt not kill,” “thou shalt not steal,” etc.), Raskolnikov “allows” “those who have the right” - “blood according to conscience.” The intelligent and insightful Porfiry discerns in the hero an ideological murderer who claims to be the new Napoleon. However, the investigator has no evidence against Rodion - and he releases the young man in the hope that his good nature will overcome the delusions of his mind and will itself lead him to confess to his crime.
Indeed, the hero is increasingly convinced that he has made a mistake in himself: “the real ruler […] destroys Toulon, commits massacres in Paris, forgets the army in Egypt, wastes half a million people in the Moscow campaign,” and he, Raskolnikov, suffers because of “vulgarity "and the "meanness" of a single murder. It is clear that he is a “trembling creature”: even after killing, he “did not step over” the moral law. The very motives of the crime are twofold in the hero’s consciousness: this is both a test of oneself for the “highest level”, and an act of “justice”, according to revolutionary socialist teachings, transferring the property of “predators” to their victims.
Svidrigailov, who came after Dunya to St. Petersburg, apparently guilty of the recent death of his wife, meets Raskolnikov and notes that they are “birds of a feather,” although the latter has not completely conquered the “Schiller” within himself. Despite all the disgust for the offender, Rodion’s sister is attracted by his apparent ability to enjoy life, despite the crimes he has committed.
During lunch in the cheap rooms where Luzhin, out of economy, settled Dunya and his mother, a decisive explanation takes place. Luzhin is accused of slandering Raskolnikov and Sonya, to whom he allegedly gave for base services the money selflessly collected by his poor mother for his studies. The relatives are convinced of the purity and nobility of the young man and sympathize with Sonya’s fate. Expelled in disgrace, Luzhin is looking for a way to discredit Raskolnikov in the eyes of his sister and mother.
The latter, meanwhile, again feeling a painful alienation from his loved ones, comes to Sonya. From her, who “transgressed” the commandment “thou shalt not commit adultery,” he seeks salvation from unbearable loneliness. But Sonya herself is not alone. She sacrificed herself for the sake of others (hungry brothers and sisters), and not others for herself, like her interlocutor. Love and compassion for loved ones, faith in the mercy of God never left her. She reads the gospel lines to Rodion about Christ’s resurrection of Lazarus, hoping for a miracle in her life. The hero fails to captivate the girl with the “Napoleonic” plan for power over “the entire anthill.”
Tormented by both fear and the desire to be exposed, Raskolnikov again comes to Porfiry, as if worried about his mortgage. A seemingly abstract conversation about the psychology of criminals ultimately drives the young man to the point of nervous breakdown, and he almost gives himself away to the investigator. What saves him is his unexpected confession of murdering the pawnbroker Mikolka.
In the passage room of the Marmeladovs, a wake was held for her husband and father, during which Katerina Ivanovna, in a fit of morbid pride, insults the owner of the apartment. She tells her and the children to move out immediately. Suddenly Luzhin, who lives in the same house, enters and accuses Sonya of stealing a hundred-ruble banknote. The girl’s “guilt” is proven: money is found in her apron pocket. Now in the eyes of others she is also a thief. But unexpectedly there is a witness that Luzhin himself quietly slipped Sonya a piece of paper. The slanderer is put to shame, and Raskolnikov explains to those present the reasons for his action: having humiliated his brother and Sonya in the eyes of Dunya, he hoped to regain the favor of the bride.
Rodion and Sonya go to her apartment, where the hero confesses to the girl about the murder of the old woman and Lizaveta. She pities him for the moral torment to which he has doomed himself, and offers to atone for his guilt by voluntary confession and hard labor. Raskolnikov only laments that he turned out to be a “trembling creature”, with a conscience and a need for human love. “I’ll still fight,” he disagrees with Sonya.
Meanwhile, Katerina Ivanovna and her children find themselves on the street. She begins to bleed from the throat and dies, refusing the services of a priest. Svidrigailov, who is present here, undertakes to pay for the funeral and provide for the children and Sonya.
At his home, Raskolnikov finds Porfiry, who convinces the young man to turn himself in: a “theory” that denies absoluteness moral law, rejects from single source life - God, the creator of humanity, united by nature, - and thereby dooms his captive to death. “Now you […] need air, air, air!” Porfiry does not believe in the guilt of Mikolka, who “accepted suffering” out of an primordial popular need: to atone for the sin of not conforming to the ideal - Christ.
But Raskolnikov still hopes to “transcend” morality. Before him is the example of Svidrigailov. Their meeting in the tavern reveals to the hero a sad truth: the life of this “insignificant villain” is empty and painful for him.
Dunya's reciprocity is the only hope for Svidrigailov to return to the source of being. Having become convinced of her irrevocable dislike for himself during a heated conversation in his apartment, he shoots himself a few hours later.
Meanwhile, Raskolnikov, driven by the lack of “air,” says goodbye to his family and Sonya before confessing. He is still convinced of the “theory” and is full of self-contempt. However, at Sonya’s insistence, in front of the people, he repentantly kisses the land before which he “sinned.” At the police office, he learns about Svidrigailov’s suicide and makes an official confession.
Raskolnikov finds himself in Siberia, in a convict prison. The mother died of grief, Dunya married Razumikhin. Sonya settled near Raskolnikov and visits the hero, patiently enduring his gloom and indifference. The nightmare of alienation continues here: the common convicts hate him as an “atheist.” On the contrary, Sonya is treated with tenderness and love. Once in the prison hospital, Rodion sees a dream reminiscent of pictures from the Apocalypse: mysterious “trichinas”, moving into people, give rise to a fanatical conviction in everyone’s own rightness and intolerance to the “truths” of others. “People killed each other in […] senseless rage” until the entire human race was exterminated, except for a few “pure and chosen.” It is finally revealed to him that the pride of the mind leads to discord and destruction, and the humility of the heart leads to unity in love and to the fullness of life. “Endless love” for Sonya awakens in him. On the threshold of "resurrection in new life"Raskolnikov picks up the Gospel.
