Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment was written in 1866. The writer came up with the idea for the work back in 1859, when he was serving his sentence at hard labor. Initially, Dostoevsky was going to write the novel “Crime and Punishment” in the form of a confession, but in the process of work, the original idea gradually changed and, describing his new work to the editor of the magazine “Russian Messenger” (in which the book was first published), the author characterizes the novel as “a psychological report of one works."

"Crime and Punishment" refers to literary movement realism, written in the genre of a philosophical and psychological polyphonic novel, since the ideas of the characters in the work are equal to each other, and the author stands next to the characters, and not above them.

Compiled from "Crime and Punishment" summary by chapters and parts allows you to familiarize yourself with key points novel, prepare for a literature lesson in 10th grade or test work. You can read the retelling of the novel presented on our website online or save it to any electronic device.

Main characters

Rodion Raskolnikov- a poor student, a young, proud, selfless youth. He “was remarkably good-looking, with beautiful dark eyes, dark blond, above average height, thin and slender.”

Sonya Marmeladova- the native daughter of Marmeladov, a drunkard, a former titular councilor. “A small girl, about eighteen years old, thin, but quite pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes.”

Petr Petrovich Luzhin- Dunya’s fiancé, a calculating, “prim, dignified, with a cautious and grumpy physiognomy” gentleman of forty-five years old.

Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov– a gambler with a contradictory character who has crossed several lives. “A man of about fifty, above average height, portly.”

Porfiry Petrovich- an investigative police officer who was involved in the murder of an old pawnbroker. “A man of about thirty-five, shorter than average height, plump and even with a paunch, shaven, without a mustache and without sideburns.” A smart person, a “skeptic, a cynic.”

Razumikhin- student, friend of Rodion. A very intelligent young man, although sometimes simple-minded, “his appearance was expressive - tall, thin, always poorly shaven, black-haired. Sometimes he got rowdy and was known as a strong man."

Dunya (Avdotya Romanovna) Raskolnikova- Raskolnikov’s sister, “a firm, prudent, patient and generous, although with an ardent heart” girl. “Her hair was dark brown, a little lighter than her brother’s; the eyes are almost black, sparkling, proud and at the same time, sometimes, for minutes, unusually kind.”

Other characters

Alena Ivanovna- an old money-lender who was killed by Raskolnikov.

Lizaveta Ivanovna- the sister of the old pawnbroker, “a tall, clumsy, timid and humble girl, almost an idiot, thirty-five years old, who was in complete slavery to her sister, worked for her day and night, trembled before her and even suffered beatings from her.”

Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov- Sonya’s father, a drunkard, “a man over fifty, of average height and heavy build, with gray hair and a large bald spot.”

Ekaterina Ivanovna Marmeladova- a woman of noble birth (from a bankrupt noble family), Sonya’s stepmother, Marmeladov’s wife. “A terribly thin woman, thin, rather tall and slender, with beautiful dark brown hair.”

Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova- Rodion’s mother, a woman of forty-three years old.

Zosimov- doctor, friend of Raskolnikov, 27 years old.

Zametov- Clerk at the police station.

Nastasya- cook of the landlady from whom Raskolnikov rented a room.

Lebezyatnikov- Luzhin's roommate.

Mikola– dyer who confessed to the murder of an old woman

Marfa Petrovna Svidrigailova- wife of Svidrigailov.

Polechka, Lenya, Kolya- children of Katerina Ivanovna.

Part one

Chapter 1

The main character of the novel, Rodion Raskolnikov, is in a situation bordering on poverty; he has eaten almost nothing for the second day and owes the owner of the apartment a decent amount for rent. The young man goes to the old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna, pondering on the way a “mysterious” matter, thoughts about which have been bothering him for a long time - the hero was going to kill.

Arriving at Alena Ivanovna, Raskolnikov pawns a silver watch, while carefully examining the furnishings of her apartment. Leaving, Rodion promises to return soon to pawn the silver cigarette box.

Chapter 2

Entering the tavern, Raskolnikov meets the titular adviser Marmeladov. Having learned that Rodion is a student, the intoxicated interlocutor begins to talk about poverty, saying that “poverty is not a vice, it is the truth, poverty is a vice, sir,” and tells Rodion about his family. His wife, Katerina Ivanovna, having three children in her arms, married him out of despair, although she was smart and educated. But Marmeladov drinks away all the money, taking the last thing out of the house. In order to somehow provide for his family, his daughter, Sonya Marmeladova, had to go to the panel.

Raskolnikov decided to take the drunken Marmeladov home, since he was no longer able to stand on his feet. The student was struck by the squalid conditions of their housing. Katerina Ivanovna begins to scold her husband for drinking away the last of his money again, and Raskolnikov, not wanting to get involved in a quarrel, leaves, for reasons unknown to himself, leaving them some change on the windowsill.

Chapter 3

Raskolnikov lived in a small room with a very low ceiling: “it was a tiny cell, about six steps long.” The room had three old chairs, a table, a large sofa in rags and a small table.

Rodion receives a letter from his mother Pulcheria Raskolnikova. The woman wrote that his sister Dunya was slandered by the Svidrigailov family, in whose house the girl worked as a governess. Svidrigailov showed unambiguous signs of attention to her. Having learned about this, Marfa Petrovna, his wife, began to insult and humiliate Dunya. In addition, forty-five-year-old court councilor Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin with a small capital wooed Duna. The mother writes that she and her sister will soon come to St. Petersburg, since Luzhin wants to arrange the wedding as quickly as possible.

Chapter 4

Raskolnikov was greatly alarmed by his mother's letter. The young man understands that his relatives agreed to the marriage of Luzhin and Dunya only to end poverty, but the young man is against this marriage. Raskolnikov understands that he has no right to prohibit Dunya from marrying Luzhin. And Rodin again began to think about the thought that had tormented him for a long time (the murder of the pawnbroker).

Chapter 5

While walking around the Islands, Raskolnikov decided to snack on a piece of pie and vodka. The young man had not drunk for a long time, so he almost immediately became drunk and, before reaching home, fell asleep in the bushes. He had a terrible dream: an episode from his childhood in which men were slaughtering an old horse. Little Rodion cannot do anything, he runs up to the dead horse, kisses its muzzle and, angry, rushes at the man with his fists.

Having woken up, Raskolnikov again thinks about the murder of the pawnbroker and doubts that he will be able to decide on it. Passing by the market on Sennaya, the young man saw the old woman’s sister, Lizaveta. From Lizaveta’s conversation with the traders, Raskolnikov learns that the pawnbroker will be alone at home tomorrow at seven in the evening. The young man understands that now “everything has been decided finally.”

Chapter 6

Raskolnikov accidentally overhears a conversation between a student and an officer that the old money-lender is unworthy of living, and if she were killed, then her money could be used to help many poor young people. Rodion was very excited by what he heard.

Arriving home, Raskolnikov, being in a state close to delirium, begins to prepare for murder. The young man sewed with inside under the coat under the left armpit there is a loop for the ax so that when the coat is put on the ax is not visible. Then he took out a “pawn” hidden in the gap between the sofa and the floor - a tablet the size of a cigarette case, wrapped in paper and tied with a ribbon, which he was going to give to the old woman to distract attention. Having finished the preparations, Rodion stole an ax from the janitor's room and went to the old woman.

Chapter 7

Arriving at the pawnbroker, Rodion was worried that the old woman would notice his excitement and not let him in, but she took the “pawn”, believing that it was a cigarette holder, and tried to untie the ribbon. The young man, realizing that he must not hesitate, takes out an ax and brings the butt of it down on her head, the old woman sagged, Raskolnikov beats her a second time, after which he realizes that she has already died.

Raskolnikov takes the keys from the old woman’s pocket and goes to her room. As soon as he found the pawnbroker's wealth in a large pack (chest) and began to stuff the pockets of his coat and trousers with them, Lizaveta unexpectedly returned. In confusion, the hero also kills the old woman’s sister. He is overcome by horror, but gradually the hero pulls himself together, washes the blood from his hands, ax and boots. Raskolnikov was about to leave, but then he heard footsteps on the stairs: clients had come to the old woman. After waiting until they leave, Rodion himself quickly leaves the pawnbroker’s apartment. Returning home, the young man returns the ax and, going into his room, without undressing, fell into oblivion on the bed.

Part two

Chapter 1

Raskolnikov slept until three o'clock in the afternoon. Waking up, the hero remembers what he did. In horror, he looks through all the clothes, checking to see if there are any traces of blood left on them. He immediately finds the jewelry he took from the pawnbroker, which he had completely forgotten about, and hides it in the corner of the room, in a hole under the wallpaper.

Nastasya comes to Rodion. She brought him a summons from the police officer: the hero needed to appear at the police office. Rodion is nervous, but at the station it turns out that he is only required to write a receipt with an obligation to pay the debt to the landlady.

Just about to leave the station, Rodion accidentally overhears the police talking about the murder of Alena Ivanovna and faints. Everyone decides that Raskolnikov is ill and is sent home.

Chapter 2

Fearing a search, Rodion hides the old woman’s valuables (a wallet with money and jewelry) under a stone in a deserted courtyard surrounded by blank walls.

Chapter 3

Returning home, Raskolnikov wandered for several days, and when he woke up, he saw Razumikhin and Nastasya next to him. The young man receives a money transfer from his mother, who sent money to pay for housing. Dmitry tells his friend that while he was sick, policeman Zametov came to see Rodion several times and asked about his things.

Chapter 4

Another comrade, medical student Zosimov, comes to see Raskolnikov. He begins a conversation about the murder of Alena Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta, saying that many are suspected of the crime, including the dyer Mikola, but the police do not yet have reliable evidence.

Chapter 5

Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin comes to Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov reproaches the man that he is going to marry Duna only so that the girl will be grateful for the rest of her life for ridding her family of poverty. Luzhin tries to deny this. An angry Raskolnikov kicks him out.

Raskolnikov's friends leave after him. Razumikhin worries about his friend, believing that “he has something on his mind! Something motionless, oppressive."

Chapter 6

Accidentally entering the Crystal Palace tavern, Raskolnikov meets Zametov there. Discussing with him the case of the murder of an old woman, Rodion expresses his opinion on how he would act in the place of the killer. The student asks what Zametov would do if he were the killer and almost directly says that it was he who killed the old woman. Zametov decides that Rodion is crazy and does not believe in his guilt.

Walking around the city, Raskolnikov decides to drown himself, but, having changed his mind, half-delirious, he goes to the house of the murdered old money-lender. There is renovation going on and the student talks to the workers about the crime that happened, everyone thinks he is crazy.

Chapter 7

On the way to Razumikhin, Raskolnikov sees a crowd gathered around the accidentally knocked down, completely drunk Marmeladov. The victim is taken home, he is in serious condition.
Before his death, Marmeladov asks Sonya for forgiveness and dies in his daughter’s arms. Raskolnikov gives all his money for Marmeladov's funeral.

Rodion feels that he is recovering and goes to visit Razumikhin. Dmitry accompanies him home. Approaching Raskolnikov’s house, the students see light in its windows. When the friends went up to the room, it turned out that Rodion’s mother and sister had arrived. Seeing his loved ones, Raskolnikov fainted.

Part three

Chapter 1

Having come to his senses, Rodion asks his family not to worry. Talking with his sister about Luzhin, Raskolnikov demands that the girl refuse him. Pulcheria Alexandrovna wants to stay to look after her son, but Razumikhin persuades the women to return to the hotel.

Razumikhin really liked Dunya, he was attracted by her beauty: in her appearance, strength and self-confidence were combined with softness and grace.

Chapter 2

In the morning, Razumikhin visits Raskolnikov’s mother and sister. Discussing Luzhin, Pulcheria Alexandrovna shares with Dmitry that in the morning they received a letter from Pyotr Petrovich. Luzhin writes that he wants to visit them, but asks that Rodion not be present during their meeting. Mother and Dunya go to Raskolnikov.

Chapter 3

Raskolnikov feels better. A student tells his mother and sister about how yesterday he gave all his money for a funeral to a poor family. Raskolnikov notices that his relatives are afraid of him.
The conversation turns to Luzhin. Rodion is unpleasant that Pyotr Petrovich does not show due attention to the bride. The young man is told about Pyotr Petrovich’s letter; he is ready to do what his relatives think is right. Dunya believes that Rodion must certainly be present during Luzhin’s visit.

Chapter 4

Sonya came to Raskolnikov with an invitation to Marmeladov’s funeral. Despite the fact that the girl’s reputation does not allow her to communicate on equal terms with Rodion’s mother and sister, the young man introduces her to his loved ones. When leaving, Dunya bowed to Sonya, which greatly embarrassed the girl.

When Sonya was walking home, some stranger began to pursue her, who turned out to be her neighbor (later in the plot it becomes clear that it was Svidrigailov).

Chapter 5

Raskolnikov and Razumikhin go to Porfiry, since Rodion asked a friend to introduce him to the investigator. Raskolnikov turns to Porfiry with the question of how he can claim his right to the things that he pawned to the old woman. The investigator says that he needs to file a report with the police, and that his things are not missing, since he remembers them among those seized by the investigation.

Discussing the murder of the pawnbroker with Porfiry, the young man realizes that he is also suspected. Porfiry recalls Raskolnikov’s article. In it, Rodion sets out his own theory that people are divided into “ordinary” (the so-called “material”) and “extraordinary” (talented, capable of saying a “new word”)”: “ordinary people must live in obedience and have no right to overstep law." “And extraordinary people have the right to commit all sorts of crimes and break the law in every possible way, precisely because they are extraordinary.” Porfiry asks Raskolnikov if he considers himself such an “extraordinary” person and whether he is capable of killing or robbing, Raskolnikov replies that “it very well may be.”

Clarifying the details of the case, the investigator asks Raskolnikov if he saw, for example, during his last visit to the pawnbroker, the dyers. Hesitating to answer, the young man says that he didn’t see it. Razumikhin immediately answers for his friend that he was with the old woman three days before the murder, when the dyers were not there yet, because they were working on the day of the murder. The students leave Porfiry.

Chapter 6

A stranger was waiting near Rodion’s house, who called Rodion a murderer and, not wanting to explain himself, left.

At home, Raskolnikov began to suffer from fever again. The young man dreamed of this stranger, who beckoned him to the apartment of the old money-lender. Rodion hit Alena Ivanovna on the head with an ax, but she laughs. The student tries to run away, but sees a crowd of people around him judging him. Rodion wakes up.

Svidrigailov comes to Raskolnikov.

Part four

Chapter 1

Raskolnikov is not happy about Svidrigailov’s arrival, since because of him Dunya’s reputation has seriously deteriorated. Arkady Ivanovich expresses the opinion that he and Rodion are very similar: “birds of a feather.” Svidrigailov is trying to persuade Raskolnikov to arrange a meeting for him with Dunya, since his wife left the girl three thousand, and he himself would like to give Dunya ten thousand for all the troubles he caused her. Rodion refuses to arrange their meeting.

Chapters 2-3

In the evening, Raskolnikov and Razumikhin visit Rodion’s mother and sister. Luzhin is outraged that the women did not take into account his request, and does not want to discuss the details of the wedding in front of Raskolnikov. Luzhin reminds Dunya of the dire situation her family is in, reproaching the girl for not realizing her happiness. Dunya says that she cannot choose between her brother and her fiancé. Luzhin gets angry, they quarrel, and the girl asks Pyotr Petrovich to leave.

Chapter 4

Raskolnikov comes to Sonya. “Sonya’s room looked like a barn, had the appearance of a very irregular quadrangle, and this gave it something ugly.” During the conversation, the young man asks what will happen to the girl now, because she now has an almost crazy mother, brother and sister. Sonya says that she cannot leave them, because without her they will simply die of hunger. Raskolnikov bows at Sonya’s feet, the girl thinks that the young man is mad, but Rodion explains his action: “I didn’t bow to you, I bowed to all human suffering.”

Rodion draws attention to what is lying on the table New Testament. Raskolnikov asks to read the chapter about the resurrection of Lazarus to him: “the cinder has long gone out in the crooked candlestick, dimly illuminating in this beggarly room a murderer and a harlot who strangely came together to read the eternal book.” Leaving, Rodion promises to come the next day and tell Sonya who killed Lizaveta.

Their entire conversation was heard by Svidrigailov, who was in the next room.

Chapter 5

The next day, Raskolnikov comes to Porfiry Petrovich with a request to return his things to him. The investigator again tries to check the young man. Unable to bear it, Rodion, very nervous, asks Porfiry to finally find him guilty or not guilty of the murder of the old woman. However, the investigator avoids answering by saying that there is a surprise in the next room, but does not tell the young man what it is.

Chapter 6

Unexpectedly for Raskolnikov and Porfiry, they bring in the dyer Mikola, who confesses in front of everyone to the murder of Alena Ivanovna. Raskolnikov returns home and on the threshold of his apartment meets that mysterious tradesman who called him a murderer. The man apologizes for his words: as it turned out, he was the “surprise” prepared by Porfiry and now repented of his mistake. Rodion feels calmer.

Part five

Chapter 1

Luzhin believes that Raskolnikov is solely to blame for his quarrel with Dunya. Pyotr Petrovich thinks that it was in vain that he did not give the Raskolnikovs money before the wedding: this would have solved many problems. Wanting to take revenge on Rodion, Luzhin asks his roommate Lebezyatnikov, who knows Sonya well, to call the girl to him. Pyotr Petrovich apologizes to Sonya that he will not be able to attend the funeral (although he was invited), and gives her ten rubles. Lebezyatnikov notices that Luzhin is up to something, but does not yet understand what exactly.

Chapter 2

Katerina Ivanovna organized a nice wake for her husband, but many of those invited did not come. Raskolnikov was also present here. Ekaterina Ivanovna begins to quarrel with the owner of the apartment, Amalia Ivanovna, because she invited just anyone, and not “better people and precisely the acquaintances of the deceased.” During their quarrel, Pyotr Petrovich arrives.

Chapter 3

Luzhin reports that Sonya stole a hundred rubles from him and his neighbor Lebezyatnikov is a witness to this. The girl is at first lost, but quickly begins to deny her guilt and gives Pyotr Petrovich his ten rubles. Not believing in the girl’s guilt, Katerina Ivanovna begins to empty her daughter’s pockets in front of everyone and a hundred-ruble bill falls out. Lebezyatnikov understands that Luzhin has gotten him into an awkward situation and tells those present that he remembered how Pyotr Petrovich himself slipped Sonya money. Raskolnikov defends Sonya. Luzhin screams and gets angry and promises to call the police. Amalia Ivanovna kicks Katerina Ivanovna and her children out of the apartment.

Chapter 4

Raskolnikov goes to Sonya, thinking about whether to tell the girl who killed Lizaveta. The young man understands that he must tell everything. Tormented, Rodion tells the girl that he knows the killer and that he killed Lizaveta by accident. Sonya understands everything and, sympathizing with Raskolnikov, says that “no one in the whole world is now more unhappy” than him. She is ready to follow him even to hard labor. Sonya asks Rodion why he went to kill, even if he didn’t take the loot, to which the young man replies that he wanted to become Napoleon: “I wanted to dare and killed... I just wanted to dare, Sonya, that’s the whole reason!” . “I needed to find out something else: Will I be able to cross or not! Am I a trembling creature or do I have the right?
Sonya says that he needs to go and confess what he has done, then God will forgive him and “send life again.”

Chapter 5

Lebezyatnikov comes to Sonya and says that Katerina Ivanovna has gone crazy: the woman forced the children to beg, walks along the street, hits a frying pan and forces the children to sing and dance. They help carry Katerina Ivanovna into Sonya’s room, where the woman dies.

Svidrigailov approached Rodion, who was with Sonya. Arkady Ivanovich says that he will pay for Katerina Ivanovna’s funeral, place the children in orphanages and take care of Sonya’s fate, asking him to tell Duna that he will spend the ten thousand that he wanted to give her. When Rodion asks why Arkady Ivanovich became so generous, Svidrigailov replies that he heard all his conversations with Sonya through the wall.

Part six

Chapters 1-2

Funeral of Katerina Ivanovna. Razumikhin tells Rodion that Pulcheria Alexandrovna fell ill.

Porfiry Petrovich comes to Raskolnikov. The investigator states that he suspects Rodion of murder. He advises the young man to report to the police station and confess, giving him two days to think about it. However, there is no evidence against Raskolnikov, and he has not yet admitted to the murder.

Chapters 3-4

Raskolnikov understands that he needs to talk with Svidrigailov: “this man harbored some kind of power over him.” Rodion meets Arkady Ivanovich at the tavern. Svidrigailov tells the young man about his relationship with his late wife and that he really was very much in love with Dunya, but now he has a fiancée.

Chapter 5

Svidrigailov leaves the tavern, after which, secretly from Raskolnikov, he meets with Dunya. Arkady Ivanovich insists that the girl come to his apartment. Svidrigailov tells Duna about the conversation he overheard between Sonya and Rodion. The man promises to save Raskolnikov in exchange for Dunya’s favor and love. The girl wants to leave, but the door is locked. Dunya takes out a hidden revolver, shoots at the man several times, but misses, and asks to let her go. Svidrigailov gives Dunya the key. The girl, throwing down her weapon, leaves.

Chapter 6

Svidrigailov spends the entire evening visiting taverns. Returning home, the man went to see Sonya. Arkady Ivanovich tells her that he might go to America. The girl thanks him for arranging the funeral and helping the orphans. A man gives her three thousand rubles so she can live normal life. The girl initially refuses, but Svidrigailov says that he knows that she is ready to follow Rodion to hard labor and she will definitely need the money.

Svidrigailov wanders into the wilderness of the city, where he stays at a hotel. At night, he dreams of a teenage girl who died long ago because of him, drowning herself after a man broke her heart. Going out into the street at dawn, Svidrigailov shot himself in the head with Dunya’s revolver.

Chapter 7

Raskolnikov says goodbye to his sister and mother. The young man tells his relatives that he is going to confess to the murder of the old woman, promises to start new life. Rodion regrets that he was unable to cross the cherished threshold of his own theory and his conscience.

Chapter 8

Raskolnikov goes to Sonya. The girl puts cypress on it pectoral cross, advising him to go to an intersection, kiss the ground and say out loud "I am a murderer." Rodion does as Sonya said, after which he goes to the police station and confesses to the murder of the old pawnbroker and her sister. There the young man learns about Svidrigailov’s suicide.

Epilogue

Chapter 1

Rodion is sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Siberia. Pulcheria Alexandrovna fell ill at the beginning of the trial (her illness was nervous, more like insanity) and Dunya and Razumikhin took her away from St. Petersburg. The woman comes up with a story that Raskolnikov has left and lives with this fiction.

Sonya leaves for a party of prisoners in which Raskolnikov was sent to hard labor. Dunya and Razumikhin got married, both plan to move to Siberia in five years. After some time, Pulcheria Alexandrovna dies of longing for her son. Sonya regularly writes to Rodion's relatives about his life in hard labor.

Chapter 2

At hard labor, Rodion could not find common language with other prisoners: everyone did not like him and avoided him, considering him an atheist. The young man reflects on his fate, he is ashamed that he ruined his life so mediocrely and stupidly. Svidrigailov, who managed to commit suicide, seems to be a young man stronger in spirit than himself.

All the prisoners fell in love with Sonya, who came to Rodion; when they met, they took off their hats in front of her. The girl gave them money and things from loved ones.

Raskolnikov fell ill and is in the hospital, recovering hard and slowly. Sonya visited him regularly and one day Rodion, crying, threw himself at her feet and began hugging the girl’s knees. Sonya was scared at first, but then she realized “that he loves, loves her endlessly.” “They were resurrected by love, the heart of one contained endless sources of life for the heart of the other”

Conclusion

In the novel Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky examines issues of human morality, virtue and the human right to kill one’s neighbor. Using the example of the main character, the author shows that any crime is impossible without punishment - student Raskolnikov, who, wishing to become the same great personality as his idol Napoleon, kills the old pawnbroker, but cannot bear the moral torment after his crime and he himself admits his crime. guilt. In the novel, Dostoevsky emphasizes that even the greatest goals and ideas are not worth human life.

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The idea of ​​the novel

Objective reality, the living conditions of people living in the first half of the nineteenth century, are closely connected with the history of the creation of Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”. In the work, the writer tried to present his thoughts about the current problems of his contemporary society. He calls the book a novel - a confession. “My whole heart will pour itself into this novel,” the author dreams.
The desire to write a work of this kind appeared to Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky during hard labor in Omsk. The hard life of a convict and physical fatigue did not prevent him from observing life and analyzing what was happening. Being convicted, he decided to create a novel about the crime, but did not dare to start working on the book. A serious illness did not allow making plans and took away all moral and physical strength. The writer managed to bring his idea to life only a few years later. Several others have been created over the years famous works: “Humiliated and Insulted”, “Notes from the Underground”, “Notes from the House of the Dead”.

The issues raised in these novels will be reflected in Crime and Punishment.

Dreams and cruel reality

Life unceremoniously interfered with Dostoevsky's plans. Creating a great novel took time, and the financial situation worsened every day. To make money, the writer suggested that the magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski” publish a short novel, “Drunk People.” In this book, he planned to draw public attention to the problem of drunkenness. Story line The narrative was supposed to be connected with the stories of the Marmeladov family. The main character is an unfortunate official who is a drunkard and dismissed from service. The editor of the magazine put forward other conditions. The desperate situation forced the writer to agree to sell the publishing rights for a negligible price full meeting your essays and, at the request of the editors, write in a short time new novel. Thus, urgent work on the novel “Crime and Punishment” suddenly began.

Starting work on a piece

Having signed the contract with the publishing house, F. M. Dostoevsky, at the expense of the fee, managed to improve his affairs, relaxed and succumbed to temptation. A keen gambler, he was unable to cope with his illness this time either. The result was disastrous. The remaining money is lost. Living in a hotel in Wiesbaden, he could not pay for light and board, and he did not end up on the street only by the grace of the hotel owners. To finish the novel on time, Dostoevsky had to hurry. The author decided to briefly tell the story of a crime. The main character is a poor student who decides to commit murder and robbery. The writer is interested psychological condition person, “the process of crime.”

The plot was moving towards a denouement when, for some unknown reason, the manuscript was destroyed.

Creative process

The feverish work began anew. And in 1866, the first part was published in the Russian Bulletin magazine. The time allotted for the creation of the novel was coming to an end, and the writer’s plan was only expanding. The life story of the main character is harmoniously intertwined with the story of Marmeladov. To satisfy the customer's requirements and avoid creative bondage, F. M. Dostoevsky interrupts work for 21 days. During this time, he creates a new work called “The Player”, sends it to the publishing house and returns to creating “Crime and Punishment”. The study of crime chronicles convinces the reader of the relevance of the problem. “I am convinced that my plot partly justifies modernity,” wrote Dostoevsky. Newspapers reported that cases were becoming more frequent when young, educated people like Rodion Raskolnikov became murderers. The printed parts of the novel were used great success. This inspired Dostoevsky and charged him with creative energy. He finishes his book in Lublin, on his sister’s estate. By the end of 1866, the novel was completed and published in the Russian Bulletin.

Diary of hard work

Studying the history of the creation of the novel “Crime and Punishment” is impossible without the writer’s rough notes. They make it possible to understand how much work and painstaking work on the word was put into the work. The creative concept changed, the range of problems expanded, and the composition was restructured. In order to better understand the character of the hero and the motives of his actions, Dostoevsky changes the form of the narrative. In the final third edition, the story is told in the third person. The writer preferred “a story from himself, not from him.” It seems that main character lives its own independent life and does not obey its creator. The workbooks tell how painfully long the writer himself tries to understand the motives for Raskolnikov’s crime. Not finding an answer, the author decided to create a hero in which “two opposing characters alternately alternate.” In Raskolnikov, two principles are constantly fighting: love for people and contempt for them. It was not easy for Dostoevsky to write the ending of his work. “Inscrutable are the ways in which God finds man,” we read in the writer’s draft, but the novel itself ends differently. It keeps us thinking even after the last page has been read.

The history of the creation of the novel “Crime and Punishment”

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

Abakan, 1999

In 1866, the magazine “Russian Bulletin”, published by M.N. Katkov, published the manuscript of Dostoevsky’s novel, which has not reached our time. The surviving notebooks of Dostoevsky give reason to assume that the idea of ​​the novel, its theme, plot, and ideological orientation did not develop immediately; most likely, two different creative ideas:

1. On June 8, 1865, before leaving abroad, Dostoevsky suggested to A.A. Kraevsky, editor of the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, novel “Drunk People”: “it will be connected with the current issue of drunkenness. Not only the question is examined, but all its ramifications are presented, mainly pictures of families, raising children in this environment, etc. There will be at least twenty sheets, but maybe more.”

The problem of drunkenness in Rus' worried Dostoevsky throughout his entire life. creative path. The gentle and unhappy Snegirev says: “... in Russia, drunk people are the kindest. Our kindest people are also the drunkest. People in an abnormal state become kind. normal person? Wicked. The good ones drink, but the good ones also do bad things. The good are forgotten by society, life is ruled by the evil. If drunkenness flourishes in a society, this means that the best are not valued in it. human qualities"

In “The Diary of a Writer,” the author draws attention to the drunkenness of factory workers after the abolition of serfdom: “The people went on a spree and drank - first with joy, and then out of habit.” Dostoevsky shows that even with a “huge and extraordinary turning point,” not all problems are solved by themselves. And after the “turning point”, the correct orientation of people is necessary. Much here depends on the state. However, the state actually encourages drunkenness and the growth of the number of taverns: “Almost half of our current budget is paid for by vodka, i.e. in the present day, popular drunkenness and popular debauchery - therefore, the entire future of the people. We, so to speak, pay with our future for our majestic budget as a European power. We cut the tree at the very root in order to get the fruit as quickly as possible.”

Dostoevsky shows that this stems from the inability to manage the country's economy. If a miracle happened and people all stopped drinking at once, the state would have to choose: either force them to drink, or financial collapse. According to Dostoevsky, the reason for drunkenness is social. If the state refuses to take care of the future of the people, the artist will think about it: “Drunkenness. Let those who say: the worse, the better, rejoice in it. There are many of them now. We cannot see the roots of the people’s power poisoned without grief.” This entry was made by Dostoevsky in drafts, and in essence this idea was set out in the “Diary of a Writer”: “After all, the people’s strength is drying up, the source of future wealth is dying out, the mind and development are pale - and what will the modern children of the people bear in their minds and hearts? who grew up in the filthiness of their fathers."

Dostoevsky saw the state as a breeding ground for alcoholism, and in the version presented to Kraevsky, he wanted to talk about the fact that a society where drunkenness flourishes and the attitude towards it is lenient is doomed to degeneration.

Unfortunately, the editor of Otechestvennye Zapiski was not as far-sighted as Dostoevsky in identifying the reasons for the degradation of the Russian mentality and refused the writer’s proposal. The plan for “Drunks” remained unfulfilled.

2. In the second half of 1865, Dostoevsky began working on a “psychological report of a crime”: “The action is modern, this year. A young man, expelled from the university, a bourgeois by birth and living in extreme poverty... decided to kill an old woman, a titular adviser, who gave money for interest. The old woman is stupid, deaf, sick, greedy... evil and eats up someone else’s life, torturing her younger sister as her housekeeper.” This version clearly states the essence of the plot of the novel “Crime and Punishment.” Dostoevsky’s letter to Katkov confirms this: “Unsolvable questions arise before the murderer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. God's truth and earthly law take their toll, and he ends up being forced to denounce himself. Forced to die in hard labor, but to join the people again. The laws of truth and human nature took their toll.”

Upon returning to St. Petersburg at the end of November 1855, the author destroyed almost the entire written work: “I burned everything. The new form (a hero’s confession novel - V.L.), the new plan captivated me, and I started again. I work days and nights and yet I work little.” From that time on, Dostoevsky decided on the form of the novel, replacing the first-person narration with a narration from the author, its ideological and artistic structure.

The writer liked to say about himself: “I am a child of the century.” He really was never a passive contemplator of life. “Crime and Punishment” was created on the basis of Russian reality in the 50s of the 19th century, magazine and newspaper disputes on philosophical, political, legal and ethical topics, disputes between materialists and idealists, followers of Chernyshevsky and his enemies.

The year the novel was published was special: on April 4, Dmitry Vladimirovich Karakozov made an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Tsar Alexander II. Mass repressions began. A.I. Herzen spoke about this time in his “Bell”: “Petersburg, followed by Moscow, and to some extent all of Russia are almost in a state of war; arrests, searches and torture go on continuously: no one is sure that tomorrow he will not fall under the terrible Muravyovsky court...” The government oppressed student youth, censorship achieved the closure of the magazines “Sovremennik” and “ Russian word».

Dostoevsky’s novel, published in Katkov’s magazine, turned out to be an ideological opponent of the novel “What is to be done?” Chernyshevsky. Polemicizing with the leader of revolutionary democracy, speaking out against the struggle for socialism, Dostoevsky, nevertheless, treated with sincere sympathy the participants in the “split of Russia”, who, in his opinion, being mistaken, “selflessly turned to nihilism in the name of honor, truth and true benefit ”, while revealing the kindness and purity of their hearts.

Critics immediately responded to the release of Crime and Punishment. The critic N. Strakhov noted that “the author took nihilism in its most extreme development, at the point beyond which there is almost nowhere to go.”

M. Katkov defined Raskolnikov’s theory as “an expression of socialist ideas.”

DI. Pisarev condemned Raskolnikov’s division of people into “obedient” and “rebels,” and reproached Dostoevsky for calling for obedience and humility. And at the same time, in the article “Struggle for Life,” Pisarev argued:

“Dostoevsky’s novel made a deeply stunning impression on readers thanks to the correct mental analysis that distinguishes the works of this writer. I radically disagree with his beliefs, but I cannot help but recognize in him a strong talent, capable of reproducing the most subtle and elusive features of everyday human life and its internal process. He notices painful phenomena especially accurately, subjects them to the strictest assessment and seems to experience them himself.”

What was the first stage of working on the novel? Its outcome? The story “Drunk”, issues of raising children in families of alcoholics, the tragedy of poverty, lack of spirituality, etc. The story remained unfinished because Kraevsky refused to publish Dostoevsky.

What was fundamentally new? new option novel? The earliest sketches of the work date back to July 1855, the latest - to January 1866. Analysis of the drafts allows us to state:

first person narration is replaced by author narration;

it is not the drunkard who is brought to the fore, but the student, driven by environment and time to murder;

the form of the new novel is defined as the confession of the protagonist;

the number has been significantly expanded characters: the investigator, Dunya, Luzhin and Svidrigailov are presented as psychological doubles of Raskolnikov;

Various episodes and scenes from the life of St. Petersburg were developed.

What elements and images of “Drunks” found artistic expression in the 2nd version of the novel?

the image of a drunken Marmeladov;

tragic pictures of his family's life;

a description of the fate of his children;

In what direction did Raskolnikov's character develop?

In the original version of the novel, the narration is told in the first person and is a confession of the criminal, recorded a few days after the murder.

The first person form made it possible to explain some of the “oddities” in Raskolnikov’s behavior. For example, in the scene with Zametov: “I wasn’t afraid that Zametov would see that I read it. On the contrary, I even wanted him to notice that I was reading about it... I don’t understand why I was drawn to risk this bravado, but I was drawn to take a risk. Out of anger, maybe out of animal anger that doesn’t reason.” Rejoicing at the successful coincidence of circumstances, the “early Raskolnikov” reasoned: “It was an evil spirit: how else could I have overcome all these difficulties.”

In the final text, the hero says these same words to Sonya after his confession. Here there is a noticeable difference in the depiction of the character of the hero. In the second version, where the narration is already conducted in the third person, the humanity of his intentions is more clearly visible: thoughts of repentance come immediately after committing a crime: “And then, when I become noble, a benefactor of all, a citizen, I will repent. I prayed to Christ, lay down and went to sleep.”

Dostoevsky did not include an episode in the final text - Raskolnikov’s reflection after a conversation with Polenka: “Yes, this is a complete resurrection,” he thought to himself. He felt that his life had suddenly changed, hell had ended and another life had begun... he was not alone, not cut off from people, but with everyone. Risen from the dead. What happened? What is it that he gave away his last money? What nonsense. This girl? Sonya? - Not just that, but all together.

He was weak, he was tired, he almost fell. But his soul was too full.”

Such thoughts are premature for the hero; he has not yet drunk the cup of suffering in order to be healed, therefore Dostoevsky transfers the description of such feelings to the epilogue.

The first manuscript describes the meeting with his sister and mother differently:

“Nature has mysterious and wonderful outcomes. A minute later he squeezed them both in his hands and never before had he experienced a more impetuous and enthusiastic sensation, and a minute later he was already proudly aware that he was the master of his mind and will, that he was no one’s slave and that consciousness had again justified his. The illness is over - the panic fear is over.”

Dostoevsky does not include this passage in the final text, as it destroys the ideological focus. Raskolnikov must be completely different: a meeting with loved ones, as well as a conversation in the office, are the cause of his fainting. This is confirmation that human nature is unable to bear the severity of a crime and reacts in its own way to external influences. She no longer obeys reason and will.

How do the relationships develop between Raskolnikov and Sonya in various versions of the novel?

Dostoevsky carefully developed the nature of the relationships between the heroes. According to an early plan, they fell in love: “He kneels before her: “I love you.” She says: “Surrender yourself to judgment.” In the final version, the heroes were united by compassion: “I didn’t bow to you, I bowed to all human suffering.” Psychologically, this is more deeply and artistically justified.

The scene of Raskolnikov’s confession to Sonya initially sounded in a different tone: “She wanted to say something, but remained silent. Tears burst from her heart and ached her soul. “And how could he not have come?” she added suddenly, as if illuminated... “Oh, blasphemer!” God, what is he saying! You have departed from God, and God has struck you with deafness and dumbness and handed you over to the devil! Then God will send you life again and resurrect you. He miraculously resurrected Lazarus! and he will resurrect you... Darling! I will love you... Darling! rise again! Go! repent, tell them... I will love you forever and ever, you unfortunate one! We are together... together... together and we will rise again... And God will bless... Will you go? Will you go?

Sobs stopped her frantic speech. She grabbed him and seemed to freeze in this embrace, she didn’t remember herself.”

In the final text, the characters’ feelings are just as deep and sincere, but more restrained. They don't talk about love. The image of Sonya sometimes now merges for him with the image of Lizaveta, whom he killed, evoking a feeling of compassion. He sees her future tragically: “throw into a ditch, end up in a madhouse... or go into debauchery, stupefying the mind and petrifying the heart.” Dostoevsky knows more and sees further than his hero. At the end of the novel, Sonya is saved by her deep faith, capable of working miracles.

Why are the images of Sonya and Svidrigailov more fully revealed in the final version of Crime and Punishment?

As a result of his experiment, Raskolnikov came to the conclusion that the path of a “strong personality” who achieves power through “blood according to conscience” is wrong. He looks for a way out and stops at Sonya: she also overstepped, but found the strength to live. Sonya trusts in God and awaits deliverance and wishes the same for Raskolnikov. She correctly understood what happened to Rodion: “What are you doing, that you did this to yourself!” Suddenly the word “hard labor” comes out of her mouth, and Raskolnikov feels that in his soul the struggle with the investigator has not ended. His suffering reaches him highest power, “there was a presentiment of some kind of eternity in the arshin of space.” Svidrigailov also spoke about such eternity.

He also stepped “over obstacles,” but seemed calm.

In the drafts, Dostoevsky decided Svidrigailov’s fate differently: “A gloomy demon from whom he cannot get rid of. Suddenly the determination to expose oneself, all the intrigue, repentance, humility, goes away, one becomes a great ascetic, humility, the thirst to endure suffering. He betrays himself. Link. Asceticism."

In the final version, the outcome is different, more psychologically justified. Svidrigailov walked away from God, lost faith, lost the possibility of “resurrection,” but he could not live without it.

How did Dostoevsky’s contemporaries see the relevance of Crime and Punishment?

Since the late 50s of the 19th century, St. Petersburg newspapers have reported with alarm about the increase in crime. Dostoevsky to some extent used some facts from the criminal chronicles of those years. This is how the “case of student Danilov” became widely known in its time. In order to make money, he killed the moneylender Popov and his maid. The peasant M. Glazkov wanted to take his guilt upon himself, but was exposed.

In 1865, newspapers reported on the trial of the merchant son G. Chistov, who hacked to death two women and took possession of their wealth in the amount of 11,260 rubles.

Dostoevsky was greatly impressed by the trial of Pierre Lacenaire (France), a professional killer who tried to present himself as a victim of an unfair society, and his crimes as a form of struggle against evil. At his trials, Lacenaire calmly stated that the idea of ​​becoming a killer in the name of revenge was born to him under the influence of socialist teachings. Dostoevsky spoke of Lacenaire as “a phenomenal, mysterious, scary and interesting personality.” Low sources and cowardice in the face of need made him a criminal, and he dared to present himself as a victim of his age.”

The scene of the murder committed by Raskolnikov is reminiscent of Lasener’s murder of an old woman and her son who accidentally ended up in the apartment.

Dostoevsky took a fact from life, but tested it with life. He triumphed when, while working on Crime and Punishment, he learned from the newspapers about a murder similar to Raskolnikov’s crime. “At the same time,” recalls N. Strakhov, “when the book “Russian Messenger” was published describing Raskolnikov’s offense, news appeared in the newspapers about a completely similar crime that occurred in Moscow. Some student killed and robbed a moneylender, and by all indications did it out of a nihilistic conviction that all means are permissible to correct an unreasonable state of affairs. I don’t know whether the readers were amazed by this, but Fyodor Mikhailovich was proud of such a feat of artistic prophecy.”

Subsequently, Dostoevsky more than once put in one line the names of Raskolnikov and the killers approaching him from the newspaper chronicle. He made sure that Pasha Isaev did not become “Gorsky or Raskolnikov.” Gorsky is an eighteen-year-old high school student, born from poverty, who killed a family of six for the purpose of robbery, although according to reviews, “he was a remarkably mentally developed young man who loved reading and literary pursuits.”

With extraordinary sensitivity, Dostoevsky was able to highlight individual, personal facts, but indicating that the “primordial” forces had changed the direction of their movement.

Bibliography

Kirpotin V.Ya. Selected works in 3 volumes. M., 1978. T.Z, pp. 308-328.

Friedlander G.M. Realism of Dostoevsky. M.-L. 1980.

Basina M.Ya. Through the twilight of white nights. L. 1971.

Kuleshov V.I. Life and work of Dostoevsky. M. 1984.

“Crime and Punishment,” the creation of which lasted almost 7 years, is one of the most famous novels Fyodor Dostoevsky both in Russia and abroad. In this creation of a classic of Russian literature, his talent as a psychologist and connoisseur of human souls was revealed as never before. What gave Dostoevsky the idea to write a work about a murderer, and this topic was not typical of the literature of that time?

Fyodor Dostoevsky - master of the psychological novel

The writer was born on November 11, 1821 in the city of Moscow. His father, Mikhail Andreevich, was a nobleman, a court councilor, and his mother, Maria Fedorovna, came from a merchant family.

The life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky had it all: great fame and poverty, dark days in Peter and Paul Fortress and many years of hard labor, addiction to gambling and appeal to Christian faith. Even during the writer’s lifetime, the epithet “brilliant” was applied to his work.

Dostoevsky died at the age of 59 from emphysema. He left behind a huge legacy - novels, poems, diaries, letters, etc. In Russian literature, Fyodor Mikhailovich is given the place of the main psychologist and expert on human souls. Some literary critics(for example, Maxim Gorky), especially Soviet period, called Dostoevsky an “evil genius” because they believed that the writer defended “infidels” in his works Political Views- conservative and at some period of life even monarchical. However, one can argue with this: Dostoevsky’s novels are not political, but they are always deeply psychological, their goal is to show human soul and life itself as it is. And the work “Crime and Punishment” is the most striking confirmation of this.

The history of the creation of the novel “Crime and Punishment”

Fyodor Dostoevsky was sent to hard labor in Omsk in 1850. “Crime and Punishment,” the story of which began there, was first published in 1866, and before that the writer had to go through difficult times. better days In my life.

In 1854 the writer received freedom. In 1859, Dostoevsky wrote in a letter to his brother that the idea of ​​a certain confessional novel came to him when, back in the 50s, he was lying on dirty bunks and experiencing the most difficult moments in his life. But he was in no hurry to start this work, because he was not even sure that he would survive.

And so, in 1865, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, in dire need of money, signed an agreement with one publisher, according to which he undertakes to provide a new novel by November 1866. Having received the fee, the writer improved his affairs, but his addiction to roulette played against him cruel joke: he lost all the remaining money in Wiesbaden, the hotel owners did not evict him, but they stopped feeding him and even turned off the light in the room. It was under such conditions that Dostoevsky began Crime and Punishment.

The story of the creation of the novel was nearing completion: deadlines were running out - the author was working in a hotel, on a ship, on the way home to St. Petersburg. He practically finished the novel, and then... he took and burned the manuscript.

Dostoevsky began work anew, and while the first two parts of the work were being published and the whole of St. Petersburg was reading them, he was rapidly creating the remaining three, including the epilogue.

“Crime and Punishment” - the theme of the novel is clearly visible in the very title of the work.

The main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, decides to kill and rob an old moneylender. On the one hand, the young man justifies his action by the fact that he and his family are in need. Rodion feels responsible for the fate of his loved ones, but in order to help his sister and mother in any way, he needs a large amount of money. On the other hand, murder remains an immoral and sinful act.

Rodion successfully commits his planned crime. But in the second part of the novel, he faces a problem more serious than poverty - his conscience begins to torment him. He becomes nervous, it seems to him that everyone around him knows about his action. As a result, Rodion begins to get seriously ill. After recovery, the young man seriously thinks about turning himself in to the authorities. But his acquaintance with Sonya Marmeladova, as well as the arrival of his mother and sister in the city, temporarily force him to abandon this idea.

Three suitors are vying for the hand of Rodion's sister Dunya: court councilor Pyotr Luzhin, landowner Svidrigailov and Rodion's friend Razumikhin. Rodion and Razumikhin manage to upset the planned wedding of Dunya and Luzhin, but the latter leaves angry and thinks about

Rodion Raskolnikov becomes increasingly attached to Sonya Marmeladova, the daughter of his late friend. They talk with the girl about life, spend time together.

But a black cloud hangs over Rodion - there were witnesses who confirmed at the police station that in Lately Raskolnikov often visited the murdered moneylender. The young man has so far been released from the police station, but he remains the main suspect.

The most important events The chapters of the novel “Crime and Punishment” fall on the 5th part of the work and the epilogue.

The offended Luzhin tries to frame Sonya Marmeladova by passing her off as a thief and thereby quarreling with Raskolnikov. However, his plan fails, but Rodion cannot stand it and confesses to Sonya that he committed the murder.

An outsider takes the blame for Raskolnikov’s crime, but the investigator is confident that it was Rodion who committed the crime, so he visits young man and tries once again to convince him to confess.

At this time, Svidrigailov tries to woo Dunya by force, the frightened girl shoots him with a revolver. When the weapon misfires and Dunya convinces the landowner that she does not love him, Svidrigailov lets the girl go. Having donated 15 thousand to Sonya Marmeladova and 3 thousand to Raskolnikov’s family, the landowner commits suicide.

Rodion confesses to the murder of a moneylender and receives 8 years of hard labor in Siberia. Sonya goes into exile after him. The former student’s former life is over, but thanks to the girl’s love, he feels a new stage in his life beginning.

Image of Rodion Raskolnikov

In the novel “Crime and Punishment,” the characterization of Rodion Raskolnikov and the assessment of his actions by the author himself is ambiguous.

The young man is good-looking, quite smart, one might say, ambitious. But life situation, in which he finds himself, or rather the social situation, does not allow him not only to realize his talents, but even to complete his studies at the university, or to find a decent job. His sister is about to “sell herself” to an unloved person (marry Luzhin for the sake of his fortune). Raskolnikov's mother is in poverty, and his beloved girl is forced into prostitution. And Rodion does not see a single way to help them and himself other than to get a large amount of money. But the idea of ​​instant enrichment can only be realized through robbery (in this case it also entailed murder).

According to morality, Raskolnikov did not have the right to take the life of another person, and reasoning that the old woman did not have long to live anyway, or that she did not have the right to “live” on the grief of other people, was not an excuse or a reason for murder. But Raskolnikov, although he is tormented by his action, considers himself innocent to the last: he explains his actions by saying that at that moment he was only thinking about how to help his loved ones.

Sonya Marmeladova

In the novel Crime and Punishment, the description of the image of Sonya is as contradictory as that of Raskolnikov: the reader immediately recognizes them as

Sonya is kind and in a sense selfless, this can be seen from her actions towards other people. The girl reads the “Gospel”, but at the same time is a prostitute. A pious prostitute - what could be more paradoxical?

However, Sonya is engaged in this trade not because she has a craving for debauchery - it is the only way An uneducated, attractive girl needs to earn a living, not only for herself, but also for her large family: her stepmother Katerina Ivanovna and three half-brothers and sisters. As a result, Sonya is the only one who went to Siberia after Rodion to support him in difficult times.

Such paradoxical images are the basis of Dostoevsky’s realism, because in real world things cannot be only black or only white, just like people. That's why pure soul a girl in certain life circumstances can engage in such a dirty craft, and a noble-spirited young man can decide to kill.

Arkady Svidrigailov

Arkady Svidrigailov is another character in the novel (a 50-year-old landowner), who in many aspects literally duplicates Raskolnikov. This is not an accident, but a technique chosen by the author. What is its essence?

“Crime and Punishment” is filled with dual images, perhaps in order to show: many people have equally positive and negative traits, they can walk along the same paths in life, but they always choose the outcome of their lives themselves.

Arkady Svidrigailov is a widower. While his wife was still alive, he harassed Raskolnikov’s sister, who was in their service. When his wife, Marfa Petrovna, died, the landowner came to ask for Avdotya Raskolnikova’s hand in marriage.

Svidrigailov has many sins behind him: he is suspected of murder, violence and debauchery. But this does not prevent the man from becoming the only person who took care of the family of the late Marmeladov not only in a financial sense, but even placed the children in an orphanage after the death of their mother. Svidrigailov tries to win Dunya over in a barbaric way, but at the same time he is deeply wounded by the girl’s dislike and commits suicide, leaving Raskolnikov’s sister an impressive amount as an inheritance. Nobility and cruelty in this man are combined in their own bizarre patterns, as in Raskolnikov.

P.P. Luzhin in the system of images of the novel

Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin (“Crime and Punishment”) is another “double” of Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov, before committing a crime, compares himself to Napoleon, so Luzhin is the Napoleon of his time in its purest form: unprincipled, caring only about himself, striving to make capital at any cost. Perhaps this is why Raskolnikov hates the successful young man: after all, Rodion himself believed that for the sake of his own prosperity he had the right to kill a person whose fate seemed less important to him.

Luzhin (“Crime and Punishment”) is very straightforward as a character, caricatured and devoid of the inconsistency inherent in Dostoevsky’s heroes. It can be assumed that the writer deliberately made Peter this way, so that he would become a clear personification of that bourgeois permissiveness that played such a cruel joke on Raskolnikov himself.

Publication of the novel abroad

“Crime and Punishment,” the creation of which took more than 6 years, was highly appreciated by foreign publications. In 1866, several chapters from the novel were translated into French and published in Courrier russe.

In Germany, the work was published under the title “Raskolnikov” and by 1895 its published circulation was 2 times larger than that of any other work by Dostoevsky.

At the beginning of the 20th century. the novel “Crime and Punishment” was translated into Polish, Czech, Italian, Serbian, Catalan, Lithuanian, etc.

Film adaptations of the novel

The heroes of the novel “Crime and Punishment” are so colorful and interesting that the film adaptation of the novel has been taken up more than once both in Russia and abroad. The first film - “Crime and Punishment” - appeared in Russia back in 1909 (dir. Vasily Goncharov). This was followed by film adaptations in 1911, 1913, 1915.

In 1917, the world saw the film by American director Lawrence McGill; in 1923, the film “Raskolnikov” was released by German director Robert Wiene.

After this, about 14 more film adaptations were made in different countries. From Russian works the most recent was the serial film “Crime and Punishment” in 2007 (dir. Dmitry Svetozarov).

Novel in popular culture

In films, Dostoevsky’s novel often appears in the hands of imprisoned heroes: in the film “The Incredible Adventures of Wallace and Gromit: A Haircut,” t/c “She Wolf,” “Desperate Housewives,” etc.

IN computer game"Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments" in one of the episodes, a book with the title of Dostoevsky's novel is clearly visible in Sherlock Holmes's hands, and in GTA game IV “Crime and Punishment” is the name of one of the missions.

Raskolnikov's house in St. Petersburg

There is an assumption that Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich settled his hero in a house that actually exists in St. Petersburg. The researchers made such conclusions because Dostoevsky mentions in the novel: it is located in the “S-m” lane, next to the “K-m” bridge. At the address Stolyarny Lane 5 there really is a house that could well serve as a prototype for the novel. Today this building is one of the most visited tourist spots in St. Petersburg.

Origins of the novel date back to the time of hard labor by F.M. Dostoevsky. On October 9, 1859, he wrote to his brother from Tver: “In December I will begin a novel... Don’t you remember, I told you about one confessional novel that I wanted to write after everyone else, saying that I still had to experience it myself. The other day I completely decided to write it immediately. My whole heart and blood will pour into this novel. I conceived it in penal servitude, lying on a bunk, in a difficult moment of sadness and self-destruction...” Initially, Dostoevsky planned to write “Crime and Punishment” in the form of Raskolnikov’s confession. The writer intended to transfer the entire spiritual experience of hard labor to the pages of the novel. It was here that Dostoevsky first encountered strong personalities, under the influence of which a change in his previous beliefs began.

The idea of ​​your new novel Dostoevsky carried it for six years. During this time, “Humiliated and Insulted”, “Notes from House of the Dead" and "Notes from the Underground", main theme which were the stories of poor people and their rebellion against existing reality. On June 8, 1865, Dostoevsky proposed to A.A. Kraevsky for "Domestic Notes" his new novel called "Drunk". But Kraevsky refused the writer, who explained that the editors had no money. On July 2, 1865, Dostoevsky, in dire need, was forced to enter into an agreement with the publisher F.T. Stellovsky. For the same money that Kraevsky refused to pay for the novel, Dostoevsky sold Stellovsky the right to publish the complete works in three volumes and undertook to write for him a new novel of at least ten pages by November 1, 1866.

Having received the money, Dostoevsky paid off his debts and at the end of July 1865 he went abroad. But the money drama didn't end there. During five days in Wiesbaden, Dostoevsky lost everything he owned, including his pocket watch, at roulette. The consequences were not long in coming. Soon the owners of the hotel where he was staying ordered him not to serve him dinner, and a couple of days later they deprived him of light. In a tiny room, without food and without light, “in the most difficult situation,” “burned by some kind of internal fever,” the writer began work on the novel “Crime and Punishment,” which was destined to become one of the most significant works world literature.

In September 1865, Dostoevsky decided to offer his new story to the Russian Messenger magazine. In a letter to the publisher of this magazine, the writer said that the idea of ​​his new work would be “a psychological report of a crime”: “The action is modern, this year, a young man expelled from university students, a tradesman by birth and living in extreme poverty, due to frivolity, due to instability in concepts, succumbing to some strange, “unfinished” ideas that were floating in the air, I decided to get out of my bad situation at once. He decided to kill one old woman, a titular councilor who gave money for interest. The old woman is stupid, deaf, sick, greedy, takes Jewish interest, is evil and eats up someone else's life, torturing her younger sister as her worker. “She’s worthless,” “what does she live for?”, “is she useful to anyone?” etc. - these questions confuse the young man. He decides to kill her, rob her, in order to make his mother, who lives in the district, happy, to save his sister, who lives as a companion with some landowners, from the voluptuous claims of the head of this landowner family - claims that threaten her death - to finish the course, to go for border and then be honest, firm and unwavering throughout your life in fulfilling your “humane duty to humanity” - which, of course, will “make amends for the crime”, if you can call this act against an old deaf, stupid, evil and sick woman who herself is not a crime. knows why she lives in the world, and who in a month, perhaps, would have died of her own accord...”

According to Dostoevsky, in his work there is a hint of the idea that the imposed legal punishment for a crime frightens the criminal much less than the guardians of the law think, mainly because he himself morally demands this punishment. Dostoevsky set the goal of clearly expressing this idea using the example of a young man - a representative of the new generation. Materials for the story on which the novel “Crime and Punishment” is based, according to the author, could be found in any newspaper published at that time. Dostoevsky was sure that the plot of his work partly justified modernity.

The plot of the novel “Crime and Punishment” was originally conceived by the writer as a short story of five or six printed pages. The last plot (the story of the Marmeladov family) eventually became part of the story about Raskolnikov’s crime and punishment. From the very beginning of its emergence, the idea of ​​an “ideological killer” fell apart into two unequal parts: the first - the crime and its causes, and the second, main one - the effect of the crime on the soul of the criminal. The idea of ​​a two-part plan was reflected both in the title of the work - “Crime and Punishment”, and in the features of its structure: of the six parts of the novel, one is devoted to crime and five to influence crime committed per Raskolnikov's soul.

Dostoevsky worked hard on the plan for his new work in Wiesbaden, and later on the ship, when he returned from Copenhagen, where he was visiting one of his Semipalatinsk friends, to St. Petersburg, and then in St. Petersburg itself. In the city on the Neva, the story imperceptibly grew into a great novel, and Dostoevsky, when the work was almost ready, burned it and decided to start over. In mid-December 1865, he sent chapters of a new novel to the Russian Messenger. The first part of Crime and Punishment appeared in the January 1866 issue of the magazine, but work on the novel was in full swing. The writer worked intensely and selflessly on his work throughout 1866. The success of the first two parts of the novel inspired and inspired Dostoevsky, and he set to work with even greater zeal.

In the spring of 1866, Dostoevsky planned to go to Dresden, stay there for three months and finish the novel. But numerous creditors did not allow the writer to travel abroad, and in the summer of 1866 he worked in the village of Lublin near Moscow, with his sister Vera Ivanovna Ivanova. At this time, Dostoevsky was forced to think about another novel, which was promised to Stellovsky when concluding an agreement with him in 1865. In Lublin, Dostoevsky drew up a plan for his new novel, entitled The Gambler, and continued to work on Crime and Punishment. In November and December, the last, sixth, part of the novel and the epilogue were completed, and the Russian Messenger at the end of 1866 completed the publication of Crime and Punishment. Three notebooks with drafts and notes for the novel have been preserved, essentially three handwritten editions of the novel, which characterize the three stages of the author’s work. Subsequently, all of them were published and made it possible to present the writer’s creative laboratory, his hard work on every word.

The Wiesbaden “story,” like the second edition, was conceived by the writer in the form of a confession of a criminal, but in the process of work, when the material of the novel “Drunk” was added to the confession and the plan became more complicated, the previous form of confession on behalf of the murderer, who actually cut himself off from the world and deepened into his “fixed” idea, it became too cramped for new psychological content. Dostoevsky preferred new uniform- a story on behalf of the author - and burned the original version of the work in 1865.

In the third, final edition, an important note appeared: “The story is from myself, not from him. If it’s a confession, then it’s too extreme, everything needs to be clarified. So that every moment of the story is clear...” The rough notebooks of “Crime and Punishment” allow us to trace how long Dostoevsky tried to find the answer to main question novel: why did Raskolnikov decide to kill? The answer to this question was not clear even for the author himself. IN original plan The story is a simple idea: to kill one insignificant, harmful and rich creature in order to make many beautiful, but poor people happy with his money. In the second edition of the novel, Raskolnikov is depicted as a humanist, burning with a desire to stand up for the “humiliated and insulted”: “I am not the kind of person to allow a scoundrel defenseless weakness. I'll step in. I want to step in." But the idea of ​​killing because of love for other people, killing a person because of love for humanity, is gradually “overgrown” with Raskolnikov’s desire for power, but he is not yet driven by vanity. He strives to gain power in order to completely devote himself to serving people; he longs to use power only to accomplish good deeds: “I take power, I gain strength - whether it’s money or power - not for the worse. I bring happiness." But in the course of his work, Dostoevsky penetrated deeper and deeper into the soul of his hero, discovering behind the idea of ​​murder for the sake of love for people, power for the sake of good deeds, the strange and incomprehensible “idea of ​​Napoleon” - the idea of ​​power for the sake of power, dividing humanity into two unequal parts: the majority - “creatures” trembling" and the minority - "lords" called upon to rule the minority, standing outside the law and having the right, like Napoleon, to transgress the law in the name of necessary goals. In the third, final, edition, Dostoevsky expressed the “ripe”, complete “idea of ​​Napoleon”: “Is it possible to love them? Is it possible to suffer for them? Hatred of humanity..."

Thus, in creative process, in comprehending the concept of “Crime and Punishment,” two opposing ideas collided: the idea of ​​love for people and the idea of ​​contempt for them. Judging by the draft notebooks, Dostoevsky was faced with a choice: either leave one of the ideas, or keep both. But realizing that the disappearance of one of these ideas would impoverish the concept of the novel, Dostoevsky decided to combine both ideas, to portray a person in whom, as Razumikhin says about Raskolnikov in the final text of the novel, “two opposite characters alternately alternate.” The ending of the novel was also created as a result of intense creative efforts. One of the draft notebooks contains the following entry: “The ending of the novel. Raskolnikov is going to shoot himself.” But this was the finale only for Napoleon's idea. Dostoevsky also sought to create a finale for the “idea of ​​love,” when Christ saves a repentant sinner: “The Vision of Christ. He asks for forgiveness from the people." At the same time, Dostoevsky understood perfectly well that a person like Raskolnikov, who united two opposing principles in himself, would not accept the judgment of his own conscience, nor the court of the author, nor the legal court. Only one court will be authoritative for Raskolnikov - “ supreme court“, the trial of Sonechka Marmeladova, the same “humiliated and insulted” Sonechka in whose name he committed the murder. That is why in the third, final edition of the novel, the following entry appeared: “The idea of ​​the novel. I. Orthodox view, what is Orthodoxy. There is no happiness in comfort; happiness is bought through suffering. This is the law of our planet, but this direct consciousness, felt by the everyday process, is such a great joy, for which you can pay for years of suffering. Man is not born for happiness. A person deserves happiness, and always suffering. There is no injustice here, because life’s knowledge and consciousness is acquired by the experience of “pros” and “cons”, which must be carried on oneself.” In the drafts, the last line of the novel read: “Inscrutable are the ways in which God finds man.” But Dostoevsky ended the novel with other lines that can serve as an expression of the doubts that tormented the writer.