The Metamorphosis And Crime And Punishment Setting Analysis English Literature

Essay

Setting is one of the vital elements of a novel as it drives the plot and impacts
the attitudes and behaviors of the characters. The mood, atmosphere, time
of day and time period are all elements which encompass setting. In The
Metamorphosis and Crime and Punishment, both Franz Kafka and Fyodor
Dostoyevsky manipulate the settings of the two novels to create a specific
mood, which mirrors the miserable state of the main characters. By analyzing
the environment in which the characters live, we can gain insights into the
ideas the authors are trying to convey. This paper will compare how the
settings in both novels reflect the states of the protagonists, Gregor and
Raskolnikov.
Similarly, in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov suffers because of his foul
surroundings and detaches himself from society, just as Gregor feels
alienated both in his room and out while at work. The novel is set in
Haymarket Square, a dirty, crowded, poverty stricken slum area of St.
Petersburg, Russia. At that time, St. Petersburg was a major economic center
and the capital of Russia. The novel focuses on the filthier areas of the city in
the 1860's and we see the setting through Raskolnikov's eyes. Dostoyevsky
describes the intolerable living conditions in the town; drunken crowds fill the
streets and the stench of the hot summer air makes the area an unbearable
place to live. The homes are places of violence and abuse, and dangerous
criminals and vagabonds roam the streets; "types so queer were to be seen
in the streets that no figure, however queer, would have caused surprise"
(Dostoyevsky 3). The kind of setting portrayed creates an atmosphere which
is susceptible to heinous crimes; this sets the tone for the imminent events in
the novel. As Dostoyevsky knew the city well and had even lived in the kind of
dilapidated apartment rooms he describes, he illustrates in detail what his
characters experience in the town. Raskolnikov's room "was a tiny cupboard
of a room about six paces in length. It had a poverty-stricken appearance
with its dusty yellow paper peeling off the walls" (Dostoyevsky 27)
Evidently, the destitute condition of his room reflects his severe poverty.
Dostoyevsky

vividly depicts the atmosphere in which Raskolnikov lives and

the sights and smells he experiences, all of which "worked painfully upon the
young man's already overwrought nerves" (Dostoyevsky 2). Raskolnikov

aimlessly wanders the filthy streets, as "the thought of going home suddenly
filled him with intense loathing" (Dostoyevsky 55). Sometimes, he prefers to
go out and walk around, rather than staying in his tiny, cramped room, but
still chooses not to interact with people around him. Raskolnikov alienates
himself from society, and like Gregor, he sees his room as a place where he
can be "completely away from everyone, like a tortoise in its shell"
(Dostoyevsky 28). Conversely, Gregor despises going out and traveling all day
for his job. He prefers to stay in his room, with minimal interaction with his
demanding family members. In a way, Gregor's wish of escaping from his
grueling job is fulfilled after his transformation into a vermin. His family locks
him up in his room and considers him to be a useless burden as he can no
longer work and earn money.
Gradually, the setting in The Metamorphosis changes; Kafka uses a contrast
between light and dark to represent Gregor's growing isolation- "The light of
the electric street-lamps lay in pallid streaks on the ceiling and on the upper
parts of the furniture, but underneath, where Gregor was, it was dark" (Kafka
20). The fact that light from the outside does not fall on him foreshadows his
dark fate. Gregor feels intimidated by the "empty high-ceilinged room in
which he was forced to lie flat on the floor" (Kafka 21), even though he had
lived there for years. To pass time, he crawls around the bare walls; this
represents his meaningless existence. Gregor likes to hide under furniture in
his room and considers it to be a type of shelter. When his mother and sister
eventually decide to move the furniture out of the room, he is left without
comfort. Gregor leans against the window, "evidently in some sort of
remembrance of the feeling of freedom he used to have" (Kafka 28). As his
vision deteriorates, he cannot see things outside that are even at a short
distance, such as the hospital next to his building. Gregor's failing eyesight
and inability to see even close objects around him represents his diminishing
freedom and ever increasing seclusion.
Likewise, the setting in Crime and Punishment changes after Raskolnikov
commits the murder. Initially after his crime, he is so overwhelmed by guilt
and the fear of being caught, that he slips into oblivion. Raskolnikov spends
hours, unconscious on his tattered sofa, in a feverish sleep, only being
awakened by his housekeeper, Nastasya, or the "fearful, despairing cries
[that] rose shrilly from the streetsunder his window after two o'clock"
(Dostoyevsky 91). Through most of the novel, "he was ill; he was in a feverish
state, sometimes hallucinating sometimes half conscious" (Dostoyevsky 130).

Furthermore, the putrid surroundings and awful living conditions that

Raskolnikov is exposed to make his insanity and depression all too
believable. Although both Raskolnikov and Gregor experience feelings of
intense suffering, a disparity between the two characters is that Gregor is
confined to his room, while Raskolnikov has the freedom to go out, but
chooses to stay in his room and sleep.
Kafka and Dostoyevsky change the setting towards the end of their novels. In
The Metamorphosis, as Gregor's family members and the maid completely
stop coming into his room, "streaks of dirt ran along the walls, fluffs of dust
lay here and there on the floor" (Kafka 41). Useless junk is dumped into his
room, leaving him no place to even move around. Gregor begins to feel even
more neglected, as his room is turned into a junk yard and his family
members totally disregard him. Just before Gregor dies, he "saw that outside
the window everything was beginning to grow light" (Kafka 51). The light
imagery Kafka uses around the time of Gregor's death a truly makes his fate
tragic. Ironically, his death signifies happiness in the lives of his family
members as a burden is lifted off their shoulders. In contrast, the setting at
the end of Crime and Punishment concludes the novel in a happy way. After
Raskolnikov is sent to Siberia, he finally finds a meaning in life and his
character transforms from egotistical to penitent, in the brutal atmosphere of
the prison camp. He realizes the mistakes he has made in his past and this
leads him to salvation. The irony is that this happens only after he is
physically constrained in a repressive environment; not when he was free to
do what he wanted.
The ways in which settings of novels can epitomize the condition of the
characters is manifest in The Metamorphosis and Crime and Punishment.
Both Kafka and Dostoyevsky subtly depict setting as an extension of the
protagonists' wretched states. The milieu the characters live in is
picturesquely described by the two authors, to set a particular mood and give
the reader an idea about the forthcoming events in the novels. The harsh and
unhealthy surroundings in which Gregor and Raskolnikov live imitate their
degenerated psychological and physical conditions. Although the two works
have contrasting storylines, both authors have cleverly utilized the element of
setting to enhance the meaning of their novels and make them literary
masterpieces.