Character Analysis Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov is best seen as two characters. He sometimes acts in one manner and
then suddenly in a manner completely contradictory. These actions compel one to
view him as having a split personality or as being a dual character. Perhaps the
best description of Raskolnikov occurs in Part Three, Chapter 2 when Razumihkin
tries to explain to Raskolnikov's mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, and to his sister,
Dunya (Avdotya Romanovna) how Raskolnikov has been acting lately: "He is
morose, gloomy, proud and haughty, and of late — and perhaps for a long time
before — he has been suspicious and fanciful. He has a noble nature and a kind
heart; he does not like showing his feelings and would rather do a cruel thing than
open his heart freely. . .It's as though he were alternating between two characters."
These two characters are best represented as his cold, intellectual detached side,
which emphasizes power and self-will, and his warm, humane compassionate side,
which suggests self-submissiveness and meekness. The intellectual side is a result of
his deliberate and premeditated actions; that is, when he is functioning on this side,
he never acts spontaneously, but instead, every action is premeditated. It is this
aspect of his personality that enables him to formulate his theories about crime and
to commit the crime.

In order to emphasize this dual character in Raskolnikov, Dostoevsky created two

other characters in the novel who represent the opposing sides of his character.
These characters are Sonya and Svidrigailov.

Svidrigailov represents the cold intellectual side that emphasizes self-will. All of
Svidrigailov's acts are performed so as to give him pleasure and to place him above
common morality. This is not to imply that Svidrigailov is an intellectual, but
rather it implies that he does not allow minor human actions, morality, or law to
prevent him from having his own way. Thus, as Raskolnikov could commit a
murder because of his theories, so can Svidrigailov rape a 15-year-old mute girl for
his own gratification.

Raskolnikov's intellectual side is intricately bound up in his theory of the

extraordinary man. If Raskolnikov is to be one of the extraordinary, he must be
able to stand alone, without needing human companionship or without being
influenced by the actions of others. He must rely on no one and must be completely
self-sufficient. When he performs charitable acts, he is temporarily violating this
intellectual side of his nature.

The other side of Rodya's character is the warm, compassionate side. It operates
without an interceding thought process. His first and immediate reaction to any
situation represents this aspect of his personality. Consequently, he will often act in
a warm, friendly, charitable, or humane manner, and then when he has had a
chance to think over his actions intellectually, he regrets them. For instance, when
he spontaneously gives Katerina Marmeladov his last money, he regrets that he
has given the Marmeladov family the money shortly afterwards. If left to his
immediate reactions, Raskolnikov would always act in a charitable and humane
manner; he would always sacrifice himself for his fellow man — incidents galore
abound in this manner, including the reports of his risking his life to rescue a child
from a fire or his concern over a drugged young girl who is being pursued by a
"dandy" with immoral intent.

The actions in the novel that seem to be strange and contradictory are rather the
result of the two aspects of Raskolnikov's personality. When he refuses to allow
Dunya to marry Luzhin and then a moment later tells her to marry whom she
pleases, this reversal is an example of the humane side not wanting his sister to
sacrifice herself to help him, and then the intellectual side contending that he must
not concern himself with insignificant problems of others.

Character Analysis Sonya Semyonova Marmeladov

Sonya functions in the novel as one aspect of Raskolnikov's character and also as
the "passive redemptive" figure. She is the meek and self-submissive figure. Her
function is to help redeem Raskolnikov, but her redemptive role is a passive one.
This means that she does little in an active way to make Raskolnikov confess or
change his way. Rather, she is simply available whenever Raskolnikov needs her.
The question arises as to how can she be redemptive: She is redemptive because
through her suffering she becomes for Raskolnikov the symbol of all the suffering
humanity, that is, all the suffering of mankind is represented in her own suffering.
And through her compassionate nature and ability to love, she touches deeply one
side of Raskolnikov's character. Her life is one of simple expedience for existence.

No one is less fit for a life of prostitution than is Sonya, but this was the only way in
which she could help support her family. She became a prostitute but feels intensely
the degradation and shame of her profession. But in spite of this profession, she has
never lost touch with God. Her simple faith in God is part of her strength. She
attends church as much as possible, has masses said for Lizaveta Ivanovna, and
has the basic faith in the goodness of Divine Providence. She also refuses to answer
questions put to her by Raskolnikov (that is, who is to live or die) by saying "how
can I know God's will?" She could never assert her own will to the degree that the
will of Divine Providence would be put into question.

Character Analysis Arkady Svidrigailov

Svidrigailov has one function in life — to satisfy his sensual desires. To do so often
takes strange ways and means. He represents a type of "Ubermensch," or
extraordinary man. This type feels that the world is essentially an evil place;
therefore to be in tune with this universe, one must essentially be evil. Since there
can be no Divine Providence whose will is stronger than man's, each individual
must assert his own will and power. Since the universe is meaningless and
directionless, man's main course of action is the complete gratification of the
appetite. Therefore, for Svidrigailov, his pleasure and gratification are all that
matter. How they are achieved is unimportant. Svidrigailov admits to Raskolnikov
that he has a "natural propensity" for the vulgar. He has no scruples about getting
his own way. His life has been constructed on the idea that his own feelings and
pleasures are more important than anything else; therefore, he can rape a mute 15-
year-old girl and, upon hearing that this girl has hanged herself, have no feelings
of remorse. He simply shrugs his shoulders.
Of equal importance are Svidrigailov's acts of seeming charity. If he does perform
good charitable acts, it is not because he sees the acts as good actions but simply
because the impulse of the moment gives him pleasure. Likewise, in his kindness to
the Marmeladov family, he is hoping to deceive Raskolnikov and Dunya into
believing that he has reformed from his previous evil ways.

At last, even Svidrigailov realizes that he cannot live completely alone and isolated
from the rest of humanity. When he realizes that he cannot have Dunya, he is
forced to commit suicide. Suicide is the only thing left that he has not willed for
himself. His old manner of living has now been denied him by his realization that
he can't live alone and there is no new method left to him. Therefore, he takes his
life as the only course of action open to him.

Character Analysis Porfiry Petrovitch

Whereas Svidrigailov was working for the gratification of the self, Porfiry is
working for the betterment of mankind or, more limited, for the greatness of the
Slavic world that needs talented and intelligent young people. Porfiry is a person
who believes that Russia is destined to become the great nation of the world and
will guide the world into a new era based on love and understanding.
Consequently, he feels that any person who has intellectual potential should be
serving mother Russia in order to attain these goals. He sees in Raskolnikov a
potentially great man who had deceived himself by adhering too much to new and
radical intellectual ideas that have come from outside of Russia. Porfiry believes
that when Raskolnikov finds his true self, he will then become a man with potential
greatness and a man who can do a great service for Russia. If he were to play the
part of the average policeman or criminal investigator and concern himself only
with trapping the criminal immediately, Porfiry would have arrested Raskolnikov
very early in the novel. But Porfiry's aim is not so much to see the criminal locked
behind bars as it is to help rehabilitate the criminal and make him into a useful
member of society. Therefore, in the final interview, Porfiry gives Raskolnikov
some more time in order to confess because a free confession would mitigate the
sentence.

Through all of their interviews, Porfiry shows himself to be one of the advanced
thinkers of Russia through his use of psychology and new methods, and his belief in
the possible rehabilitation of criminals into useful members of society.

Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladov

Katerina lives in the past. But, hey, we would, too, if we were married to
Marmeladov.

As far as we can tell, she was born in a fairly prosperous and "respectable" family,
with a degree of privilege. She just didn't have good taste in men. When we meet
her, she's both mentally and physically ill, with no hope of treatment. She's also
extremely abusive. She bullies Sonia into prostitution and beats her children. She
says terrible things about foreigners and is confrontational and violent with people
she doesn't like—she's the Russian novel equivalent of the worst type of YouTube
commenter.

Still, Raskolnikov has compassion for her and doesn't seem to judge her. Perhaps
because she's poor, he doesn't place her in the same category as he does Alyona the
pawnbroker or others he considers victimizers. As with Marmeladov, our own
compassion for her is strengthened by Raskolnikov's.

Incidentally, Dostoevsky and his mother both died of an illness similar to what
Katerina suffers from—lung problems, possibly tuberculosis, which was not
uncommon in the 1860s. Take a moment to be thankful you live in the 21st century,
everybody.

What's Up With the Title?

Isn't this the perfect title? It's simple, elegant, and straightforward. It's a concise
mini-summary of the novel, focusing on the two crucial ideas being explored on
every page.

It's actually kind of hard to talk about the title without sounding silly. It's so small,
so self-explanatory. Even most little kids have some idea what these three words
mean, and they translate fairly smoothly from the Russian, Prestuplenie i
nakazanie, into most languages.

We don't want to bore you, but we should point this out: the Third Edition of the
Norton Critical Edition of the novel notes that the Russian word "prestuplenie"
is more closely related to the English word "transgression" than it is to the English
word "crime."

But, really, what's the difference? They both mean to do, be, say, or even think
something the people in charge say is wrong. (The people in charge are political
figures, teachers, the community, family members, religious leaders, our peers,
etc.)

There is a small difference. "Transgression" makes us think of breaking rules

because they don't work anymore or, perhaps, never did. Whereas plain old crime
is senseless, crude, and doesn't do anybody any good.
But, wait. How do you know the difference? How do you know when an action is a
crime versus a transgression? This is pretty close to the conversation Raskolnikov
and Porfiry have about Raskolnikov's essay. What is crime? What is
transgression? Is there any difference? How do you know? These questions are
recycled over and over in the novel and never really answered—that's your job!

"Crime" and "punishment" make a cute couple, like Sonia and Raskolnikov.
Something about their combination enthralls us. It signifies a process that we've
come to expect: we do something bad, we get in trouble. Punishment follows crime.
Crime comes before punishment. If something in you is protesting, you aren't
alone. As the novel shows, sometimes, maybe even often, punishment comes before
crime. Especially if you are vulnerable and powerless, like many of the children in
this book. Some would say it's a cycle.

Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary as a Realistic Novel

Madame Bovary , written by Gustave Flaubert deals with the life of Emma
Bovary who became dissatisfied with her married life and later ended up in
tragedy. She indulged herself in an immoral activities and adultery relationships.
It is a realistic novel that showcases the French social and political issues of the
time as well the realistic description of scandals around the time. The novel also
projects the author’s own personal spaces as well. The novel is also read as a
critique of romanticism and uses realistic setting , plot and themes. 

As a realistic novel , the novel focuses on the realistic world. The realistic world
includes the world of professions such as doctors and lawyers. Flaubert completely
portrays the reality of life’s professions as oppose to Emma’s imaginative world.
Charles was a doctor and he has been sketched as a man who appears to be dull ,
boring and lives to please others. Leon is a lawyer and their professions are
completely opposed to what Emma expects out of her romantic fantasies and hence
one can observe that she gets bored and dissatisfied easily. It is because Emma was
unable to accept the facts of reality and lived in her own romantic illusion. 

However , the novel also projects the social realism and it’s impact on the
psychological scale of the people during those times. The impact of French
Revolution have rise to middle class and books also started to influence the minds
of the people. In the novel , Emma read romantic literature during her stay in the
convent and she was influenced by the romantic love stories that cannot be
attained in reality. She developed this sense of romantic idealism that needs to exist
in her life and hence she went with the flow of that desire and indulge in many
extramarital affairs. 

The novel also showcases the realism of social incident of Delphine Delamare. She
was a French woman who was bored of her married life and indulged in many
extramarital affairs with a huge debt by her side and later killed herself with a
poison. This incident was taken as a plot by Flaubert or perhaps Madame
Bovary is based on Delphine Delamare incident. This realism is seen in the plot of
the novel itself where Emma Bovary also commits adultery and then later buys
expensive gifts for herself from a merchant Lheureux and got herself into a debt.
She also killed herself by eating an arsenic poison leaving a huge debt to her
husband. 

In addition to this , the novel is considered to be the masterpiece and foundation for
realism in literature. Flaubert projects the idea of Realism movement where it
opposes romantic fantasy and imagination. It is evident in the novel where
Emma’s romantic imagination and fantasies are something that led to her tragedy.
He critiques the unattainable romantic worldview in reality through Emma’s life.
She believed that her life was supposes to be of opulent and extravagant alchemy of
life yet it is never attainable in reality. Hence , she decides to make it attainable by
entering into relationships with a lawyer Leon who left her after some time and
Roldophe who was an aristocrat man engaged in a relationship also left her. The
dissatisfaction that she finds in every relationship reflects the anti-romanticism in
the novel because Emma was unable to accept the facts of reality and she still
pursues to dwell in her imagination driving the desires that later end up in a
tragedy.