Transcript Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Written in 1865-1866
St. Petersburg, Russia
The Life of Dostoevsky
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Born one of six children in Moscow in 1821
Fyodor was emotionally troubled and alienated
friends with his moods
After quitting the military, he began writing
about his own youth which was full of misery,
isolation and insecurity.
First bestseller was Poor Folk- it was admired for
its character study and romantic socialism
Troubled Times
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Arrested in 1849 for his reckless socialistic
articles and condemned to die by firing squad
Saved by the tsar, he was instead sentenced to 4
years of hard labor in Siberia.
This further contributed to his fears and
alienation and he developed epilepsy.
In 1853 he experienced a religious conversion.
He began a socialist newspaper and once more
received unfavorable criticism
Crime and Punishment
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Poor and reduced to begging, Fyodor
began writing C and P.
It was serialized in The Russian Messenger
and appeared in English 4 years later.
Became a literary idol.
Died in 1881 of a epileptic seizure.
About the Novel
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Setting – 1860’s Russian city of St.
Petersburg and a
prison in Siberia
Third person
omniscient
Psychological
novel- Raskolnikov’s
tortured psychological
punishment
Main Characters
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Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov: variously called Rodya and Rodka, is the
protagonist from whose perspective the story is primarily told.
Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova: variously called Sonya and Sonechka, is the
daughter of a drunk, Semyon Zakharovich, Raskolnikov meets her father in a tavern
at the beginning of the novel.
Porfiry Petrovich: the detective in charge of solving Raskolnikov's murders
Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova: Raskolnikov's sister, called Dunya for short,
who plans to marry the wealthy, yet morally depraved, Luzhin to save the family from
financial destitution.
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Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov: wealthy former employer and current pursuer of
Dunya, torments Dunya and Raskolnikov but never goes to the police.
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Dmitri Prokofych Razumikhin: Raskolnikov's loyal, good-natured and only friend.
He and Dunya ultimately become romantically involved.
Russian Translations
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Raskolnikov – “raskol” means “schism” or
“split” in Russia
Razum – “reason”, “intelligence”
Russian word for crime is “prestuplenie”
Directly translated means -“stepping over
the line”
Themes
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Alienation from
Society – at first
Raskolnikov is
separated by his
PRIDE, and later by
his GUILT and its
intense psychological
and physical effects
Superman theme
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An extraordinary person
above moral laws
“steps beyond” and has
no conscience
Nietzsche – “In Beyond
Good and Evil”, 2 types of
morality: master-morality
and slave-morality.
The higher type of man
creates his own values
and the meek and
powerless are at their
mercy.
Nihilism
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Philosophical idea – developed
in Russia 1850-1860
Rejected family, societal bonds
and emotional and aesthetic
concerns
Favored strict “materialism”no mind or soul outside of the
physical
Nietzche’s nihilism – active vs.
passive
Active nihilism seeks to destroy
what it no longer believes in .
Portrait of Friedrich Nietczhe
Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.
Friedrich Nietzsche
In heaven all the interesting people are missing.
Friedrich Nietzsche