Crime and punishment
Dostoevsky uses the novel Crime and Punishment to depict the prejudices in society, and to show the world what they are doing by judging a person by their societal status. Why should the cold world tell us if we are good or bad based on how we appear to people who don't know us? The characters Dostoevsky creates to show us what are minds are trained to do are the saintly prostitute Sonia, and the man with "two posts in the government" (31) and a fortune; well-to-do Pyotr Petrovitch. The woman who society has deemed immoral is the Christian angle of the heavens, and the man who was called a leader of the people has morals not unlike the Devil himself. Sonia is first and foremost the symbol of this Christian ideal held so dear by people of faith. Her characterization depicts her as flawless and unerring in virtue. Though slightly unbelievable she serves a valuable function in the novel as the Christian ideal which the behavior and virtue of every other character in the
This is a Dostoyevskian notion of evil: Petrovitch is guilty not so much by malicious intent or sadistic actions as by a complete and total preoccupation with himself. Katerina Ivanovna says in Sonia's defense, "She'd sell her last rag, she'd go barefoot to help you if you needed it, that's what she is!"( ) She is naturally and infinitely good, and she is always putting others before herself. While Sonia is surely an unattainable ideal her opposite, Petrovitch, in Dostoyevsky's world of Russians was all too real a character, perhaps more so than any of us would like to think. As an actual person she is unrealistic, but she Dostoyevsky's idea of what it means to be full of heavenly goodness. He was too greedy to help even the woman he was supposed to honor and cherish all the days of his life. Here it seems the murderer is more honorably and respectable than the government official with a fortune clenched tightly in his stingy fist. Even the crude prisoners in Siberia recognize this goodness in her and adore her for it. Petrovitch is embraced by a society that ignores his shortcomings and does not see that he is evil inside. To Dostoyevsky, this selfishness was almost Satanic and the complete opposite of Sonia's idealistic Christian, heavenly selflessness. In this sense Petrovitch mirrors the ideas of socialism which were sweeping through Russia at the time and which Dostoyevsky also addresses in the novel. " ( ) Just as Sonia never once displays a concern with herself over others, Petrovitch does not once show concern for another except when it may further his own expedition. Just as society can only see bad in the goodness of Sonia. Sonia is always completely selfless, thinking nothing of her own interests and losing herself in love and compassion for others, especially Raskolnikov.
Common topics in this essay:
Pyotr Petrovitch,
Devil Sonia,
Petrovitch Dostoyevsky's,
Crime Punishment,
Ivanovna Sonia's,
Marmeladov Lebeziatnikov,
Sonia Petrovitch,
Sonia Society,
Russia Dostoyevsky,
,
evil petrovitch,
inside society,
pyotr petrovitch,
christian ideal,
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Acceptance Essays
