Character Analysis Arkady Svidrigailov 1 page

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 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.

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Chapter 1

Summary

On a hot and sultry day in July, Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov, a young student, slips past his landlady to whom he is heavily in debt, and roams aimlessly towards an old and despicable pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna. He has cut himself off from everyone and furthermore shrinks from any type of human conduct. His little cupboard of a room, his debts, and his crushing poverty depress him to the point of rendering him incapable of attending classes or tutoring his own students.

On the way to the pawnbroker's, he simply cannot believe that he is going to perform some loathsome action. He also realizes that his thoughts are confused, partly because he had eaten practically nothing for two days. Even though he was a strikingly handsome young man, he dresses so wretchedly in rags that no one would notice his secretive behavior.

It was not far to the pawnbroker's house — "exactly seven hundred and thirty" paces. Upon arriving, he seems to be disgusted with the entire proceedings and finds his plans to be loathsome and degrading. The old pawnbroker is cautious about opening the door, and when she does, she appears dried up and very old, with sharp, malicious eyes and nasty grease in her hair. Raskolnikov tells her he has something else to pawn, and they haggle over the price, but he has to accept her offer because "he had nowhere else to turn." As he leaves, he tells her that he has something more valuable to pawn and he will bring it later. He leaves in a state of extreme agitation.

Analysis

In any novel as great as Crime and Punishment, the details of the early or introductory chapters will become central to the interpretation of the entire novel. In this first chapter, Raskolnikov is seen isolated from everyone; later, he even feels uncomfortable around his mother and sister. And in the Epilogue when Raskolnikov is in prison in Siberia, he feels isolated and estranged from his fellow prisoners: ". . . he felt that terrible unbridgeable chasm which lay between him and the others. . .as if he and they belonged to different races." Both in this first chapter and the Epilogue, Raskolnikov avoided everyone. Throughout the novel he will begin a conversation with an individual and suddenly without any reason, he will leave and isolate himself further.

This first chapter also emphasizes his extreme poverty and his small, cramped apartment. Often during the novel, these physical matters will be used to explain his crimes and his sick frightened feelings that are attributed to the squalor of his room and his lack of food.

In contrast to his physical surroundings, his personal appearance is exceptional; even though he is clothed in rags, he is still exceptionally handsome, slim, "well-built with beautiful dark eyes and dark brown hair." Too often, even today, illustrators often depict Raskolnikov as physically depraved andor deformed — a vicious Mr. Hyde or a horrible misfit. Unlike other great writers, such as Dickens, whose evil characters are described in frightful terms, Dostoevsky does just the opposite — he presents Raskolnikov as physically attractive so as to prevent any possible view that the ugliness of his crime is influenced by a physical deformity. In contrast, the physical beauty of the character contrasts significantly with the ugliness of the crime.

Ultimately, Raskolnikov will emerge as a dual character, fluctuating between two extremes. For example, he is making such careful preparations for the crime, even going so far as to count the number of paces from his room to Alyona Ivanovna's apartment. Yet in the very midst of his careful preparation, he is alternately disturbed by the loathsomeness and ugliness of the crime and that his entire plan is atrocious and degrading. But even with these repulsive thoughts, he continues to prepare for the murder.

Furthermore, his plans have not yet been finalized. He knows of his crime only in theory, a fact that will later become central to his redemption when he attempts to explain his reasons to Sonya at the end of the novel. Consequently, the reader must be prepared for opposite reactions occupying Raskolnikov's mind, and what would seem an inconsistency elsewhere is here used to explain his dual (or split) personality. His visit to Alyona Ivanovna's shows both his repulsion to his plan and his preparations for its execution.

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Chapter 2

Summary

At the end of the last chapter, Raskolnikov notices an apparently disturbed person in the tavern drinking. After his visit with Alyona Ivanovna, he feels the need of a drink, and the lonely man begins a conversation with him. He identifies himself as Semyon Marmeladov, a clerk in the Civil Service. He has neither undressed nor washed for five days. His greasy red hands were dirty, his nails filthy, and his clothes disreputable.

Marmeladov spills out his entire recent history, telling how he had been in government service but had lost his position because of alcoholism. However, he had recently been reinstated as a clerk in a government office, but as of now, he has been drinking constantly for five days and is now afraid to go home. He tells of his marriage to Katerina Ivanovna, a widow of a higher social class and a mother of three young children who married him out of destitution. He also reveals that he has a daughter Sonya who has entered into prostitution because there was no other way to feed the family. He stole the money his daughter earned from prostitution to pay for his five-day binge. He asks Raskolnikov "Can you say with conviction that I am not a swine?"

He asks Raskolnikov if he knows what it is like to have absolutely no place to turn to, to be in utter despair and to suffer without recourse to any action. He took Sonya's last 30 kopecks to buy drinks. He is scared to go home because Katerina will beat him and he deserves it.

Raskolnikov, who has wanted to leave, decides to help Marmeladov home where he sees the abject poverty that he, Katerina, and the three children live in. After witnessing a horrible scene between Marmeladov and Katerina, he scrapes through his pockets and leaves them some of his scant money.

Analysis

The introduction of Marmeladov at this point is central to Raskolnikov's theories. He has just left a woman (Alyona Ivanovna) who is filthy, greasy, and lives the life of a "louse"; he is repulsed by her and plans to murder her. Yet, here he meets Marmeladov who is also filthy, greasy, with dirty hands and is a horrible, abject creature who has allowed his own daughter to enter prostitution so as to help support his drinking habits; yet rather than seeing him as a "louse," the opposite feelings are evoked in Raskolnikov — he responds with sympathy and compassion to this outwardly useless creature.

This meeting with Marmeladov this early in the novel establishes Raskolnikov's dual personality. Throughout the novel, we should remember that Raskolnikov functions either as a warm, compassionate, and humane individual willing to help the downtrodden, or else as a cold, detached, intellectual being who must stand apart from others in order to justify his theories of the Ubermensch. At the beginning of Chapter 2, he has avoided all society of late but after his meeting with the pawnbroker (Alyona Ivanovna), he has a desire to embrace humanity. And his humanitarian impulses cause him to leave all (or most) of his scarce money to Katerina, but almost immediately, he changes his mind and "would have gone back."

The meeting with Marmeladov is also important in establishing future relationships. First, Marmeladov's narration introduces Sonya and the entire Marmeladov family. It prepares Raskolnikov to look upon Sonya as a victim and see in Marmeladov's own sufferings the sufferings of Sonya. He is attracted to her because of her suffering. Then, at the end of the novel just before his confession, he acknowledges his attraction to her because she represents "the suffering of all humanity."

Marmeladov's story also reflects Raskolnikov's own personal condition. The discussion of hopelessness, "when one has no one, nowhere else one can go," becomes one of the dominant motifs throughout the rest of the novel. This discussion reoccurs later as Raskolnikov is forced to consider the hopelessness of his own life. After the actual murder, Raskolnikov remembers Marmeladov's impassioned cry of "having absolutely no where to go."

Finally, Marmeladov's story stresses the alcoholic as a human being whose family is starving while he drinks, whose daughter had to enter into prostitution in order to support the starving family, and whose life has been one of degradation. Since Raskolnikov's murder will be based partially on the rationale that certain people fit into a category of being a "louse," this story should indicate to Raskolnikov that his theory should apply directly to Marmeladov, especially when Marmeladov cries out, "Dare you assert that I am not a pig?" But rather than despising Marmeladov as a louse (or a pig), Raskolnikov feels great sympathy for him and for his suffering, thus contradicting his own theory, and making him doubt the validity of his theory: "What if man is not really a scoundrel. . .then all the rest is prejudice."

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Chapter 3

Summary

The day, Raskolnikov awakens in his dirty cubbyhole of a room, feeling disgusted with his slovenly and degraded manner of living. He withdraws from human contact but still suffers. Nastasya, the servant meant to look after him, tells him that the landlady, Praskovya Pavlovna, is going to report him to the police because he has not paid his back rent. She also brings him a long letter from his mother.

When Nastasya leaves, he kisses his mother's letter and with trembling hands, he reverently opens it. His mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, writes of her abiding love for him and that his sister, Dunya, has been working in the Svidrigailov household as a governess. Unfortunately, Svidrigailov, a well-known sensualist, formed an intense attachment for Dunya and made unwarranted overtures and improper advances, including trying to persuade her to run away with him. The wife, Marfa Petrovna, overhears part of a conversation and believes that the attachment is all Dunya's fault even though she is fully aware of her husband's sensual propensities. Furthermore, Marfa spreads the lie all through the countryside. Later, Svidrigailov corrects her and even shows her a letter reprimanding him for his improper advances and admonishing him to be faithful to his wife. Upon discovering her mistake, once again Marfa Petrovna goes about the countryside showing the letter and proclaiming Dunya's innocence and goodness.

At this time, Marfa Petrovna had a kinsman, Pyotr Petrovitch Luzhin, visiting her who wanted a wife. He is searching for a poor wife with a sound reputation who is without a dowry so that his wife will be always indebted to him for his generosity. Thus he proposes to Dunya, who has accepted him.

Finally, Pulcheria Alexandrovna tells her son that both she and Dunya will soon be in St. Petersburg so as to be with Luzhin who will find them proper living quarters, and she promises to send Raskolnikov more money as soon as she can borrow it.

Analysis

This chapter provides us again with many small details that will later play an important role. For example, the description of his room, small and cramped, will later be used as one of the reasons for his mental breakdown and will be correlated with his search for clean air and freedom. Also, the servant, Nastasya, tells him that his landlady is going to go to the police about his back rent and debts. Ironically, Raskolnikov forgets this and when the police summons arrive the day after the murder, he immediately thinks that his crime has been discovered.

One should note that the sentimentality that Raskolnikov experiences in the receipt of his mother's letter and the love and the compassion it evokes does not conform to that of the cold, rational Ubermensch.

The letter conveys many important ideas that will influence later actions. First, he hears of Svidrigailov's behavior and propositions to his sister Dunya. Thus, before he ever meets Svidrigailov, he has formed a very negative opinion of him. He hears that Svidrigailov made vulgar propositions to her and that he insulted and frightened her. Thus Raskolnikov is prepared to dislike Svidrigailov before he ever meets him.

Secondly, he hears about Dunya's engagement to Luzhin, who wants a wife who will be subservient, obedient to his authority, and always indebted to him. Raskolnikov recognizes that Luzhin is a petty, selfish, and egocentric person, and subsequent events will prove that he is correct in his evaluation of Luzhin.

Finally, Pulcheria Alexandrovna explains their dire financial situation and their need for the bare necessities in arriving in St. Petersburg, but she hopes to squeeze 25 to 30 rubles to send to Raskolnikov. This money, which he receives and subsequently gives to the Marmeladov family, will become a central issue during the remainder of the novel.

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Chapter 4

Summary

Upon finishing the letter, Raskolnikov resolves that Dunya will never sacrifice herself by marrying Luzhin, which she is doing only to be able to help him. He adamantly refuses such a sacrifice by saying, "While I live, this marriage will never take place."

Furthermore, he sees Luzhin as a mean and stingy person who would allow his fiancée and her mother ride in a peasant's cart for "seventeen versts" (around 12 miles) and to travel in third class accommodations on the train. After he considers Luzhin's entire proposal, Raskolnikov declares that "I will not have your [Dunya's] sacrifice, I will not have it. ..It shall not be, while I live, it shall not, it shall not! I will not accept it!" However, he has nowhere to turn to prevent such a disgraceful liaison.

While thinking about Dunya's plight, he observes a young 15-year-old girl staggering down the street as though she were either drunk or drugged. This young girl is being followed by a "foppish" and plump man; the man's intentions towards the young girl are obvious. Raskolnikov interferes and accosts the dandy. The police arrive and they get the girl into a cab; Raskolnikov offers his last 20 kopecks for the cab, but then "at this moment an instantaneous revulsion of feeling" causes him to reverse himself. He decides that he is interfering in something that does not concern him: "What does it matter. . .Let him [the dandy] amuse himself [with the girl]." He leaves resenting that he has lost his last 20 kopecks. "How dared I give away those twenty copecks? Were they mine to give?"

At the end of the chapter, he decides to visit Razumihkin, one of his best friends of times past, whom he has not seen in about four months.

Analysis

Raskolnikov is deeply offended by Luzhin's offer of marriage because he views Dunya as sacrificing herself to benefit him, and he cannot stand the idea of someone making such a sacrifice for him.

He makes a comparison between his sister's sacrifice to help her family and Sonya's sacrifice to help her family. He wonders if Dunya's marriage to Luzhin is not also a type of prostitution and may even be worse because Sonya's was for necessity and Dunya's could be for convenience.

The parallel between the two sacrifices troubles Raskolnikov because he can do nothing about them. This brings about the reoccurrence of the "Do you understand, sir, do you understand what it means when you have absolutely no where to turn?" theme. This parallel deeply troubles him because his present situation is also desperate and hopeless. He feels strongly that Dunya is sacrificing herself, but he can do nothing to alleviate the situation or prevent it.

Raskolnikov is deeply disturbed when he encounters the young girl, who has been abused and who is being followed by a man with evil designs upon her. This scene prompts the humanitarian side of his character into performing an act of protection. In his attempt to protect the girl, Raskolnikov calls the man a "Svidrigailov," thus making this name into the embodiment of depraved sensuality.

Raskolnikov's humanistic and compassionate nature is further revealed in his attempts to protect the young girl. He gives her almost all of his scarce money in order to send for a cab. The question arises: Would he have been so protective of the young girl if he had not just received the letter from his mother? Immediately after trying to help the young girl, he suddenly reverses himself and says "let them be." That is, suddenly, the cold, intellectual Ubermensch aspect of his personality takes over, and Raskolnikov maintains that such trivial happenings do not concern him — that he is too far above or removed to be involved. Carried further, he also should not be concerned with what happens to Dunya or Sonya, that is, if he is the true Ubermensch.

At the end, Raskolnikov's unexpected desire to see Razumihkin, his logical and rational friend, is caused by his awful feeling that he has "no where to turn."

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Chapter 5

Summary

Before he reaches Razumihkin's place, Raskolnikov changes his mind but promises that he will go the "the day after, when that is over and done with," but then in despair he wonders if it will really happen. It frightens him so much that he goes into a tavern and has a glass of vodka. Since he was unaccustomed to alcohol, he walks unsteadily to a park and immediately goes to sleep.

He dreams that he is back in his childhood, seven years old, and as he is walking with his father, he sees a drunken peasant trying to make his old horse pull a heavy wagon full of people. When the crowd laughs at him and the ridiculous spectacle, the peasant gets angry and begins beating the old, feeble horse. He beats so ferociously that others join in the "fun." Finally they begin to use crowbars and iron shafts. The old horse at first tries to resist, but soon it falls down dead. The boy in the dream, feeling great compassion for the stricken and dead mare, throws his arms around the beast and kisses it. All through the dream the peasant owner is screaming that the mare was his and he had a right to do whatever he wanted to with her.

Upon awakening from the dream, Raskolnikov renounces that "accursed dream of mine" and wonders in horror: "Is it possible that I really shall take an axe and strike her on the head, smash open her skull. . . God, is it possible?" He then ". . .renounces this accursed fantasy of mine" because he will never summon up enough resolution to do it.

However, as he walks through the Hay Market, he overhears a conversation between tradespeople and Lizaveta Ivanovna, the half sister to the old pawnbroker, that on the night "at seven o'clock in the evening the old woman would be at home alone."

Analysis

All through these early scenes Raskolnikov is somewhat feverish. Throughout the crime, he is not himself, and his irrational acts can be accredited to his illness. Ultimately, criminal theories suggest that the criminal is often sick when the crime is committed, and this theory will be used to alleviate Raskolnikov's guilt.

When Raskolnikov goes to sleep in the park, Dostoevsky lets us know that "A sick man's dreams are often extraordinarily distinct and vivid and extremely life-like. A scene may be composed of the most unnatural and incongruous elements, but the setting and the presentation are so plausible, the details so subtle, so unexpected, so artistically in harmony with the whole picture, that the dreamer could not invent them for himself in his waking state. Such morbid dreams always make a strong impression on the dreamer's already disturbed and excited nerves, and are remembered for a long time."

Thus, Dostoevsky is announcing to the reader that Raskolnikov's dream now and later will have special meaning to him and thus all the dreams are symbolic in one way or another.

When Raskolnikov awakens, he wonders if he can actually "take an axe. . .split her skull open. . .tread in the sticky warm blood. . .[and] hide." He ends by renouncing "that accursed dream of mine," thus symbolically rejecting his plan to murder Alyona Ivanovna. In the dream, Raskolnikov shows his dual nature at work. He is both the peasant Mikolka who cruelly beats the horse to death and also the boy who feels great compassion for the suffering horse. Thus, the waking Raskolnikov rejects the Mikolka aspect of his nature by renouncing the dream.

Other ideas developed later are present in the dream. The idea of property being the responsibility of the owner is touched upon. This relates to the pawnbroker's immense amount of property and the right to dispense with it as she pleases; even if she "wastes" it on monks chanting prayers for the dead, it is nevertheless her property. The idea of the innocent suffering as the horse must suffer is implicit. The horse has been interpreted as being "mother Russia" since later when Raskolnikov confesses, Sonya tells him to bow down and kiss the earth of mother Russia that he has defiled.

After the dream, the overheard conversation reveals that Lizaveta will be absent at 7:00 the night. This forces Raskolnikov to consider it a perfect opportunity to commit the crime. Later Raskolnikov will attempt to justify the idea of the crime and maintain only that he executed it before the idea was completely formulated. But at this point, the destitute poverty, the emotional letter from his mother, and the favorable circumstance of Alyona Ivanovna's being alone will combine to push the actual act into immediate execution.

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Chapter 6

Summary

Raskolnikov remembers that Lizaveta has the appointment with the tradespeople because she acts as a go-between for impoverished families forced to sell their goods. He then remembers that he had the address of Alyona Ivanovna from a fellow student and even before he went to see her he had "felt an irresistible dislike for her."

While he is thinking about how obnoxious the pawnbroker is, he overhears a conversation between two young officers who had recently had business with her; they were enumerating all of her horrible flaws. Alyona Ivanovna is spiteful, cranky, and hateful. She charges an exorbitant usurious, interest rate (five to seven percent), is sadistic, and beats her half sister, Lizaveta Ivanovna. She greedily forecloses if one is even one day late, causing poor people to lose valuable property.

Raskolnikov hears the two officers justifying a proposition that the old woman was a detriment to society because actively causes harm and destroys the lives of innocent people by her usury. On the other hand, a person could kill her and use the money to save "scores of families. . .from beggary, from decay, from ruin and corruption." Would not thousands of good deeds wipe out one small transgression? The supposition ends when one of the officers asks the other: "Would you kill the old woman with your own hands?" Both agree that they would not, and that is the end of it.

After recalling this conversation, Raskolnikov begins to make preparations by sewing a noose into his overcoat and wrapping the pledge securely. He goes to steal the axe, but Nastasya, the servant, is sitting in the door. He takes an axe from the porter. These preparations delay him and it is 7:30 p.m. before he reaches the pawnbroker's. As he arrives, he notes that there is an empty flat under the pawnbroker's and workers are in there painting it. He climbs to Alyona Ivanovna's flat and rings the doorbell several times before she opens the door.

Analysis

The conversation Raskolnikov overheard six weeks ago is central to his justification for murdering such a person as Alyona Ivanovna. This conversation occurred at the same time that Raskolnikov was independently considering the same ideas. These ideas are not Raskolnikov's, nor Dostoevsky's, nor those of the two officers: Instead they are a synthesis of the German philosopher, Hegel (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1770-1830).

The thesis of Hegelianism that applies here is an altruistic one in that (1) the old pawnbroker is an active, "harmful thing" and her murder will remove blight upon society. (2) This old pawnbroker has actually been involved in evil matters. (3) Her considerable money, rather than being wasted in a monastery on useless prayers for her horrible soul, can be used to save multiple families from destitution. (4) The person who murders her can then use the money and devote himself "to the service of humanity and the good of all." Therefore, "one tiny crime would be wiped out by thousands of good deeds." The Hegelian antithesis is very simple; that is, who will do the actual killing? If no one is willing to perform this murder, then "there's no justice about it."

Even though Raskolnikov had already been considering these ideas some six weeks ago, he has concerned himself only with the general outlines of his plan and has not worked out details. Therefore, his difficulty later occurs because he "put off trifling details, until he could believe in it all." Thus, he is forced to commit the murder before he has completely resolved all the details.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1522