The final wrapping up of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT:
Part Six, Chapters 3 & 4:
Porfiry and Sonia act as a sort of chorus urging Raskolnikov to confess to his sins. After his meeting with Porfiry, Raskolnikov is filled with a sort of moral exhaustion. He runs into Svidrigaylov with whom he has a strange and disturbing connection. Despite all of Svidrigaylov's debauchery he is still a vital man, relatively unfazed by the horrors of his actions. This disparity of energy between Svidrigaylov and Raskolnikov points out once again that Raskolnikov is not an extraordinary man for he is emotionally and physically dissipated by guilt whereas Svidrigaylov is still robust. Raskolnikov must live within the confines of man's law, while Svidrigaylov lives his life above the laws, untouched by other people's
opinions.
At the end of the meeting Svidrigaylov bids Raskolnikov adieu and tells him that they share a connection but have different paths to redemption - one path leads to redemption through death and the other through confession.
Chapter 5:
Svidrigaylov has sent Dounia a letter which she then takes with her to confront him. He tricks her into coming up to his apartment where he tells her that Raskolnikov is the murderer. He then tries to blackmail her into having sex with him by threatening to tell their mother. Dounia pulls out a gun and tries to kill him but she misses. He even allows her to reload but the gun misfires. Realizing that she is actually doing him a favor by trying to kill him, she throws the gun down and leaves. There is one bullet left in the chamber.
Svidrigaylov is attracted to Dounia for she represents goodness and unlike others, her goodness prevents her from being repulsed by him.
Chapter 6: Svidrigaylov wanders the streets of St. Petersburg until late at night. He then falls into a troubled sleep disturbed by the nightmare images of the faces of the children he has abused. He wakes up in a state of delirium where he has difficulty in discerning reality from the nightmares - much like Raskolnikov after the murders. He wanders again into the streets of St. Petersburg, finds a sentry in a public park, informs him that he is going to America, pulls out Dounia's gun and kills himself with one bullet to the head.
Svidrigaylov is a man plagued by conscience after all. His "I"m going to America!" comment probably represents to him a trip to a far and unknown country. To Dostoevsky and to most Russians, America was a distant, exotic and unknown country. Remember the line from Hamlet: "...a far distant bourne from which no traveler has returned...." Svidrigaylov is referring to death when he puts the gun to his temple. When Dounia refuses him that is the end of all hope for Svidrigaylov for he had hoped that he might seek redemption through her goodness. When she rejects him, he realizes there is no hope for him, and that the only path of redemption for him lies in death.
Chapter 7: Raskolnikov goes to visit his mother who has been driven almost mad by grief. Although he stops short of confessing to his mother, it is clear that she does realize he's guilty. Because he has suffered he is able to accept love from his mother and to show her love. However, Dostoevsky is a brilliant observer of human nature and once again, Raskolnikov vacillates between guilt and confession, and anger and rationalization. Although he has decided to confess - because he see it as the only way out - Raskolnikov whines and complains to Dounia that love has weakened him and that if only he were unloved then he would have been able to have been successful in the murders.
Chapter 8: Raskolnikov takes the cross from Sonia (symbolically accepting his guilt) and walking down the streets of St. Petersburg he stops at the cross roads, kneels to the ground, and publicly confesses his sins. Sonia insists on accompanying Raskolnikov to the police station where he makes his confession.
Epilogue: At the trial, Raskolnikov refuses to defend himself, claiming that poverty and cowardice were the reasons for his actions. Porfiry takes the stand and states that he never suspected him of the murders. Raskolnikov is sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Siberia. And true to her word, Sonia accompanies him to Siberia and waits for him.
He is moody and sullen in prison, and because he is an atheist and an intellectual, the other prisoners hate him. He is also very difficult and removed from the faithful Sonia.
One year during his imprisonment (at Easter, which is symbolic of renewal), he falls ill and has a disturbing nightmare of a plague that has wiped out the population of Europe. The plagues' microbes infect people with the belief that their theories are infallible; they band together and kill other people with competing theories, opinions and philosophies and soon the entire continent of Europe is wiped out. He is repeatedlly tormented by this dream. About this time Sonia has fallen ill and has stopped visiting him. When she recovers and begins visiting Raskolnikov again, he realizes how much he loves her and he reaches for her hand but this time with real passion.
He has a spiritual rebirth and after serving his years of imprisonment, he leaves Siberia with his faithful Sonia to begin their new lives together.
A little addendum: Dostoevsky was very much like Raskolnikov when he was a young man - radical, socialistic and atheistic. He was arrested and condemned to death for crimes against the Czar. He and a group of other young intellectuals were lead before a firing squad and seconds before the command to "fire" was shouted, a cavalryman arrived with the news that their execution had been commuted and that they were going to live. One prisoner supposedly went insane at that moment, and Dostoevsky, who had suffered from "petite mal" epileptic seizures, experienced the onset of his first "grande mal" seizure which would plague him the rest of his life. After the "mock execution" which was clearly contrived as psychological torture, Dostoevsky and the other prisoners were then sentenced to hard labor in Siberia. During his imprisonment, Dostoevsky experienced a spiritual awakening much like Raskolnikov. Perhaps the older Dostoevsky is writing about - and to - the younger Dostoevksy.
Part Six, Chapters 3 & 4:
Porfiry and Sonia act as a sort of chorus urging Raskolnikov to confess to his sins. After his meeting with Porfiry, Raskolnikov is filled with a sort of moral exhaustion. He runs into Svidrigaylov with whom he has a strange and disturbing connection. Despite all of Svidrigaylov's debauchery he is still a vital man, relatively unfazed by the horrors of his actions. This disparity of energy between Svidrigaylov and Raskolnikov points out once again that Raskolnikov is not an extraordinary man for he is emotionally and physically dissipated by guilt whereas Svidrigaylov is still robust. Raskolnikov must live within the confines of man's law, while Svidrigaylov lives his life above the laws, untouched by other people's
opinions.
At the end of the meeting Svidrigaylov bids Raskolnikov adieu and tells him that they share a connection but have different paths to redemption - one path leads to redemption through death and the other through confession.
Chapter 5:
Svidrigaylov has sent Dounia a letter which she then takes with her to confront him. He tricks her into coming up to his apartment where he tells her that Raskolnikov is the murderer. He then tries to blackmail her into having sex with him by threatening to tell their mother. Dounia pulls out a gun and tries to kill him but she misses. He even allows her to reload but the gun misfires. Realizing that she is actually doing him a favor by trying to kill him, she throws the gun down and leaves. There is one bullet left in the chamber.
Svidrigaylov is attracted to Dounia for she represents goodness and unlike others, her goodness prevents her from being repulsed by him.
Chapter 6: Svidrigaylov wanders the streets of St. Petersburg until late at night. He then falls into a troubled sleep disturbed by the nightmare images of the faces of the children he has abused. He wakes up in a state of delirium where he has difficulty in discerning reality from the nightmares - much like Raskolnikov after the murders. He wanders again into the streets of St. Petersburg, finds a sentry in a public park, informs him that he is going to America, pulls out Dounia's gun and kills himself with one bullet to the head.
Svidrigaylov is a man plagued by conscience after all. His "I"m going to America!" comment probably represents to him a trip to a far and unknown country. To Dostoevsky and to most Russians, America was a distant, exotic and unknown country. Remember the line from Hamlet: "...a far distant bourne from which no traveler has returned...." Svidrigaylov is referring to death when he puts the gun to his temple. When Dounia refuses him that is the end of all hope for Svidrigaylov for he had hoped that he might seek redemption through her goodness. When she rejects him, he realizes there is no hope for him, and that the only path of redemption for him lies in death.
Chapter 7: Raskolnikov goes to visit his mother who has been driven almost mad by grief. Although he stops short of confessing to his mother, it is clear that she does realize he's guilty. Because he has suffered he is able to accept love from his mother and to show her love. However, Dostoevsky is a brilliant observer of human nature and once again, Raskolnikov vacillates between guilt and confession, and anger and rationalization. Although he has decided to confess - because he see it as the only way out - Raskolnikov whines and complains to Dounia that love has weakened him and that if only he were unloved then he would have been able to have been successful in the murders.
Chapter 8: Raskolnikov takes the cross from Sonia (symbolically accepting his guilt) and walking down the streets of St. Petersburg he stops at the cross roads, kneels to the ground, and publicly confesses his sins. Sonia insists on accompanying Raskolnikov to the police station where he makes his confession.
Epilogue: At the trial, Raskolnikov refuses to defend himself, claiming that poverty and cowardice were the reasons for his actions. Porfiry takes the stand and states that he never suspected him of the murders. Raskolnikov is sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Siberia. And true to her word, Sonia accompanies him to Siberia and waits for him.
He is moody and sullen in prison, and because he is an atheist and an intellectual, the other prisoners hate him. He is also very difficult and removed from the faithful Sonia.
One year during his imprisonment (at Easter, which is symbolic of renewal), he falls ill and has a disturbing nightmare of a plague that has wiped out the population of Europe. The plagues' microbes infect people with the belief that their theories are infallible; they band together and kill other people with competing theories, opinions and philosophies and soon the entire continent of Europe is wiped out. He is repeatedlly tormented by this dream. About this time Sonia has fallen ill and has stopped visiting him. When she recovers and begins visiting Raskolnikov again, he realizes how much he loves her and he reaches for her hand but this time with real passion.
He has a spiritual rebirth and after serving his years of imprisonment, he leaves Siberia with his faithful Sonia to begin their new lives together.
A little addendum: Dostoevsky was very much like Raskolnikov when he was a young man - radical, socialistic and atheistic. He was arrested and condemned to death for crimes against the Czar. He and a group of other young intellectuals were lead before a firing squad and seconds before the command to "fire" was shouted, a cavalryman arrived with the news that their execution had been commuted and that they were going to live. One prisoner supposedly went insane at that moment, and Dostoevsky, who had suffered from "petite mal" epileptic seizures, experienced the onset of his first "grande mal" seizure which would plague him the rest of his life. After the "mock execution" which was clearly contrived as psychological torture, Dostoevsky and the other prisoners were then sentenced to hard labor in Siberia. During his imprisonment, Dostoevsky experienced a spiritual awakening much like Raskolnikov. Perhaps the older Dostoevsky is writing about - and to - the younger Dostoevksy.
Comments