Crime and Punishment

1. Crime and Punishment An introduction to Dostoevsky’s epic novel

2. Feodor Dostoevsky • Born in Moscow, 1821 • Father was a military doctor • Unlike other writers from that time, Dostoevsky was a member of the middle class, not aristocracy • Trained as an engineer at father’s insistence • While in engineering school in 1839, father is murdered by two peasants • Father’s death aggravated his epilepsy, condition he struggled with all his life

3. Dostoevsky: the author • After finishing engineering school, begins writing • First work, Poor Folk (1844) was well received by critics • Novel addresses poverty, a theme revisited in later works • Novel makes clear poverty is a material condition – when see people without material things, see a person’s soul • Also introduces the “infernal woman” – woman with incredible inner strength • For Dostoevsky, salvation lies in a woman • Belinsky, major literary critic of the time, read the manuscript and burst into Dostoevsky’s apartment at 4 a.m. and hailed him as a genius • Dostoevsky later wrote, “That was one of the rare moments in my life when I was truly happy.” • Praise went to Dostoevsky’s head – began to be disliked for his arrogance

4. Dostoevsky: The prisoner • April, 1849 – arrested by the tsar’s police • Had been moving in circles of moderate liberals • December 1849, sentenced to death by firing squad • At last minute, as being led out to execution, pardoned by tsar and sent to live for four years in a Siberian prison camp and then another four years in the military • Returns after 10 years of exile, married to Maria Dmitrievna who had a son from her previous marriage, very changes man • Very tempestuous marriage and Maria dies in 1864, just as Dostoevsky is finishing one of his masterpieces: Notes from the Underground

5. Building to C&P • Notes from the Underground • The Underground Man, narrator of the novel, gloats at his unattractiveness and challenges the 19th century notions of progress, human improvement, and the possibility of a decent human society • Underground Man acts against his own self-interests, isolates himself from others to show his independence • End of novel, tries to make contact with a prostitute – he pours his heart out to her but then gives her money, insulting her • Cannot experience the freedom without feeling love – two are mutually exclusive to Dostoevsky; hell is a place where a person is unable to love

6. The love of a woman • 1860s, Dostoevsky is in bad financial state • Makes a deal with a publisher to produce a work in two years to pay off all debts • To make it to the deadline, had the help of stenographer Anna Grigor’evnaSnitkina, 20 years his junior, who he later married • Anna took care of Dostoevsky for 15 years until his death in 1881 • Many critics believe she made it possible for him to work • He dedicated his last great novel, The Brothers Karamazov, to her

7. Crime and Punishment • Began the novel in 1865 as a work on the theme of alcoholism and was originally titled The Dear Little Drunkards • Raskolnikov , in Russian meaning “from among the schismatics” as in a schism in faith • In working on novel, Dostoevsky wrestled with main motivation: Why does Raskolnikov commit murder? • Moves from just to make poor people happy to murdering out of love (both humanist concepts) to the Napoleonic Idea • The good heart who had lost its way

8. Napoleonic Idea • Power for the sake of power • Society is divided up into unequal parts: the majority and the minority • The majority will be controlled by the minority who stand outside the law and have the right to break the divine order of the world • In novel, Dostoevsky pits the love of people against contempt for them in the character of Raskolnikov • Battle between conscience and reason • Dostoevsky: “There is only one law, moral law.”

9. Nietzsche • Nihilism – philosophical belief that all values are baseless and nothing can be known or communicated, opposite of humanism • Nietzsche saw this as a natural progression of European society as people were frustrated with trying to find meaning • Overman or superman theory – no universal understanding of this theory; goal humanity would set for itself and dictate fate the next generation; can be linked to Napoleonic Idea

10. Book One • Raskolnikovin state of conflict • Unable to say “murder” – refers to it by other names • Story of the Marmeladovs, reminder of the endlessness of human suffering and the failure of sacrifice • Sacrifice of Sonya, prepared sacrifice of his sister Dunya • Sister sacrificing herself for him • “…should one renounce life completely and docilely accept one’s fate as it is , once and for all, and stifle everything in oneself, after having renounced any right way to act, to live, and to love?” (38) • Christian morality teaches humility, sacrifice but Raskolnikov is a man without faith

11. Things to watch for: • Suffering – Who? Where? Cause? • Water • Vegetation – trees, flowers, gardens, bushes • Sunshine, darkness • Lack of air – literal and metaphorical • Christian imagery • Colours red and yellow