Biblical motifs in F. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment"

The influence of Christianity can be traced in the work of many Russian writers, since belief in the triune god and his son Jesus Christ has been a generally accepted Russian religion since ancient times. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" did not escape this fate. Religion in the novel is presented by the author as an opportunity given to the protagonist in order to escape from the moral and ethical abyss of remorse. The main idea of the novel can be expressed as follows: a person must be meek, be able to forgive and sympathize, and all this is possible only with the acquisition of "true faith". This is a purely Christian point of view, so the work can be described as a "sermon novel".
Sin and virtue, pride and repentance are clearly opposed to each other in Dostoevsky's novel. The image of a voluntary martyr is especially pronounced in the work. It is no coincidence that the author introduces into the text such characters as Sonya Marmeladova, Dunya Raskolnikova, Mikolka. These heroes personify purity and compassion for others.
Sonya goes to the bar to provide for her family, in addition, she helps Raskolnikov to repent and pushes him to confession through Bible reading and exhortation. It seems to me that Dostoevsky introduced the scene of reading the Gospel in order to show how moral Raskolnikov and Sonya are. The episode of reading the Gospel in the novel is psychologically the most intense and interesting. The efforts of the heroine were crowned with success. The apotheosis of joint conversations was the words of Raskolnikov: “Let's go together. I came to you. We are cursed together, let's go together!" The image of Sonya is comparable to the image of Mary Magdalene, the notorious biblical harlot.
Dunya, the sister of the protagonist, sacrifices herself for her brother and family, agreeing to marry Luzhin so that Raskolnikov will stop living in poverty. The image of Dunya is associated with Jesus Christ, who accepted his fate to atone for our sins and simply out of philanthropy.
Mikolka also tries to "suffer for others" by taking the blame; he can be called Dunya's double, but it is impossible to compare him with the son of God, because he made a senseless sacrifice, possibly preventing Raskolnikov from repenting and confessing, and his good spiritual impulse would turn into evil.
Interesting for understanding Dostoevsky's position is the image of Svidrigailov, which can be compared with the image of Judas. Marfa Petrovna redeems Svidrigailov from prison and gives him a comfortable life, and he betrays his wife, who gave him a receipt, becomes the cause of her death. Later, repentance comes to him, as to Judas, and he commits the sin of suicide. This act can be compared with the self-hanging of Judas on an aspen. Svidrigailov already during his lifetime has his own idea of the afterlife. His hell appears before us in the form of a "black bath with spiders and mice."
The novel has a very strong connection with religion. The numbers that are symbolic in Christianity are the numbers three and seven. Dostoevsky repeatedly uses these symbols: for example, Raskolnikov rings the bell at the door three times and hits the old woman on the head the same number of times; there are only three meetings with Porfiry Petrovich. The number seven also carries a certain semantic load: Svidrigailov lived with Marfa Petrovna for seven years; Raskolnikov learns that it is at the seventh hour that Lizaveta will not be at home, therefore, he commits a crime “at the seventh hour”; in the epilogue, the hero has to serve seven years of hard labor. Thus, Dostoevsky wants to show that each hero has his own path to God, and no matter what happens, the hero will pass this path.
Rodion Raskolnikov himself personifies the image of a repentant sinner. After killing the old woman, the hero begins to experience mental anguish that is incompatible with his subtle, intelligent mental organization. Raskolnikov was initially punished, but not for the murder of the old woman and Lizaveta, but for his sinful theory, which consisted in dividing people into two grades, the lower - "trembling creatures" - and the higher - "Napoleons", which absolutely contradicts the canons of Christianity, because in In this religion, all people are equal.
Also in the novel there are such religious images as the cross and the Gospel. Sonya gives Raskolnikov the Gospel that belonged to Lizaveta, and this is a kind of punishment for the hero, as if a constant reminder of what he had done. In addition, Sonya puts her cross on Raskolnikov’s neck, and she takes Lizavetin herself, and the concept of “cross” acquires a figurative meaning: they both carry a common cross of suffering and repentance, followed by spiritual purification, rebirth to life.
So, we can conclude that the idea of F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" is that the characters go through the path of suffering in order to come to the truth, and it is the biblical motifs and images that help the reader understand the meaning of the work.

“Life is boring without a moral purpose…” (F. M. Dostoevsky). (According to the works of A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, F. M. Dostoevsky) - -
“Art creates good people, shaping the human soul” (V. G. Belinsky). (Based on the works of A. S. Pushkin, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. P. Chekhov) - -

See also "Crime and Punishment"

The originality of humanism F.M. Dostoevsky (based on the novel Crime and Punishment)
Depiction of the destructive effect of a false idea on human consciousness (based on the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment")
Image of the inner world of a person in a work of the 19th century (based on the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment")
Analysis of the novel "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky F.M.
Raskolnikov's system of "doubles" as an artistic expression of criticism of individualistic rebellion (based on the novel "Crime and Punishment" by F.M. Dostoevsky)

Other materials on the work of Dostoevsky F.M.

The scene of the wedding of Nastasya Filippovna with Rogozhin (Analysis of an episode from chapter 10 of the fourth part of F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot")
The scene of reading Pushkin's poem (Analysis of an episode from chapter 7 of the second part of F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot")
The image of Prince Myshkin and the problem of the author's ideal in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "The Idiot"

Man in Dostoevsky's novels feels his unity with the whole world, he feels his responsibility to the world. Hence the global nature of the problems sharply posed by the writer, their universal character. Hence the writer's appeal to eternal, biblical themes and ideas.

In his life, F. M. Dostoevsky often turned to the Gospel. He found answers to vital, exciting questions in it, borrowed individual images, symbols, motives from the gospel parables, creatively processing them in his works. Biblical motifs can be clearly seen in Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment.

Thus, the image of the protagonist in the novel resurrects the motive of Cain, the first murderer on earth. When Cain committed murder, he became an eternal wanderer and exile in his native land.

The same thing happens with Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov: having committed a murder, the hero feels alienated from the world around him. Raskolnikov has nothing to talk about with people, “nothing more, never with anyone, he can’t talk now”, he “as if cut himself off from everyone with scissors”, his relatives seem to be afraid of him. Having confessed to the crime, he ends up in hard labor, but even there they look at him with distrust and hostility, they do not like him and avoid him, once they even wanted to kill him as an atheist.

However, Dostoevsky leaves the hero the possibility of a moral rebirth, and, consequently, the possibility of overcoming that terrible, impassable abyss that lies between him and the world around him.

Another biblical motif in the novel is that of Egypt. In dreams, Raskolnikov imagines Egypt, golden sand, a caravan, camels. Having met a tradesman who called him a murderer, the hero again recalls Egypt. “If you look at the hundred-thousandth line, that’s evidence in the Egyptian pyramid!” Rodion thinks in fright. Speaking about two types of people, he notices that Napoleon forgets the army in Egypt, Egypt for this commander becomes the beginning of his career. Svidrigailov also recalls Egypt in the novel, noting that Avdotya Romanovna has the nature of a great martyr, ready to live in the Egyptian Desert.

This motif has several meanings in the novel. First of all, Egypt reminds us of its ruler, the pharaoh, who was cast down by the Lord for pride and hardness of heart. Realizing their “proud power”, Pharaoh and the Egyptians greatly oppressed the people of Israel, who came to Egypt, not wanting to reckon with their faith. Ten plagues of Egypt, sent by God to the country, could not stop the cruelty and pride of the pharaoh. And then the Lord crushed the “pride of Egypt” with the sword of the king of Babylon, destroying the Egyptian pharaohs, and the people, and the cattle; turning the land of Egypt into a lifeless desert.

The biblical tradition here recalls the judgment of God, the punishment for self-will and cruelty. Egypt, which appeared in a dream to Raskolnikov, becomes a warning to the hero. The writer seems to remind the hero all the time how the “proud power” of the rulers, the powerful of this world, ends.

The king of Egypt compared his greatness with the greatness of the Lebanese cedar, which "flaunted with the height of its growth, the length of its branches ...". “The cedars in the garden of God did not darken it; the cypress trees were not equal to its branches, and the chestnut trees were not the size of its branches, not a single tree in the garden of God was equal to it in its beauty. Therefore, thus said the Lord God: because you have grown tall and have set your top among the thick boughs, and his heart was proud of his greatness, - therefore I gave him into the hands of the ruler of the nations; he dealt with it as it should... And strangers cut it down... and its branches fell on all the valleys; and its branches were crushed in all the hollows of the earth…” – we read in the Bible1.

Svidrigailov's mention of the Egyptian desert, where for many years the Great Martyr Mary of Egypt, who was once a great sinner, has also become a warning. Here the theme of repentance and humility arises, but at the same time - and regret about the past.

But at the same time, Egypt reminds us of other events - it becomes the place where the Mother of God with the baby Jesus takes refuge from the persecution of King Herod (New Testament). And in this aspect, Egypt becomes for Raskolnikov an attempt to awaken humanity, humility, generosity in his soul. Thus, the motive of Egypt in the novel also emphasizes the duality of the hero's nature - his exorbitant pride and hardly less natural generosity.

The gospel motive of death and resurrection is connected with the image of Raskolnikov in the novel. After he committed the crime, Sonya reads to Rodion the gospel parable about the deceased and resurrected Lazar. The hero tells Porfiry Petrovich about his belief in the resurrection of Lazarus.

The same motif of death and resurrection is realized in the very plot of the novel. This connection between Raskolnikov and the biblical Lazarus was noted by many researchers of the novel (Yu. I. Seleznev, M. S. Altman, Vl. Medvedev). Let's try to trace the development of the gospel motif in the plot of the novel.

Let's remember the plot of the parable. Not far from Jerusalem was the village of Bethany, where Lazarus lived with his sisters, Martha and Mary. One day he fell ill, and his sisters, being in great sorrow, came to Jesus to report their brother's illness. However, Jesus replied, "This sickness is not unto death, but to the glory of God, may the Son of God be glorified through it." Soon Lazar died, and he was buried in a cave, blocking the entrance with a stone. But four days later Jesus came to the sisters of Lazarus and said that their brother would be resurrected: “I am the resurrection and the life; He who believes in me, even if he dies, will live... Jesus went to the cave and called Lazarus, and he came out, "wrapped hand and foot in grave clothes." Since then, many Jews who saw this miracle came to believe in Christ.

The motive of Lazarus in the novel sounds throughout the story. After committing the murder, Raskolnikov becomes a spiritual dead man, life seems to leave him. Rodion's apartment looks like a coffin. His face is deathly pale, like that of a dead man. He cannot communicate with people: those around him, with their care, fuss, cause anger and irritation in him. The deceased Lazar lies in a cave, the entrance to which is littered with a stone, while Raskolnikov hides the loot under the stone in Alena Ivanovna's apartment. In the resurrection of Lazarus, his sisters Martha and Mary take a lively part. It is they who lead Christ to the cave of Lazarus. In Dostoevsky, Sonya gradually leads Raskolnikov to Christ. Raskolnikov returns to life, discovering his love for Sonya. This is the resurrection of the hero in Dostoevsky. In the novel, we do not see Raskolnikov's remorse, but in the finale he is potentially ready for this.

Other biblical motifs in the novel are associated with the image of Sonya Marmeladova. The biblical motif of adultery, the motif of suffering for people and forgiveness, the motif of Judas is associated with this heroine in Crime and Punishment.

Just as Jesus Christ accepted suffering for people, in the same way Sonia accepts suffering for her loved ones. Moreover, she is aware of all the abomination, the sinfulness of her occupation and is hard going through her own situation.

“It’s more fair,” exclaims Raskolnikov, “it would be a thousand times fairer and more reasonable to put your head in the water and do it all at once!

- What will happen to them? Sonya asked weakly, looking at him with pain, but at the same time, as if not at all surprised at his proposal. Raskolnikov looked at her strangely.

He read everything in one glance. So, indeed, she herself had already had this idea. Perhaps many times she seriously and in despair thought about how to end it all at once, and so seriously that now she was almost not surprised at his proposal. She didn't even notice the cruelty of his words... But he fully understood to what monstrous pain she was tormented, and for a long time, by the thought of her dishonorable and shameful position. What, what could, he thought, still stop her determination to end it all at once? And then he fully understood what these poor, little orphans meant to her, and this pitiful, half-mad Katerina Ivanovna, with her consumption and banging her head against the wall.

We know that Sonya was pushed onto this path by Katerina Ivanovna. However, the girl does not blame her stepmother, but, on the contrary, defends, realizing the hopelessness of the situation. “Sonechka got up, put on a handkerchief, put on a burnous coat and left the apartment, and at nine o’clock she came back. She came, and straight to Katerina Ivanovna, and silently laid out thirty rubles on the table in front of her.

Here one can feel the subtle motive of Judas, who sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Characteristically, Sonya also takes out the last thirty kopecks to Marmeladov. The Marmeladov family "betrays" Sonya to a certain extent. This is how Raskolnikov views the situation at the beginning of the novel. The head of the family, Semyon Zakharych, is helpless in life, like a little child. He cannot overcome his pernicious passion for wine and perceives everything that happens fatally, as a necessary evil, not trying to fight fate and resist circumstances. As V. Ya. Kirpotin noted, Marmeladov is passive, submissive to life and fate. However, the motive of Judas does not sound clear in Dostoevsky: the writer blames life itself, capitalist Petersburg, indifferent to the fate of the “little man”, rather than Marmeladov and Katerina Ivanovna, for the misfortunes of the Marmeladov family.

Marmeladov, who had a fatal passion for wine, introduces the motif of communion into the novel. Thus, the writer emphasizes the original religiosity of Semyon Zakharovich, the presence in his soul of his true faith, something that Raskolnikov lacks so much.

Another biblical motif in the novel is the motif of demons and demonism. This motif is already set in the landscapes of the novel, when Dostoevsky describes the unbearably hot Petersburg days. “On the street again the heat was unbearable; even a drop of rain all these days. Again dust, brick, lime, again the stench from the shops and taverns... The sun shone brightly into his eyes, so that it hurt to look, and his head was completely dizzy...”

Here the motif of the midday demon arises, when a person falls into a rage under the influence of the scorching sun, an overly hot day. In David's song of praise, this demon is called "a pestilence that devastates at noon": "You will not be afraid of terrors in the night, an arrow flying by day, a plague that walks in darkness, a pestilence that devastates at noon."

In Dostoevsky's novel, Raskolnikov's behavior often reminds us of the behavior of a demoniac. So, at some point, the hero seems to realize that a demon is pushing him to kill. Finding no way to take the ax from the mistress of the kitchen, Raskolnikov decides that his plans have collapsed. But quite unexpectedly, he finds an ax in the janitor's room and again strengthens his decision. "If it's not reason, it's a demon!" he thought, smiling strangely.

Raskolnikov resembles a demoniac even after the murder he committed. “One new, irresistible feeling took possession of him more and more almost every minute: it was some kind of endless, almost physical, disgust for everything he met and around, stubborn, vicious, hateful. All the people he met were disgusting to him—their faces, their gait, their movements were disgusting. He would just spit on someone, would bite, it seems, if someone spoke to him ... "

The feelings of the hero during his conversation with Zametov are also characteristic, when they both look in the newspapers for information about the murder of Alena Ivanovna. Realizing that he is suspected, Raskolnikov, however, does not feel fear and continues to "tease" Zametnov. “And in an instant, he recalled with extreme clarity of sensation one recent moment when he stood behind the door with an ax, the lock jumped, they cursed and broke behind the door, and he suddenly wanted to scream at them, swear at them, stick out their tongue, tease them laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh!”

The motive of laughter accompanies Raskolnikov throughout the novel. The same laughter is also present in the hero's dreams (a dream about Mikolka and a dream about an old pawnbroker). B. S. Kondratiev notes that. laughter in Raskolnikov's dream is "an attribute of the invisible presence of Satan." It seems that the laughter that surrounds the hero in reality, and the laughter that sounds in him, has the same meaning.

The motive of the demon is also developed in the novel by Svidrigailov, who all the time seems to be tempting Rodion. As Yu. Karyakin notes, Svidrigailov is "a kind of devil of Raskolnikov." The first appearance of this hero to Raskolnikov is in many ways similar to the appearance of the devil to Ivan Karamazov. Svidrigalov appears as if from delirium, he seems to Rodion a continuation of a nightmare about the murder of an old woman.

The motive of demons arises in Raskolnikov's last dream, which he saw already in hard labor. It seems to Rodion that "the whole world is condemned as a sacrifice to some terrible, unheard of and unprecedented pestilence." Special spirits, gifted with mind and will, were infused into the bodies of people - trichines. And people, becoming infected, became possessed and crazy, considering the only true, true, only their own truth, their convictions, their faith, and neglecting the truth, convictions and faith of another. These disagreements led to wars, famines, and fires. People left their crafts, agriculture, they "stabbed and cut", "killed each other in some kind of senseless malice." The ulcer grew and moved on and on. All over the world only a few people could be saved, pure and chosen, destined to start a new kind of people and a new life, to renew and cleanse the earth. However, no one has ever seen these people.

Raskolnikov’s last dream echoes the Gospel of Matthew, where the prophecies of Jesus Christ are revealed that “people will rise against people and kingdom against kingdom”, that there will be wars, “famines, plagues and earthquakes”, that “love will grow cold in many”, people they will hate one another, "they will betray each other" - "the one who endures to the end will be saved."

Here the motif of the Egyptian execution also arises. One of the plagues sent by the Lord to Egypt to humble the pride of the pharaoh was the pestilence. In Raskolnikov's dream, the pestilence gets, as it were, a concrete incarnation in the form of trichinas that inhabit the bodies and souls of people. The Trichins here are nothing but demons that have entered people.

We often meet this motif in biblical parables. Thus, in the Gospel of Luke we read how the Lord heals a possessed man in Capernaum. “There was a man in the synagogue who had an unclean demonic spirit, and he cried out with a loud voice: leave it; What do you care about us, Jesus of Nazarene? You came to destroy us; I know You who You are, Holy One of God. Jesus forbade him, saying: shut up and come out of him. And the demon, turning him around in the middle of the synagogue, went out of him without hurting him in the least.”

In the Gospel of Matthew we read about the healing of a mute possessed in Israel. When the demon was cast out of him, he began to speak. There is also a well-known parable about how demons, leaving a man, entered a herd of pigs, which rushed into the lake and drowned. The possessed man was healed and became completely healthy.

In Dostoevsky, demonism becomes not a physical disease, but a disease of the spirit, pride, selfishness and individualism.

Thus, in the novel "Crime and Punishment" we find a synthesis of the most diverse biblical motifs. This appeal of the writer to eternal themes is natural. As V. Kozhinov notes, "Dostoevsky's hero is constantly turned to the whole vast life of mankind in its past, present and future, he constantly and directly correlates himself with it, all the time measures himself by it."

What is the role of the gospel story about the resurrection of Lazarus in understanding the idea of Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment"?

This plot in the novel takes place in part 4, chapter 4 on the 4th day after the murder, while in the Gospel it is also in the 4th volume. After such a coincidence of numbers, it becomes obvious that this plot is clearly not accidental, especially since Dostoevsky does not give anything just like that.

While reading this episode, the atmosphere of madness deepened. All this made Rodion Raskolnikov throw a phrase in Sonya's face about the goal of destroying, crushing to gain power ... two mutually exclusive features merge in Raskolnikov: kindness and pride, therefore Sonechka and Polechka evoke tenderness and contempt in him.

It also awakens the desire to take power and destroy everything around. The resurrection of Lazar did not become a miracle for Raskolnikov, did not become his “resurrection”. He thought that some kind of turning point should occur, but nothing ... a simple demolition occurred (that's why the monologue about power was called).

This shows that Raskolnikov's path to the miracle is long and thorny (first, repentance in the square, which did not give him anything, then with the investigator, and then in hard labor).

Under the pillow, he found the very book (already in hard labor), from which this passage was read to him ... he reads it again ... this fracture finally occurs in his soul, and he "resurrects". The path of repentance is the only correct path that a person can follow, according to Dostoevsky.

“I didn’t kill the old woman, I killed myself,” says Rodion. But the path to this resurrection will be long. This is the role of these two episodes with the mention of the biblical story about the resurrection of Lazarus.

To the question of questions "the role of biblical motifs" in the novel "Crime and Punishment" given by the author Anastasia Kuznetsova the best answer is "Crime and Punishment" - one of the ideological novels of F. Dostoevsky - permeated with the ideas of Christianity. Biblical motifs give the novel a universal meaning. The images and motifs from the Bible are subordinated to a single idea and are grouped and a semicircle of certain problems. One of them is the problem of the fate of mankind. According to a modern writer, society is correlated in the novel with apocalyptic forecasts. The image of the Bible is transferred to the vision of the heroes. So in the epilogue, the novel depicted a terrible picture: “... dreamed in illness, as if the whole world was doomed to the victim of some terrible, unheard of and unprecedented ulcer ... " If you compare this description with the Apocalypse, you can see the obvious similarity between the description of the end of time and Raskolnikov's vision of hard labor . This description helps to understand the author's warning about the terrible abyss of spirituality that humanity can fall into by ignoring morality.
Therefore, the theme of spiritual rebirth in the novel is connected with the idea of Christ. It is no coincidence that Sonya Marmeladova, during her first visit to Raskolnikov, reads to him the story of the resurrection of Lazarus: “Jesus said to her:“ I am the resurrection and life. Whoever believes in Me, though he dies, will live. And everyone who lives and who believes in Me will never die.” Sonya hoped that this would induce Rodion, blinded and disappointed, to believe and repent. She thought like a deeply religious Christian. After all, the path to forgiveness and spiritual resurrection lies through repentance and suffering. Therefore, she advises Raskolnikov to surrender to power, if only to accept suffering in hard labor for the sake of purification. The hero does not immediately understand everything, at first he even fears that Sonya will importunately preach to him. She was wiser. They were both resurrected by love. Raskolnikov himself turns to the Gospel, trying to find answers to his questions there. The most painful thing about them is the question of justice in the world. In the novel, Marmeladov says then to a completely different Raskolnikov that “the one who took pity on everyone and who understood everyone will take pity on us, he is the only one, he is the judge.” It was he who spoke about the second coming of Christ, because he believed that after lawlessness and injustice, the Kingdom of God would come, since otherwise there would be no justice. So, the philosophical concept of Dostoevsky is the spiritual rebirth of a person through love-sympathy for a person and the whole society, through the preaching of Christian morality. And in order to present this concept as best as possible, the writer wrote the most famous plots and motives of the main book of Christianity, the Bible, to his work.
We are used to the fact that in literary works important images are the images of the main or secondary characters, that is, the people who act in the work. Through characters, the main problems of a literary work are revealed, they embody in common types or are extraordinary personalities, secondary characters create a social background against which the action of the work develops, etc. But F. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" is a truly unique phenomenon in Russian world literature. An important image in this novel is the image of Petersburg - in which events take place. What attracts writers to this city? Why does he help them to reveal the themes and ideas of the works? What themes and ideas are revealed through the image of St. Petersburg? In the novel, we see a different Petersburg (not those majestic fashionable buildings) - the city reveals its terrible bottom, the place of existence of morally devastated people. They became that way not only through their own shortcomings, but because the phantom city, the monster city, made them that way. Depicting St. Petersburg, F. Dostoevsky deliberately symbolizes this city. Symbolic meanings are acquired by the square, the steps of houses (which necessarily go down: down, to the very bottom of life, in the future - to hell). There is an important symbolism in the image of the city - yellow painful colors recreate the current state of the heroes, their moral illness, imbalance, intense internal conflicts.

"Crime and Punishment" - one of the ideological novels of F. Dostoevsky - permeated with the ideas of Christianity. Biblical motifs give the novel a universal meaning. The images and motifs from the Bible are subordinated to a single idea and are grouped and a semicircle of certain problems. One of them is the problem of the fate of mankind. According to a modern writer, society is correlated in the novel with apocalyptic forecasts. The image of the Bible is transferred to the vision of the heroes. So in the epilogue, the novel depicted a terrible picture: “... it was dreaming in illness, as if the whole world was doomed to the victim of some terrible, unheard of and unprecedented ulcer ...” If we compare this description with the Apocalypse, we can see the obvious similarity between the description of the end of time and Raskolnikov’s vision of hard labor . This description helps to understand the author's warning about the terrible abyss of spirituality that humanity can fall into by ignoring morality.

Therefore, the theme of spiritual rebirth in the novel is connected with the idea of Christ. It is no coincidence that Sonya Marmeladova, during her first visit to Raskolnikov, reads to him the story of the resurrection of Lazarus: “Jesus said to her:“ I am the resurrection and life. Whoever believes in Me, though he dies, will live. And everyone who lives and who believes in Me will never die.” Sonya hoped that this would induce Rodion, blinded and disappointed, to believe and repent. She thought like a deeply religious Christian. After all, the path to forgiveness and spiritual resurrection lies through repentance and suffering. Therefore, she advises Raskolnikov to surrender to power, if only to accept suffering in hard labor for the sake of purification. The hero does not immediately understand everything, at first he even fears that Sonya will importunately preach to him. She was wiser. They were both resurrected by love. Raskolnikov himself turns to the Gospel, trying to find answers to his questions there. The most painful thing in them is the question of justice in the world. In the novel, Marmeladov then says to a completely different Raskolnikov that "the one who took pity on everyone and who understood everyone will take pity on us, he is the only one, he is the judge." It was he who spoke about the second coming of Christ, because he believed that after lawlessness and injustice, the Kingdom of God would come, since otherwise there would be no justice.

So, the philosophical concept of Dostoevsky is the spiritual rebirth of a person through love-sympathy for a person and the whole society, through the preaching of Christian morality. And in order to present this concept as best as possible, the writer wrote the most famous plots and motifs of the main book of Christianity, the Bible, to his work.

We are used to the fact that in literary works important images are the images of the main or secondary characters, that is, the people who act in the work. Through the characters, the main problems of a literary work are revealed, they embody in common types or are extraordinary personalities, minor characters create a social background against which the action of the work develops, etc. But F. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" is truly unique phenomenon in Russian world literature. An important image in this novel is the image of Petersburg - in which events take place.

The attentive reader had the opportunity to notice that the image of St. Petersburg stands out in one way or another in many works of Russian literature. Let us recall Pushkin's poem "The Horseman", in which the city of Petersburg is actually a separate character. There would be no Petersburg and Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" known to us. What attracts writers to this city? Why does he help them to reveal the themes and ideas of the works? What themes and ideas are revealed through the image of St. Petersburg?

How is a new city born? People begin to settle in a certain place, the settlement is being completed, it is increasing ... But it was not so with St. Petersburg. It is known to us as a man-made city built on the swamps by order of Peter I. During his treatment for diseases, which were facilitated by the climate, and from hard work, many people died, in fact, this city is on the bones. Straight streets, artificially created, majestic and small buildings... All this leaves no living space for the existence of an ordinary person. Therefore, the heroes of Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman" and Gogol's "Overcoat" perish in St. Petersburg. This city with its own cruel and chimerical soul… Phantom City… Monster City…

In the novel "Crime and Punishment" the realities of St. Petersburg are reproduced with topographical accuracy, however, they often acquire a symbolic meaning, becoming a part of it. In the novel, we see a different Petersburg (not those majestic fashionable buildings) - the city reveals its terrible bottom, the place of existence of morally devastated people. They became that way not only through their own shortcomings, but because the phantom city, the monster city, made them that way.

Quarters, black porches, yards and basements are inhabited by people whose lives are hopeless, the city is full of cruelty, injustice, non-existent morality.

Depicting St. Petersburg, F. Dostoevsky deliberately symbolizes this city. Symbolic meanings are acquired by the square, the steps of houses (which necessarily go down: down, to the very bottom of life, in the future - to hell). There is an important symbolism in the image of the city - yellow sickly colors recreate the current state of the heroes, their moral illness, imbalance, intense internal conflicts.

I believe that in order to understand a work of art, it is important to be able to find hidden but meaningful images, to be able to distinguish between the so-called "settings" of realistic and symbolically loaded scenes. Petersburg is such a city-symbol in the novel Crime and Punishment. An analysis of the meaning of this image helps to better understand the deep content of this novel.

Biblical motifs in the novel "Crime and Punishment"

Biblical motifs in F. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment"

Other essays on the topic: