Features of the psychological analysis of the novel “Crime and Punishment. Techniques of psychological analysis in F. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”

11.04.2019

1. Evolution of the psychological portrait.
2. Dostoevsky as an innovator.
3. “The depth of the human soul” in “Crime and Punishment.”
4. Basic techniques for creating a psychological portrait.

After M. Yu. Lomonosov, when creating “A Hero of Our Time,” first used the technique of a psychological portrait of a hero, a gradual evolution of the image began in Russian literature psychological state person. F. M. Dostoevsky, like no one else, managed to change and supplement this process with new methods and types.

For this author, the psychological world of the character becomes the leading one for the entire work. It is shown during a period of maximum tension, when all the hero’s senses are heightened to the limit. Most often, such tension is associated with non-standard life situations that make it possible to expose inner world hero to the reader. In Dostoevsky’s work there is not a single author’s phrase or remark that does not directly or indirectly indicate the thoughts and feelings of the person depicted. The inner world of any person for him is a constant confrontation between good and evil principles. This is not so much the evolution of the hero from one state to another, but rather a visual representation of his fluctuations from dark to light and vice versa.

The main character of the Writer’s novel “Crime and Punishment” is precisely in this state of emotional tension. He is torn between denying his dream and pursuing it. Here the author demonstrates not just a transition from one state to another, but the highest points of transition, two extremes of human impulse. In this transition lies the state of suffering that constantly weighs on the heroes: “So he tormented himself, teasing himself with these questions with some kind of pleasure. The former painfully terrible peculiar sensation began to be remembered more vividly and vividly and became more and more pleasant.”

Dostoevsky was one of the first who managed to depict on the pages of his works the bottomless depth of the human soul, the inability of man himself to fully comprehend and understand the secrets of his own heart. Often the author depicts not the actual, but the possible or desired state of the hero. This makes the description unsteady and shows the complexity of the inner world, which is almost impossible to accurately convey in words and terms. The author repeatedly repeats that there are such hidden layers in the human soul that cannot be verbal description. A complete, clear and dry analysis is uncharacteristic of Dostoevsky. On the contrary, he always leaves the reader the opportunity to independently think out or imagine points left unsaid by the author himself.

Classic psychological analysis includes a description of an interior or landscape that is memorable or important to the character. Usually they are filled with certain objects - keys, symbolizing certain feelings and sensations. The seasons also help to understand the hero more precisely, so Dostoevsky depicts a hot and stuffy summer not by chance. The heat and stuffiness literally kill Raskolnikov. In addition, the author depicts that part of St. Petersburg, whose residents do not have the opportunity or money to get out anywhere, and who have to breathe stale, stinking air. Investigator Porfiry Petrovich, in a conversation with Raskolnikov, throws out the following phrase: “It’s time for you to change the air.” It is the stuffiness and rotten atmosphere of the city that pushes the hero to crime. At the same time, the writer depicts external details that could influence Raskolnikov’s behavior. This is the city, and the street, and the closet in which he lives and which “sucks the life out of a person.” The hero of the novel goes out most often in the evening, so to understand his character great importance have descriptions of sunsets. What is symbolic is that the spring, bright and shining sun shines only in the epilogue of the novel, when the reader already understands what changes await the hero. In other cases, the sunset picture is described from a majestic but gloomy point of view.

Color painting in a novel is important. It is no coincidence that Dostoevsky chooses a dirty yellow, “purulent” color to describe Raskolnikov’s St. Petersburg. The walls of the houses are yellow, the wallpaper in Raskolnikov’s own apartment, the old pawnbrokers and the furniture in Porfiry Petrovich’s house. Sonya Marmeladova lives and works on a “yellow ticket”. This shade of yellow symbolizes dirt, power, and human suffering. The shade creates a special atmosphere of the actions of the hero and his inner life, painful and tense.

The meaning of another color is also important - green. It symbolizes the purity and renewal of both nature (green leaves and grass free from dust and pus of the city) and the hero himself. It is no coincidence that during the crime, Raskolnikov’s ideas, free from bad thoughts, are colored emerald green; green is also found in the epilogue - this is the color of Sonya Marmeladova’s scarf, in which she comes to hard labor. Blue and brown are also symbolic in the main context of the novel. The first is the color of God and heaven, the color of Sonya’s eyes and good aspirations and thoughts. The second is a symbol of tragedy and breakdown. Thus, Dostoevsky’s water is constantly colored crimson and brown, as if it were clouded with blood.

Dostoevsky’s special merit to the reader is the creation of a special world. Where the boundaries of the real and the unreal, the internal and the external are destroyed, the boundaries are unclear, and the picture of the world itself becomes unsteady and blurred. Reality takes on a special shade of delusional images, visible as if through a thin flickering haze.

Thus, the thoughts of the main character and the events that actually occur are depicted by the author using the same techniques. The reader is completely immersed in Raskolnikov's delusions and nightmares that have become reality.

A special category of the hero’s consciousness in the work is dreams. In them, the dreamer’s emotions and experiences become more realistic, brighter, and clearer. Thus, the writer manages to achieve a feeling of increasing anxiety and horror, which becomes even more obvious during the release of the character’s subconscious. The eyes, as a mirror of the human soul, play their role here. Each character's eye description is individualized. The description of the gaze is characteristic only of the main characters and is as important for understanding the main idea of the work as dreams. So, Sonya’s eyes are blue, Raskolnikov’s are stunning, beautiful. dark eyes, in Dunya they are “sparkling and proud.” In the beauty of the look lies the opportunity for the hero to be resurrected, to cleanse himself and become himself. Great importance as psychological characteristics have monologues and dialogues. For the first time in Russian literature, the hero himself tells his interlocutor and the reader about his emotional experiences. The characters’ speech becomes extremely expressive, and the author’s remarks during the conversation make it possible to more accurately convey the character of the interlocutor. The rhythm and structure of the conversation, and the thoughts that come to mind during it, are important. Thus, the author highlights double thoughts with brackets; pauses and italics are also used to convey the intonations and movements of the characters’ voices.

Thanks to such techniques, Dostoevsky made a revolution within Russian literature and became the creator, in fact, of a new genre of psychological and philosophical novel.

Hell and heaven are in heaven, -

The hypocrites claim.

I, looking into myself,

Convinced of a lie:

Hell and heaven are not circles

In the palace of the universe

Hell and heaven are two halves of the soul.

Omar Khayyam

F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” is socio-psychological. In it, the author raises important social issues that worried people of that time. The originality of this novel by Dostoevsky lies in the fact that it shows the psychology of a person contemporary to the author, trying to find a solution to pressing problems. social problems. At the same time, Dostoevsky does not give ready answers to the questions posed, but makes the reader think about them. The central place in the novel is occupied by the poor student Raskolnikov, who committed murder. What led him to this terrible crime? Dostoevsky tries to find the answer to this question through a thorough analysis of the psychology of this person. The deep psychologism of F. M. Dostoevsky’s novels lies in the fact that their heroes find themselves in complex, extreme life situations, in which their inner essence is exposed, the depths of psychology, hidden conflicts, contradictions in the soul, ambiguity and paradox of the inner world are revealed. To reflect the psychological state of the main character in the novel “Crime and Punishment,” the author used a variety of artistic techniques, among which dreams play an important role, since in an unconscious state a person becomes himself, loses everything superficial, alien and, thus, his thoughts and feelings manifest themselves more freely. Throughout almost the entire novel, a conflict occurs in the soul of the main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, and these internal contradictions determine his strange state: the hero is so immersed in himself that for him the line between dream and reality, between sleep and reality is blurred, an inflamed brain gives birth to delirium, and the hero falls into apathy, half-sleep, half-delirium, so about some dreams it is difficult to say whether this is a dream or delirium, a play of the imagination.

“Psychologism is a fairly complete, detailed and deep depiction of the feelings, thoughts and experiences of a literary character using specific means fiction».

At the center of everyone literary work stands a man with his complex inner world. Every writer is essentially a psychologist whose task is to reveal the soul of a person and understand the motives of the hero’s actions. Literary character- this is like a model on which complex human relationships are studied. The writer explores his hero, while leaving him some freedom of action. In order not to “embarrass” his heroes in any way, in each work the writer uses a number of psychological techniques, allowing you to penetrate into the inner world of the hero.

An outstanding master in the study of human psychology is F. M. Dostoevsky, and the crown of his study of the human soul can be called the novel “Crime and Punishment.” In addition to the traditional methods of penetrating into the hero’s inner world - portrait, landscape, speech, the writer also uses completely new techniques, thereby leaving the hero alone with himself, with his conscience and freedom of action. “The most passionate and extreme defender of human freedom that the history of human thought knows,” says the famous philosopher Berdyaev about Dostoevsky. F. M. Dostoevsky explores the spiritual freedom of man, and this frenzied psychologism of the writer stems, it seems to me, from his affirmation of freedom and the possibility of resurrecting the human soul, “restoring dead person" But in order to see the human soul in development, it is necessary to penetrate deeply into this complex and incomprehensible world.

“Pain for a person” is the main feeling of a writer protesting against the social foundations of life, against the situation “when a person has nowhere to go,” when a person is crushed by poverty and misery. The living conditions in which the heroes of the novel find themselves are terrible. The stuffiness of the St. Petersburg slums is part of the general hopeless atmosphere of the work. The cramped, suffocating crowding of people huddled in a yard of space is aggravated by the spiritual loneliness of a person in a crowd. People treat each other with distrust and suspicion; They are united only by curiosity about the misfortunes of their neighbors.

And under these conditions, personal consciousness and denial develop moral ideas and laws of masses. A person as an individual always in this state takes on a hostile, negative attitude towards the authoritative law of the masses. This “disintegration of the masses into individuals” from a moral and psychological point of view is a painful condition.

In such an atmosphere, the amazing drama of the life of the “humiliated and insulted” unfolds, life under some kind of shameful conditions for a person. And this life puts the heroes in such dead ends when the strict requirement of morality itself becomes “immoral”. So, Sonechka’s goodness towards her neighbors requires evil towards herself. Native sister Raskolnikova Dunya is ready to marry the cynical businessman Luzhin only to help her brother, to give him the opportunity to graduate from university.

The inhuman theory of “blood according to conscience” is closely related to Raskolnikov’s “Napoleonic idea”. The hero wants to check: is he an “extraordinary” person, capable of shaking the world, or a “trembling creature”, like those whom he hates and despises?

In exposing extreme individualism and the anti-human myth of the “superman”, Dostoevsky’s humanism is revealed. And here the first conclusion arises, to which the great humanist writer leads us: “Correct society, and there will be no diseases.”

From the first minutes of the crime, Raskolnikov’s outwardly coherent theory is destroyed. His “arithmetic” is opposed by the higher mathematics of life: one calculated murder entails another, a third. Unstoppable.

Dostoevsky is trying to warn us about the danger of Raskolnikov’s theory, saying that it can justify violence and a sea of blood if it finds itself in the hands of a fanatic, obsessed not only with an idea, but also with power over the destinies of people.

Why does every person have the right to life? This is the law of human conscience. Raskolnikov violated it and fell. And so must fall everyone who violates the law of human conscience. Therefore, the human person is sacred and inviolable, and in this respect all people are equal.

On those pages of the novel where Dostoevsky warns about the danger of such a theory, “pain for humanity” already sounds.

We also feel “pain for a person” when he talks about the role of good deeds, religion and humility. Raskolnikov tramples on the sacred. He encroaches on a person. In the ancient book it was written: “Thou shalt not kill.” This is a commandment of humanity, an axiom accepted without proof. Raskolnikov dared to doubt this. And the writer shows how this incredible doubt is followed by a darkness of others. Throughout the course of the novel, Dostoevsky proves: a person who has violated the commandment of God and committed violence loses his own soul and ceases to feel life. And only Sonechka Marmeladova, with her effective concern for her neighbors, can judge Raskolnikov. This is judgment by love, compassion, human sensitivity - that highest light that holds humanity even in the darkness of “being humiliated and insulted.” The image of Sonechka is associated with Dostoevsky’s great humanistic idea that the world will be saved by the spiritual unity of people.

“Pain about man” is also manifested in the approach that Dostoevsky uses in creating images, in showing the smallest evolution of the human soul, in deep psychologism.

“Pain about a person” is also expressed in the choice of conflict. The conflict of the novel is the struggle between theory and life. This is a painful clash of characters embodying different ideological principles. This is also a struggle between theory and life in the souls of the heroes.

Dostoevsky's novels not only reflect, but also anticipate problems contemporary to the author. The writer explores the conflicts that have become part of public life countries in the 20th century. The author shows how theory ignites in a person’s soul, enslaves his will and mind, and makes him a soulless performer.

In “Crime and Punishment” we encounter problems that are relevant for our time. The author forces us to reflect on these questions, to worry and suffer along with the heroes of the novel, to search for the truth and moral meaning of human actions. Dostoevsky teaches us to love and respect people.

"Psychologism is a fairly complete piece of fiction."

At the center of every literary work is a person with his complex inner world. Every writer is essentially a psychologist whose task is to reveal the soul of a person and understand the motives of the hero’s actions. A literary character is like a model on which complex human relationships are studied. The writer explores his hero, while leaving him some freedom of action. In order not to “embarrass” his heroes in any way, in each work the writer uses a number of psychological techniques that allow him to penetrate into the hero’s inner world.

An outstanding master in the study of human psychology is F. M. Dostoevsky, and the crown of his study of the human soul can be called the novel “Crime and Punishment.” In addition to the traditional methods of penetrating into the hero’s inner world - portrait, landscape, speech, the writer also uses completely new techniques, thereby leaving the hero alone with himself, with his conscience and freedom of action. “The most passionate and extreme defender of human freedom that the history of human thought knows,” says the famous philosopher Berdyaev about Dostoevsky. F. M. Dostoevsky explores the spiritual freedom of man, and this frenzied psychologism of the writer stems, it seems to me, from his affirmation of freedom and the possibility of resurrecting the human soul, “restoring a lost person.” But in order to see the human soul in development, it is necessary to penetrate deeply into this complex and incomprehensible world.

In Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment, the problem of independent creation of new spiritual and ethical values arose for the first time. After all, the writer worked on it in the difficult conditions of life at the end of the 60s, when not only were all the contradictions not smoothed out, but even more intensified. The half-hearted peasant reform plunged the country into a painful state of double social crisis. The decay of age-old spiritual values was increasing, ideas about good and evil were mixed, the cynical owner became a hero of our time. In an atmosphere of ideological impasse and social instability, the first symptoms of a new social disease appear. Dostoevsky was one of the first writers to give her an accurate social diagnosis and pronounce a harsh moral sentence. In this regard, he can be considered the most cruel artist of the 19th century. He exposed such a cruel truth of life, showed such human suffering that it is difficult to bear. But he was obsessed with a great love for people and did not want to close his eyes to the bitter reality; he considered himself responsible for opening the eyes of people, forcing them to look for ways to get rid of suffering and social injustice. “In all the works of Dostoevsky we find one common feature- this is pain about a person who recognizes himself as unable or not entitled to be a real person” (Dobrolyubov). Dostoevsky in his work continues the theme of the “little man” raised in Russian literature by Pushkin and Gogol. His heroes are “humiliated and insulted”, these are “little people” in big world social injustice. And it is in the depiction of such people that Dostoevsky’s “pain for man” is manifested.

“Pain for a person” is the main feeling of a writer protesting against the social foundations of life, against the situation “when a person has nowhere to go,” when a person is crushed by poverty and destitution. The living conditions in which the heroes of the novel find themselves are terrible. The stuffiness of the St. Petersburg slums is part of the general hopeless atmosphere of the work. The cramped, suffocating crowding of people huddled in a yard of space is aggravated by the spiritual loneliness of a person in a crowd. People treat each other with distrust and suspicion; They are united only by curiosity about the misfortunes of their neighbors.

And under these conditions, personal consciousness and the denial of moral ideas and laws of the masses develop. A person as an individual always in this state takes on a hostile, negative attitude towards the authoritative law of the masses. This “disintegration of the masses into individuals” from a moral and psychological point of view is a painful condition.

In such an atmosphere, the amazing drama of the life of the “humiliated and insulted” unfolds, life under some kind of shameful conditions for a person. And this life puts the heroes in such dead ends when the very strict requirement of morality becomes “immoral”. So, Sonechka’s goodness towards her neighbors requires evil towards herself. Raskolnikov's sister Dunya is ready to marry the cynical businessman Luzhin only to help her brother and give him the opportunity to graduate from university.

Why does every person have the right to life? This is the law of human conscience. Raskolnikov violated it and fell. And so must fall everyone who violates the law of human conscience. Therefore, the human personality is sacred and inviolable, and in this respect all people are equal.

On those pages of the novel where Dostoevsky warns about the danger of such a theory, “pain for humanity” already sounds.

We also feel “pain for a person” when he talks about the role of good deeds, religion and humility. Raskolnikov tramples on the sacred. He encroaches on a person. In the ancient book it was written: “Thou shalt not kill.” This is a commandment of humanity, an axiom accepted without proof. Raskolnikov dared to doubt this. And the writer shows how this incredible doubt is followed by a darkness of others. Throughout the course of the novel, Dostoevsky proves: a person who has violated the commandment of God and committed violence loses his own soul and ceases to feel life. And only Sonya Marmeladova, with her effective concern for her neighbors, can judge Raskolnikov. This is judgment by love, compassion, human sensitivity - that highest light that holds humanity even in the darkness of “being humiliated and insulted.” The image of Sonechka is associated with Dostoevsky’s great humanistic idea that the world will be saved by the spiritual unity of people.

“Pain about man” is also manifested in the approach that Dostoevsky uses in creating images, in showing the smallest evolution of the human soul, in deep psychologism.

“Pain about a person” is also expressed in the choice of conflict. The novel's conflict is a struggle between theory and life. This is also a painful clash of characters embodying different ideological principles. This is also a struggle between theory and life in the souls of the heroes.

Dostoevsky's novels not only reflect, but also anticipate problems contemporary to the author. The writer explores the conflicts that became part of the country's public life in the 20th century. The author shows how theory ignites in a person’s soul, enslaves his will and mind, and makes him a soulless performer.

In “Crime and Punishment” we encounter problems that are relevant for our time. The author forces us to think about these questions, to worry and suffer along with the heroes of the novel, to search for the truth and moral meaning of human actions. Dostoevsky teaches us to love and respect people.

Mercy and compassion in the novel

“Charity consists not so much in material assistance,

how much in spiritual support for one’s neighbor” - L.N. Tolstoy

Songs and epics, fairy tales and stories, stories and novels of Russian writers teach us kindness, mercy and compassion. And how many proverbs and sayings have been created! “Remember good and forget evil,” “A good deed lives for two centuries,” “While you live, you do good, only the path of good is the salvation of the soul,” says folk wisdom. So what are mercy and compassion? And why today does a person sometimes bring more evil to another person than good?

Probably because kindness is a state of mind when a person is able to come to the aid of others, give good advice, and sometimes just feel sorry. Not everyone is able to feel someone else's grief as their own, to sacrifice something for people, and without this there is no mercy or compassion. a kind person attracts to himself like a magnet, he gives a piece of his heart, his warmth to the people around him. That is why each of us needs a lot of love, justice, sensitivity, so that we have something to give to others. We understand all this thanks to the great Russian writers, their wonderful works. In this work, Dostoevsky showed that it is impossible to do good based on evil. That compassion and mercy cannot coexist in a person along with hatred for individuals. Here either hatred displaces compassion, or vice versa. A struggle of these feelings takes place in Raskolnikov’s soul, and, in the end, mercy and compassion win. The hero understands that he cannot live with this black spot, the murder of the old woman, on his conscience. He understands that he is a “trembling creature” and had no right to kill. Every person has the right to life. Who are we to deprive him of this right? Yes, life is harsh. Many human qualities heroes were tested. During these trials, some became lost among vices and evil. But the main thing is that, among the vulgarity, dirt and depravity, the heroes were able to preserve, perhaps, the most important human qualities - mercy and compassion.

Psychological techniques

Symbolism

To maintain the general rhythm of the novel, Dostoevsky writes in the same intermittent, awkward language in which he contains great amount assumptions, reservations, concessionary offers. One word - “suddenly” appears on the pages of the novel about 560 times. To describe the inner world of Rodion Raskolnikov, Dostoevsky uses the entire arsenal available to him artistic means. To describe his subconscious and feelings, Dostoevsky uses dreams. For the first time, Raskolnikov dreams of how a man - Mikolka killed his horse, and “he” - a seven-year-old boy - saw this, and he felt sorry for the “poor horse” to the point of tears. The good side of Raskolnikov’s nature is revealed here. He dreams about this before the murder; obviously, his subconscious mind opposes what he is doing.

Raskolnikov saw his second dream after the murder. He dreams that he came to the apartment of a murdered old woman, and she hid behind a cloak, in the corner of her room, and laughed quietly. Then he pulls out the “axe from the loop” (the through pocket on inside coat, to which the ax was clinging with its ax) and hits her “on the crown,” but nothing happens to the old woman, then he begins to “hit the old woman on the head,” but this only makes her laugh harder. Here we realize that the image of the old woman will haunt Raskolnikov until he finds spiritual harmony. A small detail during a murder has a similar effect on the reader. Raskolnikov hit the old pawnbroker on the head with a butt, and Lizaveta, her sister, a meek and quiet woman, with a point. Throughout the entire murder scene, the blade of the ax was turned towards Raskolnikov and looked menacingly into his face, as if inviting him to take the place of the victim. “It is not the ax that is in Raskolnikov’s power, but Raskolnikov has become the instrument of the ax.” The ax brutally repaid Raskolnikov with the murder of Lizaveta. In this work there are many of the same details that we do not consciously notice, but perceive them only subconsciously. For example, the numbers “seven” and “eleven”, as if pursuing Raskolnikov.

Dostoevsky was a master of portraiture, but in the rapid pace of most of his works, portraits and descriptions go unnoticed, but the image they created is strikingly clear in our minds. For example, a description of the old woman-pawnbroker, all the expressiveness of which is achieved through diminutives: “She was a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty years old, with sharp and angry eyes, with a small pointed nose. Her blond, slightly gray hair was greasy with oil: Old Woman I was constantly coughing and groaning."

“A symbol is only a true symbol when it is inexhaustibly limitless in its meaning. It has many faces, many meanings and is always dark in its depths.”

D. Merezhkovsky.

The peculiarity of the symbol is precisely that in none of the situations in which it is used can it be interpreted unambiguously. Even for the same author in one work, a symbol can have an unlimited number of meanings. That is why it is interesting to trace how these values change in accordance with the development of the plot and with the change in the state of the hero. An example of a work built on symbols from the title to the epilogue is “Crime and Punishment” by F. M. Dostoevsky. Already the first word - “crime” - is a symbol. Each hero “crosses the line,” a line drawn by himself or others. The phrase “transgress” or “draw a line” permeates the entire novel, “passing from mouth to mouth.” “In everything there is a line beyond which it is dangerous to cross; but once you have stepped over, it is impossible to go back.” All the heroes and even just passers-by are united by the fact that they are all “crazy,” that is, “lost” the path, devoid of reason. “In St. Petersburg, a lot of people walk around and talk to themselves. This is a city of half-crazy people... Rarely where can you find so many dark, harsh and strange influences on the human soul as in St. Petersburg.” It is St. Petersburg - the fantastic city of A. S. Pushkin and N. V. Gogol - with its eternal “stuffiness and unbearable stench” that turns into Palestine, awaiting the coming of the Messiah. But this is also the inner world of Rodion Raskolnikov. The name and surname of the main character are not accidental. Dostoevsky emphasizes that the hero “lacks air.” “Rodion” means “native,” but he and Raskolnikov are a split, a split. (The city also bifurcates: real streets and mirage, fantasy, “New Jerusalem” and “Noah’s Ark” - the old woman’s house.) The word “Raskolnikov” is also used as a common noun, because Mikolka is also “one of the schismatics”. The hero of Raskolnikov's dream comes to mind - and now the entire narrative turns out to be entangled in a trembling network of symbols. Color in F. M. Dostoevsky is symbolic. The brightest color here is yellow. For M.A. Bulgakov this is anxiety, anguish; for A. A. Blok - fear; for A. A. Akhmatova this is a hostile, disastrous color; in F. M. Dostoevsky he is bilious and spiteful. “And there’s so much bile in all of them!” This “poison” turns out to be spilled everywhere, it is in the atmosphere itself, but “there is no air,” only stuffiness, “ugly,” “terrible.” And in this stuffiness, Raskolnikov beats “with a fever”, he has “chills” and “coldness in his back” (the most terrible punishment of hell is punishment with cold - “a terrible cold gripped him”). You can only get out of the circles of hell by stairs, so Raskolnikov (except for wandering the streets) is most often on the threshold or moving along the stairs. The staircase in mythology symbolizes the ascent of the spirit or its descent into the depths of evil. For A. A. Akhmatova, “ascent” is happiness, and “descent” is misfortune. The heroes “rush” along this ladder of life, now down into the abyss, now up, into the unknown, towards a faith or idea. Pyotr Petrovich “entered with the feeling of a benefactor, preparing to reap the fruits and listen to very sweet compliments. And of course, now, coming down the stairs, he considered himself extremely offended and unrecognized,” and his “round hat” was one of the circles of hell. But there is also a hero in the novel who “got out of the ground,” but having got out, Svidrigailov (like all heroes) ends up on the street. None of the characters have a real home, but the rooms they live in and rent; Katerina Ivanovna’s room is completely walk-through, and all of them “have nowhere to go.” All the scandals that occur take place on the street, where people walk in “crowds” (biblical motif). Gospel motifs also take on a new meaning in this devilish city. “Thirty pieces of silver” turn into “thirty kopecks,” which Sonya gives to Marmeladov for a drink; under the stone, instead of Lazarus’s grave, things stolen after the murder are hidden; Raskolnikov (like Lazarus) is resurrected on the fourth day (“you barely eat and drink for four days”). The symbolism of numbers (four - cross, suffering; three - Trinity, absolute perfection), based on Christianity, mythology and folklore, turns into the symbolism of consonant words, where “seven” means “death”, “narrowness” gives rise to “horror”, and “crowdedness” go beyond “melancholy”. Those who live in such a world are undoubtedly sinners. They are used to lying, but “lying” for them “is a sweet thing, because it leads to the truth.” Through lies they want to know the truth, faith, but their attempts are often doomed. The devil’s laughter “wide open” (and the devil laughs, but not Christ) fetters them, and they “curl their mouths into a smile,” which makes even more surprising the existence of purity in sin, purity, the preservation of which is praised by F. M. Dostoevsky. And the suffering endured by the heroes only emphasizes this purity. But Katerina - “pure” - dies, because you have to be wise (Sophya) and forgive and believe (Dunya and Sophia believe in Rodion). Through the mouths of Dunya, Rodion and Sonya, F. M. Dostoevsky exclaims (like Vasily of Fivey): “I believe!” This symbol is truly limitless, because “what you believe in is what it is.” The entire novel becomes, as it were, a symbol of faith, a symbol of an idea, a symbol of man and, above all, the rebirth of his soul. Despite the fact that the “crystal palace” is a tavern, and not Vera Pavlovna’s dream; and Christ is not a righteous man, but a murderer; on his head he has a hat instead of a crown of thorns, and behind his rags there is an ax, but in his heart there is an idea and holy faith in it. And this gives the right to resurrection, because “truly great people... must feel great sadness in the world.”

Yellow Petersburg

The action of F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” takes place in St. Petersburg. This city many times became the protagonist of Russian fiction, but each time it was new town: either proudly displaying its palaces and parks - “full lands of beauty and wonder,” as Pushkin called it, then - a city of slums and narrow streets - “stone sacks.” Each writer saw and described the city in his own way, in accordance with the artistic task who stood in front of him. In itself, dirty yellow, dull yellow, sickly yellow color causes a feeling of internal oppression, mental instability and general depression.

Yellow Petersburg, created by Dostoevsky, creates a suffocating, depressing atmosphere that drives Raskolnikov crazy. The contradiction in the image of St. Petersburg is a reflection of the contradictions in the character of the main character. The environment around him is very harmoniously combined with his behavior, his inner world.

In the novel, Dostoevsky seems to compare two words: “bilious” and “yellow,” tracing the interaction of Raskolnikov’s inner world and the external world, for example, he writes: “A heavy, bilious smile snaked across his lips. Finally he felt stuffy in this yellow closet.” “Bile” and “yellowness” thus acquire the meaning of something painfully oppressive and oppressive. The image of St. Petersburg becomes not only equal to the other heroes of the novel, but also central and significant; it largely explains Raskolnikov’s duality, provokes him to commit a crime, helps to understand Marmeladov, his wife, Sonechka, the pawnbroker, Luzhin and other characters.

Monologues

Fyodor Mikhailovich penetrates into the deepest layers of the human psyche; in an excited state, Dostoevsky’s heroes reveal all the inexhaustible complexity of nature, its endless contradictions. This happens both in a dream and in reality. Here, for example, are Raskolnikov’s internal monologues:

“Where am I going? - he suddenly thought. - Strange. After all, I went for some reason. As soon as I read the letter, I walked away... I went to Vasilyevsky Island to see Razumikhin, that’s where, now... I remember. Why, though? And how did the idea of going to Razumikhin come into my head just now? This is amazing"

“God,” he exclaimed, “can I really take an ax, hit her on the head, crush her skull... will I slide in the sticky, warm blood, pick the lock, steal and tremble; hiding, covered in blood... with an ax... Lord, really? He was shaking like a leaf as he said this. “Why is it me! - he continued, bowing again and as if in deep amazement, - because I knew. That I can’t stand this, so why did I still torment myself? After all, just yesterday, yesterday, when I went to do this... test, because yesterday I completely understood that I couldn’t stand it... What am I doing now? Why did I still doubt it? After all, yesterday, coming down the stairs, I myself said that this was mean, disgusting, low... After all, just the thought in reality made me sick and terrified... No, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it! Let, even if there is no doubt in all these calculations, even if all that is decided this month is clear as day, fair as arithmetic. God! After all, I still won’t make up my mind! I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it!... Why, why, still..." These monologues, I believe, are necessary for Dostoevsky to show the complexity of nature, and how the hero engages in introspection, and to help the reader gain a deeper understanding of his inner world .

Dostoevsky had a huge amount of artistic means at his disposal, which he successfully used to reveal Raskolnikov’s inner world.

One of the techniques that would allow us to describe the subconscious and feelings of the hero was dreams. Raskolnikov's first dream became a kind of expression of the good side of Rodion's soul. In this dream, as a seven-year-old boy, he sees how the peasant Mikolka kills his horse. Raskolnikov sees this in a dream and feels sorry for the unfortunate animal to the point of tears. Raskolnikov has this dream before he commits murders, and seems to express the internal protest of the hero’s subconscious against what he decides to do.

It is important to pay attention to Raskolnikov’s father in a dream. He is next to him all the time. It seems to be protecting him. But when a horse is killed, the boy worries, suffers and suffers, the father does not try to protect it, does not take any decisive action, he only takes his son away. The image of the father in this dream represents God. God in Raskolnikov's soul. He seems to be there, with him all the time, but he doesn’t do anything good or useful (according to the hero of the novel). There is a rejection from the father - a rejection from God.

Immediately after committing the murder, Raskolnikov sees his second dream, in which he comes to the apartment of the murdered old money-lender. In her sleep, the old woman hides in the corner of the room and laughs, and then Raskolnikov takes an ax from a through pocket on the inside of his coat and hits the old woman on the crown of the head. However, the old woman remains alive; moreover, it would seem that nothing happens to her at all. Then Raskolnikov begins to hit her on the head, but this only causes a new wave of laughter from the old woman. In this dream, the author shows us that the feeling of what he had done, the image of the murdered old woman, will now not let go of Raskolnikov, and will haunt him until he finds harmony in his soul with himself.

The author devotes great attention details of the work that can help have one or another effect on the reader. So, in the murder scene, an effect similar to the one described earlier occurs. It is achieved due to the fact that Raskolnikov hit the old money-lender on the head with a butt, and her sister Lizaveta with a point. However, during the entire time when the murder was taking place, the blade of Raskolnikov’s ax was directed exclusively at him, as if threatening and inviting him to take the place of the victim. “It is not the ax that is in Raskolnikov’s power, but Raskolnikov has become the instrument of the ax.” But then Raskolnikov kills Lizaveta, and thus it turns out that the ax still managed to cruelly punish Raskolnikov.

In general, “Crime and Punishment” is filled with the smallest details that we do not perceive at first glance, but which are reflected in our subconscious. An example of such details can be the numbers “seven” and “eleven”, which “pursue” Raskolnikov throughout the novel.

We should not neglect the fact that Dostoevsky managed to masterfully give portrait descriptions their heroes. Yes, of course, the pace of most of his works is set so fast that certain “portraits” often become invisible. characters. But, nevertheless, the clear image that the writer paints often remains in our consciousness and subconscious for a long time. Let us recall, for example, the old pawnbroker, whose image is largely defined by the use of diminutives: “She was a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty years old, with sharp and angry eyes, with a small pointed nose. Her blond, slightly graying hair was greased with oil... The old woman was constantly coughing and groaning." Petersburg itself in the novel is surprisingly lively and bright image, who is in constant interaction with the main character. But this image is created only through a few fairly short descriptions.

But let's return to Raskolnikov's dreams. The greatest significance for the realization of the concept of the novel “Crime and Punishment” is Raskolnikov’s third dream, which takes place already in the epilogue itself. Here the author enters into an implicit dispute with Chernyshevsky, completely denying his theory of “reasonable egoism.”

In Raskolnikov’s third dream, we see how the world is plunging into an atmosphere of selfishness, making people “possessed, crazy,” while forcing them to consider themselves “smart and unshakable in the truth.” Selfishness becomes the cause of misunderstanding that arises between people. This misunderstanding, in turn, leads to a wave of natural disasters, which leads to the world being destroyed. It becomes known that not all people can be saved from this nightmare, but only the “pure and chosen ones, destined to begin new kind people." Obviously, speaking about the chosen ones, the author means people like Sonya, who in the novel is the embodiment of true spirituality; the chosen ones, according to Dostoevsky, are people endowed with the deepest faith. It is in the third dream that Dostoevsky says that individualism and egoism pose a real and terrible threat to humanity, they can lead to a person forgetting all norms and concepts, and also ceasing to distinguish between criteria such as good and evil.

Weather description

In order to more accurately depict the psychological state of a person, the very reason for suicide becomes clear to the reader.

Speech of heroes

The speech of F. M. Dostoevsky's heroes is more important than the portrait. The very manner of speaking, communicating with each other and pronouncing internal monologues is important. L.N. Tolstoy believed that in F.M. Dostoevsky all the heroes speak the same language, without conveying their individual emotional experiences. Modern researcher Yu. F. Karyakin argues with this statement. The intensity of passions that is expressed in these disputes leaves no room for cool-headed deliberation. All heroes express the most important, the most intimate, express themselves to the limit, scream in a frenzy or whisper in mortal delirium latest confessions. What could be a better recommendation of sincerity than a state of hysteria when your inner world opens up? In crisis situations, during a scandal, in the most intense episodes following one after another, Dostoevsky's heroes throw out everything that is boiling in their souls. (“Not words - convulsions, stuck together.” V. Mayakovsky.) In the speech of the heroes, always excited, something accidentally slips through that they would most like to hide, to conceal from others. This technique, used by F. M. Dostoevsky, is evidence of his deepest knowledge human nature . Bonded by associative connections, these hints and reservations bring out everything secret, at first glance inaccessible. Sometimes, thinking intensely about something, characters begin to break down the speech of other characters into separate words, focusing their attention on certain association words. Observing this process, we learn, for example, what really oppresses Raskolnikov when, from the conversation between Lizaveta and the townspeople, he singles out only the words “seven”, “at the seventh hour”, “make up your mind, Lizaveta Ivanovna”, “decide”. In the end, these words in his inflamed consciousness turn into the words “death”, “decide”, that is, kill. What’s interesting: Porfiry Petrovich, a subtle forensic psychologist, uses these associative connections consciously in a conversation with Raskolnikov. He puts pressure on Raskolnikov’s consciousness, repeating the words: “state-owned apartment,” that is, prison, “resolve,” “fucked up,” making Raskolnikov more and more worried and finally bringing him to the ultimate goal - recognition. The words “butt”, “blood”, “crown of the head”, “death” run as a leitmotif through the entire novel, through all of Raskolnikov’s conversations with Zametov, Razumikhin and Porfiry Petrovich, creating a special psychological subtext. “Psychological subtext is nothing more than a dispersed repetition, all links of which enter into complex relationships with each other, from which their new, deeper meaning is born,” says one of the researchers of F. M. Dostoevsky T. Silman. Porfiry Petrovich probably thinks so too, he plays with words, forcing Raskolnikov to confess. At this moment, Raskolnikov receives severe moral trauma, his experiences haunt him, and he spills everything out. Porfiry Petrovich's goal has been achieved. The general psychological mood helps to identify the similarities of the characters. Here is what the famous Dostoevsky researcher Toporov says about the problem of duality: “... the fact that we single out Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov... strictly speaking, is a tribute to habit (in particular, to hypostasis).” So, with the help of a whole system of doubles, Dostoevsky’s main character is revealed. The images of Sonya, Dunya, and Katerina Ivanovna also intersect in a number of motifs: for example, selflessness is characteristic of all three. At the same time, Katerina Ivanovna is also extremely endowed with self-will, and Dunechka is proud, willful, and sacrificial. She is almost a direct copy of her brother - Rodion Raskolnikov. This is what the mother says about them: “... I looked at both of you, and not so much with your face as with your soul: both of you are melancholic, both gloomy and hot-tempered, both arrogant and both generous.” Here there is also one of the methods of characterizing a character, one of the ways of penetrating into the inner world of the hero: his characterization by other characters. But F. M. Dostoevsky’s heroes explain each other not only with the help of speech. Dostoevsky gives similar characters consonant surnames. Speaking surnames- this is a technique that came from classicism, thanks to which the character of the hero is very accurately given. The names of F. M. Dostoevsky match the portraits. Whole line“chthonic” (G. Gachev) characters are given surnames where the word “horn” is clearly visible (Stavrogin, Svidrigailov, Rogozhin). These are some demonic attributes of an earthly person. In the novels of F. M. Dostoevsky, the surnames of the characters, even in their sound composition, already represent characteristics. Marmeladov is internally soft, transparent, his name “indicates the water composition - m, n, l predominate - sonorous, sonorous, feminine, wet sounds” (G. Gachev). This is also an attempt to penetrate into the inner world of the character, but the connections between the character and the reader are established on a subconscious level. F. M. Dostoevsky has no equal in the number and, most importantly, in the virtuosity of using techniques for penetrating into the inner world of his heroes.

The principle of antithesis

Antithesis is the main ideological and compositional principle of Crime and Punishment, already contained in the title. It manifests itself on all levels literary text: from problems to building a system of characters and techniques psychological image. However, in the very use of antithesis, Dostoevsky often demonstrates different methods.

The concepts of crime and punishment do not interest Dostoevsky in their narrow legal sense. "Crime and Punishment" is a work that poses deep philosophical and moral problems.

Dostoevsky's heroes are never portrayed unambiguously: Dostoevsky's man is always contradictory, completely unknowable. His heroes combine two abysses at once: an abyss of goodness, compassion, sacrifice and an abyss of evil, selfishness, individualism, and vice. Each of the heroes has two ideals: the ideal of Madonna and the ideal of Sodom. The content of "Crime and Punishment" is the trial of Raskolnikov, the internal court, the court of conscience. Dostoevsky resorts to the technique of double portraiture. Moreover, the first portrait, more generalized, usually argues with the second. So, before the crime is committed, the author talks about Raskolnikov’s beauty, about his beautiful eyes.

But the crime not only stained his soul, but also left a tragic imprint on his face. This time we have a portrait of a killer. In Dostoevsky's novel, it is not the characters who argue, but their ideas. Thus, we see that antithesis as an artistic device turned out to be very productive for the two largest realist artists, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.

Main character

From the very beginning, Rodion Raskolnikov appears before us as unusual person. We understand that something is going on in his soul, some kind of plan is hidden in his head, he is tormented by an incomprehensible thought: “... but for some time he was in an irritable and tense state, similar to hypochondria.” “Raskolnikov was not used to the crowd and, as already said, to any kind of society, especially in Lately ».

Starting from the first pages of the novel, Dostoevsky prepares his hero for a fatal step. Everything that surrounds Raskolnikov puts moral and physical pressure on him. Depicting the hero in dirty yellow St. Petersburg among beggars, drunkards, “humiliated and insulted,” the author wants to show that other side of city life, to show how an intelligent and educated person perishes. Immersed in a beggarly environment, Rodion begins to suffer and suffer.

good moral education Raskolnikova does not allow him to look indifferently at the suffering of people, although he himself is in distress. “Here... twenty rubles, it seems, and if this can help you, then... I... in a word, I’ll come in!” The hero is embarrassed by the fact that he is helping a person and does not see anything supernatural in this.

Despite the cruelty of his theory, which he created in his imagination, he was a sympathetic and sincere person. Whatever he could. helped the Marmeladov family. The hero's wounded pride prevented him from living in peace. He valued himself too highly and could not understand why an intelligent and educated person should give penny lessons in order to barely make ends meet. And this, of course, played a big role in the development of his mental conflict.

Throughout the entire novel, Dostoevsky shows us Raskolnikov’s internal dialogues, the “dialectic” of his soul. As a thinking person, the hero constantly reasons, analyzes his actions and draws conclusions.

Having created a theory about “genius people” and the “anthill”, the hero enters into an argument with himself. He really cares about what he is. “Who am I - a trembling creature or do I have the right?” Walking around the city, sitting at home, talking with the people around him, Raskolnikov becomes more and more confident in the correctness of his theory, in the right of “geniuses” to blood “according to their conscience.”

What exactly is this theory? According to Raskolnikov’s plans, there are people who are allowed everything. People who are above society, the crowd. People who are even allowed to kill. And so Raskolnikov decides to cross the line that separates these “great” people from the crowd. This very feature becomes murder, the murder of a decrepit, petty old woman - a moneylender who has nothing left to do in this world (according to Raskolnikov’s thoughts, of course). The murder of Lizaveta makes you wonder if this theory is so good? After all, if an accident that crept into it can lead to such tragic consequences, then maybe the root of evil lies in this very idea? Evil, even towards a useless old woman, cannot be the basis of a good deed.

For Dostoevsky, a deeply religious man, the meaning of human life lies in comprehending the Christian ideals of love for one's neighbor. Considering Raskolnikov’s crime from this point of view, he highlights in it, first of all, the fact of a crime of moral laws, and not legal ones. Rodion Raskolnikov is a man who, according to Christian concepts, is deeply sinful. This does not mean the sin of murder, but pride, dislike for people, the idea that everyone is “trembling creatures,” and he, perhaps, “has the right.” “The right” to use others as material to achieve one’s goals. Here it is quite logical to recall the lines of A.S. Pushkin, reminiscent of the essence of the theory of former student Rodion Raskolnikov: Dostoevsky showed the internal spiritual conflict of the hero: the rationalistic attitude to life (“the theory of the superman”) comes into conflict with the moral feeling, with the spiritual “I”. And in order to remain a man among people, it is necessary for the spiritual “I” of a person to win.

Raskolnikov's doubles

In order to show Raskolnikov's theory from all sides, Dostoevsky gives us the opportunity to see it with the help of other characters in the novel. They brought the theory of “the rights of those who have” to life in their own way. These are the so-called psychological doubles of Raskolnikov. But first, it is necessary to determine the circle of people who fall into the category of doubles, because at first glance, people who have nothing to do with it turn out, upon closer examination, to be its avid adherents and theologians. Firstly, Raskolnikov’s double is undoubtedly Svidrigailov, a mysterious and contradictory personality, but he himself informs us of his similarity to Raskolnikov, telling him: “You and I are of the same breed.”

Secondly, the vile Luzhin can also be considered Raskolnikov’s double; his “kinship” with Raskolnikov is also obvious, we will look at this later. It would seem that’s all. But no, we cannot forget the victim herself, Alena Ivanovna. She is also a “servant” of Raskolnikov’s theory, although this theory “grinds” her later. There is also Lebezyatnikov, but he is more of a listener than a follower, for he does not shine with either strength of character or intelligence. So, let's look at these “mirrors” of Raskolnikov sequentially and try to understand their role in the novel. As it turned out, on the pages of the novel “Crime and Punishment” there are a lot of personalities who are in one way or another similar to Raskolnikov. And this is no coincidence. Raskolnikov's theory is so terrible that it is not enough to simply describe to us his fate and the collapse of this theory, otherwise the story will simply be reduced to an ordinary criminal story of a half-crazed student. Dostoevsky wants to show us, the readers, that it turns out that this theory is not so new and not so unrealizable. We see its development and refraction through the lives and destinies of these twin heroes and understand that it is necessary to fight this evil. Everyone finds their own means of struggle, the only thing that is important to remember is that this enemy cannot be fought with his own weapons, otherwise we risk ending up in the musty Petersburg of that time, in a cesspool that grinds people and thoughts.

Humiliated and insulted

Hopelessness is the leitmotif of the novel. The scene of Raskolnikov meeting Marmeladov in a tavern sets the tone for the entire narrative. Marmeladov’s phrase: “Do you understand, dear sir, what it means when there is nowhere else to go...” - immediately brings up this whole scene in the tavern, and the figure of the little man, funny with his solemn and florid and “ clerical" manner of speaking, and the theme of the novel to the height of tragic thoughts about the fate of humanity.

Dostoevsky's heroes are generally characterized by a monologue as a means of expressing their thoughts and feelings. Marmeladov's monologue, which has the character of a confession, paints the whole situation in dramatic tones.

“There is nowhere to go” and Katerina Ivanovna, who was destroyed by the unbearable for her ambitious nature contradiction between her past, wealthy and wealthy, life and the pitiful, beggarly present.

Sonya Marmeladova, a pure and innocent girl, is forced to sell herself in order to feed her sick stepmother and her young children. The idea of self-sacrifice, self-denial, embodied in the image of Sonya, raises him to a symbol of all human suffering. For Dostoevsky, suffering merged with love. Sonya is the personification of love for people, which is why she kept moral purity in the mud into which life had thrown her.

The image of Dunechka, Raskolnikov’s sister, is filled with the same meaning: she agrees to the same sacrifice as Sonya: in the name of her sacredly beloved brother, she agrees to marry Luzhin. Luzhin -- classic type a bourgeois businessman, a scoundrel who vilely slandered the defenseless Sonya, a narcissistic tyrant who humiliates people, a careerist and a miser.

Dostoevsky's heroes are characterized by an excellent degree of expression of feelings. For Sonechka it is an insatiable thirst for self-sacrifice, for Dunya it is an all-consuming love for her brother, for Katerina Ivanovna it is frantic pride.

A state of hopelessness and impasse pushes people to commit moral crimes against themselves. Bourgeois society confronts them with the choice of paths that lead to inhumanity in different ways.

"Sonechka Marmeladova, eternal Sonechka, while the world stands!" What melancholy, pain for humanity can be heard in this bitter reflection of Raskolnikov! He is tormented by the consciousness of complete hopelessness, however, not finding the strength in himself to recognize this life, to come to terms with it, as Marmeladov did. They pass in a line in front of Raskolnikov there are pictures of humiliation and insult of a person (the episode on Konnogvardeisky Boulevard, the scene of the suicide of a woman who threw herself from the bridge, the death of Marmeladov).

Dostoevsky is characterized by laconicism when describing the most tragic events; he immediately proceeds to analyze the feelings and thoughts of the characters, their attitude to what is happening.

Having rightly condemned Raskolnikov’s “rebellion,” Dostoevsky leaves victory not for the strong, intelligent and proud Raskolnikov, but for Sonya, seeing in her the highest truth: suffering is better than violence—suffering purifies. Sonya confesses moral ideals, which, from the writer’s point of view, are closest to the broad masses of the people: the ideals of humility, forgiveness, silent submission. In our time, I think Sonya would become an outcast. And not every Raskolnikov today will suffer and suffer. But the human conscience, the human soul, have lived and will always live as long as “the world stands,” even in our cruel democratic years, at the dawn of an unknown future, at the beginning of the promising and at the same time terrible 21st century. This means that someday repentance will come, and, even on the edge of the grave, our Raskolnikov will cry and remember the “eternal Sonechka.”

Life is unbearable in a society where modern Luzhins and Svidrigailovs reign, but in the hearts of those who did not become them, hope continues to live naively...

Since the creation of the novel “A Hero of Our Time” by M. Yu. Lermontov, the “evolution of the depiction of the psychological state of the heroes” has been clearly visible in the works of Russian authors. The main feature of Dostoevsky’s work is innovation in the study of the inner world of man.

The psychological state of the hero becomes the universal element of the novel, and in all of Dostoevsky’s works the inner world of the character is shown during periods of maximum tension, when the state and feelings are extremely heightened. It is this situation that allows the author to penetrate into the deep layers of the human psyche and expose inner essence and the complexity of man's contradictory nature. In Dostoevsky’s structure of all his works there is not one literary device, phrases or details that would not serve direct or indirect reproduction emotional state heroes. The author depicts the inner world of a person as a contradictory unity of good and evil principles in his soul. Dostoevsky shows not so much evolution spiritual qualities the hero, how much he fluctuates from one extreme to the other.

The main character of the novel “Crime and Punishment” is in exactly this state, he rushes from denial of his dream to a firm intention to realize it. Dostoevsky not only shows the existing struggle in the hero’s soul, but also focuses on the state of a person’s transition from one extreme to another. And in this painful transition, in the suffering for his heroes, there is a kind of pleasure. Dostoevsky reflects psychological paradoxes in the state of mind of the heroes (“So he tormented himself, teasing with these questions with some kind of pleasure. The former painfully terrible peculiar feeling began to be remembered more vividly and vividly and became more and more pleasant.”).

Dostoevsky was one of the first prose writers to show the inexhaustibility and unknowability to the end of the depths of the human soul. Sometimes the author depicts the psychological state of the hero not as reliable, real, but as possible and approximate. This makes the description unsteady. Dostoevsky shows by this that the internal state of the hero is much more complex than can be conveyed in precise words, that all shades of feelings can be depicted only with a certain degree of approximation, that there are layers in the human soul that cannot be described.

Psychological analysis, as a rule, is accompanied by a description of the atmosphere, which is accompanied by specially selected details indicating feelings and sensations. The choice of the season in the novel by Dostoevsky is also not accidental; it creates a certain situation. Summer, heat and stuffiness kill Raskolnikov - Dostoevsky shows that part of St. Petersburg whose residents do not have the opportunity or means to go anywhere, so in the summer there are so many people there that there is not enough air. Porfiry Petrovich, the investigator, says to Raskolnikov: “It’s time for you to change the air a long time ago.” This stuffy city pushes Raskolnikov to commit a crime. Dostoevsky uses a description of the details of the external, objective world, which, according to his plan, influence the soul of the hero. This is Raskolnikov’s closet, and Petersburg as a whole, a city that “sucks the life out of a person.”

There are a lot of descriptions of sunsets in the novel; Raskolnikov most often goes out into the street in the evening, and the description of the atmosphere at that time is very symbolic. Dostoevsky includes a picture of a sunset in the narrative to enhance the impact on readers; the shining, spring, daytime sun will appear only in the epilogue. There, in the vast steppe flooded with light, Raskolnikov will get rid of his theory. Rising Sun- a symbol of the hero's rebirth.

Color painting is very important in the novel. The colors most often used by the author are: yellow, brown, blue, black. “Yellow Petersburg,” speaks of the city in which the main action takes place. Yellow is the color of madness and power; the houses, the wallpaper in Raskolnikov’s closet and the apartment of the old pawnbroker, and the furniture in Porfiry Petrovich’s apartment are painted in it. Sonya lives on a “yellow ticket”. This color creates the background of the city and becomes part of the protagonist’s inner world. In addition, the green color is very important in the novel, it is no coincidence that Raskolnikov’s dream about a beaten horse, symbolizing that the essence of the hero is to protect and not kill, Rodion Romanovich sees this dream outside the city, in a grove, against the backdrop of fresh greenery, where there is no suffocating , oppressive atmosphere of city life. When Raskolnikov goes to commit a crime, his thoughts, beyond the control of the hero, are connected with green. He also appears in the epilogue of the novel. Sonya Marmeladova has a green scarf.

Blue color is a symbol of purity and aspiration towards God (Sonya has blue eyes). Green and blue colors fully reflect the essence of Sonya's character.

Water in the novel is always depicted as dark and brown and symbolizes tragedy.

Smells and sounds affect a person’s state and create a certain atmosphere (smell from the basement, sounds are very sharp).

Dostoevsky creates a feeling of the illusory nature of life by disrupting the usual relationships between the external and the internal. Reality becomes, as it were, a product of consciousness, unsteady, immersed in some kind of fog, since both Raskolnikov’s delusional visions and real pictures are depicted in the novel equally reliably using the same techniques. Dostoevsky often does not focus on the fact that what is being described is a game of an inflamed consciousness; the reader is, as it were, transported into a state of nightmare and delirium of the hero.

One form of depicting a psychological state is dreams. The experiences in them are preserved and even intensified, since in the subconscious state the horror that the hero carries in his soul is more freely manifested. Dreams serve as the basis for the entire work.

Dialogues and monologues in the novel carry a huge semantic load. For the first time in literature, Dostoevsky introduces a technique: the characters themselves talk about their psychological state. The speech of the characters is extremely expressive, and the nature of the speech is indicated by the author's remarks. When conveying a conversation, Dostoevsky focuses on the pace and rhythm of the monologue. The double train of thought of the characters is often shown in brackets; the author uses pauses and italics.

Portrait characteristics play a big role in the psychological perception of a person’s inner world. For Dostoevsky, the description of the eyes is important, but it is inherent only in the image of Sonya, Raskolnikov, Dunya, Svidrigailov, Razumikhin and Porfiry Petrovich. Special attention the author pays attention to the look (Raskolnikov’s beautiful dark eyes, Sonya’s blue, Dunya’s “sparkling, proud”), and the beauty of the eyes is the key to the hero’s resurrection. The description of lips and smiles is very important.

Dostoevsky entered Russian literature precisely as a writer-psychologist who was an innovator in depicting the characters and emotional experiences of his heroes.

Dostoevsky contrasted himself with his contemporaries in two respects: as a realist in the highest sense of the word, who is not limited to the social and everyday characteristics of the character, but reveals the depths of the human soul, and also as one who turned not to stable forms of life, but to the “current chaos of history.”

In the novel "" the writer turned to the image of post-reform Russia, when everything was changing, old social relations were collapsing, and new ones were in the process of formation, the peasantry and its patriarchal foundations were ruined.

It is impossible, for example, to compare the reality of Dostoevsky with the reality of Gogol. That is why so many “formers” appeared in Dostoevsky’s novel: _ former student Raskolnikov, former official Marmeladov.

Objectively, Dostoevsky depicted in his novel the transitional types of the transitional era of Russian life. The writer did not seek to recreate certain social types corresponding to his era.

The realistic principle of depicting reality was not the main one for Dostoevsky. For his predecessors, life, environment, social environment - everything explained the character of a person. Dostoevsky rejects everyday life and social status a person as the basis of his character. As a rule, the life of the writer’s heroes belongs to their past, and psychology characterizes them in the present and even in the future. If for his predecessors the main thing was the creation of social types, then for Dostoevsky the opposition social type an individual person as an object of artistic research.

The main task of the writer is to reveal the inner world of a person. By the way, Dostoevsky himself did not like the term “psychologism.” “Psychologism,” in his opinion, is a scientific word that presupposes a rational analysis of human consciousness; the writer believed that one consciousness cannot analyze another consciousness. It is with this position of the author that the Peculiarities psychological analysis novel "Crime and Punishment" .

Dostoevsky strives to show the independence of the heroes’ consciousness from the author’s consciousness. The consciousness of each hero exists independently of the consciousness of others. Such Features of psychological analysis M. M. Bakhtin called “polyphony”; Dostoevsky, first of all, strives to give the voice to the hero himself. Hence, the monologues of the characters are of great importance in the novel. A special role is assigned to the confessional monologue, that is, the confession of one hero to another.

According to Dostoevsky, one consciousness must be refracted into another consciousness.

The consciousness of an individual hero is revealed in his relationship and interaction with the consciousness of another hero.

Here we can already see another property of the analysis of the hero’s state of mind - dialogicality. The dialogues of the characters are also of great importance.

The dialogue between student Raskolnikov and an officer in a tavern is typical here. Talking with the officer, the student subconsciously understands that he can commit a crime, saving thousands of lives “from rot and decay.”

There is another one in the novel Features of psychological analysis hero: internal monologue and internal dialogue hero. Heroes often think to themselves. Here, of course, the reflections of the student Raskolnikov play a special role, for example, before the murder of the old woman.

Raskolnikov is trying to convince himself that this is not a crime. He reflects on why almost all criminals are so easily found.

The hero’s internal dialogue is already a unique form of psychological analysis, since there is a split in a person, two live in him. For example, Raskolnikov is tormented by terrible nightmares and haunted by hallucinations.

A special role is played by the looks, facial expressions, and gestures of the characters, because they convey the feelings of the characters, their inner mental states. After all, it is important for Dostoevsky to show the subconscious in his heroes, and therefore the dreams and nightmares that haunt Raskolnikov after committing a crime play an exceptional role.

Thus, such artistic techniques as double portraiture, internal monologue, description of dreams and hallucinations, character dialogues help the writer to more fully reveal the inner world of his characters and understand the motives of their actions.

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