Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Crime and Punishment is written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian writer in the year 1866. The book is a psychological analysis of the life of a former law student, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, who lives in poverty and is tormented by the guilt of not being a sufficient support for his mother and sister. Raskolnikov believes that certain people can be exempted from conventional moral expectations for them to achieve noble causes (his article ‘On Crime’). In the novel he eventually kills an old pawnbroker and her sister in an attempt to do the same.

The novel portrays various themes such as alienation from society, the moral, psychological and practical repercussions of committing a crime, idea of being a superhero, nihilism and such. I would like to focus on ‘resurrection’ in this essay. Resurrection signifies a restoration to life. It is usually referred to the physical resurrection; the incident of resurrection is mentioned in the Bible where Jesus resurrects Lazarus from death. This incident becomes an allegory in the novel to the ‘resurrection’ or ‘redemption’ waiting for Raskolnikov and is read to him by Sonya.

In the Bible, Jesus resurrects his friend Lazarus in the fourth day after his death. It is essential as Christians  believe in the resurrection of the dead.

In the novel Sonya’s belief in God and his protection is sustaining her. Raskolnikov on the contrary has a skeptical approach to it. He believes in radical philosophies of extraordinary and seeks to employ them. In a conversion between them in Sonya’s house, she says, ‘“No, no! God will protect her! God!…” she repeated, beside herself.

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‘But maybe there isn’t any God,’ Raskolnikov replied…Sonya’s face suddenly changed terribly: spasms ran over it. She looked at him with inexpressible reproach…and simply began sobbing all at once very bitterly, covering her face with her hands”’ (321)2E. These lines show Sonya’s faith when Raskolnikov asked her what would happen to her family if something dreadful occurs. Their difference in approaches and beliefs is seen in this conversation.

As the conversation goes on, he finds the Bible on the table and asks Sonya to read the story of Lazarus. “Although critics seldom mention the beggar Lazarus, they almost universally perceive the novel’s central religious meaning in the Gospel narrative of the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1-45), which Sonia reads to Raskolnikov. John’s narrative, she argues, contains the pledge that Raskolnikov, like the dead Lazarus, can be awakened to a new life. In the novel, Dostoevsky highlights the Lazarus whom Jesus brings back from the tomb while downplaying Lazarus the beggar. While John’s Lazarus captures the novel’s metaphysical center, the Lazarus song??? Directs us to the world of the impoverished inhabitants of Petersburg’s back alleys and squares.

In Crime and Punishment the two Lazarus stories complement each other by fusing the themes of charity and resurrection into a single overarching religious vision. The novel links the action of giving and receiving alms to the theme of resurrected life, for the presence of God on earth becomes palpable in simple acts of charity, though the rich and the powerful may not see it.” ‘ M. S. Altman suggests that he thought of the song may mean that he is pretending when he tells Porfiry Petrovich that he believes in the resurrection of Lazarus. True, on the day following the murder, when summoned to the police station because of his failure to pay his rent, Raskolnikov exaggerates his position as a ‘poor and sick student depressed … by poverty’ (6:80); and he intends to maintain this stance in front of Porfiry Petrovich, who may suspect him of murder.’

In the above mentioned conversation, the readers can see a subtle change in the protagonist as the mental anguish and guilt, he suffers combined with the disillusionment of his own strength and philosophies makes him ask Sonya to read the miracle performed by God out to him. “‘Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die..And when he had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth” (326-328). The story exemplifies the Christian belief in the great compassion and redemptive power of God who uses people to intervene and aid transformations. Sonya is a major influence in the redemptive path Raskolnikov eventually undertakes starting from his confession and life in Siberia, where he allows Sonya’s love to change him.

“Sonya act in so uncharacteristically selfish a way, even though her joy at having something pretty to wear almost seems to have justified her actions? Katerina Ivanovna, the stepmother who in desperation forced Sonya into prostitution, is the very person who wants the clothing earned at such enormous cost. Sonya’s negative, even selfish, reaction to Katerina Ivanovna’s appeal (for charity in the larger sense of love?) and her later recollection, tinged with guilt and sorrow, are played out in this seemingly minor scene. At this very point Raskolnikov’s own vanity and selfishness slowly begin to yield, through the unswerving support of Sonya herself, who also carries a burden of guilt. Her acknowledgment of her own guilt engenders a sense of shared guilt that leads to Raskolnikov’s redemption”. These are the lines from the essay the Religious Symbolism of Clothing which emphasizes that it is through her love that a transformation happened in his life, “they were resurrected by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of another” (549). “Can her convictions become my convictions now? Her feelings, her aspirations, at least…” (550).

The change over here doesn’t happen all of a sudden. The transformation of his life which had become similar to death occurs gradually. The physical transformation of Lazarus becomes a parallel to the spiritual resurrection, which happened in Raskolnikov life. Through the story the doubts and misbeliefs that prevailed in his heart is seen to be rolled away like the stone in front of Lazarus’ tomb. “Was it the old crone I killed? I killed myself, not the old crone!” (420).

The essay Traditional Symbolism in Crime and Punishment expounds on the symbol of ‘water’ in the novel, which also carries significant meanings in Christian belief. “Water is to Dostoevsky a symbol of rebirth and regeneration. It is regarded as such by the positive characters, for whom it is an accompaniment and an indication of the life-giving forces in the world. By the same token, the significance of water may be the opposite two negative characters. The water holds the terror of death for the corrupt Svidrigaylov, who confirms his depravity by thinking: ‘Never in my life could I stand water, not even on a landscape painting’ (p.516).When, after the murder, he is trying to hide the stolen property, it occurs to him that he might ‘get rid of it all’ by throwing everything ‘into the Canal, and there won’t be any traces left [in the original the phrase reads ikontsy v vodu, idelo s kontsom, literally ‘all remnants go in the water and everything is finished,’ a saying which continues the water symbolism] and all will be over’ (p. 125). But of course ‘it was not so easy to get rid of it.’ The possibility of throwing it in the Neva presents itself to him; he asks, ‘Why the Neva? Why the water?’ (p. 126).

The river still seems to him an improper or an impossible place for obliterating the consequences of his crime.” Water over here is viewed as a renewal of his soul. Just like it has the power to cleanse us physical it has the power of scriptural cleansing. “When we turn to specifically Christian symbolism in Crime and Punishment, we find the outstanding images to be those of New Jerusalem, Christ’s passion, and Lazarus.” The rising of Lazarus from the dead is to Dostoevsky the best example of a human being resurrected to a new life, the road to Golgotha the best expression of the dark road of sorrow, and Christ himself the grand type of voluntary suffering. ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life’ is the refrain in this book of a man who lost his life and found it again”.

Dostoyevsky employs symbols like the resurrection of Lazarus and water to give more depth to Raskolnikov’s moral dilemmas and the life he lost to misguided notions. The story emphasis on resurrection brought by love, in this story, it is that of Sonya’s, who become his hope for redemption.