LITERARY ANALYSIS 1

Crime and Punishment : Fyodor Dostoevsky

Finally!  This has been saved in my "Drafts" forever and now it is complete!  As a personal note, this literary analysis took so long, because the novel was actually an intense read for me with a ton of dry description and not much action.  I recommend it if you like very wordy paragraphs and incredibly huge, hard-to-pronounce, Russian names.

SUMMARY:

A young, handsome, psychologically unstable, and poor man by the name of Raskolnikov wanders the town of St. Petersburg in Russia where he meets a drunkard named Marmeladov.  Later, he receives a letter from his mother where more characters are introduced into the story.  His sister, who goes by Dunya, had gotten engaged to a man by the name of Luzhin, but he is disliked by the family, and his intentions are wrong.  Raskolnikov murders an elderly pawnbroker who he's been scheming against for quite some time, and he murders her sister as well.  From then on, whenever the murder was brought up around Raskolnikov, he either fainted or acted out, for he was seriously mentally ill.  His acquaintance, Marmeladov, gets struck by a carriage and dies, after which Raskolnikov meets Sonya, his daughter.  In the meantime, Raskolnikov repetitively argues with his mother and sister about her engagement to Luzhin while his best friend, Razumkhin tries to help the family given his friendly nature.  Svidrigailov appears into the story as a creeper who obsesses over both Sonya and later, Dunya.  Raskolnikov builds a good relationship with Sonya, and the detective Petrovich becomes suspicious of Raskolnikov.  Much later, Svidrigailov kidnaps Dunya, from which Dunya expresses so much dislike for him, she opens fire on him.  He lets him go after taking his final hint and commits suicide thereafter, which ultimately convinced Raskolnikov to come clean with the authorities and confess to his crime.  Once that was done, he was put in Siberia for about 8 years.  Sonya moved near him to be with him, and he realized that he truly loves her even though he remains mentally ill.  Raskolnikov's mother died.  Dunya married Raskolnikov's friend, Razumikhin.

THEME:

Psychology was definitely a major theme that played a huge part in the novel.  Raskolnikov was characterized with an unstable mindset from the very start.  Through acting on impulse, he committed his crime, and he was seen as critically, psychologically ill ever since.  He lashed out at his family very abruptly, and he constantly muttered to himself when he walked.  Even after his sentence, he was still slightly insane.  At first, I would have said that Crime and Punishment's theme would be "Crime and Punishment," but I was told to avoid clichés.

AUTHOR'S TONE:

Dostoevsky's tone was rather dark, brutal, and mysterious.  Although the mystery certainly can't lie on the end of a detective solving a crime -- because the man who committed the crime is the protagonist -- mystery still serves as an underlying tone in the sense that the psychological aspects of the human mind is mysterious in how it can alienate a man like Raskolnikov from society even while he is still fully immersed in it.
Textual examples:
1. "And in all this he was always afterwards disposed to see something strange and mysterious, as it were the presence of some peculiar influences and coincidences."
2. "He looked at the old woman, and was in no hurry to get away, as though there was still something he wanted to say or do, but he did not himself quite know what."
3. He pulled the axe quite out, swung it with both arms, scarcely conscious of himself, and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the blunt side down on her head."

10 LITERARY ELEMENTS:

I read the edition by Bantam Books
1. Direct characterization:  Dostoevsky directly characterized a few of his characters, including the protagonist, Raskolnikov, at the beginning of the novel (pgs. 1-10).
2. Symbolism:  the cross the Sonya gives to Raskolnikov symbolized redemption.  The dirty, crowded city of St. Petersburgh symbolized Raskolnikov's mind which was also cluttered and messy.  Also the letter that Raskolnikov had received from his mother resembled hope (pgs. 30-41).
3. Foil: Raskolnikov is generally impulsive and psychologically unstable while he cuts himself off from society, but his friend, Razumikhin, foils him by trying to transcend poverty through hard work and social friendliness. (pg. 115).
4. Indirect characterization: In the letter Raskolnikov receives from his mother, Pulcheria Raskolnikov is indirectly characterized through her voice in the letter. (pgs. 30-41).
5. Monologue: Marmeladov's monologue at the beginning of the novel sets the pace for the rest of the story, because he indicated how a man shuts down once he has no where to turn (pgs. 11-25).
6. Rhetorical Question: Marmeladov asks many rhetorical questions about his position to Raskolnikov when they first meet (pgs. 22-25) about whether or not a man must do his duty in order to be portrayed as a man to society.
7.  Irony: Raskolnikov not only kills the pawn-broker because she is a bad person, but also to steal from her, but before he is able to take from her safe, Lizaveta spots her dead sister, and he then realizes that the door had been left open during his entire crime (pgs. 70-80).
8.  Metaphor:  Petrovich describes the chase of a criminal as a moth that circles around a candle (Part 4 pgs. 221-225).
9. Paradox: "All I managed to do was kill. And I didn't even manage that as it turns out.. (pg. 198)"  Raskolnikov finds himself in deep thought over his crime, and presents himself with a confusing refute to his purpose that may contain some truth.  After killing the physical form of the pawn-broker, the mental instability of his crime still lives through haunting him, meaning that he may not have even killed all of her.
10.  Allusion: "I wanted to make myself Napoleon... and that is why I killed her..."  Although I now do not own the book, I remember this text as Raskolnikov reflected upon his actions.  He wanted to rise above a system as Napoleon did, and recreate it in his fashion (his fashion was obviously to destroy).  It alludes to Napoleon Bonaparte.