Christian motives in the novel by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky “Crime and Punishment. Literature lesson “Christian motives in Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” and in Solzhenitsyn’s story “Matryonin’s Dvor” The motive of faith in the novel Crime and Punishment

Introduction

During penal servitude, Dostoevsky discovered the saving meaning of Christianity. An exceptional role in the “rebirth of beliefs” was played by the Gospel donated in Tobolsk by the wives of the Decembrists, the only book that the prisoners were allowed to have. The significance of this Gospel has long been recognized in studies of Dostoevsky. L. Grossman, R. Pletnev, R. Belnap, G. Hetsa wrote heartfeltly about this. Now, thanks to the book by G. Hetz, there is a scientific description of this Gospel, which Dostoevsky not only read, but also worked on it all his life. It is unlikely that any of the world's geniuses knew the Gospel as well as Dostoevsky, and he was, according to the expressive conclusion of A. Bem, a “brilliant reader.” It is noteworthy that the result of ten years of deliberation, including hard labor, was the composed but unwritten article “On the Purpose of Christianity in Art,” about which he wrote on Good Friday 1856 to Baron A.E. Wrangel: “I thought about it all, down to the last word, back in Omsk.

There will be a lot of original, hot stuff. I vouch for the presentation. Perhaps many will disagree with me in many respects. But I believe in my ideas and that’s enough. I would like to ask you to read the article first. Maykova. Some chapters will contain entire pages from the pamphlet. This is actually about the purpose of Christianity in art. The only question is where to place it?” (28.1; 229). The article remained unwritten - there was nowhere to place it, but Dostoevsky’s view on this topic is expressed in all subsequent work. This is the “sincere, natural and Christian” point of view, which L. Tolstoy liked in Dostoevsky’s work.

The Gospel was truly “Good News” for Dostoevsky, a long-standing revelation about man, the world and the truth of Christ. From this Book Dostoevsky drew spiritual strength in the House of the Dead; from it he taught the Dagestan Tatar Aley to read and write in Russian, who confessed to him at parting that he had made him a man from a convict.

This Book became the main one in Dostoevsky's library. He never parted with Her and took Her with him on the road. She always lay in plain sight on his desk. According to Her, he verified his doubts, guessed his fate and the fates of his heroes, wishing, like the hero of N. Ogarev’s poem “Prison” who guessed from the “old Bible”,

So that they come to me by the will of fate -

And life, and sorrow, and death of the prophet.

In relation to Dostoevsky, one can clarify: the Christian prophet of our time.

Upon leaving hard labor, Dostoevsky revealed his “symbol of faith” this way: “to believe that there is nothing more beautiful, deeper, more sympathetic, more reasonable, more courageous and more perfect than Christ, and not only is it not, but with jealous love I tell myself that it cannot be. Moreover, if someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth, and it really were that the truth is outside Christ, then I would rather remain with Christ than with the truth" (28, I; 176). This is a paradox, but at its core is the conviction that the truth is in Christ.

“Christian and highly moral thought” received its full embodiment in the late work of Dostoevsky, in his novels from “Crime and Punishment” to “The Brothers Karamazov”, although there were thorough approaches to this idea in “Poor People” and many early stories and novels, it certainly expressed in “The Humiliated and Insulted” and in “Notes from the House of the Dead,” in “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions” and in “Notes from the Underground.” This idea of Dostoevsky had several stages of implementation. The first is to recognize the person in oneself, to find the person in the person. The second is to restore your human appearance and find your face. And, finally, having realized the divine in oneself, be transformed, become a person living according to Christ’s commandments.

This idea became the “superidea” of Dostoevsky’s work - the idea of the Christian transformation of man, Russia, and the world. And this is the path of Raskolnikov, Sonya Marmeladova, Prince Myshkin, the chronicler in “Demons,” Arkady Dolgoruky, Elder Zosima, Alyosha and Mitya Karamazov. Their path passed through confession to repentance and redemption, the acquisition of eternal truth and an eternal ideal. These are the plots of his later novels from Crime and Punishment to The Brothers Karamazov.

1. The Gospel in the structure of the novel “Crime and Punishment”

Dostoevsky describes in the novel “Crime and Punishment” the same copy of the Gospel that was presented to him in 1850 in Tobolsk at the transit yard by the wives of the Decembrists: “There was some kind of book on the chest of drawers<...>It was the New Testament in Russian translation. The book was old, second-hand, bound in leather.” (6; 248).

Then, in the last period of his life, in his library there was, according to A.G. Dostoevskaya, "several copies of the Gospel." But he never parted with this, the only book allowed in prison. She was his constant reading. A.G. Dostoevskaya said that many years after hard labor, her husband, recalling “the spiritual anguish and anxiety he experienced, said that hope came to life in his heart only thanks to the Gospel, in which he found support, feeling every time he took hold of it, a special surge of strength and energy." It was noticeable that he returned to many pages he had read long ago, and then pencil marks appeared next to the marks with his fingernail. So, marked with a fingernail and the sign NB (pencil) st. 24 from ch. 12 Gospel of John (“Truly, truly, I say to you, if a grain of wheat falls into the ground...”). And the fingernail marks made in the same Gospel in ch. 4 (vv. 52, 53, 54), allow us to conclude that Dostoevsky’s plan for the moral resurrection and healing of Raskolnikov is connected not only with the story of the resurrection of Lazarus, but also with another miracle of Jesus - the healing of the courtier’s son (“He asked them: At what time did he feel better? They told him: “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” From this the father learned that this was the hour at which Jesus said to him: “And your son believed.” Jesus did when he returned from Judea to Galilee." This miracle happened at the seventh hour in Capernaum, in the city where Christ settled, leaving Nazareth, preaching repentance and healing the sick.

In Kapernaumov’s apartment (the symbolic evangelical character of this name has long been obvious), Sonya Raskolnikov reads the Holy Gospel and here his repentance arises - the decision to announce his crime, committed at the fateful seventh hour. “This moment was terribly similar, in his sensation, to the one when he stood behind the old woman, having already freed the ax from the noose...” (6; 314). But in the moments of this meeting with Sonya, something else happened: Raskolnikov extended his hand to the cross. “When you go to suffer, then you will put it on. You will come to me...” Sonya will say (6; 324). And he came to her when “twilight had already begun” and “the sun<...>It was already setting" (6; 402). At seven o'clock Sonya put a cypress cross on his chest. "This means a symbol of the fact that I am taking the cross upon myself..." he will note (6; 403). "And who does not bear the cross his own and follows Me, he cannot be My disciple" (Gospel of Luke, chapter 14, v. 27). And these lines of the Gospel are marked with a fingernail... Thus began the resurrection of Raskolnikov from the dead, his healing and recovery. (According to the teaching To the Pythagoreans, the number seven signifies health and holiness).

There are few litters made with ink. Their very character, very reminiscent of the pages of his creative manuscripts, and most importantly, the content of those pages of the Gospel on which they were written, suggested how the ink marks appeared in the main book of his life in the July days of 1866, when he was forced, at the request of the editors, " Russian Messenger" to redo "with difficulty and anguish" the fourth chapter of the fourth part of "Crime and Punishment" (28, II; 166). The notes are made in the eleventh chapter of the “Gospel of John” - this is what he calls his beloved fourth Gospel in the novel “Crime and Punishment” (6: 250). The legend of the resurrection of Lazarus is dotted with numbers, nota-bene signs, and special symbols that are also found in its drafts; some words are underlined. But in the text of the novel, he emphasizes words that are not highlighted in the Gospel (and does not quote the text entirely accurately). However, not because he was quoting from memory, which was indeed quite characteristic of Dostoevsky. So, in the Gospel in verse 39 - “for four days he was in the tomb” the words “like he was in the tomb” are emphasized. In the novel, Dostoevsky emphasizes: “for four days he has been in the grave.” And Sonya, while reading, “energetically struck the word: four” (6; 251). This is no coincidence: the reading of the legend of the resurrection of Lazarus takes place in Crime and Punishment on the fourth day after Raskolnikov’s crime. Having finished reading. Sonya “whispered abruptly and sternly”: “Everything about the resurrection of Lazarus” (6; 251). The entire legend was interspersed into the text of the novel - 45 verses of the Gospel (chapter 11, art. 1 - 45). Dostoevsky even marked it in his Gospel with Roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V, indicating the sequence of its inclusion in the novel.

The great novelist gives way to the “eternal Gospel” (these words in his Gospel are underlined and marked with nota-bene. - Revelation of St. John the Theologian, chapter 14, art. 6). One involuntarily recalls other majestic words from the Gospel, the words with which the Gospel of John begins: “In the beginning was the Word...”.

Perhaps the reading of the Gospel in the final text of the novel appeared instead of the “Vision of Christ” originally conceived by Dostoevsky. Professor J. Gibian expresses the same opinion (“In the final text of the novel, this scene (i.e., the Vision of Christ) was replaced by the one where Sonya reads the Gospel aloud”). However, it is possible that both scenes existed in the writer's mind when creating the novel from the very beginning. Dostoevsky, with his characteristic “longing for the current”, who keenly perceived all the phenomena of his era, who knew how to respond to them in a modern and timely manner, could not help but notice the heated controversy that broke out both in Europe and in Russia in 1864 - 1865. around new editions of the works of D. Strauss and E. Renan about the life of Christ. “The legends about the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter and the resurrection of Lazarus had demonstrative power regarding future miracles,” Strauss asserted in the book that Dostoevsky took from Petrashevsky’s library. He acquired new editions for his library when in the 60s there was a debate about whether such miracles were possible, whether they had historical authenticity, or whether they were nothing more than a figment of the evangelist’s imagination. Associated with belief in miracles was the question of faith and unbelief, and the existence of Jesus. Cases of resurrection from the dead are also mentioned in the narratives of the first three evangelists. But the Gospel of John, over which Sonya and Raskolnikov bent, was the most powerful narrative. The resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, who had already been in the tomb for four days, was unheard of, the greatest miracle that confirmed faith in Christ, the final proof and confirmation of His Divine power. In the novel Crime and Punishment, the names of Strauss and Renan are not directly mentioned. Renan's works occupy an important place in the creative history of the novel "The Idiot". But in “Crime and Punishment” there are echoes of the controversy of 1865-66 that was waged around “Renan’s Works” - and in the very scene of reading the legend of the resurrection of Lazarus, even in the way the words “four days” are strongly emphasized, “the fourth Gospel,” that is, the most conclusive, and, most importantly, in those questions that Porfiry Petrovich asks Raskolnikov: “So you still believe in the New Jerusalem? And-and-and do you believe in God? Sorry, that I'm so curious<...>And-and do you believe in the resurrection of Lazarus?" (6; 201).

And Raskolnikov’s last dream, like the fourth chapter of the fourth part, goes back to the Gospel. Dostoevsky also made notes in the Apocalypse with ink, a fingernail and a pencil: in “The Revelation of St. John the Theologian,” ch. 13, near verse 15 there is a cross, next to verses 11 - 12 in the margin it is written: “socialism”, in ch. 17, art. 9 - “civilization”, cross mark and nota-bene sign in ink, next to Art. 6 from ch. 14: “And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” in ink NB (nota-bene).

2. Reflection of Christian ideas in the plots and images of the novel “Crime and Punishment”

Christian thought Dostoevsky

G.V. Florensky saw the originality of Dostoevsky's genius in his openness to the “impressions of existence.” The spiritual experience of ontology is the real source of originality. At the same time, according to V.F. Erna, “the universe, the cosmos, is the opening and revelation of the originally existing Word,” and therefore “the world in its most secret depths is “logical,” that is, consistent and proportionate to the Logos, and every detail and event of this world is a hidden thought, a secret the movement of the all-pervading divine Word." For Dostoevsky, Christ is at the center of both existence and literature. The sacred connection between the earthly world and the Logos is comprehended by the self of the creative act. The writer’s works contain the problem of the correlation between the human word and the Word of God. This is what organizes Dostoevsky’s creative molecules. Consequently, it is impossible to fully understand the plots and images of his works while remaining outside the boundaries of ontopoetics.

Its goals are to see being through artistry, to reveal being through language, to clarify the logos of being and creativity. And since the creation of Dostoevsky is being considered, ontopoetics cannot be described in abstract philosophical categories; it is illuminated by Christian principles of attitude towards life, man. God. Ontopoetics is the poetics of being, which has become an artistic reality.

In "Crime and Punishment" the motive of man's acquisition of the Highest Good is updated: realized at the level of the hero as Raskolnikov's choice between the reflective word of Svidrigailov and the holistic word of Sonya, comprehended by the author at his level along several lines: 1) recognition of Raskolnikov's idea as a sin: 2) recognition of human nature from the beginning extra-sinful and tragically divided as a result of the Fall: 3) recognition of the possibility of overcoming sin, deification. The last foundation is built on the second, consistent with the theological. St. Isaac the Syrian said: “The soul is dispassionate by nature. Passions are something additional, and the soul itself is guilty of them.” If once the nature of the soul was light and pure, due to the reception of the Divine light into itself, and like this it turns out to be the same when it returns to the primitive order, it is already certain that the soul is outside its nature as soon as it comes into passionate movement (...).” Hence the internal motivation of the resurrection plot in the novel.

Dostoevsky's Christian thinking determines the binary structure of Crime and Punishment, which is expressed, for example, at the genre level in a tendency toward mystery. Thus, K. Mochulsky reflected on Raskolnikov: “He stands before us, like a man in a medieval mystery, between the good and evil angels.” It was pointed out in the works that time is dichotomous in the novel, which also influences the plot. The binary is also palpable in the dialogue between the empirics and metaphysics of the work: in the empirical context it is stated as a confrontation (relevant and visible for Raskolnikov, requiring his free choice) of “despair, the most cynical” (7; 204) of Svidrigailov and “hope, the most unrealizable” (7; 204). 204) Sony. In the metaphysical, a point of truth opens, which makes it possible to close the system of motivation for the resurrection plot: Raskolnikov’s movement from Beauty-Truth-Good through retreat from them and acceptance of ugliness-lies-evil to overcoming the latter with Christian love and progress towards harmony (Beauty-Truth-Good). The bearer of such a point of truth is the author himself.

The novel would not have arisen without ontological meaning, without awareness of the reasons for the violation of original integrity. The main culprit is “satanic” “pride” (7; 149), which has struck a person. The concept of pride was conceptualized in one way or another by all theologians. St. John Climacus said about him: “Pride is the rejection of God, a demonic invention, the contempt of men, the mother of condemnation, the fiend of praise, a sign of the barrenness of the soul, the driving away of God’s help, the forerunner of insanity, the culprit of falls, the cause of demons, the source of anger, the door of hypocrisy, the stronghold demons, a repository of sins, the cause of unmercifulness, ignorance of compassion, a cruel torturer, an inhuman judge, an opponent of God, the root of blasphemy.” A similar expanded understanding of pride finds expression in Dostoevsky’s novel. The words of the Ladder are very important for explaining what is happening to Raskolnikov: this is a retreat from God, and a loss of connection with people, and unmercifulness towards loved ones, and the accumulation of sins, and the torture of the hero’s soul, and his insanity.

The devilish principle is a distortion of the fundamental harmony in man, a false essence. In this context, one phrase about Raskolnikov is noteworthy: “By the way, he was remarkably good-looking (...)” (6; 6). The hero's face is perfect, almost handsome, but in a pre-story time. In the present, there is a grasping of the features of the ugly: “a strange smile”, “a feeling of deepest disgust” “in the subtle features” (6; 6). All attention is focused on the fact that Raskolnikov’s condition is devoid of originality. He is captured at the moment of disintegration, the decomposition of his original essence. It is reported that he irritated himself with the “ugly, but seductive audacity” of dreams and “somehow, even involuntarily, he got used to considering an enterprise” (6; 7). However, personality has its own primordial history, rooted in eternity, based on its beauty.

From the very beginning of the novel, a certain opposition between Sonya and Raskolnikov arises, which turns into parallel and correspondence. It is important to indicate the time of action: “At the beginning of July, in an extremely hot time (...)” (6; 5). The neutral phrase would not have been decisive if not for Mother Raskolnikov’s letter. His hero reads the day after the test, but the news arrived, according to Nastasya, “yesterday” (6; 27), that is, on the first day of the events taking place.

Reflecting on the fate of Dunya, Raskolnikov suggests and remembers: “(...) I also know what you thought about all night, walking around the room, and what you prayed about before the Kazan Mother of God, who is standing in your mother’s bedroom. On Golgotha- it’s hard to climb” (6; 35). The celebration of Kazan was on July 8 according to the old style. It must be admitted that the chronology is accurate: the first day is precisely July 8. Then Raskolnikov sees Marmeladov, who talks about his meeting with his daughter: “And today I was at Sonya’s, I went to ask for a hangover!” (6; 20). And then he speaks about her those words that always refer to the Mother of God: “She said nothing, she just looked at me silently... So not on earth, but there... they grieve for people, cry, but do not reproach, do not reproach !" (6; 20).

A person must correspond to the revealed goodness and change through the acceptance of Divine care into his own life. Raskolnikov's "test", performed on the day of one of the most revered icons, is a break with God's mercy. It is no coincidence that the number 8 also has another meaning - an apocalyptic day. Initially, a situation of metaphysical choice is set. At the end of the work it will repeat itself: Raskolnikov’s apocalyptic dream and Sonya’s appearance before the hero, similar, according to T.A. Kasatkina, the miraculous discovery of the icon.

The mention of Golgotha is also interesting in Raskolnikov’s words: man is obliged to repeat the action of the Son of God. The hero is mistaken when characterizing himself: “I am a poor and sick student, dejected (he said so: “dejected”) by poverty” (6; 80). Dostoevsky knew well the meaning of “dejection”: the lines of Tyutchev’s poem “These poor villages...” came to life in his mind:

Dejected by the burden of the godmother,

All of you, dear land,

In slave form, the King of Heaven

He came out blessing.

Only the “burden of the cross” gives the right to evaluate oneself the way Raskolnikov does. The hero’s act is also a challenge to the God-man.

Motives associated with the miracle of the appearance and action of the Kazan Icon are further developed in the novel. According to surviving evidence, “when the icon was brought to the temple, many sick people, especially the blind, received healing. One might think that this primary goal of blindness served as a sign that the holy icon appeared to enlighten with the spiritual light of those darkened by the blindness of Mohammedan false teaching.” When Sonya reads the Gospel to Raskolnikov, she especially dwells on the miracle of Christ who healed the blind: “At the last verse: “Could not this one, who opened the eyes of the blind...” - she, lowering her voice, passionately and passionately conveyed the doubt, reproach and blasphemy of unbelievers , blind Jews, who now, in a minute, as if struck by thunder, will fall, weep and believe... “And he, he, too, blinded and unbelieving, he too will now hear, he will also believe, yes, yes! now, now,” she dreamed, and she trembled with joyful anticipation” (6; 251). Sonya herself becomes the hero’s means of healing. Before us is a picture of a possible miracle performed by the icon of the Mother of God. It is quite real, although it does not happen immediately. It seems that the idea of the striking and cleansing power of “thunder” is also connected with the day of Kazan, because even after reading the letter, Raskolnikov feels that it “suddenly hit him like thunder” (6; 39).

However, on that fateful day, the man’s will, which succumbed to sinful seduction, turned out to be stronger: “(...) a heavy, bilious, evil smile snaked across his lips” (6; 35). It becomes clear, on the other hand, the inclusion in the work of Koranic motifs, likening Raskolnikov to Mohammed: “Oh, how can I understand the “prophet”, with a saber, on a horse. Allah commands, and obey, “trembling” creature! (...) Obey, trembling creature, and don’t covet, because it’s none of your business!..” (6; 212). The hero must get rid of such false teaching, which is facilitated by the Christian miracle.

The penetration into the literary text of not just Christian meanings, but sacred religious symbols prepares the inevitable outcome of the novel, the inevitability of the expiration of the plot of the Fall and the beauty of the resurrection.

Dostoevsky develops the image of the Mother of God as Merciful, Sorrowful. Kazan is Strict, Striking, Threatening. The writer reaffirms the priority of Divine love. No wonder Sonya gives Marmeladov 30 kopecks, as if forgiving the sin of thirty Serebreniki, those 30 rubles that she brought to Katerina Ivanovna. If people can be forgiven for their suffering, then the mistake Raskolnikov made after receiving the letter is undeniable: a false choice, a false decision.

The plot of the resurrection would not have been possible if Dostoevsky had not shown the plot of the Fall, and he had not outlined the reverse process. The writer interprets the resurrection as a mystery, a miraculous change because he sees how severe the fall of man is and how enormous the power of sinful seduction is. About Raskolnikov, the author of “Crime and Punishment” says: “(...) as if someone took him by the hand and pulled him along, irresistibly, blindly, with unnatural strength, without objection. It was as if he had hit a car wheel with a piece of clothing, and he began to be drawn into it" (6; 58). Evil has subordinated the will of the hero and leads to the commission of a crime. All words are from the semantic range of evil: “blindly”, “unnatural force”, “machine”, “dragged”, “devil”, etc.

The motive of appearance and illusoryness is also significant. It goes back to the patristic and generally Christian ideas about the error of the human will, which prefers the ghost of good, that is, evil. So, for example, St. perceived the meaning of human evil. Gregory of Nyssa. St. Macarius of Egypt explained: “If there is no will, God Himself does nothing, although He can according to His freedom. Therefore, the accomplishment of a work by the Spirit depends on the will of man.”

Disease of the will begins with crafty daydreaming, the mind being overwhelmed by seductive images. Rev. Hesychius of Jerusalem offered various ways of “sobriety,” savings, and getting rid of passions. One of them is “to watch relentlessly for a dream, or for a pretext; for without a dream, Satan cannot arrange thoughts and present them to the mind to deceive it.” A dream is the path of sin. That is why the word “dream” in Dostoevsky’s novel is surrounded by a context related to it: ugliness is a satanic principle; not a detail and the word “enterprise” that accompanies “dream”: it expresses the degree of rooting of an idea-passion (see: 6; 7).

Raskolnikov's idea is sin, a very precise and in its simplicity perfect definition of which was given by St. Simeon the New Theologian. According to him, sin is “evil thoughts, words and deeds.”

Evil in theology is always identified with a “falling away from the Good” (Dionysius the Areopagite); it “is not anything other than the deprivation of good, just as darkness is the deprivation of light, for good is spiritual light: in the same way, evil is spiritual darkness." The result of spiritual darkness is ontological death. Only Svidrigailov ends up in her captivity.

However, one should not exaggerate the degree of rationality in the nature of Raskolnikov’s idea. Sin takes over not only the hero’s mind, but also his heart. The reader hears Raskolnikov’s confession: “And could such horror really come into my head? What kind of dirt is my heart capable of, however? The main thing: dirty, dirty, disgusting, disgusting!..” (6; 10). From the point of view of the hero, such “alogism” - the heart is not in the head - is almost inexplicable, but at the level of the teleological plot, the author’s level, everything is organic and necessary. The same rev. Hesychius of Jerusalem argued: “(...) it is impossible for sin to enter the heart if it does not knock first (...) with the dream of an evil excuse.” The human heart is subject to the destructive power of sin - that is the tragedy.

But it does not become stronger in pathos, because there is a clear understanding of its futility and the need to eliminate it. Dostoevsky's soteriological hope is clear and sublime. St. Maximus the Confessor assured: “The solid and sure foundation of hope for deification for human nature is the incarnation of God, making man a god to the extent that God Himself became man.” There is Christ - which means that there are certainly worthy ways out of seeming hopelessness.

Dmitry Karamazov feels the opportunity for salvation: “Even if I am cursed, even if I am low and vile, but even if I kiss the hem of the robe in which my God is clothed; even if I follow the devil at the same time, but I still and Your son, Lord, and I love You, and I feel joy, without which the world cannot stand and be" (14; 99). Correction of the will and faith can lead a person to God. Thus, in “Crime and Punishment,” the problem of Man’s choice, the motive of ontological freedom, is revealed in complete fullness.

Raskolnikov, of course, accepts evil voluntarily, because he is endowed with the right to express his will. To evil, according to St. Maximus the Confessor, is motivated, in addition to “passion” and “demons,” by “evil will,” i.e., an exclusively conscious choice of evil. Only then is the hero able to accuse the human enemy of complicity.

Getting ready to accomplish his plan, Raskolnikov unexpectedly discovers the presence of Nastasya in the kitchen, where the ax lies. The hero's reaction is adequate to his distorted will: “He wanted to laugh at himself out of anger... Dull, brutal anger began to boil in him” (6; 59). As soon as it manifested itself in personality| evil, so the solution is immediately ready: the ax is in the janitor's room, Raskolnikov is led to it by a strange shine, because the object is hidden in such a way that in real space it simply could not be seen (inside the janitor's closet, under the bench, among two logs). Consciousness brings the reason into thought: “It’s not reason, it’s demon!” - he thought, smiling strangely. This incident encouraged him extremely" (6; 60). The emotion also affected by sin is optimal for it. The defeat of the will is a consequence of free expression and evidence of the loss of true freedom, for, as St. Isaac the Syrian said, "whoever does not submit his will to God, will submit to His adversary (...)."

St. Isaac the Syrian, who continued the thoughts of St. Gregory of Nyssa, realized the freedom to realize evil, but good cannot be realized otherwise than in freedom. Moreover, it is only in it that the real world, existence exists, and it is in it that the struggle between Good and Evil takes place. “This world is a competition and a field for competition. This time is a time of struggle,” says Sirin. About this are the words of Dmitry Karamazov: “The terrible thing is that beauty is not only a terrible, but also a mysterious thing. Here the devil fights with God, and the battlefield is the hearts of people” (14; 100). This clash underlies the typology of Dostoevsky’s hero, in whose soul there is a battle with sin. The battle for Beauty is the foundation of the construction and the plot.

True freedom, and not its ghost, is possible only in interruption with the Creator, in improving oneself and in the constant desire to become deified. But it cannot be found without correcting the zero, without rejecting pride. Only in humility is God-given freedom realized. In the preparatory materials for the novel there is a characteristic entry: “And you be meek, and you be meek, and you will conquer the whole world, there is no stronger sword than this” (7; 188). About something similar is in Tikhon’s planned reflection from “The Life of a Great Sinner”: “About humility (how powerful humility is). Everything is about humility and free will” (9; 138). Humility is the kingdom, this is the power, for it is likeness to the Son of God.

In a state of malicious captivity, Raskolnikov no longer understands and does not accept the Truth unconditionally. The hero can still turn to God: “Lord!” he prayed, “show me my path, and I will renounce this damned... dream of mine!” (6; 50). But his word does not contain the integrity of God’s existence, it is split by the motive of an agreement-concession, and therefore the ability to find harmony, which appeared unexpectedly, somehow suddenly, remains unrealized, as if the Lord’s answer to the prayer: “Freedom, freedom! He is now free from these spells, from witchcraft, charm, from obsession! (6; 50). The synonymous series - enchantment, witchcraft, charm, obsession - clearly indicates the hero’s devilish obsession, his captivity. This is actually the fight between God and the devil for man.

Raskolnikov’s weakness of will does not allow him to discover the revealed good, and when he learns that the old woman will be left alone on the fateful day, he again unexpectedly understands: “(...) he no longer has freedom of reason or will and that everything has suddenly been decided finally" (6; 52). Who makes the final decision? For a sinful man - the devil.

Freedom from God is recreated by Dostoevsky thanks to the semantics “is,” which is fully consistent with the theological tradition of identifying good and being: Raskolnikov’s very appeal to God is a form of dialogically active “You,” a prayerful “You.” But the captivity of the will by demons is expressed by an impersonal sentence, an adequate form of the indifferent, impersonal “it”, the absence of freedom through the semantics of “no”, which again corresponds to the understanding of evil in theology. Evil is always a minus, an anti-value. Dionysius the Areopagite said: “(...) evil is a non-existent,” denying, he argued: “So, in all that exists there is no evil,” “(...) evil does not come from God, and it does not exist in God - neither in general nor in particular."

At the beginning of his sinful path, Raskolnikov does not yet know the outcome, but the given rating system allows the reader to accurately predict the further development of the plot. You can also predict the hero’s state after the crime. St. Maximus the Confessor believed that in the Fall a person loses his integrity and splits into two. The duality of Dostoevsky's heroes of the 1860s - 1870s. is rooted not only in the nature of the romantic worldview, but deeper - in the tradition of Christian mysticism.

Raskolnikov’s very surprise at the outcome of the “test” is also surrounded by religious metameanings. “I don’t know how it happens that many of the proud, not knowing themselves, think that they have achieved dispassion, and already upon leaving this world they perceive their wretchedness,” wrote St. John Climacus. It is understandable that the hero is tormented by the failure of the “test”, the inability to suppress the person within himself (the mirror semantics of Climacus’s words). Let us also explain the spiritual impasse in which Raskolnikov finds himself. Calling the devil an “avenger,” Maxim the Confessor sees all his ferocity: “When this is allowed to him, he, like a storm, swoops down on those over whom he has received power by God’s permission, inventing one after another inflicting involuntary suffering on them (for arbitrary passions ), not to fulfill God’s command, but wanting to satisfy his passionate hatred for us: so that the soul, exhausted under the weight of sorrows and troubles, casts aside all hope for Divine help (...).” Despair is followed by loss of faith “in the very existence of God.”

The search for a new life grows out of the sinful state of humanity as a desire to overcome it and, through resurrection, to discover the purpose of one’s own existence. This is a return to God by negating evil. According to the significant expression of E.N. Trubetskoy, the power of evil is “in time, and only in time: as it has been said, there is no place for parody in eternal life.” Ugliness is a category of “age”, the opposite of “forever and ever,” which is an expression of the primordial indivisible integrity, the perfection of being. The category of the “century” - the plot of the Fall - is realized by Dostoevsky both in terms of the history of the individual (the novel “Crime and Punishment”), and in terms of the history of the nation - the novel “Demons”, with the power of images of decay and death, uncharacteristic for the artistic world of the writer and characteristic of the novel E.N. Trubetskoy very accurately noted: “(...) death lies in the very nature of sin, constitutes the revelation of its inner essence.” Dostoevsky does not perceive the Fall and resurrection as two equal forces, equivalent parts of one opposition. corrected, is its predestination, for in the end it is always powerlessness, and therefore it should be contrasted with spiritual healing, the beauty and power of deification. Man is given two examples: an angel and a demon;

The clash between sin and eternity, the most acute in eschatology, is resolved in the apocalyptic transformation. Such sentiments permeated the first centuries of Christianity: it is clear that Dostoevsky was attracted to this tension. Let us at least remember the words of Svidrigailov about Duna: “You know, I was always sorry, from the very beginning, that fate did not allow your sister to be born in the second or third century AD, somewhere the daughter of a sovereign prince or some ruler or proconsul in Asia Minor. She, without a doubt, would have been one of those who suffered martyrdom, and, of course, would have smiled when her chest was burned with red-hot tongs. She would have done this on purpose herself, and in the fourth and fifth centuries she left. would go to the Egyptian desert and live there for thirty years, feeding on roots, delights and visions" (6; 365). The unexpected oncological and historical excursion of Svidrigailov cannot be overestimated in the artistic system of the novel: it is said profanely about the proper choice for Raskolnikov. It was in Egypt and Syria that the monastic movement began. Both personal solitude and communal living - konovia - were practiced. Asceticism triumphed. At the same time, the anticipation of the coming Revelation was strong.

Through the prism of Svidrigailov’s carnivalized speech, a remarkable mixture of spiritual images (food of the soul - “delights”) and carnal (food of the body - “roots”), a decrease in the sacredness of the word that goes back to the hagiographic tradition within the framework of the hero’s behavior (“Damn it, how much wine I drink! "(6; 365) the appearance of Mary of Egypt is recreated and the qualities of prayer and thanksgiving to God appear - all that was especially valued by the ascetics and mystics of the first centuries of Christianity and that, in their opinion, could be achieved only in silence, on the paths of deification. Mystical unity with God was carried out through asceticism and was not the identification of man with the Creator, for the difference between human imperfection and the perfection of God always remains, the opposite is observed in extra-Christian mysticism: the complete identification of man with God, the understanding of oneself as the Divine. In Dostoevsky, such a distinction is echoed in the opposition of the God-man and the God-man to the god. and man-divine.

“The personal-religious mystical touch of the soul to religious reality” (words by S.N. Bulgakov) is realized in the novel “Crime and Punishment” as Raskolnikov’s gradual movement towards Beauty. Dostoevsky extends the path to God characteristic of Christian ascetics - deification - to the spiritual path of man in general. The experience of monastic life should be an example of the improvement of the whole world.

According to the teachings of the Eastern Church, the Holy Fathers, “heartfelt prayer” and “smart deeds” save from sinful passion. Rev. Hesychius of Jerusalem, for example, among the methods of “smart doing” names “incessant remembrance of death.” Of a different quality, but the memory of death and the experience associated with it invade Raskolnikov’s consciousness during the funeral prayer for Katerina Ivanovna: the hero feels “something heavy and mystically terrible” (6; 337), which has been in him since childhood, and also “something else, too terrible and restless” (6; 337) destroying the sinful captivity of the individual, returning the memory, obviously, to the pictures of beating and killing a horse, the point of shock by sin; at the same time, mystical intuition is now entering into a struggle with sin: “(...) the more secluded one was< место, тем сильнее он сознавал как будто чье-то близкое и тревожное присутствие, не то чтобы страшное, а как-то уж очень досаждающее (...)" (6; 337). Раскольников, как ни старается, осей знать суть происходящего с ним не может. Но потаенность эта другого рода, чем тайное дьяволово искушение. Нет ничем страшного и подавляющего волю, эмоцию героя. Да и тот "панический страх", который наводит его собственная мысль о матари и Дуне, из ряда совсем не "пугающих". В человеке заявляет о себе прообраз. Потому и реагирует Раскольников на признание Свидригайлова во многом также, как отвечала на его Соня.

Conclusion

The organic nature of the novel’s epilogue is based on a change in Dostoevsky’s style: the word becomes stricter, more transparent, because it testifies to recovery. While not yet completely renouncing what he had done, the hero still recalls his premonition: “(...) when he stood over the river, perhaps he foresaw a deep lie in himself and in his convictions” (6; 418). The author insists that this doubt is the truth: “He did not understand that this premonition could be a harbinger of a future turning point in his life, his future resurrection, a future new outlook on life” (6; 418). But still, healing occurs completely, a different stage of existence opens, a different plane of it - iconographic, prototype. The novel ends with a “transition from one world to another.” Deification as a value coincides in the consciousness of both the hero and the author. Raskolnikov becomes close to Dostoevsky.

The author's position was intended to be as authoritative as possible. Dostoevsky decides: “The story is told on behalf of the author, a seemingly invisible but omniscient being (...)” (7; 146). And it is strengthened in the conclusion: “The author must be assumed to be an omniscient being who does not make mistakes, but exposes to everyone one of the members of the new generation” (7; 149). The writer himself emphasizes the words “omniscient” and “infallible.” The first is in one way or another connected with the meaning of the truth of knowledge, indicates the religious significance of gnosis, the completeness of knowledge of God (in the metaphysical potential of meaning), the second - with the formulation of the problem of human sinfulness and the ability to change it, which is achieved by the author. Although the meanings of words upon external observation are far from such a high level, they are still born within the framework of metaphysical, ontological intuition.

Religious faith and Christian meaning are all determining forces in Dostoevsky's world. Logos, theology, and icon constitute the internal content of the image, the plot, justifying and sanctifying artistry.

Literature:

1.Dostoevsky F.M. Complete works: In 30 volumes - L.: Science. Leningr. department, 1973. - T. 6. - 407 p.

2.Bakhtin M.M. Problems of Dostoevsky's poetics. - 4th ed. - M.: Sov. Russia, 1979. - 320 p.

.Dudkin V.V. Dostoevsky and the Gospel of John // Gospel text in Russian literature of the 18th - 20th centuries: Quote, reminiscence, motive, plot, genre: Sat. scientific works / Rep. ed. V.N. Zakharov. - Petrozavodsk: Petrozavodsk University Publishing House, 1998. - Issue. 2. - P. 337 - 348. - (Problems of historical poetics; Issue 5).

.Erofeev V.V. Faith and humanism of Dostoevsky // Erofeev V.V. In the labyrinth of damned questions. - M.: Sov. writer, 1990. - P. 11 - 37.

.Esaulov I.A. Easter archetype in Dostoevsky’s poetics // Gospel text in Russian literature of the 18th - 20th centuries: Quote, reminiscence, motive, plot, genre: Collection. scientific works / Rep. ed. V.N. Zakharov. - Petrozavodsk: Petrozavodsk University Publishing House, 1998. - Issue. 2. - P. 349 - 363. - (Problems of historical poetics; Issue 5).

.Zakharov V.N. On the Christian significance of the main idea of Dostoevsky’s creativity // Dostoevsky at the end of the twentieth century: Collection of articles. Art. / Comp. K.A. Stepanyan. - M.: Classic Plus, 1996. - P. 137 - 147.

.Zvoznikov A.A. Dostoevsky and Orthodoxy: preliminary notes // Gospel text in Russian literature of the 18th - 20th centuries: Quote, reminiscence, motive, plot, genre: Sat. scientific works / Rep. ed. V.N. Zakharov. - Petrozavodsk: Petrozavodsk University Publishing House, 1994. - P. 179 - 191. - (Problems of historical poetics; Issue 3).

.Kasatkina T.A. On one property of the epilogues of Dostoevsky’s five great novels // Dostoevsky at the end of the twentieth century: Sat. Art. / Comp. K.A. Stepanyan. - M.: Classic Plus, 1996. - P. 67 - 128.

.Kirillova I. Dostoevsky’s marks on the text of the Gospel of John // Dostoevsky at the end of the twentieth century: Sat. Art. / Comp. K.A. Stepanyan. - M.: Classic Plus, 1996. - P. 48 - 60.

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Christian images and motifs in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"

I. Introduction

Dostoevsky was a Christian, Orthodox, deeply religious man. From these positions he approached the problems of his time. Therefore, the author’s position in any of his novels, including Crime and Punishment, cannot be correctly understood without taking into account Christian images and motives.

II. Main part.

1. The plot of the novel itself is based on the fact that Raskolnikov commits a mortal sin, breaking one of God’s most important commandments - “thou shalt not kill,” and then atones for his guilt through suffering, repentance and purification.

2. Sonya also commits a mortal sin, and her image correlates with the Gospel image of the “harlot.” This is a complex image associated not only with the concept of sin, but also with the idea of Christian charity. In the Gospel, Christ forgives the harlot who sincerely believed in him. Christ also commanded mercy to people, saying about the harlot: “He who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” The attitude of various characters in the novel towards Sonya serves as a kind of test of their Christian spirit (Raskolnikov sits her next to her sister, Dunya, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Razumikhin “do not throw stones at her,” and, for example, Luzhin does just that).

Sin, oddly enough, connects Sonya and Raskolnikov: “a murderer and a harlot who came together to read the eternal book,” that is, the Gospel. But there is a fundamental difference between these two criminals: Raskolnikov does not believe in God and therefore cannot believe in redemption; he often falls into despair. Sonya, on the contrary, says about herself: “What would I be without God?” Therefore, the path of redemption through suffering and good deeds is open to her; there is no despair in her.

3. A very important gospel motif is the motif of suffering. Suffering atones not only for personal sin, but also for the sins of humanity, therefore, in a Russian Orthodox person the idea of “suffering” is strong - simply, without any guilt (Mikolka; the prisoner about whom Porfiry Petrovich tells Raskolnikov in their last conversation).

4. The image of the cross, a symbol of the “passion of Christ,” is closely connected with the motives of suffering and redemption. The development of this image in the novel is quite complex. There is no cross on Raskolnikov - in Russia during Dostoevsky’s time, this is an infrequent case and says a lot. Sonya puts the cross on Raskolnikov, bless him for his suffering. She puts her cross on him, then makes them like brother and sister in Christ, and she herself wears the cross of Lizaveta, her spiritual sister, who was killed by Raskolnikov.

5. For Dostoevsky, it was very important to show the possibility of the resurrection of any person, even a criminal, through turning to God. Therefore, one of the most important gospel motifs and images is the resurrection of Lazarus. Sonya reads the corresponding passage to Raskolnikov at his request, but even earlier, in Raskolnikov’s first conversation with Porfiry Petrovich, this motive already appears, and the last time it is mentioned is at the very end of the epilogue.

III. Conclusion

Christian motifs and images are an important part of the ideological content of Crime and Punishment, directly expressing Dostoevsky’s author’s position.

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Christian motives in the novel crime and punishment
Christian images and motifs in the novel crime and punishment
peasant motives in the novel crime and punishment

Orthodoxy, brought to Rus' back in the 10th century, profoundly influenced the mentality of the Russian people and left an indelible imprint on the Russian soul. And, in addition, Orthodoxy brought with it writing, and therefore literature. Christian influence can be traced in one way or another in the work of any writer. The deepest inner conviction in Christian truths and commandments is carried, in particular, by such a titan of Russian literature as Dostoevsky. His Crime and Punishment is proof of this.

The writer’s attitude towards religious consciousness is amazing in its depth. The concepts of sin and virtue, pride and humility, good and evil - this is what interests Dostoevsky. Raskolnikov, the key character of the novel, bears sin and pride. Moreover, sin absorbs not only direct actions, but also hidden thoughts (Raskolnikov is punished even before the crime). Having passed through himself the obviously powerful theory about “Napoleons” and “trembling creatures,” the hero finally kills the old money-lender, but not so much her as himself. Having followed the path of self-destruction, Raskolnikov nevertheless, with the help of Sonya, finds the key to salvation through suffering, purification and love. As you know, all these concepts are the most important and important in the Christian worldview. People deprived of repentance and love will not know the light, but will see a dark afterlife, terrible in its essence.

Thus, Svidrigailov already during his lifetime has a clear idea of the afterlife. He appears before us in the form of a “black bath with spiders and mice” - in the Christian view, this is a picture of hell, for sinners who know neither love nor repentance. Also, when mentioning Svidrigailov, “damn” constantly appears. Svidrigailov is doomed: even what he is about to do is in vain (dream about a 5-year-old girl): his good is not accepted, it is too late. A terrible satanic force, the devil, is also pursuing Raskolnikov; at the end of the novel he will say: “The devil led me to commit a crime.” But if Svidrigailov commits suicide (commits the most terrible mortal sin), then Raskolnikov is cleared. The motif of prayer in the novel is also characteristic of Raskolnikov (after a dream he prays for a horse, but his prayers are not heard, and he commits a crime). Sonya, the landlady's daughter (preparing herself for a monastery), and Katerina Ivanovna's children constantly pray. Prayer, an integral part of the Christian, becomes part of the novel. There are also such images and symbols as the cross and the Gospel. Sonya gives Raskolnikov the Gospel that belonged to Lizaveta, and, reading it, he is reborn to life. At first Raskolnikov does not accept Lizaveta’s cross from Sonya, since he is not ready yet, but then he takes it, and again this is associated with spiritual cleansing, rebirth from death to life.

The Christian element in the novel is enhanced by numerous analogies and associations with biblical stories. There is a reminiscence from the Bible about Lazarus, a parable that Sonya reads to Raskolnikov on the fourth day after the crime. Moreover, Lazarus from this parable was resurrected precisely on the fourth day. That is, Raskolnikov is spiritually dead these four days and, in fact, lies in a coffin (“coffin” is the hero’s closet), and Sonya came to save him. From the Old Testament the novel contains the parable of Cain, from the New - the parable of the publican and the Pharisee, the parable of the harlot (“if anyone is not sinful, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”), the parable of Martha - a woman who has been focused on vanity and missing the most important thing (Marfa Petrovna, Svidrigailov’s wife, fusses all her life, deprived of the main principle).

Gospel motifs in the names are clearly visible. Ka-pernaumov is the surname of the man from whom Sonya rented a room, and Mary the Harlot lived near the city of Capernaum. The name “Lizaveta” means “who worships God,” a holy fool. The name of Ilya Petrovich includes Ilya (Ilya the prophet, thunderer) and Peter (hard as a stone). Let us note that it was he who was the very first to suspect Raskolnikov." Katerina is “pure, bright.” Numbers that are symbolic in Christianity are also symbols in “Crime and Punishment.” These are numbers three, seven and eleven. Sonya gives Marmeladov 30 kopecks, the first since she brings 30 rubles “from work”; Marfa buys Svidrigailov for 30, and he betrays her, making an attempt on her life, Svidrigailov offers Duna “up to thirty”, Raskolnikov rings the bell 3 times and rings the same number of times. the old woman on the head. There are three meetings with Porfiry Petrovich: at the seventh hour he learns that Lizaveta will not be there, he commits a crime “at the seventh hour.” But the number 7 is a symbol of the union of God with man, Raskolnikov wants to break this; union and therefore endures torment. In the epilogue: 7 years of hard labor remain, Svidrigailov lived with Marfa for 7 years.

The novel contains the theme of voluntary martyrdom for the sake of repentance, recognition of one’s sins. That is why Mikolka wants to take Raskolnikov’s blame upon himself. But Raskolnikov, led by Sonya, who carries Christian truth and love, comes (albeit through the barrier of doubt) to popular repentance, for, according to Sonya, only popular, open repentance in front of everyone is real. Dostoevsky's main idea is reproduced in this novel: a person must live, be meek, be able to forgive and have compassion, and all this is possible only with the acquisition of true faith. This is a purely Christian starting point, so the novel is tragicomic, a novel-sermon.

Due to Dostoevsky’s talent and deepest inner conviction, Christian thought is fully realized, produces a strong impact on the reader and, as a result, conveys to everyone the Christian idea, the idea of salvation and love.

Orthodoxy, which arose in Rus' at the end of the first millennium, greatly influenced the mindset of the Russian people and changed the soul of the Russian people. In addition, it contributed to the development of literacy and education of the people, and also gave rise to the development of literature. Christian influence has influenced the work of any writer. Conviction in commandments and truths can be found in the works of Dostoevsky, in particular in the novel “Crime and Punishment”

The depth of religious consciousness in the novel is amazing.

Dostoevsky focuses on the presentation of good and evil, sin and virtue. Moreover, sin is not only actions, but also thoughts. Having given rise to the development of the theory about the “Great Ones of this World” and “trembling creatures,” Raskolnikov kills the old pawnbroker. However, by this act he, first of all, killed himself. Through self-destruction, the hero, with the help of Sonya, finds the path to salvation through repentance and suffering. These principles are basic in Christian philosophy. Those deprived of love and repentance are not worthy of knowing the light, but end up in the dark world after death. For example, Svidrigailov, while still alive, had an understanding of the afterlife. He's doomed. His too late kindness does not matter (dream about a five-year-old girl). Raskolnikov is accompanied by the devil: “The devil led me to commit a crime.” But still, he is cleansed, unlike Svidrigailov, who committed the mortal sin of suicide.

Prayer, an important part of Christianity as well as any religion, has an important place in the novel. Sonya and Katerina Ivanovna’s children pray endlessly. The cross and the gospel also have their place. Sonya gave these things to Raskolnikov, who, by the way, denied any religion.

The features of the Gospel are clearly visible in the names of the heroes - Capernaum, Mary the Harlot. “Lizaveta” is a God-worshipper, a man of God. The name of Ilya Petrovich is similar to Ilya the Prophet. Katerina – “pure, bright.” Three, seven, eleven, thirty - numbers that are conventional in Christianity are present in the novel. Sonya gives Marmeladov thirty kopecks, Marfa gives the same amount for Svidrigailov, and he, according to Judas, betrayed her. Raskolnikov rang the bell three times before committing the crime at the seventh hour. This number symbolizes a person’s connection with God, and the main character, by committing a crime, violates this connection, for which he pays with suffering and seven years of hard labor.

In addition to all of the above, there is voluntary torment and repentance for the sake of atonement for sins. So, Mikolka tries to take on the guilt of Raskolnikov, who, thanks to Sonya and the Christian faith, comes to repentance before the people, because this is the only way, according to Sonya, you can repent of your sins. Dostoevsky believes that a person must be able to forgive, which can only be done by gaining faith.

The writer’s attitude towards religious consciousness is amazing in its depth. The concepts of sin and virtue, pride and humility, good and evil - this is what interests Dostoevsky. Raskolnikov, the key character of the novel, bears sin and pride. Moreover, sin absorbs not only direct actions, but also hidden thoughts (Raskolnikov is punished even before the crime). Having passed through himself the obviously powerful theory about “Napoleons” and “trembling creatures,” the hero kills the old money-lender, but not so much her as himself. Having followed the path of self-destruction, Raskolnikov nevertheless, with the help of Sonya, finds the key to salvation through suffering, purification and love. As you know, all these concepts are the most important and important in the Christian worldview. People deprived of repentance and love will not know the light, but will see a dark afterlife, terrible in its essence.

Thus, Svidrigailov already during his lifetime has a clear idea of the afterlife. He appears before us in the form of a “black bath with spiders and mice” - in the Christian view, this is a picture of hell, for sinners who know neither love nor repentance. Also, when mentioning Svidrigailov, “damn” constantly appears. Svidrigailov is doomed: even the good that he is about to do is in vain (dream about a 5-year-old girl): his good is not accepted, it is too late. A terrible satanic force, the devil, is also pursuing Raskolnikov; at the end of the novel he will say: “The devil led me to commit a crime.” But if Svidrigailov commits suicide (commits the most terrible mortal sin), then Raskolnikov is cleared. The motif of prayer in the novel is also characteristic of Raskolnikov (after a dream he prays for a horse, but his prayers are not heard, and he commits a crime). Sonya, the landlady's daughter (preparing herself for a monastery), and Katerina Ivanovna's children constantly pray. Prayer, an integral part of the Christian, becomes part of the novel. There are also such images and symbols as the cross and the Gospel. Sonya gives Raskolnikov the Gospel that belonged to Lizaveta, and, reading it, he is reborn to life. At first Raskolnikov does not accept Lizaveta’s cross from Sonya, since he is not ready yet, but then he takes it, and again this is associated with spiritual cleansing, rebirth from death to life.

Gospel motifs in the names are clearly visible. Ka-pernaumov is the surname of the man from whom Sonya rented a room, and Mary the Harlot lived near the city of Capernaum. The name “Lizaveta” means “who worships God,” a holy fool. The name of Ilya Petrovich includes Ilya (Ilya the prophet, thunderer) and Peter (hard as a stone). Let us note that it was he who was the very first to suspect Raskolnikov." Katerina is “pure, bright.” Numbers that are symbolic in Christianity are also symbols in “Crime and Punishment.” These are numbers three, seven and eleven. Sonya gives Marmeladov 30 kopecks, the first since she brings 30 rubles “from work”; Martha buys Svidrigailov for 30, and he, like Judas, betrays her, making an attempt on her life, Svidrigailov offers Duna “up to thirty”, Raskolnikov rings the bell 3 times and the same number of times. hits the old woman on the head. There are three meetings with Porfiry Petrovich: at the seventh hour he learns that Lizaveta will not be there, he commits a crime “at the seventh hour.” But the number 7 is a symbol of the union of God with man, Raskolnikov wants to break it off; This union therefore endures torment. In the epilogue: 7 years of hard labor remain, Svidrigailov lived with Marfa for 7 years.

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