As one of the "Big Three" in the history of Russian literature, Dostoevsky's masterpiece "Crime and Punishment" caused a sensation in the Russian literary circles as soon as it was published. The famous literary critic Strahov recalled the scene: "Crime and Punishment is the only book that fans talk about. It has an overriding force that almost knocks down the mentally strong readers, and those who are mentally vulnerable have to set the book aside. To this day, the strong shock and influence of "Crime and Punishment" still exists, and the book has been reprinted in one edition and has endured for a long time.
Crime and Punishment is divided into six volumes and an epilogue. The story takes place in the declining capital of Tsarist Russia in the 1860s, a crazy era of violence and killing. The protagonist, Raskolnikov, is a poor university student who lives in the top floor of an apartment in the Petersburg slum. Although he was kind-hearted, he had a reclusive and isolated personality, and had studied law at university, but was forced to drop out of school because he could not afford to pay the tuition, and could only rely on his mother's meagre pension and debt to survive. Faced with the chaotic and debauched living conditions around him, he was not ashamed of it but could not get rid of it. Recently, he has no money to pay rent, and even the landlady who lives downstairs has stopped providing him with food.
Frustrated and frustrated, Raskolnikov met Malmeradov, a retired minor civil servant. Malmeladof was an alcoholic, but he needed to take care of his sick wife and raise a large number of children, which led to his despair of the future and his unemployment, and he fell into a desperate situation in life, and his eldest daughter Sonia was forced to become a street prostitute. Gradually, a "theory" arose in Raskolnikov's mind: that there were two kinds of people in this world, that they were ordinary and inferior, who were merely breeding materials of the same kind, who had to be subservient as slaves, "useless, nasty, harmful lice"; and that of "extraordinary people", who were true rulers, who were not bound by law and morality, and could do whatever they wanted.
In order to be able to completely get rid of the quagmire of life, and in order not to involve his mother and sister, and in order not to be slaughtered like the miserable Marmeladov, Raskolnikov decided to do a "big thing" to practice his theory and prove himself to be an "extraordinary person". And this "big thing" is to kill an old woman who always tries to make things difficult for him and lends money at usurious rates. But on the day Raskolnikov planned to kill people, an accident happened: the old woman's sister Lizaveta broke in! So, after he hacked Alyona to death with an axe, he killed the old woman's sister, Lizaveta, and stole the money and jewelry in order to kill her mouth. Although the killings did not go so well, due to various coincidences, Raskolnikov escaped the police, and even a "stand-in" appeared later: the suspect Mikelka turned himself in, claiming that he had killed Alyona and Lizaveta.
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<b>The British BBC</b> <b>adaptation of the miniseries of the same name, Crime and Punishment</b>
Raskolnikov was completely freed from all suspicions and legal punishments, but unfortunately, he was originally suffering from a certain degree of depression, so he fell into a "struggle between theory and conscience": he constantly found various reasonable explanations for his behavior, believing that he was "doing harm to the people", and the theory in his heart became "it is necessary for people to step on corpses and pools of blood in order to realize their ideals." But he was constantly tormented by conscience and moral condemnation, and he was in great pain. In this way, Raskolnikov fell ill with fever, was in a coma for three days and three nights, and constantly had nightmares. When he woke up, he began to tire of everything in the world, and even became disgusted with his dearest mother and sister, nervously doubting the people around him, and subconsciously went to the murder scene again to ring the doorbell, morbidly reliving "the painful and terrible ugly feeling at that time" . Raskolnikov's spiritual defense line during this period can be said to have completely collapsed, and from his words we can perceive one or two: "Did I kill the old woman?" I killed myself, not the old woman! I ruined myself all at once, forever! ”
By chance, Raskolnikov met Sonia, the eldest daughter that Marmeladov had previously said. The kind Sonia is willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her family's livelihood and becomes a street prostitute. But Raskolnikov couldn't understand why Sonia was so confident and in awe of a merciful and bright God. So, Sonia read to him a story in the Bible about the resurrection of Lazarus, which made him deeply feel the spiritual realm of Sonia who was still full of hope despite suffering. Comparing himself with Sonia, Raskolnikov constantly reflected on himself and gradually understood that "the real motive of sin is for personal gain, for satisfying one's own inner desires, not really for the happiness and happiness of others." He confessed to Sonia all the crimes he had committed, and under her persuasion went to the police station to turn himself in. Before turning himself in, the sincere Sonya gave him a cross necklace made of cypress wood, hoping that he would pray a prayer and atone for his sins from the heart.
<b>Raskolnikov said: "I just want to prove one thing, and that is that the devil tempted me at that time, and later told me that I had no right to go that way, because I was just a lice, like all the rest of the people." ”</b>
Raskolnikov was sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Siberia. To his shame and unacceptable, Sonya decided to make a living as a tailor and travel with him to Siberia. Raskolnikov believes that although he chooses to endure suffering in exchange for the peace of conscience, he still cannot truly confess his guilt and let go, and every time he sees Sonia who is trying to help him, he feels more sad and bitter. At the same time, his fellow inmates have great respect for Sonia and are extremely unfriendly to him. It wasn't until one day that Sonia suddenly fell seriously ill that Raskolnikov realized his deep and sincere feelings for her. He took out the New Testament that Sonia had sent him and read it, realizing that "now her faith is her own faith" and that life is still a long way off, but Raskolnikov has already embarked on a journey of faith— he decided to spend the rest of his life to pay for all the suffering that Sonya had endured.
Dostoevsky used his exquisite writing skills to portray different psychology such as the tragic inner conflicts of the characters and the illusions, and the spiritual world of the protagonist was unreservedly displayed to the readers with unprecedented depth and breadth, so that people could fully perceive Dostoevsky's strong spiritual storm, and at the same time formed such a world classic "criminal psychology report" - "Crime and Punishment".
<b>One of the most classic quotes in Crime and Punishment is, "The only thing I worry about is whether our lives tomorrow will be worthy of the suffering we endure today." "To this day, it is still worth our deep thinking. </b>
Further reading:
1. About the "Big Three" of Russian literature:
The "Big Three" of Russian literature refers to Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev respectively, and is also known as the "troika" of nineteenth-century Russian literature. Among them, in addition to the famous work and representative work "Crime and Punishment", Dostoevsky also has important works such as "The Brothers Karamazov", "The Devils", "Idiots" and so on.
2. What cultural theoretical views have been influenced by Crime and Punishment?
The protagonist Raskolnikov's views of "ordinary people" and "extraordinary people" are influenced by anarchism in Nietzsche's "superhuman philosophy" and the principle of "the weak preying on the law" in capitalist society. Later, the protagonist's atonement psychology originated from the Orthodox culture of Russia.
3. How do celebrities evaluate Crime and Punishment and Dostoevsky?
Lu Xun: "Marx's 'Capital' and Dostofsky's Crime and Punishment are not written after adding coffee and smoking Egyptian cigarettes. He called Dostoevsky "the great interrogator of the human soul."
Nietzsche: "I got the most valuable psychological information from Dostoevsky, that's why I respected him so much and admired him so much. ”
Borges: "Discovering Dostoevsky is like discovering the sea, discovering love." ”