International Journal of Research ISSN NO:2236-6124

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Dexterity in Crime and Punishment

Evelin D R Melcheja Ph.D. Research Scholar, Reg. No.10196 Dept. of English and Research Centre Scott Christian College (Autonomous), Nagercoil – 629 003. Affiliated to ManonmaniamSundaranar University, Abishekapatti, Tirunelveli – 627 012, Tamil Nadu, India.

Dr. Sidney Shirly (Research Supervisor) Associate Professor Dept. of English and Research Centre Scott Christian College (Autonomous), Nagercoil – 629 003 Affiliated to ManonmaniamSundaranar University, Abishekapatti, Tirunelveli – 627 012, Tamil Nadu, India.

Abstract

This paper deals with Dostoevsky’s innovative style of presenting Crime and Punishment with narrative realism and dramatic scenes. This acclaimed him the title dramatic novelist. His compositional balance, narrative techniques, dialogic style, plot type, use of symbols and art of characterization makes his novel unique. It also describes Dostoevsky’s compositional balance, literary technique, narrative realism, dramatic scenes, psychological analysis and stylistic texture. Dostoevsky portrays the mood of suspense and anticipation as in any good crime fiction.

Keywords: Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment- crime – punishment – dexterity – crime fiction – realism – compositional balance – symmetrical distribution – epilogue – individualistic – horror – universal classic.

INTRODUCTION

Russia has produced some indisputable master works of world literature. Russia has a literature from its earliest history. It was handed down by tradition from generation to generation. This literature conveys much information about the religion, civil and social life of primitive Russia. The foundation of St. Petersburg brought Russia more in contact with the West. During the reign of Catherine II, French influence upon Russian literature became greater. In the 19th century, Russian literature freed itself little by little from the yoke of foreign imitation. The language was perfected by making it a most adequate means for the expression of the highest conceptions of the mind.

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Fiction serves as a literary channel for the diffusion of political, social and moral theories. Crime fiction started as a developing genre in this era. Through a number of men of genius, Russian literature won a place of honour in the history of universal literature. “A literary creation can appeal to us in all sorts of ways- by its theme, subject, structure, characters. But above all it appeals to us by the presence in it of art. It is the presence of art in Crime and Punishment that moves us deeply rather than the story of Raskolnikov’s crime” (qtd. in Bloom 193).

Dostoevsky is a master of montage. He skilfully covers the seams that join the several distinct themes, genres and styles of the novel. The action develops on three levels: physical action, working of the characters mind and philosophical argument.

Crime and Punishment is a novel with an elegant and streamlined plot and clear and convincing argument. Dostoevsky’s literary technique mixes narrative realism, dramatic scenes and psychological analysis. Dostoevsky is a careless stylist and sloppy technician. His style turns out to be one of the richest aspects of his work.

Crime and Punishment has a distinct beginning, middle and end. The novel has six parts with an epilogue. Part I – II presents the predominantly rational and proud Raskolnikov and part IV – VI, the emerging irrational and humble Raskolnikov. This compositional balance is achieved by means of the symmetrical distribution of certain key episodes throughout the novel in six parts. Each part is further broken into several chapters. Many chapters end with the sudden, unexpected arrival of a new character. By introducing such developments at the end of the chapters, Dostoevsky maintains a high level of suspense.

Dostoevsky’s use of the title, Crime and Punishment is simple, elegant and straight forward. It is a mini-summary of the novel. The title focuses on two crucial ideas being explored on every page. It is so small and self-explanatory. This title is translated from the Russian language Prestuplenie Nakazani. The Third Norton Critical Edition of the novel notes that the Russian word Prestuplenie is closely related to the word ‘transgression’ than to the word ‘crime’. Crime is senseless and crude. Crime comes before punishment and the same thing happens in the novel. More than the physical punishment, the mental torment which the protagonist undergoes matters. Dostoevsky’s use of this title is apt and suggestive.

A close examination of the epilogue and the rest of the novel reveals that the connections between the two are numerous both in a psychological and in an aesthetic sense. The use of epilogue in, Crime and Punishment is a much criticised and misunderstood aspect of Dostoevsky’s novel. The epilogue is much important to understand the story and the central themes. Raskolnikov moves from a state of Russian nihilism and finally admits his crime. The epilogue serves to exemplify how the love between Raskolnikov and Sonya is the crux and core of the story. It is the focal point and without this, the story would not be successful. Without the epilogue the story would be open ended and unfinished.

Crime and Punishment is written from a third-person omniscient viewpoint. It is narrated primarily from the point of view of Raskolnikov. The narrator also speaks from the view of Luzhin, Lebezyatnikov, Razumikhin and Katernia. He too has his own thoughts and opinions. This narrative structure can be seen as rather chaotic and extreme. There are lots of internal

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monologues. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether Raskolnikov is talking out loud or just thinking. In spite of all the chaos, this narrative technique is exciting to read. It creates anxiety in the readers to find out what is going on plot-wise. There is enough drama and suspense to make the readers complete the novel.

Dostoevsky has widely used symbols in his novel. Symbols are usually objects, characters, figures or colours. They represent abstract ideas and concepts. Raskolnikov’s dream has a symbolic meaning which suggests a psychological view. In his dream about the horse, the mare has to sacrifice itself for the men. This could be symbolic of women like Dunya and Sonya sacrificing themselves for men. Soniya hands over the cross to Raskolnikov before he goes to the police station to confess. This is an important symbol of redemption for Raskolnikov. The cross symbolises the reality that he has started to recognise his sin. The opening sentence of the novel has a symbolic function, “At the beginning of July, during a spell of exceptionally hot, weather, toward evening, a certain young man came down onto the street from the little room he rented from some tenants is S-Lane and slowly, almost hesitantly, set off towards K- n Bridge” (CP 5).

Russian critic Vadim K. Kozhinov argues that, “the reference to the ‘exceptionally hot’ evening establishes not only the suffocating atmosphere of St. Petersburg in midsummer but also the infernal ambience of the crime itself” (qtd. in Gill 145). Dostoevsky is the first to recognize the symbolic possibilities of city life and the imagery drawn from the city. I.F.I Evnin comments on the innovative skill of Dostoevsky, “The first great Russian novel in which the climatic moments of the actions are played out in dirty taverns, on the street, in the sordid black room of the poor” (qtd. in Peace 24). Dostoevsky connects the problem of the city to Raskolnikov’s thoughts and subsequent actions. The crowded streets, shabby houses, taverns, noise and stench all are transformed by Dostoevsky into a rich store of metaphors for the states of mind. Donald Fanger asserts that, “The real city . . . rendered with a striking concreteness, is also a city of the mind in the way that its atmosphere answers Raskolinikov’s spiritual condition and all most symbolises it. It is crowded, stifling and parched” (qtd. in Peace 28).

Individualisation of his characters, even the minor ones is a characteristic feature of Dostoevsky’s art. The concreteness that he gives them is one of his main assets. A dramatic persona has a specific function in the plot and also in the development of ideological arguments. A Dostoevskian character has a personality and a story of his or her own self. Critics comment on Dostoevsky’s art of characterisation as, “Dostoevsky has created a man who is singular yet universal. He is someone with whom we can sympathise, empathise and pity, even if we cannot relate to his action. He is a character we will remember him forever, and whose story echo throughout history” (Sachdeva 22-23).

Dostoevsky makes a big error in his use of character names. Instead of using the characters’ first names he uses their first, middle, surname and different names in different combination. This often confuses the readers as they do not know who is doing what, since many of the names are similar even if the characters are not related. Dostoevsky goes overboard in the use of minor characters. Some examples are, “Razumikhin (intellect or reason), Zamyotov (he who notices), Marmeladov (which connotes a sort of candy or Marmalade) and Luzhin (from Luzha, which means puddle). Svidrigailov is apparently the name of a wicked medieval Prince from a Russian fairy tale” (Sachdeva 199).

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Dostoevsky’s frame of mind in Crime and Punishment is sombre, brooding and profoundly contemplative. For the most part of the novel, the reader lives in the consciousness of Raskolnikov who is introspective and gloomy. A mood of suspense and anticipation is created as in any good crime fiction. There are also moments of extreme horror at the scene of the murder or when other characters die by accident, suicide or prolonged illness. A sense of panic and terror is also created by the nightmares and the claustrophobic rumination that haunt him after he commits the crime.

Mikhail Bakhtin wrote extensively about Dostoevsky’s use of dialogues in the novel. In Crime and Punishment there are inner monologues. What goes in Raskolnikov’s head after reading the letter from his mother is a good example. He literally talks to himself and also to Pulkheria, Dunya and Sonya, though of course none of them are there. The narrator also provides information, that does not seem to come from any of the characters. This mostly happens when politics and philosophy are topics of conversation. The split between Lebezyatnikov and Luzhin is given as, “He had heard like everyone else that particularly in St. Petersburg there were to be found progressives, nihilists, public accusers, and so on, and so forth, but like many people he tended to exaggerate and distort the sense of significance of these labels to the point of absurd” (CP 434). This cannot be Lebezyatnikov’s and Luzhin’s perspective. It may be narrator’s voice. Much impressed by the Dostoevskian style, Bakhtin quotes: “Dostoevsky was obsessed with the power of ideas, which we hear so much about in the novel, but that ideas were nothing until they were put into dialogue with other ideas. One could only test or bring an idea by exposing it to many different kinds of people” (Bakhtin).

Critics points out that Dostoevsky is essentially a dramatic novelist. Crime and Punishment is full of dramatic scenes and Raskolnikov’s murder of the pawnbroker is a single scene among them. There are also a number of dramatic confrontations between characters. Dostoevsky’s characters rarely have calm discussions but they have fierce argument and verbal duels. Dostoevsky formulates the idea of double believing that there may be two sides for a human personality. He gives extremely contrasting characters. For example, Raskolnikov is obsessed with a theory but Marmeladov lives entirely by impulse. Raskolnikov is an extreme whereas Razumikhin is reasonable. Raskolnikov cuts himself off from his family, while Dunya and Sonya completely sacrifice themselves for the family. Sonya’s meekness and faith contrast with Raskolnikov’s pride and rejection.

Most of the critical discourse on Crime and Punishment deals with an abstract and an ideological level. It tends to disregard its tremendously dynamic and affective stylistic texture. Dostoevsky’s stylistic mastery still deserves to be examined on his use of music and certain patterns of sound. The portrayal of character speech and descriptive passage in the novel are not only effective but are a means of creating drama and suspense in crucial places. They often create the special tonality of the novel. The acoustic dimensions of Crime and Punishment profoundly affect the novel’s overall structures and poetics. Like many other important 19th century novelists, Dostoevsky does not hesitate to advance the plot. Many of the crucial developments in Crime and Punishment depend on sheer coincidence, which was an accepted literary convention of the period. In this novel, many times the characters overhear things accidentally or eavesdrop or dramatically appear to someone out

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of dark. Dostoevsky states that coincidences as matters of fact. He uses this technique as a short cut to bring together certain characters and to set up dramatic situations.

Dostoevsky’s plot type has different stages. The first is the Falling Stage, where Raskolnikov is obsessesed by a terrible idea that he cannot get out of his head. The hero has many problems. He leaves the college, lets his teaching gigs drift away and spends the past month held up in his room muttering to himself and thinking murderous thoughts. On top of that, he is sick from poor nutrition and is suffering from hypochondria and depression. He is a classic booker hero in the Falling Stage. He falls under the shadow of a dark power that is his own mind.

The next is the Recession Stage, Raskolnikov goes through a nightmare stage. He dreams of a horse being pitilessly beaten and killed. On seeing this nightmare, his desire to kill the pawnbroker seems to fade away and he feels relieved. Unfortunately, Raskolnikov’s Recession Stage lasts only for a few seconds.

There is an Imprisonment Stage in his life. Raskolnikov is imprisoned by his own ill thoughts and he himself viciously slays both Alyona and her abused sister, Lizaveta. Raskolnikov’s life is like one big nightmare. Raskolnikov is tormented by bad dreams and ugly scenes througout his youth and is at the lowest point of his young life.

The final stage is Rebirth. Here the hero gains miraculous redemption with the help of Sonya. During his first year in the prison, Raskolnikov is still the same torn-up guy. He is in deep anguish. When Sonya appears next to him on the log next to the river, he has a change of heart. He falls deeply in love with Sonya. The contrast between the natural setting of the riverbank, all those dirty rooms and streets, make the rest of the novel a classic Rebirth story.

Dostoevsky makes effective use of the literary techniques of suspense, foreshadowing symbols, coincidence, individualisation and narration. Slow revelation of details helps to grab the reader’s interest. Creating suspense adds momentum to the plot and increases the emotional impact of each event as it occurs.

Dostoevsky’s style in Crime and Punishment is loaded with repetition of stories, images and ideas. His observations on tone of voice, gestures, dialogue and action with great consistency amount to stage direction. Stylistically this novel is a test to patience and reading skills. The multi-page paragraphs are full of different voices and perspectives. This confusing bulky style mirrors the confusion of times which Dostoevsky was trying to capture.

The most prominent writers like Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre values Dostoevsky’s writing for his profound insights into human dilemmas. His style, themes and unforgettable characters continue to influence generations more than a century after his death. The artistic style of Dostoevsky enables him to dive into the insight of human dilemmas and his literary technique makes the novel a universal classic.

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Works Cited Primary Source: Mc Duff, David, translator. Crime and Punishment. By Fyodor Dostoevsky, Penguin, 2003. Secondary Sources: Bloom, Harold. Viva Modern Critical Interpretations: Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Vinod Vasishtha, 2007. Gill, Richard. The Bridges of St. Petersburg: A Motive in Crime and Punishment. International Dostoevsky Society, 2008. Peace, Richard Arthur. "Apogee: Crime and Punishment". Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: A Case Book. Oxford University Press, 2006. Sachdeva, Mansi. Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment. Anmol, 2009. Bakhtin, Mikhail. “Crime and Punishment: Writing Style.” Shmoop.com. 9 Sep. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/crime-and-punishment/writing-style.html.

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