Often in novels, the life of an author is reflected in his or her literature. For a writer, experience can serve not only as a teacher but also as the foundation of a storyline. Some of the most well-known authors have used this Roman à Clef technique, for example, Charles Dickens in his famous novel David Copperfield. The Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky does this as well in his novel Crime and Punishment. Various individuals and occurrences from Dostoyevsky’s life influenced the novel and its characters and themes. This shows that an author’s life serves as an inspiration to his or her writing and impacts the work as a whole.
Dostoyevsky’s own family and childhood experiences had a tremendous impact on him as well as his literary works. As the second child in a line of seven, Dostoyevsky lived a sad and lonely childhood. As a student in a respected boarding school, Dostoyevsky felt unable to make contact with his peers and therefore isolated himself, just as the main character Raskolnikov isolated himself from the rest of society. His father was an ex-army surgeon for the poor, and his household was one of poverty, disease, and pain.
The family was deeply religious, and Jesus was the ideal figure of Dostoyevsky’s childhood faith. This brought about the preoccupation and obsession with suffering and Christianity that are dealt with in Crime and Punishment. The central theme of poverty, illness, and anguish clearly reflects the tribulations Dostoyevsky endured in his troubled years growing up. It was not only these circumstances but also several other individuals and events that influenced Dostoyevsky in his writing of the novel that is so closely related to his own life.
Over the years, several specific individuals took part in sculpting the views and opinions that influenced Fyodor Dostoyevsky so deeply. These views are some of those present in Crime and Punishment. Sir Walter Scott, a Scottish novelist, was one of those people. By the age of twelve, Dostoyevsky had read all of the man’s works, thus establishing the notion of family and human society.
This is an important aspect of the novel’s main character, Raskolnikov, his sister Dunia, and mother Pulcheria Alexandrovna. The dual nature of the equally good and evil Raskolnikov was a concept introduced to Dostoyevsky by the German Romantic writer, Hoffmann, and another writer, Nikolay Gogol. While writing Crime and Punishment, the influence of these three men came into play, as issues of family, society, and good versus evil were repeatedly brought up. Certain events in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s life affected him so deeply that they served as a model for similar scenes in Crime and Punishment. Two scenes in the story come directly from the experiences of the author at the time the novel was being formulated in Dostoyevsky’s mind. At the time, Petersburg newspapers were filled with stories of Gerasim Chistov, a man responsible for murdering two elderly ladies with a short-handled axe and stealing eleven rubles from them.
It is apparent that this coincides with the murder scene in the novel. Another scene took place that struck Dostoyevsky as being so tragic that he included it in his novel. Dostoyevsky witnessed a Tsar’s all-powerful courier driving off at high speed, viciously punching his peasant coachman. This inspired Raskolnikov’s dream of the beaten “skinny sorrel mare”, which made him plead to God, “Show me the way… I renounce that damned dream of mine.” (67). Evidently, these events affected Dostoyevsky so deeply that he managed to incorporate them into his novel. They inspired Dostoyevsky and allowed him to connect his real life to his literature. However, it was not only events that impacted the writing of Crime and Punishment.
Characters in the novel can easily be seen as having been depicted from individuals Dostoyevsky came across in his own life. Fyodor Dostoyevsky can most easily be compared with the dual-natured Raskolnikov. The similarities between the two are clear, as they are alike in beliefs and background. Just as Raskolnikov is a well-educated member of the intelligentsia, Dostoyevsky was a brilliant young man as well, after being educated in strict boarding schools. Dostoyevsky’s intelligence did not come to his aid financially. He had an inability to manage income or calculate his needs. He wound up in a vicious cycle of borrowing and spending that plagued him throughout his life.
Just as Raskolnikov, he too lived in a “square yard of space” and in debt to various people, especially his landlady. They both were preoccupied with thoughts of murder, robbery, religion, and alcohol. Dostoyevsky even published works in various journals dealing with these subjects. In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov shouts “I’ll pay, I’ll pay!” (180) to give money to the Marmeladovs to pay for doctor and funeral expenses when Marmeladov dies. Raskolnikov is financially unstable, yet gives his money away.
Dostoevsky himself was also given to this type of reckless generosity. He was also imprisoned and sent to Siberia on charges of aiming to overthrow the state. Through his punishment, he found redemption through suffering and Christianity, just as Raskolnikov did in the novel with the help of Marmeladov’s daughter Sonia. The similarities between the two are clear. Raskolnikov is a character based on the author himself, but that is not the only character in the novel that is derived from Dostoevsky’s very own life. Throughout Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky relives some of his own personal relationships through relationships between characters in the novel.
For example, Fyodor was very close to his own brother, Mikhail, just as Raskolnikov was close with his companion, Razumikhin. As a result of Raskolnikov being modeled on Dostoevsky, Razumikhin is very much alike Mikhail because of the relationship the two sets of men share. From day one, Mikhail was destined to be Fyodor’s closest friend and collaborator. He cared for Dostoevsky in times of physical, emotional, and financial need, just as Razumikhin did for Raskolnikov, especially when Raskolnikov was sick. Mikhail and Dostoevsky attended school together just as Raskolnikov and Razumikhin did as well. Having a caring individual in his life allowed Dostoevsky to imagine Razumikhin as being the supporter that he felt Raskolnikov needed throughout his life to understand him and be his only true companion.
The sweet and devoted universal symbol of human suffering is a role lived out in the novel in the form of Marmeladov’s prostitute daughter, Sonia. Sonia can be seen as a mix of two people that Dostoevsky cherished in his life. While in the Siberian camp, Dostoevsky met a peasant woman named Marey who comforted him “like a mother”. She inspired him with the Christian spirit of love and self-sacrifice, just the way Sonia does when she tells Raskolnikov to “Go to the Crossroads” to confess his wrongdoings and seek redemption. Dostoevsky’s niece, Sofia Alexandrovna Ivanovna, was also a model for the character of Sonia.
Sofia was a repository of Dostoevsky’s confessions and a person whom he felt completed his own personality by supplying an element of himself that he lacked. She showed him purity of heart, just as Sonia did in Crime and Punishment for Raskolnikov. Sonia is another classic example of a character directly influenced by individuals in the author’s life, who came about because of inspirational people in Dostoevsky’s life. Katherine Ivanovna, Sonia’s mother, and Marmeladov’s wife, was made in the image of Marya, Dostoevsky’s former wife. Like Katherine, Marya was at first married to a former army officer who was of a lower social status than her. When Dostoevsky met her, she inspired him to improve his lowly status, just as Katherine repeatedly tried to help the unemployed alcoholic Marmleladov.
When Dostoevsky created the character of Katherine Ivanovna, there is no doubt he had Marya in mind as the woman she was to be modeled on. However, it was not only people that Dostoevsky modeled aspects of his novel Crime and Punishment on. In Crime and Punishment, location is key to the novel’s story. The story takes place in St. Petersburg, a place where Dostoevsky lived in the 1840s and 1860s. At the time, poverty, drunks, and prostitutes filled the city and were thrown in the face of the author every day.
Living in such an environment influenced the author to create similar living conditions that are not conducive to healthy living. Personal experience of living in St. Petersburg laid the foundation for Dostoevsky’s setting in his novel, which creates an atmosphere of despair and hopelessness—feelings that were always far too common in the author’s life.
Kristine Carlo Period 1 December 20, 1999: Often in novels, the life of an author is reflected in his or her literature. For a writer, experience can serve not only as a teacher but also as the foundation of a story line. Some of the most well-known authors have used this Roman à clef technique, for example, Charles Dickens in his famous novel, David Copperfield. The Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, does this as well in his novel Crime and Punishment. Various individuals and occurrences from Dostoevsky’s life influenced the novel and its characters and themes. This shows that an author’s life serves as an inspiration to his or her writing and impacts the work as a whole.
Dostoevsky’s own family and childhood experiences had a tremendous impact on him as well as his literary works. As the second child in a line of seven, Dostoevsky lived a sad and lonely childhood. As a student in a respected boarding school, Dostoevsky felt unable to make contact with his peers and therefore isolated himself, just as the main character, Raskolnikov, isolated himself from the rest of society. His father was an ex-army surgeon for the poor, and his household was one of poverty, disease, and pain. The family was deeply religious, and Jesus was the ideal figure of Dostoevsky’s childhood faith. This brought about the preoccupation and obsession with suffering and Christianity that is dealt with in Crime and Punishment.
The central theme of poverty, illness, and anguish clearly reflect the tribulations Dostoyevsky endured in his troubled years growing up. It was not only these circumstances, but also several other individuals and events that influenced Dostoyevsky in his writing of the novel that is so closely related to his own life. Over the years, there were several specific individuals who took part in sculpting the views and opinions that influenced Fyodor Dostoyevsky so deeply. These views are some of those present in Crime and Punishment. Sir Walter Scott, a Scottish novelist, was one of those people. By the age of twelve, Dostoyevsky had read all of the man’s works, thus establishing the notion of family and human society.
This is an important aspect of the novel’s main character Raskolnikov, his sister Dunia, and mother Pulcheria Alexandrovna. The dual nature of the equally good and evil Raskolnikov was a concept introduced to Dostoyevsky by the German Romantic writer, Hoffman, and another writer Nikolay Gogal. While writing Crime and Punishment, the influence of these three men came into play, as these issues of family, society, and good versus evil are repeatedly brought up. Certain events in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s life affected him so deeply that they served as a model for similar scenes in Crime and Punishment. Two scenes in the story come directly from the experiences of the author at the time the novel was being formulated in Dostoyevsky’s mind. At the time, Petersburg newspapers were filled with stories of Gerasim Chistov, a man responsible for murdering two elderly ladies with a short-handled axe and stealing eleven rubles from them.
It is apparent that this coincides with the murder scene in the novel. Another scene took place that struck Dostoyevsky as being so tragic that he included it in his novel. Dostoyevsky witnessed a Tsar’s all-powerful courier driving off at high speed, viciously punching his peasant coachman. This inspired Raskolnikov’s dream of the beaten “skinny sorrel mare”, which made him plead to God, “Show me the way… I renounce that damned dream of mine.” (67).
Evidently, these events affected Dostoyevsky so deeply that he managed to incorporate them into his novel. They inspired Dostoyevsky and allowed him to connect his real life to his literature. However, it was not only events that impacted the writing of Crime and Punishment. Characters in the novel can easily be seen as having been depicted from individuals Dostoyevsky came across in his own life. Fyodor Dostoyevsky can most easily be compared with the dual-natured Raskolnikov. The similarities between the two are clear, as they are alike in beliefs and background.
Just as Raskolnikov is a well-educated member of the Intelligentsia, Dostoyevsky was a brilliant young man as well, after being educated in strict board schools. Dostoyevsky’s intelligence did not come to his aid financially. He had an inability to manage income or calculate his needs. He wound up in a vicious cycle of borrowing and spending that plagued him throughout his life. Just as Raskolnikov, he too lived in a “square yard of space” and in debt to various people, especially his landlady. They both were preoccupied with thoughts of murder, robbery, religion, and alcohol.
Dostoevsky even published works in various journals dealing with these subjects. In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov shouts, “I’ll pay, I’ll pay!” (180) to give money to the Marmeladovs to pay for doctor and funeral expenses when Marmeladov dies. Although Raskolnikov is financially unstable, he gives his money away. Dostoevsky himself was also given to this type of reckless generosity.
He was imprisoned and sent to Siberia on charges of aiming to overthrow the state. Through his punishment, he found redemption through suffering and Christianity, just as Raskolnikov did in the novel with the help of Marmeladov’s daughter Sonia. The similarities between the two are clear. Raskolnikov is a character based on the author himself, but he is not the only character in the novel derived from Dostoevsky’s own life. Throughout Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky relives some of his own personal relationships through the relationships between the characters in the novel.
For example, Fyodor was very close to his own brother, Mikhail, just as Raskolnikov was close to his companion, Razumikhin. As a result of Raskolnikov being modeled on Dostoevsky, Razumikhin is much like Mikhail because of the relationship that the two sets of men share. From day one, Mikhail was destined to be Fyodor’s closest friend and collaborator. He cared for Dostoevsky in times of physical, emotional, and financial need, just as Razumikhin did for Raskolnikov, especially when Raskolnikov was sick. Mikhail and Dostoevsky attended school together, just as Raskolnikov and Razumikhin did.
Having a caring individual in his life allowed Dostoevsky to imagine Razumikhin as the supporter he felt Raskolnikov needed throughout his life to understand him and be his only true companion. The sweet and devoted universal symbol of human suffering is a role lived out in the novel in the form of Marmeladov’s prostitute daughter, Sonia. Sonia can be seen as a mix of two people that Dostoevsky cherished in his life. While in the Siberian camp, Dostoevsky met a peasant woman named Marey, who comforted him “like a mother.” She inspired him with the Christian spirit of love and self-sacrifice, just as Sonia does when she tells Raskolnikov to “go to the Crossroads” to confess his wrongdoings and seek redemption. Dostoevsky’s niece, Sofia Alexandrovna Ivanovna, was also a model for the character of Sonia.
Sofia was a repository of Dostoevsky’s confessions and a person whom he felt completed his own personality by supplying an element of himself that he lacked. She showed him purity of heart, just as Sonia did in Crime and Punishment for Raskolnikov. Sonia is another classic example of a character directly influenced by individuals in the author’s life, who came about because of inspirational people in Dostoevsky’s life. Katherine Ivanovna, Sonia’s mother, and Marmeladov’s wife, was made in the image of Marya, Dostoevsky’s former wife. Like Katherine, Marya was at first married to a former army officer who was of a lower social status than her. When Dostoevsky met her, she inspired him to improve his lowly status, just as Katherine repeatedly tried to help the unemployed alcoholic Marmeladov.
“When Dostoyevsky created the character of Katherine Ivanovna, there is no doubt he had Marya in his mind as the woman she was to be modeled on. However, it was not only people that Dostoyevsky modeled in aspects of his novel Crime and Punishment. In Crime and Punishment, location is key to the novel’s story. The story takes place in St. Petersburg, a place where Dostoyevsky lived in the 1840s and 1860s. At the time, poverty, drunks, and prostitutes filled the city and were thrown in the face of the author every day.
Living in such an environment influenced the author to create similar living conditions that are not conducive to healthy living. Personal experience of living in St. Petersburg laid the foundation for Dostoyevsky’s setting in his novel, which is one that creates an atmosphere of despair and hopelessness – feelings that were always far too common in the author’s life.
