Russian Literature

¶ … Crime and Punishment" Christian symbolism offers an undercurrent throughout the novel which helps explain Raskolnikov's redemption at the end, and which offers Raskolnikov and the reader a way out of destructive over-rationality. In the first part of the novel Raskolnikov is an atheist, rejecting God and at the same time deificating himself. He believes that he is above God and it is his need to prove this that leads him to murder. He has rejected the Christian characteristics of humility and sacrifice.

This theme of Christian sacrifice is important throughout the novel. The very first mention of religion in the book is with the character Marmeladov in the tavern. He introduces the ideas of forgiveness, mercy and the power of suffering. At the same time insisting that everyone needs someone to turn to, "for every man must have somewhere to go. Since there are times when one absolutely must go somewhere!" (I, ii).

This is exactly what Raskolnikov will struggle to accept, though at the time of this passage he is not able to understand it, it acts as a prelude to what is to come. Marmeladov's statement, "hopelessly in the fullest sense, when you know beforehand that you will get nothing by it" (I, ii) reflects the fact that sacrifice is not rewarded. The next introduction of Christian sacrifice is with the character Sonia.

The first thing we learn about Sonia is that on her first night as a prostitute she earned 30 silver roubles.

Also evident is the pain that this caused her, "she did not utter a word, she did not even look at her, she simply picked up our big green drap de dames shawl (we have a shawl, made of drap de dames), put it over her head and face and lay down on the bed with her face to the wall; only her little shoulders and her body kept shuddering" (I, ii). The biblical reference here is to the thirty pieces of silver that Judah got for betraying Christ.

Sonia, in her prostitution has betrayed Christ and herself, yet she has been rewarded for it. This reference gives weight to Raskolnikov's struggle, that choosing what is right is not rewarded and adds to the reader's understanding of the difficulty of his struggle. Thirty roubles appears again several times in the story, the next instance in the letter where Raskolnikov's mother says, "perhaps I shall be able to send you twenty-five or even thirty roubles" (I, iii) and then repeats this.

It is relevant that this thirty roubles enters the story because of his sister's impending marriage, a marriage Dunia is doing out of requirement rather than love. It is the same theme of sacrifice being represented again. Believing that he is extraordinary enough to overstep the boundaries of man, Raskilnokov commits the murder. It is after the murder that his struggle really begins. His internal struggle between rationalism and Christian values is seen in that he turns to both Sonia and Porfiry after the crime.

His meetings with Sonia and Porfiry represent his internal struggle between what his mind seeks and what his heart seeks. Sonia represents the Christian side of Raskolnikov's struggle. After committing the murder, Raskolnikov seeks out Sonia and confesses his crime to her. Sonia represents Rakolnikov's heart, what Raskolnikov knows is right but cannot logically accept. After the murder, the second person Raskolnikov confesses to is Porfiry Petrovich. Porfiry is the opposite of Sonia in that he represents the rational, that is the head over the heart.

He is a detective, a detective is one who seeks out evidence and proof and this further implies him as representing the rational 'head over the heart' approach. After committing the murder we see that Raskolnikov is torn between Christian and non-Christian values. He attempts to pray but then laughs at himself, thus laughing at the part of him that seeks Christian values. In part IV, Raskolnikov meets with Svidrigaylov. Svidrigaylov represents what Raskolnikov's rational side is trying to achieve.

Svidrigaylov has abolished all Christian values and fully accepted a rational approach. Svidrigaylov refers to eternity as a country bath-house "covered with soot and with spiders crawling along all the corners" (IV, ii). This is a reference to the resurrection of Lazarus. Svidrigaylov shows both Raskolnikov and the reader that fully rejecting non-Christian values does not lead to saviour, it shows the error in Raskolnikov's thinking. We see the final failure of Svidrigaylov where he shoots himself.

While Svidrigaylov represents what happens if you fully accept non-Christian values, Sonia represents what happens if you do. Sonia in the novel represents all that is good, she is the perfect Christian person. She loves others even with their failings, including Raskolnikov. In the end it is Sonia as a Christian and her pure side that saves Raskolnikov, showing that what is irrational can overcome what is rational. He accepts her love, where love is part of the irrational values associated with Christian values.

Like Christ, love is not rational nor verifiable, it is something that must be believed in. When Raskolnikov accepts love, he accepts God also. The symbol in the story most related to Christian values is the cross. It is most obvious in the final scene where Raskolnikov returns to Sonia and tells her he is going to prison saying, "I have come for your cross, Sonia. It was you told me to go to the cross roads; why is it you are frightened now it's come to that?" (VI, viii).

Here the cross represents that he is asking for something more from Sonia, he wants to ask for her heart and her Christian ways but he is unable to, "that's all- that's all I came for. But I thought I had more to say" (VI, viii). The cross roads here also takes on greater meaning than just as a junction of two roads. It represents the path where Raskolnikov will surrender to the cross, that is to love and to Christian values.

Raskolnikov remembers her advice, "go to the cross roads, bow down to the people, kiss the earth, for you have sinned against it too, and say aloud to the whole world, 'I am a murderer,'" (VI, viii) but even in following it he is not able to accept it. The meaning here is that the cross means nothing unless it's values are accepted into the heart. In the end of the story, it is a dream that finally allows Raskilnokov to accept Christian values into his heart.

He dreams of the world that his rational self was seeking, a world where Christian values have been.