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Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova is one of the bright secondary heroines of the novel “Crime and Punishment”.
The image and characterization of Katerina Ivanovna in the novel “Crime and Punishment”: description of appearance and character in quotes.
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The image and characteristics of Katerina Ivanovna in the novel “Crime and Punishment”: description of appearance and character in quotes
Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova is the wife of the official Marmeladov.
Katerina Ivanovna’s age is about 30 years:
“She seemed to Raskolnikov to be about thirty years old, and really was not a match for Marmeladov...” Katerina Ivanovna - an unhappy, sick woman:
“Bila! What are you talking about! Lord, it hit me! And even if she beat me, so what! So what? You know nothing, nothing. She's so unhappy, oh, so unhappy! And sick. " Katerina Ivanovna is an educated, well-mannered woman from a good family. The heroine’s father was a court councilor (a fairly high rank according to the “Table of Ranks”):
". she is the daughter of a court councilor and a gentleman, and therefore, in fact, almost a colonel’s daughter.” ". Dad was a civil colonel and already almost a governor; he only had one step left, so everyone went to him and said: “We really consider you, Ivan Mikhailych, to be our governor.” ". Katerina Ivanovna, my wife, is an educated person and born a staff officer’s daughter. " ". she is educated and well-mannered and has a well-known surname. " Katerina Ivanovna was born and raised in the city of T. somewhere in the outback of Russia:
". will certainly start in his hometown T. boarding house. "
Unfortunately, Katerina Ivanovna did not find happiness in her marriage to Marmeladov. Apparently, a more or less stable life lasted about a year. Then Marmeladov started drinking and the family fell into poverty:
It was quotation image and the characterization of Katerina Ivanovna in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky: description of appearance and character in quotes.
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Crime and Punishment (Part 5, Chapter 5)
Lebezyatnikov looked alarmed.
- I’m coming to you, Sofya Semyonovna. Sorry. “I thought that I would find you,” he suddenly turned to Raskolnikov, “that is, I didn’t think anything. like that. but that's exactly what I thought. There, Katerina Ivanovna has gone crazy,” he suddenly snapped at Sonya, abandoning Raskolnikov.
- That is, at least that’s what it seems like. However. We don’t know what to do there, that’s what! She returned - she seemed to have been kicked out from somewhere, maybe beaten. at least it seems so. She ran to the boss Semyon Zakharych, but didn’t find him at home; he dined with some general, too. Imagine, she waved to where they were having lunch. to this other general, and, imagine, she insisted, called the chief Semyon Zakharych, and, it seems, from behind the table. You can imagine what happened there. She was, of course, kicked out; and she says that she herself scolded him and threw something at him. This can even be assumed. I don’t understand how they didn’t take her! Now she tells everyone, and Amalia Ivanovna, but it’s hard to understand, she screams and fights. Oh yes: she says and shouts that since everyone has now abandoned her, she will take the children and go out into the street, carry a barrel organ, and the children will sing and dance, and she too, and collect money, and every day under the general’s window walk. “Let them,” he says, “see how the noble children of an official father walk the streets as beggars!” He hits all the children, they cry. Lenya teaches him to sing “Khutorok”, teaches the boy to dance, Polina Mikhailovna too, tears all her dresses; makes them some kind of hats, like actors; she herself wants to carry a basin to pound, instead of music. He doesn't listen to anything. Imagine how it is? This is simply not possible!
Lebezyatnikov would have continued further, but Sonya, who was listening to him barely catching her breath, suddenly grabbed her mantle and hat and ran out of the room, getting dressed as she ran. Raskolnikov followed her out, Lebezyatnikov behind him.
- I'm definitely crazy! - he said to Raskolnikov, going out into the street with him, - I just didn’t want to frighten Sofya Semyonovna and said: “it seems,” but there is no doubt. These, they say, are such tubercles that jump up on the brain in consumption; It's a pity that I don't know medicine. However, I tried to convince her, but she doesn’t listen to anything.
— Did you tell her about the tubercles?
- That is, not really about the tubercles. Moreover, she would not have understood anything. But I’m talking about this: if you convince a person logically that, in essence, he has nothing to cry about, then he will stop crying. It is clear. What about your belief that it won’t stop?
“It would be too easy to live then,” Raskolnikov answered.
- Allow me, allow me; of course, it’s quite difficult for Katerina Ivanovna to understand; but do you know that serious experiments have already taken place in Paris regarding the possibility of curing crazy people, acting only by logical conviction? One professor there, who recently died, a serious scientist, imagined that this could be treated. Its main idea is that crazy people do not have any special disorder in their bodies, but that madness is, so to speak, a logical error, an error in judgment, an incorrect view of things. He gradually refuted the patient and, imagine, he achieved, they say, results! But since he also used du’shi, the results of this treatment are, of course, questioned. At least that's what it seems like.
Raskolnikov has not listened for a long time. Having reached his house, he nodded his head to Lebezyatnikov and turned into the gateway. Lebezyatnikov woke up, looked around and ran on.
Raskolnikov entered his closet and stood in the middle of it. “Why did he come back here?” He looked around at this yellowish, shabby wallpaper, this dust, his couch. Some sharp, continuous knocking came from the yard; Something somewhere seemed to be hammered in, some kind of nail. He went to the window, stood on tiptoe and looked out into the yard for a long time, with an air of extreme attention. But the yard was empty, and no one was visible who was knocking. To the left, in the outbuilding, open windows could be seen here and there; There were pots of thin geraniums on the windowsills. Laundry was hung outside the windows. He knew all this by heart. He turned away and sat down on the sofa.
Never, never before had he felt so terribly alone!
Yes, he felt once again that perhaps he would really hate Sonya, and precisely now that he had made her more unhappy. “Why did he go to her to ask for her tears? Why does he need to eat up her life so much? Oh, meanness!
- I'll be left alone! “he said suddenly decisively, “and she won’t go to prison!”
About five minutes later he raised his head and smiled strangely. It was a strange thought: “Maybe it really is better in hard labor,” he suddenly thought.
He didn't remember how long he sat in his room with vague thoughts crowding his head. Suddenly the door opened and Avdotya Romanovna entered. She first stopped and looked at him from the threshold, as he had looked at Sonya just now; then she walked over and sat down opposite him on the chair, in her place yesterday. He looked at her silently and somehow without thought.
“Don’t be angry, brother, I’ll only be there for one minute,” said Dunya. The expression on her face was thoughtful, but not stern. The look was clear and quiet. He saw that this one also came to him with love.
- Brother, now I know everything, everything. Dmitry Prokofich explained and told me everything. You are being persecuted and tortured on stupid and vile suspicion. Dmitry Prokofich told me that there is no danger and that it is in vain that you accept this with such horror. I don’t think so and I fully understand how indignant everything is in you and that this indignation can leave traces forever. This is what I'm afraid of. Because you abandoned us, I do not judge you and do not dare to judge you, and forgive me for reproaching you before. I feel for myself that if I had such great grief, I would also leave everyone. I won’t tell my mother anything about this, but I will talk about you continuously and say on your behalf that you will come very soon. Don't worry about her; I will calm her down; but don’t torture her either - come at least once; remember that she is a mother! And now I just came to say (Dunya began to get up from her seat) what if, in case, you need me or need me for anything. my whole life or what. then call me, I will come. Goodbye!
She turned sharply and walked towards the door.
- Dunya! - Raskolnikov stopped her, stood up and approached her, - this Razumikhin, Dmitry Prokofich, is a very good person.
Dunya blushed a little.
“Well,” she asked after waiting a minute.
“He is a business man, hardworking, honest and capable of loving deeply. Goodbye, Dunya.
Dunya flushed all over, then suddenly became alarmed:
- What is this, brother, are we really parting forever? do you make such wills?
- Doesn't matter. Goodbye.
He turned away and walked away from her to the window. She stood there, looked at him worriedly, and left in alarm.
No, he was not cold towards her. There was one moment (the very last) when he terribly wanted to hug her tightly and say goodbye to her, and even say, but he did not even dare to shake his hand to her:
“Then, perhaps, she will shudder when she remembers that I was hugging her now, and will say that I stole her kiss!”
“Will this one hold up or not? - he added a few minutes later to himself. - No, it won’t stand it; I can't stand it like that! These guys never last. "
And he thought about Sonya.
There was a breath of freshness from the window. The light in the yard was no longer shining so brightly. He suddenly took his cap and went out.
He, of course, could not, and did not want to, take care of his painful condition. But all this continuous anxiety and all this mental horror could not pass without consequences. And if he was not yet lying in a real fever, then perhaps it was precisely because this internal, continuous anxiety still kept him on his feet and conscious, but somehow artificially, for a time.
He wandered aimlessly. The sun was setting. Some kind of special melancholy began to tell itself in him. Lately. There was nothing particularly caustic or burning in it; but she smelled of something constant, eternal; she had a presentiment of the hopeless years of this cold, deadening melancholy; she had a presentiment of some kind of eternity at the “yard of space.” In the evening hour this feeling usually began to torment him even more strongly.
“With these stupid, purely physical infirmities, depending on some kind of sunset, stop doing something stupid!” Not just to Sonya, but to Dunya! - he muttered hatefully.
They called out to him. He looked back; Lebezyatnikov rushed to him.
- Imagine, I was at your place, looking for you. Imagine, she fulfilled her intention and took the children away! Sofia Semyonovna and I found them with great effort. She hits the frying pan herself and makes the children sing and dance. Children are crying. They stop at intersections and at benches. Stupid people are running after them. Let's go.
- And Sonya. - Raskolnikov asked anxiously, hurrying after Lebezyatnikov.
- Just in a frenzy. That is, not Sofya Semyonovna in a frenzy, but Katerina Ivanovna; and by the way, Sofya Semyonovna is in a frenzy. And Katerina Ivanovna is completely in a frenzy. I'm telling you, I'm completely crazy. They will be taken to the police. You can imagine how this will work. They are now on the ditch near the bridge, very close to Sofya Semyonovna. Close.
On the ditch, not very far from the bridge and not two houses away from the house where Sonya lived, a crowd of people crowded together. Boys and girls especially came running. Katerina Ivanovna’s hoarse, torn voice could be heard from the bridge. Indeed, it was a strange spectacle that could interest the street audience. Katerina Ivanovna, in her old dress, in her draped shawl and in her broken straw hat, knocked down in an ugly lump on the side, was truly in a real frenzy. She was tired and out of breath. Her exhausted, consumptive face looked more suffering than ever (besides, on the street, in the sun, a consumptive always seems sicker and more disfigured than at home); but her excited state did not stop, and she became even more irritated every minute. She rushed to the children, shouted at them, persuaded them, taught them right there in front of the people how to dance and sing, began to explain to them what this was for, came into despair at their lack of understanding, and beat them. Then, without finishing, she rushed towards the audience; If she noticed a slightly well-dressed person who stopped to look, she immediately began to explain to him that this is, they say, what children “from a noble, one might even say, an aristocratic house” have been reduced to. If she heard laughter or some bullying word in the crowd, she immediately pounced on the daring ones and began to scold them. Some actually laughed, others shook their heads; Everyone was generally curious to look at the madwoman with the frightened children. The frying pan Lebezyatnikov spoke about did not exist; at least I didn’t see Raskolnikov; but instead of knocking on the frying pan, Katerina Ivanovna began clapping her dry palms to the beat when she made Polechka sing and Lenya and Kolya dance; and she even started to sing along, but each time she broke off on the second note from a painful cough, which made her fall into despair again, curse her cough and even cry. What drove her crazy the most was the crying and fear of Kolya and Leni. Indeed, there was an attempt to dress up children in costume, like street singers and singers dress up. The boy was wearing a turban made of something red and white so that he could pretend to be a Turk. There weren’t enough suits for Lenya; All she had done was put on her head a red cap (or, better said, cap) of the late Semyon Zakharych, knitted from garus, and stuck into the cap was a piece of a white ostrich feather that had belonged to Katerina Ivanovna’s grandmother and had hitherto been preserved in the chest as a family rarity. Polechka was in her ordinary dress. She looked at her mother timidly and lost, did not leave her side, hid her tears, guessed about her mother’s insanity and restlessly looked around. The street and the crowd scared her terribly. Sonya constantly followed Katerina Ivanovna, crying and begging her every minute to return home. But Katerina Ivanovna was inexorable.
- Stop it, Sonya, stop it! - she shouted quickly, hurrying, choking and coughing. “You don’t know what you’re asking for, like a child!” I already told you that I’m not going back to this drunken German woman. Let everyone, all of St. Petersburg, see how the children of a noble father, who served faithfully and truly all his life and, one might say, died in service, beg for alms. (Katerina Ivanovna has already managed to create this fantasy for herself and believe it blindly.) Let, let this worthless general see. Yes, and you are stupid, Sonya: what is there now, tell me? We've tormented you enough, I don't want any more! Ah, Rodion Romanych, it’s you! - she screamed, seeing Raskolnikov and rushing to him, - please explain to this fool that nothing smarter can be done! Even the organ grinders make money, and everyone will immediately recognize us, they will know that we are a poor noble family of orphans reduced to poverty, and this general will lose his job, you’ll see! Every day we will walk under his windows, and the Emperor will pass by, I will kneel down, put them all forward and point to them: “Protect, father!” He is the father of all orphans, he is merciful, he will protect, you will see, and the general of this. Lenya! Tenez-vous droite! You, Kolya, will now dance again. Why are you whining? Whining again! Well, what are you afraid of, you fool! God! What should I do with him, Rodion Romanych! If only you knew how stupid they are! Well, what can you do with these?
And she, almost crying herself (which did not interfere with her continuous and incessant patter), pointed out to him the whining children. Raskolnikov tried to convince her to come back and even said, thinking to affect her pride, that it was indecent for her to walk the streets like organ grinders walk, because she was preparing herself to be the headmistress of a noble boarding school for girls.
- Boarding house, ha ha ha! Glorious are the tambourines beyond the mountains! - Katerina Ivanovna cried, immediately breaking into a cough after laughing, - no, Rodion Romanych, the dream has passed! Everyone abandoned us. And this general. You know, Rodion Romanych, I threw an inkwell at him - here, in the footman’s room, by the way, it was standing on the table, next to the sheet on which they were signing, and I signed, let him in, and ran away. Oh, vile, vile. I don't care; Now I will feed these myself, I will not bow to anyone! We tormented her enough! (She pointed to Sonya.) Polechka, show me how much you collected? How? Just two kopecks? Oh, vile ones! They don’t give us anything, they just run after us with their tongues hanging out! Why is this idiot laughing? (she pointed to one of the crowd). This is all because this Kolka is so slow-witted, there’s a lot of fuss with him! What do you want, Polechka? Speak to me in French, parlez-moi francais. After all, I taught you, because you know several phrases. Otherwise, how can you tell that you are from a noble family, well-mannered children and not at all like all the organ grinders; We’re not presenting some kind of “Petrushka” on the streets, but we’ll sing a noble romance. Oh yes! What should we sing? You all interrupt me, and we... you see, we stopped here, Rodion Romanych, to choose what to sing, so that Kolya could dance. Therefore, you can imagine, we have all this without preparation; we need to come to an agreement so that everything is completely rehearsed, and then we will go to Nevsky, where there are many more people of high society and they will immediately notice us: Lenya knows “Khutorok”. It’s just “Khutorok” and “Khutorok”, and everyone sings it! We should sing something much nobler. Well, what did you come up with, Polya, at least you could help your mother! I have no memory, I would remember! It’s not really “Hussar leaning on a saber” to sing! Oh, let’s sing “Cinq sous” in French! I taught you, I taught you. And most importantly, since it is in French, they will immediately see that you are the children of nobles, and it will be much more touching. One could even say: “Malborough s’en va-t-en guerre,” since this is a completely children’s song and is used in all aristocratic houses when they lull children to sleep.
Malborough s'en va-t-en guerre,
Ne sait quand reviendra. - she began to sing. - But no, “Cinq sous” is better! Well, Kolya, put your hands on your sides, quickly, and you, Lenya, also turn in the opposite direction, and Polechka and I will sing along and clap!
Cinq sous, cinq sous,
Pour monter notre menage. Khi-khi-khi! (And she rolled from coughing.) Straighten your dress, Polechka, the shoulders are down,” she noticed through her cough, resting. - Now you especially need to behave decently and thin leg so that everyone can see that you are children of nobles. I said then that the bra should be cut longer and, moreover, in two panels. It was you then, Sonya, with your advice: “In short, in short,” so it turned out that the child was completely disfigured. Well, you're all crying again! Why are you stupid! Well, Kolya, start quickly, quickly, quickly - oh, what an obnoxious child he is.
Cinq sous, cinq sous. Soldier again! Well, what do you want?
Indeed, policemen will push their way through the crowd. But at the same time, one gentleman in a uniform and an overcoat, a respectable official of about fifty, with an order around his neck (the latter was very pleasant for Katerina Ivanovna and influenced the policeman), approached and silently handed Katerina Ivanovna a three-ruble green credit card. His face expressed sincere compassion. Katerina Ivanovna accepted and politely, even ceremoniously, bowed to him.
“Thank you, dear sir,” she began haughtily, “for the reasons that prompted us.” take the money, Polechka. You see, there are noble and generous people who are immediately ready to help a poor noblewoman in misfortune. You see, dear sir, noble orphans, one might even say, with the most aristocratic connections. And this general sat and ate hazel grouse. He stamped his feet because I bothered him. “Your Excellency, I say, protect the orphans, knowing very well, I say, the late Semyon Zakharych, and since he my own daughter the meanest of scoundrels slandered him on the day of his death. "That soldier again! Protect! - she shouted to the official, - why is this soldier bothering me? We already ran away from one here from Meshchanskaya. Well, what do you care, fool!
— That’s why it’s prohibited on the streets, sir. Don't be disgraceful.
- You yourself are a disgrace! It’s like I’m walking around with a barrel organ, what do you care?
“As for the barrel organ, you need to have permission, but you yourself, sir, confuse people in this manner.” Where would you like to lodge?
- How permission! - Katerina Ivanovna screamed. “I buried my husband today, what permission is there!”
“Madam, madam, calm down,” the official began, “come on, I’ll get you there.” It's indecent in the crowd here. you are unwell.
- Dear sir, dear sir, you know nothing! - Katerina Ivanovna shouted, - we’ll go to Nevsky, - Sonya, Sonya! Where is she? She's crying too! What's wrong with you all? Kolya, Lenya, where are you going? - she suddenly screamed in fright, - oh stupid children! Kolya, Lenya, where are they going?
It so happened that Kolya and Lenya, frightened to the last degree by the street crowd and the antics of their crazy mother, finally seeing a soldier who wanted to take them and lead them somewhere, suddenly, as if by agreement, grabbed each other by the arms and rushed to run. Screaming and crying, poor Katerina Ivanovna rushed to catch up with them. It was ugly and pathetic to look at her running, crying, gasping for breath. Sonya and Polechka rushed after her.
- Turn them in, turn them back, Sonya! O stupid, ungrateful children. Fields! catch them. I am for you.
She stumbled while running and fell.
- It broke into blood! Oh my God! - Sonya screamed, bending over her.
Everyone came running, everyone crowded around. Raskolnikov and Lebezyatnikov were the first to run up; The official also hurried, followed by the policeman, grumbling: “Eh-ma!” and waving his hand, anticipating that things would turn out to be troublesome.
- Let's go! let's go! - he dispersed the people crowded around.
- He's dying! - someone shouted.
- Lost her mind! - said another.
- Lord, save me! - said one woman, crossing herself. — Were the girl and the boy angry? There they go, the eldest one intercepted. Look, crazy ones!
But when they took a good look at Katerina Ivanovna, they saw that she had not broken into a stone at all, as Sonya thought, but that the blood that had stained the pavement was gushing from her chest in her throat.
“I know that, I saw it,” the official muttered to Raskolnikov and Lebezyatnikov, “it’s consumption, sir; blood will gush out and crush you. With one of my relatives, just recently I was a witness, and that’s about a glass and a half. suddenly, sir. What should I do, though, if he’s going to die now?
- Here, here, to me! - Sonya begged, - this is where I live. This is the house, the second one from here. Come to me, quickly, quickly. - she rushed to everyone. - Send for the doctor. Oh my God!
Through the efforts of the official, this matter was settled; even the policeman helped carry Katerina Ivanovna. They brought her to Sonya almost dead and laid her on the bed. The bleeding still continued, but she seemed to be beginning to come to her senses. In addition to Sonya, Raskolnikov and Lebezyatnikov, an official and a policeman entered the room at once, having first dispersed the crowd, some of whom were escorted to the very doors. Polechka led in, holding hands, Kolya and Lenya, who were trembling and crying. They also agreed from the Capernaumovs: he himself, lame and crooked, a strange-looking man with bristly, erect hair and sideburns; his wife, who looked somehow forever frightened, and several of their children, with faces stiff from constant surprise and with open mouths. Among this entire audience, Svidrigailov suddenly appeared. Raskolnikov looked at him in surprise, not understanding where he came from and not remembering him in the crowd.
They talked about the doctor and the priest. Although the official whispered to Raskolnikov that it seemed that the doctor was now superfluous, he ordered to send. Kapernaumov himself ran.
Meanwhile, Katerina Ivanovna caught her breath and the blood drained away for a while. She looked with a painful, but intent and penetrating gaze at the pale and trembling Sonya, who was wiping drops of sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief; Finally, she asked me to lift myself up. They sat her on the bed, holding her on both sides.
Blood still covered her dry lips. She rolled her eyes around, looking around:
- So this is how you live, Sonya! I've never been to your place. happened.
She looked at her with suffering:
- We sucked you, Sonya. Polya, Lenya, Kolya, come here. Well, here they are, Sonya, that's it, take them. from hand to hand. that's enough for me. The ball is over! G'a. Put me down, at least let me die in peace.
She was lowered back onto the pillow.
- What? Priest. No need. Where do you have an extra ruble? I have no sins. God must forgive anyway. He himself knows how much I suffered. If he doesn’t forgive, then there’s no need.
A restless delirium overcame her more and more. Sometimes she shuddered, looked around, recognized everyone for a minute; but immediately consciousness again gave way to delirium. She was breathing hoarsely and difficultly, as if something was bubbling in her throat.
“I tell him: “Your Excellency. “- she shouted, resting after each word, “this Amalia Ludvigovna. Oh! Lenya, Kolya! hands on your sides, hurry, hurry, glissé-glissé, pas de basque! Knock your feet. Be a graceful child.
Du hast die schonsten Augen,
Madchen, was willst du mehr? Well, yes, how could it not be! was willst du mehr, - he’ll make it up, you idiot. Oh yes, here's another one:
In the midday heat, in the valley of Dagestan. Oh, how I loved it. I loved this romance to the point of adoration, Polechka. you know, your father. I sang as a groom. Oh, the days. If only we could sing! Well, of course, of course. So I forgot. Yes, remind me, how? “She was extremely excited and tried to get up. Finally, in a terrible, hoarse, breaking voice, she began, screaming and gasping for breath on every word, with an air of increasing fear:
In the midday heat. in the valley. Dagestan.
With lead in my chest. Your Excellency! - she suddenly screamed with a tearing scream and bursting into tears, - protect the orphans! Knowing the bread and salt of the late Semyon Zakharych. One might even say aristocratic. G'a! - She suddenly shuddered, coming to her senses and looking at everyone with some horror, but immediately recognized Sonya. - Sonya, Sonya! - she said meekly and affectionately, as if surprised that she saw her in front of her, - Sonya, dear, are you here too?
They lifted her up again.
- Enough. It's time. Goodbye, poor fellow. They drove away the nag. I tore it! - she screamed desperately and hatefully and slammed her head on the pillow.
She forgot herself again, but this last oblivion did not last long. Her pale yellow, withered face was thrown back, her mouth opened, her legs stretched out convulsively. She took a deep, deep breath and died.
Sonya fell on her corpse, wrapped her arms around her and froze, pressing her head to the withered chest of the deceased. Polechka fell at her mother’s feet and kissed them, crying bitterly. Kolya and Lenya, not yet understanding what had happened, but anticipating something very terrible, grabbed each other by the shoulders with both hands and, staring at each other with their eyes, suddenly together, at once, opened their mouths and began to scream. Both were still in suits: one in a turban, the other in a skull cap with an ostrich feather.
And how did this “letter of commendation” suddenly end up on the bed, next to Katerina Ivanovna? He was lying right there, by the pillow; Raskolnikov saw him.
He went to the window. Lebezyatnikov ran up to him.
- She died! - said Lebezyatnikov.
“Rodion Romanovich, I have two necessary words to convey to you,” Svidrigailov approached. Lebezyatnikov immediately gave way and delicately concealed himself. Svidrigailov took the surprised Raskolnikov even further into the corner.
“I take care of all this fuss, that is, the funeral and so on.” You know, if I had money, but I told you that I have extra. I will place these two chicks and this Polechka in some better orphanage institutions and put one thousand five hundred rubles in capital for each until they reach adulthood, so that Sofya Semyonovna will be completely at peace. Yes, and I’ll pull her out of the pool, because good girl, is not it? Well, then tell Avdotya Romanovna that I used her ten thousand just like that.
- For what purpose have you become so disinterested? - asked Raskolnikov.
- Eh! The man is incredulous! - Svidrigailov laughed. - After all, I said that I have extra money. Well, because of humanity, you simply don’t allow it, or what? After all, she was not a “louse” (he pointed his finger at the corner where the deceased was), like some old woman pawnbroker. Well, you must agree, well, “Should Luzhin really live and do abominations, or should she die?” And if I didn’t help, “Polechka, for example, will go there, along the same road. "
He said this in an air of some winking, cheerful roguishness, without taking his eyes off Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov turned pale and cold, hearing his own expressions spoken to Sonya. He quickly recoiled and looked wildly at Svidrigailov.
- Why? You know? - he whispered, barely catching his breath.
“But I’m standing here, across the wall, at Madame Resslich’s.” Here is Kapernaumov, and there is Madame Resslich, an old and most devoted friend. Neighbor, sir.
“I,” continued Svidrigailov, shaking with laughter, “and I can with honor assure you, dear Rodion Romanovich, that you surprisingly interested me.” After all, I said that we would get together, I predicted this for you, and so we got along. And you will see what a flexible person I am. You will see that you can still live with me.
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Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova is one of the brightest and touching images created by Dostoevsky in the novel “Crime and Punishment”.
This article presents the fate of Katerina Ivanovna in the novel “Crime and Punishment”: life story, biography of the heroine.
The fate of Katerina Ivanovna in the novel “Crime and Punishment”: life story, biography of the heroine
Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova - educated, clever woman from a decent family. Katerina Ivanovna's father was a civil colonel. Apparently, the heroine is a noblewoman by origin. At the time of the story in the novel, Katerina Ivanovna is about 30 years old.
In her youth, Katerina Ivanovna graduated from an institute for girls somewhere in the provinces. According to her, she had worthy fans. But young Katerina Ivanovna fell in love with an infantry officer named Mikhail. The father did not approve of this marriage (probably the groom really was not worthy of his daughter). As a result, the girl ran away from home and got married without her parents' consent.
Unfortunately, Katerina Ivanovna’s beloved husband turned out to be an unreliable person. He loved to play cards and was eventually put on trial and died. As a result, at the age of about 26, Katerina Ivanovna remained a widow with three children. She fell into poverty. Her relatives turned their backs on her.
At this time, Katerina Ivanovna met the official Marmeladov. He took pity on the unfortunate widow and offered her his hand and heart. This union did not take place Great love, but out of pity. Katerina Ivanovna married Marmeladov only because she had nowhere to go. In fact, the young and educated Katerina Ivanovna was no match for Marmeladov.
Marriage to Marmeladov did not bring happiness to Katerina Ivanovna and did not save her from poverty. One year later life together Marmeladov lost his job and started drinking. The family fell into poverty. Despite all the efforts of his wife, Marmeladov never managed to quit drinking and build a career.
At the time of the events described in the novel, Katerina Ivanovna and her husband Marmeladov have been married for 4 years. The Marmeladovs have been living in St. Petersburg for 1.5 years. By this time, Katerina Ivanovna had fallen ill with consumption. She had no dresses left, and her husband Marmeladov even drank away her stockings and scarf.
Seeing the desperate situation of the family, Katerina Ivanovna’s stepdaughter, Sonya Marmeladova, began to engage in “indecent” work. Thanks to this, the Marmeladovs received their livelihood. Katerina Ivanovna was sincerely grateful to Sonya for this sacrifice.
Soon, tragedy struck the Marmeladov family: a drunken Marmeladov was run over by a horse on the street and died on the same day. Katerina Ivanovna fell into despair, since she did not even have money for her husband’s funeral. Raskolnikov helped the unfortunate widow by giving his last money.
On the day of her husband’s funeral, Katerina Ivanovna behaved strangely, showing signs of madness: together with her children, she staged a performance on the street. Here she accidentally fell and started bleeding. On the same day the woman died.
After the death of Katerina Ivanovna, her three children were left orphans. Mr. Svidrigailov helped arrange the future of the poor orphans: he placed all three in one orphanage (which was not always done), and also deposited some capital into their account.
This is the fate of Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky: life story, biography of the heroine.
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Death of Katerina Ivanovna
Katerina Ivanovna has gone crazy. She ran to former boss the deceased to ask for protection, but she was kicked out of there, and now the crazy woman is going to go begging on the street, forcing the children to sing and dance.
Sonya grabbed her mantilla and hat and ran out of the room, getting dressed as she ran. The men followed her. Lebezyatnikov talked about the reasons for Katerina Ivanovna’s madness, but Raskolnikov did not listen, but, reaching his house, nodded his head to his companion and turned into the gateway.
Lebezyatnikov and Sonya forcibly found Katerina Ivanovna - not far from here, on the canal. The widow is completely crazy: she hits the frying pan, makes the children dance, they cry; they are about to be taken to the police.
We hurried to the canal, where a crowd had already gathered. Hoarse voice Katerina Ivanovna could be heard from the bridge. She, tired and out of breath, either screamed at the crying children, whom she dressed in some old clothes, trying to give them the appearance of street performers, or rushed to the people and talked about her unfortunate fate.
She forced Polechka to sing and the younger ones to dance. Sonya followed her stepmother and, sobbing, begged to return home, but she was inexorable. Seeing Raskolnikov, Katerina Ivanovna told everyone that he was her benefactor.
Meanwhile, the main ugly scene was still ahead: a policeman was squeezing his way through the crowd. At the same time, some respectable gentleman silently handed Katerina Ivanovna a three-ruble note, and the distraught woman began to ask
him to protect them from the policeman.
The younger children, frightened by the police, grabbed each other's hands and started running.
Katerina Ivanovna rushed after them, but tripped and fell. Polechka brought the fugitives, the widow was raised. It turned out that blood was gushing out of her throat from the blow.
Through the efforts of a respectable official, everything was settled. Katerina Ivanovna was carried to Sonya and laid on the bed.
The bleeding continued, but she began to come to her senses. Sonya, Raskolnikov, Lebezyatnikov, an official with a policeman, Polechka holding the hands of the younger children, the Kapernaumov family gathered in the room, and among all this audience Svidrigailov suddenly appeared.
They sent for a doctor and a priest. Katerina Ivanovna looked with a painful gaze at Sonya, who was wiping drops of sweat from her forehead, then asked her to raise herself and, seeing the children, calmed down.
She began to rave again, then forgot herself for a while, and then her withered face fell back, her mouth opened, her legs stretched out convulsively, she took a deep breath and died. Sonya and the children were crying.
Raskolnikov went to the window, Svidrigailov approached him and said that he would take on all the troubles about the funeral, place the children in the best orphanage, put one thousand five hundred rubles for each until they reach adulthood, and pull Sofya Semyonovna out of this pool.
A minor character in the novel Crime and Punishment. The wife of the official Marmeladov, stepmother, a poor woman of 30 years old, dies due to consumption (tuberculosis).
History of creation
The probable prototype of Katerina Ivanovna is Dostoevsky’s first wife, Maria Dmitrievna, who died due to tuberculosis at thirty-nine years old. According to contemporaries, Maria Dmitrievna was a passionate and exalted woman, and Dostoevsky copied the heroine from her at a time when his wife was already in the last stage of her illness.
Some episodes in the life of Maria Dmitrievna are similar to what happened to the fictional heroine in Dostoevsky’s novel. Before marrying the writer, Marina Dmitrievna was already married and after the death of her first husband she was left alone in the middle of Siberia with her son in her arms, without support from relatives or friends.
The image of Katerina Ivanovna has another possible prototype - a certain Marfa Brown, an acquaintance of Dostoevsky. A lady who married a hard-drinking literary man and ended up in a situation of dire poverty. Katerina Ivanovna’s character is similar to this woman.
"Crime and Punishment"
Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova is the wife of Mr. Marmeladov, a drunkard official who is already over fifty. Katerina Ivanovna herself is about thirty years old. This unfortunate and sick woman comes from the family of a court councilor, is well brought up and educated. The heroine's father was an influential man and was going to achieve the position of governor; the heroine's family belonged to high society.
At the time of the action, the heroine looks like an extremely thin and sickly woman. Katerina Ivanovna’s eyes shine unhealthy, red spots appear on her cheeks, her lips are dry and covered with dried blood. The heroine suffers from tuberculosis, but in her appearance one can still see traces of her former beauty - slim figure, beautiful dark brown hair.
The heroine is poor and wears the only remaining cotton dress, dark with stripes. Katerina Ivanovna has a nervous, impressionable character. Being in “excited feelings,” Katerina Ivanovna looks even more pitiful and painful and begins to breathe heavily and fearfully.
Katerina Ivanovna's youth was carefree. The heroine grew up in a certain provincial town and was brought up at the provincial institute for noble maidens from noble families. There Katerina Ivanovna was taught French. Upon graduation, the heroine danced at a ball in front of the governor and other influential persons, and also received a “list of honor” and a gold medal.
Probably, the family was preparing a bright future for the heroine, but Katerina Ivanovna, in her youth, fell in love with a certain infantry officer and ran away with him from her parents’ house, thereby dooming herself to a sad fate. From her first husband, Katerina Ivanovna had a daughter, Polya, and two more children.
The heroine's family was categorically against this marriage, Katerina Ivanovna's father was incredibly angry, but the heroine still married her chosen one against the will of her parents. The heroine loved her husband too much, but he became addicted to card games, was put on trial and died as a result.
The still young heroine was left completely alone “in a distant and brutal county” with three young children in her arms. Katerina Ivanovna had no money, her relatives abandoned the heroine, she fell into hopeless poverty and ended up on the street with her children. Mr. Marmeladov, who was also in that district at that time, was a widower. From his first wife, the hero left a teenage daughter, Sonya. Having met Katerina Ivanovna, Marmeladov felt sympathy for her and decided to marry out of pity.
Marmeladov was twenty years older than Katerina Ivanovna and had a lower origin, but the woman, out of despair, agreed to marry him, “crying and sobbing.”
The new marriage did not bring happiness to the heroine. Her husband could not please her in any way, although he made efforts to do so, and a year later he lost his job changing states and began drinking. This was the end of her stable life, and Katerina Ivanovna again found herself in the grip of poverty. The Marmeladovs live in poor conditions, “in a cold corner,” which is why the consumption from which Katerina Ivanovna suffers progresses. Due to illness and emotional stress The heroine is gradually going crazy.
Due to poverty, the heroine is forced to sit on black bread, wash the floor herself and study homework. However, a woman has been accustomed to cleanliness since childhood and cannot stand dirt, so she tortures herself every day with backbreaking work to keep the house and the clothes of her children and husband clean. Katerina Ivanovna herself had no clothes left, with the exception of a single dress. All the heroine’s clothes had to be sold to get money for the family’s life, and her husband drank away her last stockings and a scarf made of goat’s down.
A hard life made Katerina Ivanovna nervous and irritable, so her children and stepdaughter had to endure a lot from her. Sonya says that before the heroine was smart, kind and generous, but her mind weakened from grief. Katerina Ivanovna forces her stepdaughter into prostitution, but later reproaches herself and considers Sonya a saint.
The heroine has a proud and ardent character; Katerina Ivanovna does not tolerate disrespect for herself, does not ask others for anything and does not forgive rudeness. The first husband beat the heroine, and the circumstances of her life turned out badly, while it was impossible to break or intimidate Katerina Ivanovna. The heroine never complained.
The heroine dies on the day of the funeral of Mr. Marmeladov, who dies after being run over by a horse while drunk. Raskolnikov, main character novel, gives Katerina Ivanovna his last money so that she can bury her husband. The cause of death of the heroine herself is the sudden onset of consumptive bleeding. This concludes the biography of the heroine. Katerina Ivanovna’s orphaned children are sent to an orphanage.
Film adaptations
In the two-part Soviet film “Crime and Punishment” in 1969, the role of Katerina Ivanovna was played by the actress. In 2007, another film adaptation was released - the series “Crime and Punishment” directed by Dmitry Svetozarov, consisting of eight episodes. The role of Katerina Ivanovna was played here by actress Svetlana Smirnova.
Quotes
“He has already taken her as a widow, with three children, small or small. She married her first husband, an infantry officer, for love, and with him she fled from her parents’ house. She loved her husband excessively, but he indulged in gambling, ended up in court, and died as a result.”
“If only you knew. After all, she is just like a child... After all, her mind is completely crazy... from grief. And how smart she was... how generous... how kind! You know nothing, nothing... ah!
Characteristics of the hero
All her life Katerina Ivanovna has been looking for what and how to feed her children; she endures poverty and deprivation. Proud, ardent, adamant, left a widow with three children, she, under the threat of hunger and poverty, was forced, “crying and sobbing, and wringing her hands, to marry a nondescript official, a widower with a fourteen-year-old daughter Sonya, who, in turn, marries Katerina Ivanovna out of a feeling of pity and compassion.
The surrounding environment seems like a real hell to her, and the human meanness that she encounters at every step hurts her painfully. Katerina Ivanovna does not know how to endure and remain silent, like Sonya. Her strongly developed sense of justice prompts her to take decisive action, which leads to a misunderstanding of her behavior by those around her.
She is of noble origin, from a bankrupt noble family, so it is many times harder for her than for her stepdaughter and husband. The point is not even in everyday difficulties, but in the fact that Katerina Ivanovna does not have an outlet in life, like Sonya and Semyon Zakharych. Sonya finds solace in prayers and in the Bible, and her father forgets himself at least for a little while in a tavern. Katerina Ivanovna is a passionate, daring, rebellious and impatient person.
The behavior of Katerina Ivanovna on the day of Marmeladov’s death shows that love for one’s neighbor is deeply embedded in human soul that it is natural for a person, even if he is not aware of it. “And thank God he’s dying! Less damage!” - Katerina Ivanovna exclaims at the bedside of her dying husband, but at the same time she fusses around the patient, gives him something to drink, straightens the pillows.
Bonds of love and compassion bind Katerina Ivanovna and Sonya. Sonya does not condemn the stepmother, who once pushed her stepdaughter onto the panel. On the contrary, the girl defends Katerina Ivanovna in front of Raskolnikov, “worried and suffering and wringing her hands.” And a little later, when Luzhin publicly accuses Sonya of stealing money, Raskolnikov sees with what fierceness Katerina Ivanovna rushes to Sonya’s defense.
Need and poverty oppress the Marmeladov family, driving Katerina Ivanovna to consumption, but a sense of self-worth lives in her. Dostoevsky himself says about her: “And Katerina Ivanovna was not one of the downtrodden, she could be completely killed by circumstances, but it was impossible to kill her morally, that is, to intimidate and subjugate her will.” This is the desire to feel a full-fledged person and forced Katerina Ivanovna to organize a luxurious wake. Dostoevsky constantly emphasizes this desire with the words “she looked at her guests with pride and dignity,” “she did not deign to answer,” “she noticed loudly across the table.” Next to the feeling of self-respect, another great feeling lives in Katerina Ivanovna’s soul - kindness. She tries to justify her husband, saying: “Imagine, Rodion Romanovich, I found a gingerbread cockerel in his pocket: he’s walking dead drunk, but he remembers about the children.” She, pressing Sonya tightly, as if with her chest she wants to protect her from Luzhin’s accusations, says: “Sonya! Sonya! I don’t believe it!” In search of justice, Katerina Ivanovna runs out into the street. She understands that after the death of her husband, the children are doomed to starvation, that fate is unkind to them. So Dostoevsky, contradicting himself, refutes the theory of consolation and humility, which supposedly leads everyone to happiness and well-being, when Katerina Ivanovna rejects the consolation of the priest. The end of Katerina Ivanovna is tragic. Unconscious, she runs to the general to ask for help, but their Lordships are having dinner, and the doors are closed in front of her. There is no longer any hope of salvation, and Katerina Ivanovna decides to take the last step: she goes to beg. The scene of the poor woman's death is very impressive. The words with which she dies (“they drove away the nag,” “strained herself”) Katerina Ivanovna’s face captures a tragic image of grief. This image contains enormous power protest. He stands among the eternal images of world literature.
First, he learns about her from Marmeladov’s confessional story in the “tavern”: “Katerina Ivanovna, my wife, is an educated person and born a staff officer’s daughter. Even if I am a scoundrel, she is full of high hearts and feelings, ennobled by upbringing.<...>And although I myself understand that when she pulls my hair, she pulls them only out of pity of her heart.<...>Do you know, do you know, my lord, that I even drank through her stockings? Not shoes, sir, for that would at least somewhat resemble the order of things, but stockings, she drank her stockings away, sir! I also drank away her goat's fluff scarf, a gift, the old one, her own, not mine; and we live in a cold place, and this winter she caught a cold and started coughing, already bleeding. We have three small children, and Katerina Ivanovna is at work from morning to night, scrubbing and washing and washing the children, because she is accustomed to cleanliness from childhood, but with a weak chest and inclined to consumption, and I feel it.<...>Know that my wife was brought up in the noble provincial nobility institute and at graduation she danced with a shawl in front of the governor and other persons, for which she received a gold medal and a certificate of merit. The medal... well, the medal was sold... a long time ago... um... the certificate of merit is still in their chest, and just recently I showed it to the owner. And although she has the most constant disagreements with her mistress, she at least wanted to be proud of someone and tell about the happy days gone by. And I don’t condemn, I don’t condemn, because this last thing remains in her memories, and everything else has gone to dust! Yes Yes; The lady is hot, proud and unyielding. She washes the floor herself and sits on black bread, but she won’t allow herself to be disrespected. That’s why Mr. Lebezyatnikov didn’t want to let go of his rudeness, and when Mr. Lebezyatnikov beat her up for it, it was not so much from the beatings as from feeling that she went to bed. He had already taken her as a widow, with three children, small or small. She married her first husband, an infantry officer, for love, and with him she fled from her parents’ house. She loved her husband excessively, but he indulged in gambling, ended up in court, and died as a result. He beat her in the end; and although she didn’t let him down, which I know for certain and from documents, she still remembers him with tears and reproaches me with it, and I’m glad, I’m glad, because although in her imagination she sees herself once happy. And after him she was left with three young children in a distant and brutal district, where I was then, and remained in such hopeless poverty that although I have seen many different adventures, I am not even able to describe. The relatives all refused. Yes, and she was proud, too proud... And then, my dear sir, then I, also a widower, and having a fourteen-year-old daughter from my first wife, offered my hand, because I could not look at such suffering. You can judge because of the extent to which her misfortunes reached, that she, educated and brought up and with a well-known surname, agreed to marry me! But I went! Crying and sobbing and wringing my hands - I went! Because there was nowhere to go. Do you understand, do you understand, dear sir, what it means when there is nowhere else to go? No! You don’t understand this yet... And whole year I fulfilled my duty piously and holyly and did not touch this (he pointed his finger at the half-stuff), for I have a feeling. But he couldn’t please either; and then I lost my place, and also not through my fault, but due to a change in the states, and then I touched!.. It will be a year and a half ago when we finally found ourselves, after wanderings and numerous disasters, in this magnificent capital adorned with numerous monuments. And here I found a place... I got it and lost it again. Do you understand, sir? Here, through my own fault, I lost it, because my point has come... Now we live in the coal, with the landlady Amalia Fedorovna Lippevehsel, but I don’t know how we live and how we pay. Many people live there besides us... Sodom, sir, the ugliest... um... yes... And in the meantime, my daughter, from her first marriage, grew up, and what she, my daughter, only endured from her stepmother , growing up, I keep silent about that. For although Katerina Ivanovna is filled with generous feelings, the lady is hot and irritated, and will snap..."
Raskolnikov, having escorted the intoxicated Marmeladov home, saw his wife in person: “She was a terribly thin woman, thin, rather tall and slender, still with beautiful dark brown hair and indeed with cheeks flushed to the blemishes. She walked back and forth in her small room, clasping her hands on her chest, with parched lips and breathing unevenly, intermittently. Her eyes shone as if in a fever, but her gaze was sharp and motionless, and this consumptive and agitated face made a painful impression, with the last light of the dying cinder fluttering on her face. She seemed to Raskolnikov to be about thirty years old, and really was not a match for Marmeladov... She did not listen to those entering and did not see. The room was stuffy, but she did not open the window; there was a stench coming from the stairs, but the door to the stairs was not closed; Waves of tobacco smoke rushed from the interior through the unlocked door; she coughed, but did not close the door. The smallest girl, about six years old, was sleeping on the floor, somehow sitting, huddled and with her head buried in the sofa. A boy, a year older than her, was trembling in the corner and crying. He probably just got nailed. The eldest girl, about nine years old, tall and thin as a matchstick, wearing only a thin shirt torn everywhere and an old draped damask jacket thrown over her bare shoulders, sewn for her probably two years ago, because it now did not even reach her knees, stood in corner next to his little brother, clasping his neck with his long hand, as dry as a match...”
Katerina Ivanovna herself adds a few touches to her portrait and biography in the scene of her husband’s wake in a conversation with Raskolnikov: “Having had fun, Katerina Ivanovna immediately got carried away into various details and suddenly started talking about how, with the help of the pension she had procured, she would certainly start a business in her hometown T... boarding house for noble maidens. Katerina Ivanovna herself had not yet informed Raskolnikov about this, and she was immediately carried away into the most tempting details. It is not known how the same “letter of commendation” suddenly ended up in her hands, about which the deceased Marmeladov notified Raskolnikov, explaining to him in the tavern that Katerina Ivanovna, his wife, upon graduation from the institute, danced with a shawl “in front of the governor and other persons.” "<...>it actually indicated<...>that she is the daughter of a court councilor and a gentleman, and therefore, in fact, almost a colonel’s daughter. Inflamed, Katerina Ivanovna immediately spread about all the details of the future wonderful and calm life in T...; about the gymnasium teachers whom she would invite for lessons at her boarding school; about one venerable old man, the Frenchman Mango, who taught Katerina Ivanovna in French at the institute and who is still living out his life in T... and will probably go to her for the most reasonable price. Finally, the matter came to Sonya, “who will go to T ... together with Katerina Ivanovna and will help her there in everything” ... "
Alas, the dreams and plans of the poor widow were not destined to come true: literally in a few minutes the argument with the hostess will develop into a furious scandal, then a monstrous scene will occur with Sonya accused of theft, and Katerina Ivanovna will not stand it, grab the children in her arms and go out into the street, completely will go crazy and die in Sonya’s room, where they will have time to transfer her. The picture of her death is terrible and deeply symbolic: “—Enough!.. It’s time!.. Goodbye, unfortunate one!.. The nag has gone away! - she screamed desperately and hatefully and slammed her head on the pillow.
She forgot herself again, but this last oblivion did not last long. Her pale yellow, withered face was thrown back, her mouth opened, her legs stretched out convulsively. She took a deep, deep breath and died..."
“Listen, if everyone must suffer in order to buy eternal harmony through suffering, then what does this have to do with children, tell me, please? It is not at all clear why they had to suffer and why should they buy harmony through suffering? It’s not worth the tear of even one tortured child...” Ivan Karamazov, “The Brothers Karamazov.” The character system of the novel “Crime and Punishment” includes a large number characters , having their own character, position and role in the novel. Rodion Raskolnikov is the main character; Sonya, Dunya, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Svidrigailov, Luzhin are also noticeable and therefore understandable characters to us. But there are also supporting characters about whom we can learn less. Among all minor characters , about nine years old, tall and thin as a matchstick, ... with big, big dark eyes that seemed even larger on her emaciated and frightened face" (Polechka), "the smallest girl, about six years old" (Lena), "a boy a year older than her " (Kolya). The children were poorly dressed: Polechka was dressed in “an old burnusik, sewn by her probably two years ago, because it no longer reached her knees,” and “a thin shirt, torn everywhere,” Kolya and Lena were dressed no better; all the children had only one shirt, which Katerina Ivanovna washed every night. We should highlight the children, the influence of the collective image of which we can trace throughout the entire novel: these are the children of Katerina Ivanovna, and Svidrigailov’s bride, and the drowned girl who dreams of him in a dream, this is the drunken girl who met Raskolnikov on the boulevard - all these heroes cannot be ignored, because, despite their small participation in the development of action in the novel, they play an important role, like the whole theme of the child and childhood. and therefore she finds the strength to be saved by faith in God, and therefore she preserves her soul. “Where would I be without God?” Proving the necessity of faith in God was one of the main goals that Dostoevsky set for his novel. Therefore, we see that the image of children was necessary for the writer to reveal the image of Sonya and achieve his plan. The children of Katerina Ivanovna played their own specific role in the fate of each of the main characters in the work. Using the image of children, the writer shows us that Marmeladov, who caused so much grief and pain to his family, still thought about his wife and children, and this consisted in the fact that he tried not to drink for at least some time. When he was crushed by a cart and died, a gingerbread was found in his pocket, which he was carrying to the children: “...they found a gingerbread cockerel in his pocket: he walks dead drunk, but remembers about the children.” Thus, the writer uses the image of children to show us that in the soul of Marmeladov, a man who caused grief to himself and his family, love, care and compassion still lived. Therefore, we cannot consider the manifestation of the spiritual qualities of a retired official only as purely negative. The image of Svidrigailov only becomes even more mysterious and incomprehensible when we see that a vulgar, depraved man, for whom there are no moral laws, commits a noble act and spends his money to place Katerina Ivanovna’s children in a boarding school. And here the writer again weaves the image of children into the fabric of the novel. for Dunya, but at least she knew what kind of person Svidrigailov was, and if not for her love for her brother, she would never have gone to this man. This is proven by Dunina’s words: “We’ve already turned the corner, now my brother won’t see us. I announce to you that I will not go further with you.” But the story of the deaf-mute niece of a small pawnbroker, Svidrigailov’s friend, the German Resslich, reveals even more the depth of depravity in which Svidrigailov’s soul is mired. There was a rumor in St. Petersburg that the girl committed suicide because she was severely insulted by Svidrigailov. Although he himself denies everything, the night before his suicide he had a dream: “... and in the middle of the hall, on tables covered with white satin shrouds, there was a coffin. Garlands of flowers surrounded him on all sides. There was a girl lying in it, covered in flowers, in a white tulle dress, with her hands folded and pressed on her chest, as if they were carved from marble. But her loose hair, light blonde hair, was wet; a wreath of roses wrapped around her head. The stern and already ossified profile of her face was also as if carved from marble, but the smile on her pale lips was full of some kind of childish, boundless sorrow and great complaint. Svidrigailov knew this girl; there was no image or lighted candles at this coffin and no prayers were heard. This girl was a drowned suicide. She was only fourteen years old, but it was already a broken heart, and it destroyed itself, offended by the insult that horrified and surprised this young childish consciousness, flooding her angelic with undeserved shame. pure soul many dozens of similar Svidrigailovs - the same immoral and depraved people) that such immoral people, acting only for the benefit of their (almost always vile) interests, destroy innocent souls. The image of the girl here contains the image of all those who are purer, more innocent, brighter than all others in this world and therefore weaker, and therefore he is mocked, tortured and destroyed by all those who have no moral principles at all. One can only be glad for Svidrigailov’s bride that their wedding did not take place. Because, despite the fact that the girl fell in love with her fiancé in her own way (“Everyone left for a minute, we were left alone as is, she suddenly throws herself on my neck (herself, for the first time), hugs me with both arms, kisses and she swears that she will be an obedient, kind and beneficent wife to me, that she will make me happy...” - Svidrigailov told Raskolnikov), he remained the same depraved person, she just didn’t understand it; he would destroy her soul. This problem of immorality and spiritual purity also occupied Dostoevsky, but he understood that people like Svidrigailov will always exist, and it is not without reason that they seem to be confirmation that the weaker ones, whose image is personified by children, will continue to torment and destroy their souls. Svidrigailov laughs: “I generally love children, I love children very much.” Svidrigailov is an atheist, he calls himself a sinner: “Why have you gone all out on virtue? Have mercy, father, I am a sinful man. Hehehehe." But he doesn't say this seriously, he laughs. Although Svidrigailov admits his sins, he does not think of changing anything in his behavior, he does not believe in God, and his image is even more terrible for us. Svidrigailov appears as the devil - he destroys innocent souls. But we see that a person who has departed from God is not only not happy, he himself suffers from such a life, he himself suffers, not having spiritual and moral guidelines and not realizing that they are necessary. Svidrigailov, who has lost touch with everything moral, who lived in sin and before his death takes upon himself children and childhood is widely revealed in the image of Rodion Raskolnikov. Even Razumikhin, to prove the presence of the best qualities in his friend’s soul, especially “presses” on such episodes from his life as: saving children from a burning house, giving all the last money to Katerina Ivanovna and her children. This manifests his desire to help the “humiliated and insulted,” that is, those people whom he wanted to make happy with the help of the money of the old moneylender Alena Ivanovna. It is compassion and pain for the “humiliated, insulted” and unfortunate (their collective image is personified by a brutally killed defenseless horse) that we see in Raskolnikov’s dream. He is helpless in the form of a child in a dream and in this he sees his helplessness in the real cruel world. Another meaning of Rodion Raskolnikov’s dream is that we understand that Raskolnikov’s soul is already in childhood (after all, he sees himself as a child) protests against crime, against cruelty and against a person’s self-affirmation at the expense of others, and Mikolka just wanted to boast of his strength, his power: “...Don’t touch! My goodness! I do what I want. Sit down again! Everyone sit down! I want you to definitely go at a gallop!..” Raskolnikov’s surname is telling. His soul is split into two halves by lack of faith in God. His words prove this. He says: “Yes, maybe there is no God at all.” - kindness, pity, compassion - has power over him. The question of faith in God constantly arises before him. We can see that in childhood Raskolnikov (precisely when the foundations of morality and virtue are laid) was close to God, that is, he personified the image of that immaculate and innocent child, which were the deaf-mute drowned woman and the children of Katerina Ivanovna. We read about this in a letter from Pulcheria Alexandrovna: “Do you still pray to God, Rodya, and do you believe in the goodness of our Creator and Redeemer? I'm afraid in my heart that the latest fashionable unbelief has visited you too? If so, then I am praying for you. Remember, dear, how in your childhood, during your father’s life, you babbled your prayers on my lap, and how happy we all were then!” Therefore, the image of a child is also the image of a defenseless person with his ideals and moral aspirations; an individual who is weak before the influence of a ruthless imperfect world and a cruel ugly society, where In one, his theory about “trembling creatures with rights” matures, the idea of testing oneself, an attempt to feel like “Napoleon”. The second half is like the soul of another person, compassionate and helping the “humiliated and insulted,” protesting against the unjust structure of society, dreaming of doing thousands of good deeds. It is no coincidence that the main character does so many good deeds: the qualities of the second half of his soul with which is trampled underfoot in an atmosphere of vice. In the stuffy, terrible atmosphere of St. Petersburg, the defenseless souls of people are deformed, all that is best and moral in them is drowned out, development is stopped in the bud. But even Raskolnikov has hope for spiritual rebirth. It begins when he takes the cross from Sonya. Then he does not attach any importance to this, does not believe that he can help him with anything - after all, he only blames himself for the mistake: “Krestov, did I really need her from her?” But then Rodion himself asks Sonya for the Gospel.
