Fyodor
FyodorThe author by essence is the creator of his book akin to God creating in his own like image in man. With this in mind, Fyodor Dostoevsky through writing Crime and Punishment creates the essence of man that he believes to be a replica of himself. By creating specific characters in his novel, Dostoevsky demonstrates his likes and dislikes in humankind. Readers will find that the distinction between good and bad is not that simple to determine. Instead, there is a m�lange of the characters’ personalities that determines what Dostoevsky admires or abhors in the characters personality traits.
After reading the novel determining an understanding of Dostoevsky’s personal value system is easy to decipher. A quick analysis of the main character, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, leads to the parallel of Rodion and Fyodor. Fyodor’s “life was as dark and dramatic as the great novels he wrote.” Born in Moscow in 1821, he was the son of a former army surgeon who was killed by his own serfs because of his alcoholism and the brutality that followed his drinking fits. He was never close to his father possibly because of alcoholism, this is creates a hatred towards fatherly figures. The only father seen in the novel, Marmeladov, is a drunkard and is portrayed as a “dead-beat” dad, who only drank and did not tend to his family’s need, but instead added to their misfortunes. Alcoholism is a massive problem that is mentioned in the book among numerous characters; consequently, Fyodor shuns it for this reason. He abhorred alcoholics, especially alcoholic fathers.
Rodion imprisoned in the novel is the replica of Fyodor in reality. After his successful release of his first novel Poor Folk in 1846 at age twenty-eight, he was arrested on account of publishing illegal articles of rebellion against Czar Nicholas I advocating changes in Russian society in 1849. Another parallel is seen as the person with power is to be thrown out of their rank by the mild mannered citizen i.e. Rodya and the Pawnbroker, Fyodor and Czar Nicholas I. When the Fyodor was waiting to be executed by the Czar's firing squad, a royal messenger dramatically announced a reprieve. Fyodor’s life was spared. This escape from death, followed by four years of imprisonment in Siberia definitely left its mark on his life and work. Simply this was just a sign of the power that the Czar had over those who opposed him, similar to the Alyona Ivanova, the pawnbroker, who was accused of mistreating the poor people she worked with. She was a stingy miser who did not even leave a cent to her dear sister’s name, but instead donated her money to a church in her honor. Coincidence, I think not. This comparison is made to support the "superman" theory created by the German philosopher Georg Friedrich Hegel, where an extraordinary individual, Rodya, is set apart from most other men. Hegel and his colleague Nietzsche had written a great deal on the...
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