In superstitions, a mirror is considered to be a reflection of one’s soul, that is why shattering a mirror was but still is considered misfortune. In Criminal offenses and Consequence by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the idea of the shown soul is utilized as an important tool of foreshadowing. However , rather than by using a mirror, Dostoevsky uses characters to reflect the nature of other folks. The experiences of Seymon Zakharovich Marmeladov, a minor character, can be used to indicate Raskolnikov’s procedure for guilt and confession. Raskolnikov and Marmaladov share identical experiences in working with their own devils.
When Marmeladov is first introduced, he is described as an unkempt man drinking aside his sorrows: “There were bits of hay clinging to his garments and in his hair. He had probably not undressed or cleaned for five days. His hands were especially dirty, junk, red via exposure, fingernails black” (Dostoevsky 11). Marmeladov’s dirty hands symbolize that he has sullied these a crime: addiction to alcohol. This vice has tossed his family members into a aggresive cycle of poverty that is certainly nearly impossible to flee, to the point where Sonya, his little girl, prostitutes their self for a few roubles. As such, he can suffering from the remorse of being unable to break his addiction. This is indicated continually throughout his lengthy speech to Raskolnikov, he wants to help his family, yet his alcoholism inhibits him from doing so. Furthermore, he have been struggling with this for a long period of time, such as the pub, “his talk seemed to elicit general in the event that idle interest¦Marmeladov was well-known here together acquired that rhetorical sparkle of his in many this sort of talks” (11). However , to get Raskolnikov, Marmeladov’s peril can be new, and as a result, pitiful.
When Anything Raskolnikov would not realize through his time with Marmeladov is that Marmeladov’s suffering is known as a foreshadowing of Raskolnikov’s own battle with remorse. Their conversation takes place after Marmeladov have been suffering with remorse, while Raskolnikov has but to make his very own crime. Following he completely murders the two women, Raskolnikov begins to block in his very own remorse. His regret manifests itself when he is cleaning himself in the blood spattered on his apparel: “Here a strange thought arrived to his brain: perhaps almost all his outfits were covered with bloodstream, perhaps there are stains across them, and he just did not see, did not detect them, because his reasoning was screwing up, going to pieces¦his mind darkening” (91). Although Marmeladov’s remorse manifests alone through ranting, Raskolnikov’s manifests itself through intense internal illness, and simply as Marmeladov’s alcoholism does not release their grip until he welcomes his treatment of death, Raskolnikov’s mental cloudiness will not let go totally until he accepts his punishment and is also shipped away to Siberia. Raskolnikov is lucky that the prison sentence in your essay is his punishment, as Marmeladov suffers a fortune much a whole lot worse.
When ever Marmeladov is definitely trampled, right now there does not are most often a lot of hope of his recovery, as “blood was flowing from his face and head. His face was battered, smashed, and mangled¦” (170). With such low chances of endurance, Raskolnikov convinces the policeman to bring the mangled Marmeladov to his family. When he dies, he uses up to his last breath to beg intended for forgiveness from both his wife and his daughter Sonya. This landscape is similar to Raskolnikov later asking for forgiveness to get his sins and going into a authorities station to confess. Both men feverishly ask for forgiveness, because they can no longer stand the guilt. At the previous moments of his fatality, Marmeladov’s cosmetic features happen to be destroyed, as a result losing his physical identity, similarly to how Raskolnikov loses the identification of chasteness he features kept through the novel by simply confessing his crime to Ilya Petrovich at the authorities station.
The fact that Raskolnikov shows kindness to the Marmeladov even more demonstrates the concept the two males lives are reflections of each other further display the similarity between the two men’s encounters. Raskolnikov leaves the Marmeladov family money on the windowsill after aiding the consumed man home, and he pays for a health care provider and delivers the almost dead Marmeladov to his family following your trampling. Raskolnikov’s kindness to him parallels Razumikin’s closeness to Raskolnikov. No matter how very much Raskolnikov by speaking abuses Razumikin, the former continue to cares for the sickly person, even buying him new clothing as a result of Raskolnikov’s increasing shabbiness.
Marmeladov’s alcohol dependency guilt parallels Raskolnikov’s tough guilt, and thus their experience are similar. Dostoevsky’s purpose of writing such a comparison may be to remove distinctions among vices, a murder is equally as bad since destructive dependency on alcohol, even if contemporary society may make an effort to label one particular as better or even worse. Thus, instead of judging others based on their particular crimes, it is crucial to realize that wronging others in in of by itself is troublesome.
