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Abstract:

The article, which consists of two parts, is intended for teachers of literature and can help organize a conversation about the novel Crime and Punishment. It offers a modern interpretation of one of the most significant works of the school curriculum and summarizes the views of leading Dostoevsky scholars on the key problems of the novel, offering topical interpretations of its fundamental images and conflicts. A new interpretation of Razumikhin’s image as a true “Russian personality” and the embodiment of the “brotherhood” that will save Raskolnikov is proposed here. The analysis of the multidimensional semantics of the concepts of “crime” and “punishment” included in the title allows the teacher to present a holistic analysis of the novel, organize a conversation about the key images and problems raised in it, and help students grasp the depth and significance of the issues that can be “dug out” of it. By answering the questions proposed in the article and completing assignments, students reach the conclusion that the true crime in the novel is represented by the idea, and the murder of an old woman is the result of its influence. Such concepts as “false” and “true” motives of crime, the universal and current concept of “algorithm of crime,” are introduced into the methodology of school analysis of the novel, and the “dialectics” of an “ideologic crime” is shown.

Conceptually, the second part is based on identifying what true punishment in the novel is, the interpretation of which in the article differs significantly with traditional interpretations. An original approach is proposed to create a structure of lessons on the study of the novel Crime and Punishment based on the idea of punishment in the novel. Such a structure can be built in accordance with the milestones of the path that the hero must follow from crime and spiritual death to salvation and resurrection. The article proposes a system of questions and tasks that can contribute to a deeper understanding of the great novel among students.

Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, semantics of the title, religious and philosophical meaning of the concepts of “crime” and “punishment,” Razumikhin’s image, motives of Raskolnikov’s crime, school analysis, holistic analysis, deep text, slow reading, biblical code, epilogue.