Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov: Image of a Modern Man

Abstract

As a novelist, Fyodor Mikhailovitch Dostoevsky portrays his characters skillfully in the play of Rem- brandtesque lighting. Like Rembrandt, Dostoevsky focuses hie attention on the dark side of man, and the only light that is visible comes from within the depths of man himself. When Dostoevsky created characters, he began with their innermost thoughts and passions, and going further, he entered into their very dreams and unconscious lives. Dostoevsky's life fell within the era of the birth of the modern novel, and, indeed, he helped usher in the new stream-of-consciousness form of writing. He believed that within the complexities and depths of man lay the knowledge of life and knowledge of Christ. Therefore, Dostoevsky's world view is man-centered. He sees man as self-contradictory and a tragic creature striving continually to express himself, and becoming, out of lack of knowledge of himself, a victim of his own nature. The destinies of his characters are his own, as are all their doubts and inner divisions.