Shame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”

This article shows how Dostoevsky’s narration in Crime and Punishment not only creates the expectation of a guilt script while offering readers a shame scenario but also plunges readers into Raskolnikov’s head before distancing us from his thinking. Because Raskolnikov commits murder in Part One, re...

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Autor principal:	Deborah A. Martinsen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN RU
Publicado:	Russian Academy of Sciences. A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature 2018
Materias:	shame guilt repentance identity nihilism narrative whodunit Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages PG1-9665
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/620ed688f5694ca8bb7b5adb250f836c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:620ed688f5694ca8bb7b5adb250f836c2021-12-02T19:41:12ZShame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”10.22455/2619-0311-2018-4-40-642619-03112712-8512https://doaj.org/article/620ed688f5694ca8bb7b5adb250f836c2018-12-01T00:00:00Zhttp://dostmirkult.ru/images/dost_2018-4а-INT-финал-страницы-42-66.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/2619-0311https://doaj.org/toc/2712-8512This article shows how Dostoevsky’s narration in Crime and Punishment not only creates the expectation of a guilt script while offering readers a shame scenario but also plunges readers into Raskolnikov’s head before distancing us from his thinking. Because Raskolnikov commits murder in Part One, readers expect a guilt script: crime, repentance, punishment, expiation. But Dostoevsky’s narrator offers us a shame scenario, which has no fixed script. Shame relates broadly to human identity; guilt relates more narrowly to human action. In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky explores how the pain of shame at one’s identity leads Raskolnikov to commit murder. At the end of Part Six, Raskolnikov finally confesses his crime – an important acknowledgement of guilt, but he does not yet signal repentance. Dostoevsky thus keeps readers off-balance for the novel’s duration – we expect, but do not get, a guilt script until the Epilogue’s final pages. Dostoevsky strengthens this strategy by keeping the guilt script alive among the novel’s characters. Because most characters view Raskolnikov as a moral agent, they expect him to feel concern for others and to act accordingly. But he doesn’t. Since readers share characters’ expectations, their puzzlement becomes ours. As characters “read” Raskolnikov – his face, his words, his actions – trying to understand what motivates his actions, readers do the same. The discrepancy between what we all expect and what we witness keeps us guessing. Not until Raskolnikov realizes and admits his need for others, as he does at the end of the Epilogue when he is thrown at Sonya’s feet, can he see himself as the moral agent that Dostoevsky’s narrator, readers, and characterobservers have been expecting all along. Love, the most powerful moral emotion of all, allows Raskolnikov to get past his shame, admit his guilt, and rejoin the human community.Deborah A. MartinsenRussian Academy of Sciences. A.M. Gorky Institute of World LiteraturearticleshameguiltrepentanceidentitynihilismnarrativewhodunitSlavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languagesPG1-9665ENRUДостоевский и мировая культура: Филологический журнал, Iss 4, Pp 40-64 (2018)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN RU
topic	shame guilt repentance identity nihilism narrative whodunit Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages PG1-9665
spellingShingle	shame guilt repentance identity nihilism narrative whodunit Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages PG1-9665 Deborah A. Martinsen Shame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
description	This article shows how Dostoevsky’s narration in Crime and Punishment not only creates the expectation of a guilt script while offering readers a shame scenario but also plunges readers into Raskolnikov’s head before distancing us from his thinking. Because Raskolnikov commits murder in Part One, readers expect a guilt script: crime, repentance, punishment, expiation. But Dostoevsky’s narrator offers us a shame scenario, which has no fixed script. Shame relates broadly to human identity; guilt relates more narrowly to human action. In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky explores how the pain of shame at one’s identity leads Raskolnikov to commit murder. At the end of Part Six, Raskolnikov finally confesses his crime – an important acknowledgement of guilt, but he does not yet signal repentance. Dostoevsky thus keeps readers off-balance for the novel’s duration – we expect, but do not get, a guilt script until the Epilogue’s final pages. Dostoevsky strengthens this strategy by keeping the guilt script alive among the novel’s characters. Because most characters view Raskolnikov as a moral agent, they expect him to feel concern for others and to act accordingly. But he doesn’t. Since readers share characters’ expectations, their puzzlement becomes ours. As characters “read” Raskolnikov – his face, his words, his actions – trying to understand what motivates his actions, readers do the same. The discrepancy between what we all expect and what we witness keeps us guessing. Not until Raskolnikov realizes and admits his need for others, as he does at the end of the Epilogue when he is thrown at Sonya’s feet, can he see himself as the moral agent that Dostoevsky’s narrator, readers, and characterobservers have been expecting all along. Love, the most powerful moral emotion of all, allows Raskolnikov to get past his shame, admit his guilt, and rejoin the human community.
format	article
author	Deborah A. Martinsen
author_facet	Deborah A. Martinsen
author_sort	Deborah A. Martinsen
title	Shame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
title_short	Shame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
title_full	Shame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
title_fullStr	Shame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
title_full_unstemmed	Shame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
title_sort	shame and guilt in dostoevsky’s “crime and punishment”
publisher	Russian Academy of Sciences. A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature
publishDate	2018
url	https://doaj.org/article/620ed688f5694ca8bb7b5adb250f836c
work_keys_str_mv	AT deborahamartinsen shameandguiltindostoevskyscrimeandpunishment
_version_	1718376205457031168

Shame and Guilt in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”

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