Crime and Punishment: Part 6
- What do you make of Porfiry’s injunction to Rodya, “There is an idea in suffering”
- Suffering brings you closer to God—Porfiry as a more spiritual character
- The Russian element—something of a cultural basis—suffering
- Like there is a “thought process” in suffering—Nikolai’s religious background brings him to the false admission
- The “idea” in suffering—to pursue an action despite the sense of consequence
- Porfiry encouraging Rodya to persevere despite the suffering he’s enduring
- Rodya suffers because he thinks he alone is capable of determining his fate—his false perception of being a superman
- Rodya is extraordinary for confessing (Sonya as the most extraordinary character in the book—like Rodya’s conscience)—because of Sonya, Rodya confesses
- Rodya confesses for a selfish cause (peace for himself)—
- Being extraordinary is living by your conscience—Rodya is influenced by Sonya—earlier, gets the idea of the murders from the students in the tavern—
- Following the superman theory he becomes a monster
Rodya is a paradox in many ways… - What is the purpose (message) of the book? To challenge the idea of the superman—
- Porfiry and Razuhimin do not “over-step” (thus, couldn’t be superman characters)
- Svid represents the id as Rodya represents the ego and Sonya is the super-ego
- Is true redemption voluntary or can it be achieved through force?
- Will Rodya ever be redeemed?
- Rodya embarks on the road to redemption, but it’s not all a matter of his own making—Sonya and Porfiry put him on the path
- Rodya won’t ever deserve Sonya—
- We are seeing signs of rebirth…
- How do we define redemption in terms of C&P?
- Redemption--being fully atoned for what’s been wrongfully done
- Society plays a role in redemption—how what you’ve effected others
- You must be honest with yourself in order to be redeemed—Svid is unable to do this—accounts for his demise
- Is forgiveness redemption?
- Is suffering necessary for redemption?
- Sonya’s suffering is what life has done to her, not imposing her will upon others (as does Rodya)
- Sonya asks Rodya why he commits his sin…
- Sonya bears the burden of others, while Rodya burdens others
I disagree that Rodya confesses for a selfish cause (peace for himself). When he goes to the police station to confess, he becomes weak and leaves after conversing with Ilya Petrovich. Upon stepping outside, he sees Sonya and returns to the station to confess to Ilya. Rodya is pushed to confess because of his unconscious and even ignored feelings of love towards Sonya. At the time, Rodya was unaware that this confession would deliver him from his internal struggle and constant suffering, being reminded that a superman would not need to confess due to his superiority. I also am very fond of the comment “Sonya bears the burden of others, while Rodya burdens others.” This idea broadly defines these two characters, while also connecting them by their apparent need for one another.
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