Fictional character
Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov
(
pre-reform Russian
:
Род?онъ Романовичъ Раскольниковъ
; post-reform Russian:
Родион Романович Раскольников
,
romanized
:
Rodion Romanovich Raskol?nikov
,
IPA:
[r?d???on
r??man?v??t?
r??skol?n??k?f]
) is the fictional
protagonist
of the 1866 novel
Crime and Punishment
by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
. The name Raskolnikov derives from the Russian
raskolnik
meaning "schismatic" (traditionally referring to a member of the
Old Believer movement
). The name
Rodion
comes from Greek and indicates an inhabitant of
Rhodes
.
Raskolnikov is a young ex-law student living in
extreme poverty
in
Saint Petersburg
. He lives in a tiny
garret
which he rents, although due to a lack of funds has been avoiding payment for quite some time. He sleeps on a couch using old clothes as a pillow, and due to lack of money eats very rarely. He is handsome and intelligent, though generally disliked by fellow students. He is devoted to his sister (Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova) and his mother (Pulkheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova).
Plot
[
edit
]
An impoverished student with a conflicted idea of himself, Raskolnikov (Rodya as his mother calls him) decides to kill a corrupt pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, with whom he has been dealing, with the idea of using the money to start his life all over, and to help those who are in need of it. It is later revealed that he also commits the murder as justification for his pride, as he wants to prove that he is "exceptional" in the way Napoleon was. He commits the murder, but is so nervous during the crime that he makes a few mistakes, and is afraid that he will be caught.
Raskolnikov finds a small purse on Alyona Ivanovna's body, which he hides under a rock without checking its contents. After he confesses to the destitute,
pious prostitute
Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova, she guides him towards admitting to the crime, and he confesses to the police. Raskolnikov is sentenced to exile in
Siberia
, accompanied by Sofya Semyonovna, where he experiences a mental and spiritual rebirth.
Cinema and television
[
edit
]
In film, Raskolnikov was portrayed for the first time by
Derwent Hall Caine
in the
1917 silent film
directed by
Lawrence B. McGill
.
Gregori Chmara
portrayed him in another silent adaptation
Raskolnikov
, directed by
Robert Wiene
(1923). He was portrayed by
Peter Lorre
in
Josef von Sternberg
's
Hollywood film version
(1935), by
John Hurt
in a 1979
BBC
mini-series adaptation, by
Patrick Dempsey
in a 1998 television movie, and by
Georgy Taratorkin
(1969),
John Simm
(2002),
Crispin Glover
(2002). The character of Michel in
Robert Bresson
's
Pickpocket
(1959) is based on Raskolnikov.
Paul Schrader
, who wrote
Taxi Driver
(1976), was in turn inspired by Bresson's Michel character to create
Travis Bickle
,
Robert De Niro
's antihero.
[1]
Woody Allen
's 2005 British psychological thriller
Match Point
is partly intended as a debate with
Crime and Punishment
: protagonist Chris Wilton (
Jonathan Rhys Meyers
) is seen early on reading the book and identifying with Raskolnikov.
[2]
References
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Novels
| |
---|
Novellas
| |
---|
Short stories
| |
---|
Non-fiction
| |
---|
Characters
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|