Summary:
In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, Sonia Semyonovna is the chosen confidante for main character Rodion Raskolnikov. Her primary role in the novel is that of a confidante, but she also serves other purposes. She fuels the dispute between Raskolnikov and his enemy Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, she keeps her family alive, and she serves as the figure that brings about the morally charged ending of the novel.
In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, Sonia Semyonovna is the chosen confidante for main character Rodion Raskolnikov. Her primary role in the novel is that of a confidante, but she also serves other purposes. She fuels the dispute between Raskolnikov and his enemy Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, she keeps her family alive, and she serves as the figure that brings about the morally charged ending of the novel.
While Sonia maintains purity in a religious sense, she also portrays a degrading level of poverty. In order to support her family and younger siblings, she becomes a prostitute and carries a "yellow card." In doing this she becomes the sole breadwinner for her stepmother, who comes to rely on Sonia. This serves to connect her to Raskolnikov when he meets her at the deathbed of her drunkard father. From this point, a chain of events is set into motion that produces the unexpected conclusion. More encounters with Raskolnikov will follow as Sonia becomes an important character in his future.
Sonia also becomes a part of the relationship between Pyotr Luzhin and Raskolnikov on the day of her father's funeral. Luzhin falsely accuses her of stealing money from him. He does this simply to tarnish her image further and bring down Raskolnikov at the same time. In this way he believes he would regain favor with Raskolnikov's sister, Dunya. Understanding what is passing through Luzhin's mind as he attempts to frame Sonia, Raskolnikov and Luzhin's old friend, Andrei Lebezyatnikov, prove Sonia's innocence. The incident draws her even further into Raskolnikov's life as it helps to end his unwanted association with the despicable Luzhin.
Raskolnikov sees Sonia as one who will understand and help him to bear his burden, rather than berating him for it. He believes that she, like him, leads a tainted life because her profession is one of sin. Unlike Raskolnikov has assumed, Sonia's lifestyle does not leave her completely stripped of inner purity. She still holds a devout belief in God, and will compromise that for nothing. When Raskolnikov confronts Sonia alone in her quarters and demands that she read the bible passage about Lazarus aloud, he sees in her the devotion and religious passion that bring about the end of the novel. One person's intense beliefs change the life of another when Raskolnikov relates to Sonia the details of the murders and she begs him to repent. She believes that he can be saved, that anyone can be saved if they are not truly evil. Sonia has turned out to be different from what Raskolnikov had imagined, and the author uses her to change the outcome of the story.
Her firm belief in the forgiveness of God gives Sonia not only the role of confidante, but that of moral guide in Crime and Punishment. Without her connections to Raskolnikov, the outcome of the novel would be entirely different. Sonia brings Raskolnikov to admit his crime to the police, and if her character had been absent from the plot he would have simply gone mad with emotional stress. Although the necessity or the epilogue is debatable, Sonia's role in it is indisputable. Through her relationships with other characters in the book as well as her daily behavior she shows that not all goodness is without sin, and likewise that not all sin is purely evil.
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