In Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment, Marmeladov is a minor character whose story is told in only a few short chapters of the first two books, and yet, Marmeladov plays an important role in the novel. Both Marmeladov and Raskolnikov are desperate men trying to function in a bleak world. Both men feel alienated in a world which has no meaning. Despite his miserable existence, Marmeladov hopes to find salvation through his anguish. Marmeladov reflects the themes of guilt and suffering that Raskolnikov later shares. Dostoevsky suggests that suffering is the only path to redemption.

Raskolnikov first meets Marmeladov at a dirty tavern. His clothes are ragged and soiled and he has a "yellow, even greenish face, swollen with constant drinking" (12). Despite this crumpled appearance, Marmeladov's "eyes seemed even to be lit with rapture" (12). The proprietor and patrons of the bar view Marmeladov...