How in chapter 5 the personality of Svidrigailov is revealed. Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov - a characterization of the character. Frankness with Raskolnikov
Once upon a time, Arkady Ivanovich, a cheat and a spendthrift, was pulled out of a debt hole by a lonely landowner Marfa Petrovna, became his wife and, after her death, provided for the rest of her life. Svidrigailov is about fifty years old, he is a pleasant-faced nobleman, packed in expensive clothes. He looks much younger than his years, has broad shoulders, a thick beard and a proud posture. But only the first impression of this hero is positive. His bad character betrays a cold, gaze, and, as Rodion Raskolnikov noted, there is something terrible in Svidrigailov's fresh and pleasant face. Occupying a high position in society, this hero has a lot of money and serious connections, which allows him to achieve any assigned goals.
Frightening gossip is circulating about Svidrigailov. The society accuses him of poisoning his wife, due to his marriage to whom the hero got out of poverty, but no one has any evidence, and there is nothing to present to Arkady Ivanovich. The people also talk about the master's involvement in the frequent groundless torture of servants. And it’s certainly no secret to anyone that for this person there are no boundaries of what is permitted, and “morality” and “morality” are empty words. He acts only in himself to please and by any means gets what he wants.
Arkady Sidrigailov and Avdotya
On the estate, Svidrigailov intersects with a serving home teacher, and at first sight falls passionately in love with a dowry.
The harassment of the "elderly" admirer is not at all pleasant for the poor girl. But, Svidrigailov is not used to retreat, and even the object of his sigh goes to Petersburg, the hero rushes after him. There, the master accidentally rents an apartment next door to the daughter of the drunkard Marmeladov, who earns prostitution. One day he becomes a witness to a conversation in which Rodion Raskolnikov confesses to his neighbor that he has committed a crime and eloquently proves the "justification" of his actions.
The cunning Svidrigailov is trying to blackmail. Demanding for his silence that he arranged for him a meeting with Dunya. But the loving brother does not just refuse the old lecher, but promises to do everything possible to prevent this meeting ever. By deceit, Arkady Ivanovich nevertheless lures Avdotya Romanovna to his apartment and, trying to earn the favor of the desired girl, tells her about his brother's crime.
But Raskolnikova is adamant, she harshly rejects the annoying man and even shoots at him, but misses. The girl passionately and sincerely explains to Arkady Ivanovich that she will never and never be with him. By some miracle, Dunya manages to break free unscathed. And Svidrigailov, dumbfounded by the abrupt behavior of the object of his love and the realization that his feelings are unrequited and will remain so, kills himself.
Quotes by Svidrigailov
Everyone thinks about himself and lives the most cheerfully, whoever is best able to deceive himself.
Never vouch for matters between husband and wife or lover and mistress. There is always one corner here, which always remains unknown to the whole world and which is known only to the two of them.
A decent person is bound to be bored.
And in general, in Russian society, those who have been beaten have the best manners.
But a smart woman and a jealous woman are two different things, and that's the trouble.
I have set in motion the greatest and unshakable means to conquer a woman's heart, a means that will never deceive anyone and that acts decisively on every single one, without any exception. This is a well-known means - flattery. There is nothing in the world more difficult than straightforwardness, and nothing easier than flattery. If in straightforwardness only one hundredth of a note is false, then dissonance immediately occurs, followed by scandal. If in flattery even everything to the last note is false, then it is pleasant and obeys not without pleasure; albeit with rough pleasure, but still with pleasure. And no matter how crude the flattery, at least half of it certainly seems to be true. And this is for all developments and strata of society. Even a Vestal Virgin can be seduced by flattery. And there is nothing to say about ordinary people.
A person in general really, really loves to be offended.
Of the many secondary characters, Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailova is the most striking and important for characterizing the main character Raskolnikov. The image and characterization of Svidrigailov in the novel "Crime and Punishment" are written out by Dostoevsky quite clearly, vividly, in the most detail. This character so clearly emphasizes many aspects of the character of the protagonist that it is very important to understand the very essence of the unsympathetic Arkady Ivanovich.
Dostoevsky F. M., like an artist, painted a portrait of Arkady Ivanovich with clear, bright, juicy strokes with a wide brush. And although Svidrigailov is not the main character, it is difficult to forget him and impossible to pass by.
Appearance
“... About fifty years old, taller than average, burly, with broad and steep shoulders, which gave him a somewhat stooped appearance ... His broad, cheeky face was rather pleasant, and his complexion was fresh, not Petersburg. His hair, which was still very thick, was quite blond and a little grey, and his broad, thick beard, descending like a shovel, was even lighter than his head hair. His eyes were blue and looked coldly, intently and thoughtfully; red lips"
This is how the portrait of Svidrigailov was painted. The author drew him in great detail, emphasizing the importance of this character for the fate of the rest of the characters in the novel. The portrait is very interesting: at first the reader sees a very pleasant person, even a handsome one. And suddenly, at the end of the description, it is said about the eyes: a fixed, cold look, albeit thoughtful. The well-known expression “eyes are the mirror of the soul”, the author emphasized literally in a nutshell, which reveal the very essence of the character. Even a very attractive outwardly person may turn out to be completely different from what he sees at first. Here is the first hint at the true essence of Svidrigailov, which the author reveals through the opinion of Raskolnikov, who noticed that the face of Arkady Ivanovich is more like a mask that hides all the ins and outs, that, despite the attractiveness, there is something very unpleasant in Svidrigailov.
Character, its formation
Svidrigailov is a nobleman, which means that he received a decent education. He served in the cavalry for about two years, then, as he himself said, "wandered around", already living in St. Petersburg. There he became a cheater, ended up in prison, from where Marfa Petrovna saved him. It turns out that the whole biography of Arkady Ivanovich is his path of moral and ethical downfall. Svidrigailov is cynical, a lover of debauchery, which he himself even admits with some pride. He lacks a sense of gratitude: even to his wife, who saved him from prison, he declares bluntly that he is not going to be faithful to her and change his lifestyle for her sake.
His entire life path was marked by crimes: because of him, his servant Philip and the daughter of the servant, a girl dishonored by Svidrigailov, committed suicide. It is most likely that Marfa Petrovna was poisoned because of her libertine husband. Arkady Ivanovich lies, slandering Dunya, Raskolnikov's sister, slanders her, and also tries to dishonor the girl. With all his dissolute and dishonorable life, Svidrigailov is gradually killing his soul. And it would be fine if he destroyed everything good in himself, Arkady Ivanovich kills everything around him, everything he touches.
Character personality traits
Svidrigailov is depicted as a perfect villain who has fallen into the abyss of evil, having apparently lost all the pitiful remnants of conscience. He absolutely does not have any doubts, doing evil, does not think about the consequences, even enjoys the torment of the people around him. A lustful debaucher, a sadist, he tries to satisfy all his base instincts, while not feeling the slightest remorse for his deed. He thinks it will always be like this.
Svidrigailov and Raskolnikov
Having met with the main character, Arkady Ivanovich once remarks to him that both of them are "of the same field." Raskolnikov, on the other hand, Svidrigailov is extremely unpleasant. Rodion even feels some confusion, feeling the power of Arkady Ivanovich over himself, who understood a lot about the student. Raskolnikov is frightened by the mysteriousness of Svidrigailov.
However, despite the fact that Rodion killed the old pawnbroker, they are not at all alike. Yes, Rodion put forward a theory about superhumans, even killed a man, testing his theory. But in Svidrigailov, as in a distorted mirror, he saw himself in the future, if he continued to live according to the principles of his idea. And this revealed humanity in Rodion, prompted repentance and understanding of the full depth of his fall.
End of Arkady Ivanovich
Dostoevsky, in addition to his writing skills, was endowed with the talent of a psychologist. Here, too, describing the life path of Svidrigailov, an inveterate villain, stops him with love, paradoxically as it may seem. Arkady Ivanovich, having met Dunya, first tries to seduce her. When he fails, he denigrates the girl in the eyes of others. In the end, with surprise, he realizes that he truly loved her. And this understanding of true love opens in his soul all the floodgates that until now neither conscience, nor repentance, nor understanding of the atrocities committed by him have let out.
He releases Dunya, remarking with desperate bitterness:
“So you don’t love? And you can't? Never?".
Svidrigailov suddenly realizes that he is absolutely alone in his fall, that he is not worthy of anyone's love. Enlightenment comes too late for him. Yes, he is trying to atone, to somehow make amends for all the evil that he has done so far. Arkady Ivanovich gives money to Duna and Sonya, donates a large amount to the Marmeladov family ... But he cannot achieve deep, sincere repentance.
But the pangs of conscience evoked in him memories of the atrocities committed. And these memories turned out to be an unbearable burden for conscience. Svidrigailov committed suicide.
And in this he turned out to be weaker than Raskolnikov, who was not afraid, but confessed and repented, not being afraid to live on.
To penetrate into the essence of the human soul, regardless of who it belongs to, the righteous or the murderer - that was the main goal of Mikhail Dostoevsky's work. Most of his heroes live in St. Petersburg in the 19th century. Nevertheless, the books of the great Russian classic are still interesting today. And not only in Russia, but also abroad. The image of Svidrigailov is one of the most interesting images of Dostoevsky. Only at first glance it may seem that this character is unambiguous. He is opposed to the protagonist of the novel "Crime and Punishment", however, he has much in common with him.
The image of Svidrigailov in the novel "Crime and Punishment"
So what do we know about this hero? Svidrigailov Arkady Ivanovich - an acquaintance of Dunya Raskolnikova. Moreover, he is her admirer, passionate, unstoppable. The image of Svidrigailov emerges even before his appearance. Raskolnikov will one day learn about him as a low man, ready for anything for the sake of gain and pleasure. Of considerable interest is the mysterious story of Arkady Ivanovich. He, like the protagonist of the novel, once committed a murder. However, unlike Raskolnikov, he was not brought to trial.
Arkady Ivanovich is fifty years old. This is a man of medium height, burly, with steep and broad shoulders. An important part of Svidrigailov's image is smart, comfortable clothing. In his hands he always has an exquisite cane, with which he now and then taps. Svidrigailov's broad face is rather pleasant. A healthy complexion suggests that he does not spend most of his time in dusty St. Petersburg. Hair blond with grey.
What is the most important thing in the image of Svidrigailov, as, indeed, in any other? Of course, the eyes. At Arkady Ivanovich they are blue, they look coldly, intently, a little thoughtfully. Svidrigailov is a nobleman, a retired officer. He is a desperate man, as one of the characters said, "zabubenny behavior." Briefly, the image of Svidrigailov can be described as follows: a villain, a voluptuary, a scoundrel.
History of Arkady Ivanovich
The characterization of Svidrigailov is very unattractive. Nevertheless, in the scene in which his death is depicted, he is able to arouse pity in the reader. The image of Svidrigailov in Dostoevsky's novel is considered to be the most striking negative. Still, this is a rather controversial character. Yes, he is a scoundrel, a libertine, an adventurer, a petty tyrant. But he is an unfortunate man.
One day he says to Raskolnikov: “My children need me. But what kind of father am I? He seems to be trying to denigrate himself, trying to seem more unpleasant and disgusting than he is. Perhaps the whole point is that Svidrigailov once committed a murder. He did not confess, did not repent. He believes in his impunity. Svidrigailov is cruelly mistaken. There is no crime without punishment.
Once Svidrigailov was a card sharper. He went to jail for debt. From there he was bought out by Marfa Petrovna - a middle-aged woman, but very rich. After his release, Arkady Ivanovich married her. True, a few months after the wedding, he declared that he could not be faithful to her.
Marfa Petrovna forgave her husband's infidelities. Moreover, once she did everything in order to hide the dirty story that led to the death of a fifteen-year-old girl. But then Svidrigailov had every chance to take a walk in Siberia. If not for his wife, who, by the way, later died under very strange circumstances. Dunya Raskolnikova believes that Arkady Ivanovich poisoned her.
Let us consider in more detail the characteristic features of Svidrigailov. What kind of story happened to him a few years before meeting Raskolnikov? What does this villain have in common with the main character?
madness
Svidrigailov is a rather eccentric person. He is not at all interested in the opinions of others. As already mentioned, he is called "a man of tame behavior." He says strange things, takes his interlocutor by surprise with his shameless speeches. Perhaps he really is indifferent to public opinion. But another option can be assumed: Svidrigailov enjoys surprising, shocking others.
perversity
This is the most depraved hero in the novel "Crime and Punishment". Once he was cheating on his wife with peasant women with might and main. Later, having met Dunya, he was inflamed with passion for her. This killed the pervert. The girl will never reciprocate him. She despises him, and one day she almost kills him. Arkady Ivanovich is used to getting his way. When he realizes that he will never achieve goals in the person of Dunya Raskolnikova, he commits suicide.
Adventurism
Svidrigailov is an empty man. He is accustomed to idleness, lives in a big way. Svidrigailov's marriage itself is nothing but a gamble. He connected his life with a woman whom he did not love. Perhaps Svidrigailov is not at all capable of a deep feeling. He lives for the momentary pleasure for which he is ready to pay someone else's life. The time has come to tell the story, after which the reputation of a scoundrel has forever been fixed for Arkady Ivanovich.
Cruelty
Marfa Petrovna concluded a strange contract with her husband. Its essence was as follows: he would never leave her, he would never have a permanent mistress, while he would satisfy his lust with hay girls. One of the peasant women - a girl of 14-15 years old - was once found strangled in the attic. It turned out that Svidrigailov's cruel insult prompted her to commit suicide. This man had another death on his conscience. To suicide, he brought Philip - a peasant who could not stand the constant persecution.
Svidrigailov and Luzhin
The images of these characters are opposed to the main character. They are considered to be the twins of Raskolnikov. However, Luzhin, unlike Svidrigailov, and even more so the student who killed the old woman, is a rather simple character.
Luzhin evokes nothing but rejection. This is a well-groomed middle-aged gentleman, in whose expensive smart clothes there is something unnatural, fake. Unlike Svidrigailov, he got out of the bottom. Luzhin was not accustomed to idleness. He serves in two places, cherishes every minute. Finally, the main thing that distinguishes him from Arkady Ivanovich is rationality, prudence. This man will never lose his head because of passion. He wants to marry Dunya not because he loves her. Raskolnikov's sister is poor, which means she will be an obedient wife. She is well educated, which means she will help him take a higher place in society.
One field of berries
Svidrigailov learns about Raskolnikov's crime by eavesdropping on his conversation with Sonya. He, of course, will not publicize the secret of Rodion Romanovich. However, she excites, excites him. “We are of the same field with you,” he once says to Raskolnikov. But suddenly he notices incomprehensible tragic throwing in the student. A person with such a fine organization has nothing to commit a crime - so Svidrigailov believes, contemptuously calling Rodion's suffering "Schillerism".
Arkady Ivanovich suffered pangs of conscience only in the last days of his life. And they were too weak to lead to repentance. He, unlike Raskolnikov, could not admit his guilt.
A minor character in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. An old nobleman, dreams of marrying the sister of the protagonist of the novel -. He learns about the murder committed by Raskolnikov, but promises to remain silent about it. Dodgy type, depraved and cynical.
History of creation
The image of Svidrigailov was formed under the influence of diverse impressions. The psychological prototype of the character was probably a certain murderer Aristov, a nobleman by birth, who was imprisoned in the Omsk jail. This man has already been brought out in another work - “Notes from the Dead House”. The surname "Svidrigailov" is consonant with the name of the Lithuanian prince Svidrigailo, as well as with the German word geil, which translates as "voluptuous", "lustful".
In addition, while working on the novel, Dostoevsky drew on numerous materials and notes from magazines and newspapers that he read. Among other things, the writer read the Iskra magazine. One of the issues for 1861 contains a feuilleton, which speaks of a certain Svidrigailov, a “repulsive” and “disgusting” person who rampages in the provinces.
"Crime and Punishment"
Arkady Svidrigailov is a tall, stout, round-shouldered gentleman in his fifties. He dresses smartly and gives the impression of a portly gentleman. He wears fresh gloves, an elegant cane and a huge ring with an expensive stone. Svidrigailov has a pleasant high cheekbones, a healthy complexion, not typical for a Petersburger, thick blond hair, in which gray hair barely breaks through, a thick “shovel” beard and blue “thoughtful” eyes.
The character is "well preserved" and looks younger than his own years. At the same time, Svidrigailov's youthful face looks like a mask and, for unknown reasons, makes a "terribly unpleasant" impression, and his eyes seem heavy and motionless.
By origin, Svidrigailov is a nobleman, a retired officer - he served in the cavalry for two years. The hero was married, but Svidrigailov's wife died. After his wife, there were children who live with their aunts, and, according to Svidrigailov himself, they do not need a father. The hero's children are well provided for. Svidrigailov himself was also rich before, but after the death of his wife, the hero's fortune deteriorated. Svidrigailov is used to living luxuriously and is still considered a wealthy man and dresses well, but what is left after his wife is hardly enough for the hero for a year.
Svidrigailov has an extravagant and unpredictable character. Other characters call Svidrigailov a voluptuous lecher, a scoundrel and a rude villain. The hero himself shares the opinion of others about himself as an idle person who died in vices, deprived of honor.
The hero also calls himself a boring and gloomy person, he admits that sometimes he sits in a corner for three days and does not talk to anyone, loves hot places and is mired in sins. Svidrigailov has no specialty or business to which the hero could devote himself; on this occasion, the hero calls himself an "empty man."
Raskolnikov also calls Svidrigailov "the most insignificant villain." Svidrigailov is in love with Raskolnikov's sister Dunya and wants to marry her. However, he himself is against this marriage and believes that Dunya should be protected from Svidrigailov. Svidrigailov is not interested in the opinions of others, however, when necessary, the hero knows how to give the impression of a decent and charming person from a good society. The hero is cunning and knows how to seduce ladies, he is inclined to show off and spread his tail.
Svidrigailov has many acquaintances in high society, so he still has useful connections. The hero himself used to trade in fraud and was a cheater - a card player who deceives partners. The hero was in the company of the same card swindlers who acted in high society and at first glance looked like the most decent people with refined manners, businessmen and the creative elite.
Eight years before the events taking place in the novel, Svidrigailov ended up in a debtor's prison, from where he had no means to get out. The hero had a huge debt that he could not pay. Svidrigailov was saved by Marfa Petrovna, who was in love with him, who bought the hero out of prison for "thirty thousand pieces of silver." The hero married Marfa Petrovna, after which he immediately left for his wife's estate, in the village. The wife was five years older than Svidrigailov and loved her husband very much.
For the next seven years, before arriving in St. Petersburg, the hero did not leave the estate and used the state of his wife. Marfa Petrovna seemed too old to the hero and did not arouse his love interest, so Svidrigailov directly told his wife that he was not going to be faithful to her. The wife took this statement with tears, but as a result, the couple came to an agreement.
Illustration for the novel "Crime and Punishment" Svidrigailov promised that he would not leave his wife and would not divorce her, would not go anywhere without the permission of his wife, and would not start a permanent mistress. In exchange for this, Marfa Petrovna would “permit” Svidrigailov to seduce young peasant women on the estate.
Svidrigailov raped a deaf-mute underage girl who later hanged herself in the attic. The guilt of the hero became known from a certain denunciation. A criminal case was opened against the hero, and Svidrigailov was threatened with exile to Siberia, but Marfa Petrovna again helped her husband get out and tried to hush up this case. Thanks to the money and connections of his wife, Svidrigailov escaped justice. It is also known that the hero drove one of his servants to suicide by endless torture and bullying.
Petersburg in the novel "Crime and Punishment" Dunya, the sister of the protagonist of the novel, Rodion Raskolnikov, worked as a governess in the house of Marfa Petrovna when she was still alive. Svidrigailov fell in love with Dunya and planned to seduce the girl with money and run away with her to Petersburg. Svidrigailov tells Duna that, at her behest, he is ready to kill or poison his wife. Soon, Svidrigailov's wife really dies under strange circumstances, but Dunya refuses the hero.
The girl believes that Svidrigailov terribly beat and poisoned his wife, but it is not known whether this is true. Suspecting the hero of the murder, Dunya takes the revolver that previously belonged to Marfa Petrovna in order to be able to defend herself on occasion.
Another illegal act of Svidrigailov is blackmail. The hero overhears a conversation between Raskolnikov and Sonechka Marmeladova. From this conversation, Svidrigailov learns about the murder committed by Raskolnikov, and decides to use this information to blackmail Dunya and force her to marry him. However, Duna manages to get rid of Svidrigailov. Later, the hero offers Raskolnikov money so that he can flee from St. Petersburg abroad and hide from justice.
The deceased wife begins to appear to Svidrigailov in hallucinations. The hero goes crazy and begins to do strange things, for example, he gives a prostitute three thousand rubles (a lot of money in those days) so that the heroine can start a new life. Soon after, Svidrigailov commits suicide - he shoots himself right on the street. This concludes the biography of the hero.
Svidrigailov in the novel appears as a double of Raskolnikov. The characters are related by the philosophy that they adhere to. Svidrigailov has a theory that is consonant with Raskolnikov's theory. Both heroes believe that evil committed in the name of a “good purpose” is not considered such an essential evil that the end justifies the means. Svidrigailov formulates his own life position of permissiveness as follows:
"A single villainy is permissible if the main goal is good."
The first meeting between Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov takes place as follows. The hero appears in Raskolnikov's closet when he is sleeping. Raskolnikov at this moment sees a terrible dream about his own crime and, half asleep, perceives Svidrigailov, who appeared in the room, as a continuation of the nightmare. A conversation takes place between the characters, during which Svidrigailov admits that at times he sees the "ghosts" of his dead wife and Filka's servant, who committed suicide through Svidrigailov's fault.
We are also talking about Dunya, to whom Svidrigailov has tender feelings. The girl refused Svidrigailov himself, but she is going to marry a lawyer whom she does not love, but is ready to “sell out” in order to improve the financial affairs of the family. Svidrigailov wants to give Dunya ten thousand rubles so that she can refuse a forced marriage and freely build her own life.
Screen adaptations
In 1969, a two-part film "Crime and Punishment" directed by Lev Kulidzhanov was released at the film studio named after him. The role of Svidrigailov in this film was played by an actor.
In 2007, the series "Crime and Punishment", filmed by Dmitry Svetozarov, was released on television. The series was filmed in St. Petersburg, the role of Svidrigailov went to the actor.
In 1979, he played the role of Svidrigailov in a play staged by the Taganka Theater. It was the last theatrical role of the actor.
Quotes
The life principles of Svidrigailov are well described by the quote:
“Everyone thinks of himself and lives the most cheerfully, whoever is best able to deceive himself.”
“But why did you drive into virtue like that with all the drawbars?”
“Why leave women if I am at least a hunter for them? At the very least, an occupation ... Agree yourself, isn’t it an occupation of its kind?
“The fact that in his house he pursued a defenseless girl and“ insulted her with his vile proposals ”is it so? ... Here the whole question is: did I spit it out or was the victim myself? So what about the victim? After all, by offering my subject to flee with me to America or Switzerland, I, perhaps, had the most respectful feelings at this, and even thought of arranging mutual happiness!
The landowner Svidrigailov sets off Raskolnikov. He has what Raskolnikov lacks - the strength of nature, which allows him to cross the line fearlessly. Svidrigailov sets off Raskolnikov's weakness and bookishness, his theorizing, which excludes the very possibility of that immediate strong desire, which determines the ability to overstep the line. Having fallen in love with Dunya, Svidrigailov does not stop before the murder of his wife and remains unpunished. In contrast to Raskolnikov, after the crime Svidrigailov turns out to be viable, he continues to seek Dunya's love, and only when he is convinced of the complete hopelessness of his feelings, he kills himself.
Svidrngailov is a strong, rich nature, able to combine crime and generosity, possessing a large reserve of will. Svidrigailov is exactly the kind of person who can calmly dare to cross the line of morality. Next to him, Raskolnikov is a weak-willed theorist, unable to cope with his own idea.
Svidrigailov began his life career as a cavalry officer, but since the most attractive side of this service is ambition, the observance of certain rules of honor, camaraderie, due to his inability to have all these feelings, he quits the service; for him, there were only one of its negative sides: constraint, compulsory labor, etc. After that, he begins to live only sensual pleasures, which have the usual outcome - ruin and satiety. It is clear that such a person does not think about choosing ways to receive money - he becomes a cheater; the question never arose in his mind whether this occupation was moral; the only thing he considers it necessary to say about this period of his life is that he was beaten for cheating. He is even somewhat proud of this: according to his concepts, only the beaten have a good manner. Finally, he becomes a beggar, a resident of the Vyazemsky house, but even such a fall does not bother him at all; he does not feel the humiliation of such a position, not even that shame that is characteristic of all those who have sunk so low in life; in a word, the dirt, in the literal and figurative sense, of the Vyazemsky house does not get on his nerves, although it is obvious that for a person of his upbringing such a life should be extremely difficult.
But then fate squeezed ass over him: a rich woman pays his debts, with the help of money she covers up his case of rape, makes him her husband. Svidrigailov cynically arrogates to himself the right to take her maids as concubines and widely uses this right, so he vegetates in the village for several years. He is tired of everything, nothing interests him, nothing excites him; he is completely indifferent to his wife, children; he does not understand the social obligations of the landowner, because the moral feelings underlying them do not exist for him. Life becomes a burden; in vain his good-natured wife took him abroad: due to the lack of aesthetic feelings, interest in public life, he was just as bored there as at home.
However, during this time he does not do anything bad. Some are even ready to consider him a kind person; but how foreign to him sympathy for his neighbor is evident from the fact that, for entertainment, he persecuted his lackey to such an extent, laughing at his convictions that
drove the latter to suicide. Of course, Svidrigailov is not to blame for the death of this lackey: after all, he did not feel and did not understand what cherished convictions could mean for a person, because he himself could not have convictions, there was nothing cherished, dear. But here he meets a girl who arouses attraction in him, but his courtship remains unsuccessful; Svidrigailov thinks that the girl does not give herself to him because he is married. Doubts that if he could marry her, then she, like a poor woman, would agree to his proposal, do not arise in his brain; he does not allow the thought that he can arouse disgust, since the consciousness of his own vileness and the assessment of the moral charms of this girl are inaccessible to him.
Then he removes the only, in his opinion, obstacle - his wife, the woman who saved him from a debt prison and hard labor, who loved him and cared for him, leaves the children and goes after Dunya Raskolnikova; but here he discovers the final impossibility of achieving his goal.
It may seem that some kind of moral feeling was revived in him when he did not take advantage of Dunya's helpless position, but another explanation is simpler and more accurate - Svidrigailov, like a refined libertine, wanted reciprocity, but was convinced that Dunya had a physical disgust for him. Sated Svidrigailov did not find exactly what he was looking for; the satisfaction of animal passion for him, as an exhausted person, did not have a special price; so that the seeming generosity of Svidrigailov was simply the result of his satiety. Svidrigailov scatters money and dies, not even remembering his children in his dying moments; only pictures of his personal life flash in his head, he does not remember a single friend, not a single close person; he has no one to say goodbye to, no one to regret. He dies indifferent to everything, even to himself; in turn, no one will regret him, he left nothing, no one's interests suffered from his death.
Meanwhile, Svidrigailov was educated, educated, rich, handsome; he had every right to a happy life, but moral blindness made his life difficult, drove him to suicide - a natural way to end the satiety of life, since there was nothing left to bind to it: no desires, no interests, nothing in the future .
Back in the 1880s, the psychiatrist researcher V. Chizh recognized the figure of Svidrigailov as “the best in all Dostoevsky’s works”: “Perhaps, of all the types created by Dostoevsky,
Svidrigailov alone will remain immortal.” This great artistic achievement was due to the general system of constructing the images of the novel, sharpened by the social topical era. “Of course, it is decently dressed and I am not considered a poor person,” Svidrigailov is recommended, “after all, the peasant reform bypassed us: forests and flood meadows, income is not lost, but ...”.
Before us is a large landowner, already limited by the "peasant reform" in his material wealth and personal power, although "forests and flood meadows" remained behind him. Dostoevsky introduces into his biography an episode of the torture of a courtyard man, led to suicide by his master's "system of persecution and punishment".
According to draft notes, the hero's slave-owning instincts turned out to be even sharper; "he spotted the serfs" and "used the innocence" of his peasant women. Dostoevsky accurately dates the fact of bringing him to the noose of the courtyard Philipp by the end of the 1850s: “It happened about six years ago, back in the days of serfdom.” It is worth remembering that just before the writing of Crime and Punishment, a peasant reform was carried out. Announced in the manifesto of 1861, it was carried out in 1863, when more than 80 percent of the serfs were "placed in finally defined relations with their former landowners."
The transitional biennium did little to change the manners of the landlords, and in Dostoevsky's journals there is a number of evidence of the continuing cruel traditions of serfdom, especially in relation to the long-suffering courtyard people.
Dostoevsky's journal, which noted that "the peasant question is a question of the nobility," cited on its pages a number of characteristic cases of modern chronicle: about the cruel treatment of the landowner with the Tsvorov people; about the ugly act of a landowner of the Miussky district with a girl who had lived in his family for more than six years as a governess [an attempt to beat her with a “double chubuk”, the girl’s flight, etc.); the whole episode is strongly reminiscent of Dunechka's departure from the Svidrigailov estate in a peasant cart in the pouring rain; finally, the suicide of a thirteen-year-old peasant girl, who hanged herself in a room on a belt tied to a pole, is reminiscent of the case of Resslich's niece, who strangled herself in the attic after she was "cruelly offended by Svitsrigaipov." This motif of the “offended girl” is heard several times in Crime and Punishment [a drunken girl on K-m Boulevard, Razumikhin’s dispute with Porfiry, Svidrigailov’s nightmare before suicide].
Subsequently, this motif was developed in full in "Demons" ["Confessions of Stavrogin"], but already in the era of "Crime and Punishment" this theme attracted the author's close attention. According to Sofia Kovalevskaya, in the spring of 1865, Dostoevsky told her and her sister A. Korvin-Krukovskaya a scene from a novel he had planned about how “a landowner hero, middle-aged, very well and finely educated,” recalls, “how once, after a wild night and encouraged by drunken comrades, he raped a ten-year-old girl.
The intriguing vitality of Svidrigailov's image is also explained by his real sources. The hero, on the instructions of Dostoevsky, was written off from his comrade in Omsk penal servitude Aristov. In the drafts of the novel, he appears under this name. A young nobleman, not devoid of education, handsome and intelligent, with an eternal mocking smile on his lips, he represented
a complete type of moral monster, "monster, moral Kwaimodo". Aristov "was some kind of piece of meat, with teeth and a stomach, and with an unquenchable thirst for the grossest, most brutal bodily pleasures, and for the satisfaction of the smallest and most whimsical of these
pleasures, he was able to kill in cold blood, slaughter, in a word, everything, if only the ends were hidden in the water ... This was an example of what one bodily side of a person could reach, not internally restrained by any norm, any legality, ”
Svidrigailov was conceived as a certain fifty-year-old Aristov and retained in his appearance and characteristics a number of distinct features of the prototype. But in the process of artistic development, the image was softened and even received some features of moral nobility (taking care of Sonya, the little Marmeladovs, the rejection of Dunya). Dostoevsky resorted here to a special experiment: he placed the type of life that struck him in a different environment and took it at a different age, retaining all the originality of an extraordinary human individual.
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