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Title
To live on a square foot of space"": The Barriers to a Realization of Freedom in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment
Description
A recent trend in literary research has focused on how authors' use of space reveals underlying motivations and conveys thematic information. In this thesis, the role that space plays in Dostoevsky's portrayal of freedom in the novel Crime and Punishment is analyzed with a focus on the physical spaces of St. Petersburg, the mental spaces formed by characters in the story, and how the barriers to the realization of freedom manifest in both. Although Dostoevsky is one of the most notable authors of the Petersburg genre and there has been a lot of discussion about his treatment of individual freedom, there hasn't been a close analysis done in the field that addresses freedom through the analysis of spatial motifs. While all of the characters exist in a common space, they each show a unique approach to their environment due to their personal ideologies, suggesting that they each also realize a varying degree of freedom. I closely analyze the characters Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov, Katerina, Luzhin, Marmeladov, Sonya, and Porfiry as examples of the hierarchy of realized freedom that they attain in the book as seen through their ideologies in interaction with space. Looking at how Dostoevsky presents the environments of the text as either reflections or sources of conflict for characters' mental ideologies, one can see that freedom requires both interaction with the real world as well as a stable lens through which one may perceive it, ultimately necessitating that individuals embrace the potential of suffering as well.
Date Created
2018-05
Contributors
- Vanderveen, Lexie Michael (Author)
- Popova, Laura (Thesis director)
- Stoff, Laurie (Committee member)
- Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor)
- School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
- Department of English (Contributor)
- Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
62 pages
Language
eng
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Series
Academic Year 2017-2018
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.48375
Level of coding
minimal
Cataloging Standards
System Created
- 2018-04-26 12:18:17
System Modified
- 2021-08-11 04:09:57
- 3 years 3 months ago
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