Sonya and the Lesson of Lazarus

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Re-read (see, I'm giving you credit for reading it once already, though maybe you're still far away from this stage of the novel) Chapter 4 of Part V: Raskolnikov's weird mixture of argument, self-justification and confession to Sonya. Here the ideas outlined in the first meeting with Porfiry are passionately, if inconsistently, developed by our hero. What sides of himself does he show at this meeting. How complete is his confession?—does it include repentance and spiritual commitment?

Why does he choose Sonya as his confessor? Why not Porfiry, or Razumikhin?
Why also does he torment Sonya, as he does so terribly at their previous meeting?
Finally, how does the story of Lazarus work in this context? (It's featured in the essay I posted for you tonight, so you might take a look if time permits.)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're not actually blogging on this are we? Just have everything prepared for class, I imagine.

JD said...

Well…I meant this to be one. But if Katie Stanley herself is questioning its existence, I suppose there isn't. We'll just blog over the weekend.
And yes, prepare for class. For once I'm going to award points for participation.
(Josh Shing, for one, has rolled up a lot of credit, with some great comments on Tuesday.)
Cruelly and sadistically yours,
JD

Callie G said...

I don't think you're cruel or sadistic. I think you're just getting in touch with your inner Porfiry.

Anonymous said...

;D

Bryn said...

At Rodya’s meeting with Sonya, he shows honesty and genuineness. He reveals his inner conscience, which is replete with failure and guilt. He even admits his selfish motives to her: aspiration to be like Napoleon. He confesses that if he had only killed her for the money that he would be happy now, but since that wasn’t his true motive he is instead unsatisfied and disappointed with the actual outcome. Rodya thought that by succeeding with the murder, that he would prove to himself that he is above humanity, but instead he realized that he is “exactly the same louse as all the rest” (419).

Rodya focuses on the inner feelings and motives associated with the crime, not as much the physical aspect of it. The confession is complete: he even tells Sonya that he had only planned to kill Alyona, not Lizaveta. His confession is the first step on the road to recovery essentially, but it’s not repentance yet. He admits to the crime and comes to grips with reality and his true self, but he isn’t exactly repentant. We know this because he doesn’t want to turn himself into God as Sonya asks him too.

He chooses to confess to Sonya because he sees her as his equal. He views her prostitution as sinful, not taking her motives into account, and he knows that she won’t dismiss him afterwards. Thus, he’s not as ashamed to admit his crime to her, knowing that she’ll help him and be there for him afterward. He would see it as hypocritical for her to judge him for his sins since she too is as guilty as he in his mind. He doesn’t see Porfiry or Razumikhin as his equal as he does Sonya. Plus if he told Porfiry, he would be caught; and although Razumikhin may be there for him and help him afterwards, he knows that he is much more innocent compared to him. Rodya torments Sonya because he sees her as despicable like the rest of humanity. He also wants to bring her down to make him feel better about himself.

Rodya sees the story of Lazarus as the ultimate redemption because he died and was raised from the dead, and Rodya himself has become figuratively dead with the sin he has committed. Even though Rodya claims not to believe the story, he is still influenced by it. He finds hope in it – a hope for himself.

Bryn said...

That was the blog for me and Kristen!

Christopher Wang said...

Blog post for Jennifer Li, Becca Han, Grace Wang, and Chris Wang.
We didn’t turn a hand-written blog post because we just discussed the three questions.

We believe that Rodya chose Sonya to confess because he can, in a way, relate to her. They have both sinned (dramatically, not just the "white-lie" type of sin). Sonya is a prostitute while Rodya has killed two people. He hasn't, until now (after 400ish pages), told anybody of his act of murder, yet he decides to tell Sonya because (1) there was "so much horror and suffering in his own soul" and (2) he believes that she will understand what he has done.

We think that Rodya torments Sonya because of what she does and how she deals with it. While Rodya likes her, he believes that Sonya is a hypocrite, not embracing who she truly is: a prostitute (whereas she is this religious prostitute, devout to the Bible). After killing Alooney, he says (I’m so sorry, but it’s really late at night and I can’t remember WHERE THE HECK is the exact quote that he says this… Jennifer Li pointed it out to us) that by killing her, he has killed himself. He also mentions that Sonya has taken her own soul by prostituting her body away. And yet, she is this pious person who still believes in good.

Lazarus works in this context because Rodya believes that he has killed himself when he killed Aloofala (:)). He wishes to have the same redemption that Lazarus had when he was raised from the dead. He wants that second chance at life.

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