Open Access«Crime and Punishment»: mystical novel about the birth of the Savior in the world of the evil Demiurge
Author(s) -
Игорь Иванович Евлампиев
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
solovʹëvskie issledovaniâ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2076-9210
DOI - 10.17588/2076-9210.2020.3.140-156
Subject(s) - tragedy (event) , destiny (iss module) , mysticism , problem of evil , good and evil , philosophy , mythology , punishment (psychology) , theology , hero , literature , scapegoat , art , psychology , social psychology , physics , astronomy
The article proposes a new interpretation of F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment”. It is shown that in addition to realistic and socio-psychological plans, the novel contains a symbolic and mystical plan, which is the main one. A detailed analysis of the text of the novel and the preparatory manuscripts for it suggests that Dostoevsky used as the basis of the novel the Gnostic myth of our world as the creation of the evil God the Demiurge and of the fallen Sophia (lower divine aeon), who was captured by matter and awaiting the Savior (Jesus Christ), who is to be born in the world itself, to realize his destiny and, having found Sophia, unite with her in an act of mystical love (syzygy). The mythological image of the Savior, Jesus Christ, expresses Raskolnikov, the main character of the novel. The article proves that the murder committed by a hero can be explained as an inevitable and tragic consequence of the dual nature of any person: he has not only a higher principle, arising from a connection with the good God the Father, but also a lower, dark beginning, created by the evil Demiurge. Therefore, in his action, man inevitably brings not only good, but also evil. Raskolnikov in his fate reveals the tragedy of a man who seeks to change the world of evil by his actions, and shows a universal way out of this tragedy - the acceptance of the full responsibility for what is happening in the world and the all suffering. In this sense, it exactly matches the image of Jesus Christ in its Gnostic understanding.