One of the main characters of the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" is Sonya Marmeladova - a girl forced to work "on a yellow ticket" in order to save her family from starvation. It is to her that the author assigns the most important role in the fate of Raskolnikov.

Sonya's appearance is described in two episodes. The first is the scene of the death of her father, Semyon Zakharych Marmeladov: “Sonya was short, about eighteen years old, thin, but rather pretty blonde ... She was also in tatters, her outfit was decorated in a street style ... with a bright and shamefully prominent goal. "

Another description of her appearance appears in the scene of Sonechka's acquaintance with Dunya and Pulcheria Alexandrovna: “she was a modest and even poorly dressed girl, very young, almost like a girl ... with a clear, but frightened face. She was wearing a very simple house dress ... ". Both of these portraits are strikingly different from each other, which reflects one of the key features of Sonya's character - a combination of spiritual purity and moral decline.

Sonya's life story is extremely tragic: unable to indifferently watch her family die from hunger and poverty, she voluntarily went to the humiliation and received a "yellow ticket". Sacrifice, boundless compassion and selflessness forced Sonechka to give all the money she earned to her father and stepmother Katerina Ivanovna.

Sonya has many wonderful features of a human character: mercy, sincerity, kindness, understanding, moral purity. She is ready to look for something good, bright in every person, even in those who are not worthy of such an attitude. Sonya knows how to forgive.

It has developed Endless love to people. This love is so strong that Sonechka is determined to consciously give all of herself for them.

Such faith in people special treatment to them (“This man is a louse!”) are largely associated with Sonya’s Christian worldview. Her faith in God and the miracle emanating from him truly has no boundaries. “What would I be without God!” In this regard, she is the opposite of Raskolnikov, who opposes her with his atheism and the theory of "ordinary" and "extraordinary" people. It is faith that helps Sonya to maintain the purity of her soul, to protect herself from the dirt and vice surrounding her; it is not for nothing that almost the only book she has read more than once is the New Testament.

One of the most significant scenes in the novel that influenced later life Raskolnikov, is an episode of joint reading of an excerpt from the Gospel about the resurrection of Lazarus. “The cigarette end has long been extinguished in a crooked candlestick, dimly illuminating in this beggarly room the murderer and the harlot, who strangely came together reading the eternal book ...”.

Sonechka plays a crucial role in the fate of Raskolnikov, which is to revive his faith in God and return to the Christian path. Only Sonya was able to accept and forgive his crime, did not condemn and was able to induce Raskolnikov to confess to his deed. She went with him all the way from recognition to hard labor, and it was her love that was able to return him to the true path.

Sonya has shown herself to be a determined and active person, able to make difficult decisions and follow them. She convinced Rodion to report on himself: “Get up! Come now, this very minute, stand at the crossroads, bow down, first kiss the earth that you have desecrated, and then bow to the whole world ... ".

In hard labor, Sonya did everything to alleviate the fate of Raskolnikov. She becomes a well-known and respected person, she is addressed by her first name and patronymic. The convicts fell in love with her for her kind attitude towards them, for selfless help- because Raskolnikov does not yet want or cannot understand. At the end of the novel, he finally realizes his feelings for her, realizes how much she suffered for him. “How can her beliefs now not be mine? Her feelings, her aspirations at least…”. So Sonya's love, her dedication and compassion helped Raskolnikov to begin the process of becoming on the true path.

The author embodied the best human qualities in the image of Sonya. Dostoevsky wrote: "I have only one moral model and ideal - Christ." Sonya became for him a source of his own beliefs, decisions dictated by his conscience.

Thus, thanks to Sonechka, Raskolnikov managed to find new meaning life and regain the lost faith.

While serving a term in hard labor, Dostoevsky conceived the novel The Drunk Ones. The difficult life, the corresponding environment, the stories of prisoners - all this prompted the writer to the idea of ​​describing the life of an impoverished ordinary Petersburger and his relatives. Later, already in the wild, he began to write another novel, where he entered the previously conceived characters. The images and characteristics of the members of the Marmeladov family in the novel "Crime and Punishment" occupy a special place among other characters.

This family is a symbolic image that characterizes the life of ordinary people. ordinary people, collective - people who live almost on the verge of a final fall in moral, moral, however, despite all the blows of fate, who managed to maintain the purity and nobility of their souls.

Marmalade family

The Marmeladovs occupy almost a central place in the novel, they are very closely connected with the main character. They played very much in the fate of Raskolnikov important role Almost all.

At the time Rodion met this family, it consisted of:

1. Marmeladov Semyon Zakharovich - the head of the family;
2. Katerina Ivanovna - his wife;
3. Sofya Semyonovna - Marmeladov's daughter (from his first marriage);
4. children of Katerina Ivanovna (from her first marriage): Polenka (10 years old); Kolya (seven years old); Lidochka (six years old, still called Lenechka).

The Marmeladov family is a typical family of philistines who have sunk almost to the very bottom. They don't even live, they exist. Dostoevsky describes them like this: as if they are not even trying to survive, but simply live in hopeless poverty - such a family "has nowhere else to go." It's scary not so much that the children found themselves in such a situation, but that the adults seem to have come to terms with their status, do not seek a way out, do not seek to get out of such a difficult existence.

Marmeladov Semyon Zakharovich

Head of the family, with which Dostoevsky introduces the reader at the time of Marmeladov's meeting with Raskolnikov. Then gradually the writer reveals life path this character.

Marmeladov once served as a titular adviser, but he drank himself, was left without a job and practically without a livelihood. He has a daughter from his first marriage - Sonya. At the time of the meeting between Semyon Zakharovich and Raskolnikov, Marmeladov had been married to a young woman Katerina Ivanovna for four years. She herself had three children from her first marriage.

The reader will learn that Semyon Zakharovich married her not so much out of love, but out of pity and compassion. And they all live in St. Petersburg, where they moved a year and a half ago. At first, Semyon Zakharovich finds a job here, and quite a decent one. However, from his addiction to drink, the official very soon loses it. So, through the fault of the head of the family, the whole family is begging, left without a livelihood.

Dostoevsky does not tell - what happened in the fate of this man, what once broke in his soul so that he began to drink, in the end - he drank himself, which condemned the children to begging, brought Katerina Ivanovna to consumption, and his own daughter became a prostitute, so that at least somehow earn and feed three young children, a father and a sick stepmother.

Listening to the drunken outpourings of Marmeladov, involuntarily, however, the reader is imbued with sympathy for this man who has fallen to the very bottom. Despite the fact that he robbed his wife, begged for money from his daughter, knowing how she earns it and why, he is tormented by pangs of conscience, he is disgusted with himself, his soul hurts.

In general, many heroes of "Crime and Punishment", even very unpleasant at the beginning, eventually come to the realization of their sins, to an understanding of the full depth of their fall, some even repent. Morality, faith, inner mental suffering are characteristic of Raskolnikov, Marmeladov, and even Svidrigailov. Who can not stand the pangs of conscience and commits suicide.

Here is Marmeladov: he is weak-willed, cannot cope with himself and stop drinking, but he sensitively and accurately feels the pain and suffering of other people, injustice towards them, he is sincere in his good feelings towards his neighbors and honest to himself and others. Semyon Zakharovich did not harden in his fall - he loves his wife, daughter, children of his second wife.

Yes, he did not achieve much in the service, he married Katerina Ivanovna out of compassion and pity for her and her three children. He remained silent when his wife was beaten, was silent and endured when his own daughter went to the bar to feed his children, stepmother and father. And Marmeladov's reaction was weak-willed:

"And I ... lay drunk, sir."

He can’t even do anything, he just can’t drink alone - he needs support, he needs to confess to someone who will listen to him and console him, who will understand him.

Marmeladov prays for forgiveness - the interlocutor, the daughter whom the saint considers, his wife, her children. In fact, his prayer is addressed to a higher authority - to God. Only the former official asks for forgiveness through his listeners, through his relatives - this is such a frank cry from the depths of the soul that it evokes in the listeners not so much even pity as understanding and sympathy. Semyon Zakharovich is executing himself for his weak will, for his fall, for his inability to stop drinking and start working, for having come to terms with his current fall and not looking for a way out.

Sad result: Marmeladov, being very drunk, dies after falling under a horse. And perhaps this is the only way out for him.

Marmeladov and Raskolnikov

The hero of the novel meets Semyon Zakharovich in a tavern. Marmeladov attracted the attention of a poor student with a contradictory appearance and an even more contradictory look;

“It was as if even enthusiasm shone, - perhaps, there was both sense and intelligence, - but at the same time, madness seemed to flicker.”

Raskolnikov drew attention to the drunk little man, eventually listened to the confession of Marmeladov, who spoke about himself, about his family. Listening to Semyon Zakharovich, Rodion once again understands that his theory is correct. The student himself during this meeting is in some strange state: he decided to kill the old money-lender, driven by the "Napoleonic" theory of superhumans.

At first, the student sees an ordinary drunkard frequenter of taverns. However, listening to Marmeladov's confession, Rodion is curious about his fate, then imbued with sympathy, not only for the interlocutor, but also for his family members. And this is in that feverish state when the student himself is focused only on one thing: "to be or not to be."

Later, fate brings the hero of the novel to Katerina Ivanovna, Sonya. Raskolnikov helps the unfortunate widow with a commemoration. Sonya, with her love, helps Rodion to repent, to understand that not everything is lost, that one can still know both love and happiness.

Katerina Ivanovna

Middle-aged woman, about 30. She has three young children from her first marriage. However, enough suffering and grief, trials have already fallen to her lot. But Katerina Ivanovna did not lose her pride. She is smart and educated. As a young girl, she was carried away by an infantry officer, fell in love with him, ran away from home to get married. However, the husband turned out to be a player, eventually lost, he was judged and soon died.

So Katerina Ivanovna was left alone with three children in her arms. Her relatives refused to help her, she had no income. The widow and children were in complete poverty.

However, the woman did not break down, did not give up, she was able to maintain her inner core, her principles. Dostoevsky characterizes Katerina Ivanovna in the words of Sonya:

she “… seeks justice, she is pure, she believes so much that there should be justice in everything, and demands… And even torture her, but she does not do anything unfair. She herself does not notice how all this is impossible to be fair in people, and gets irritated ... Like a child, like a child!

In an extremely distressed situation, the widow meets Marmeladov, marries him, tirelessly busies around the house, caring for everyone. Such a hard life undermines her health - she falls ill with consumption and on the day of Semyon Zakharovich's funeral she herself dies of tuberculosis.

Orphaned children are sent to Orphanage.

Children of Katerina Ivanovna

The writer's skill manifested itself in the highest way in the description of the children of Katerina Ivanovna - so touchingly, in detail, realistically, he describes these eternally hungry children, doomed to live in poverty.

"... The smallest girl, about six years old, was sleeping on the floor, somehow sitting, crouching and burying her head in the sofa. The boy, a year older than her, was trembling all over in the corner and crying. He had probably just been nailed. The older girl , about nine years old, tall and thin as a match, in one thin shirt torn everywhere and in a shabby dradedam's burnous coat draped over her bare shoulders, sewn probably two years ago, because it now did not reach even to her knees, stood in the corner near the small brother, clasping his neck with her long hand, dried up like a match, she ... followed her mother with her big, big dark eyes, which seemed even larger on her emaciated and frightened face ... "

It touches to the core. Who knows - it's possible that they end up in an orphanage, a better way out than to stay on the street and beg.

Sonya Marmeladova

The native daughter of Semyon Zakharovich, 18 years old. When her father married Katerina Ivanovna, she was only fourteen. Sonya has a significant role in the novel - the girl had a huge influence on the main character, became Raskolnikov's salvation and love.

Characteristic

Sonya did not receive a decent education, but she is smart and honest. Her sincerity and responsiveness became an example for Rodion and awakened in him conscience, repentance, and then love and faith. The girl suffered a lot in her short life, she suffered from her stepmother, but she did not harbor evil, she was not offended. Despite the lack of education, Sonya is not stupid at all, she reads, she is smart. In all the trials that fell to her lot during such a short life so far, she managed not to lose herself, retained the inner purity of her soul, her own dignity.

The girl was capable of complete self-sacrifice for the good of others; she is endowed with the gift to feel someone else's suffering as her own. And then she thinks least of all about herself, but only about how and how she can help someone who is very ill, who suffers and needs even more than herself.

Sonya and her family

Fate seemed to test the girl for strength: at first she began to work as a seamstress to help her father, stepmother and her children. Although at that time it was accepted that the family should be supported by a man, the head of the family, however, Marmeladov turned out to be absolutely incapable of this. The stepmother was sick, her children were very small. The seamstress's income was insufficient.

And the girl, driven by pity, compassion and a desire to help, goes to the panel, receives a “yellow ticket”, becomes a “harlot”. She suffers greatly from the realization of her external such a fall. But Sonya never reproached her drunken father or her sick stepmother, who knew very well who the girl was now working for, but they themselves were unable to help her. Sonya gives her earnings to her father and stepmother, knowing full well that the father will drink this money away, but the stepmother will be able to somehow feed her little children.

meant a lot to a girl

"the thought of sin and they, those ... poor orphans and this pathetic half-crazy Katerina Ivanovna with her consumption, with her head banging against the wall."

This kept Sonya from wanting to commit suicide because of such a shameful and dishonorable occupation, which she was forced to engage in. The girl managed to keep her inner moral purity save your soul. But not every person is able to save himself, to remain a man, going through all the trials in life.

Sonya Love

It is not by chance that the writer pays such close attention to Sonya Marmeladova - in the fate of the protagonist, the girl became his salvation, and not so much physical as moral, moral, spiritual. Having become a fallen woman, in order to be able to save at least the children of her stepmother, Sonya saved Raskolnikov from a spiritual fall, which is even worse than a physical fall.

Sonechka, sincerely and blindly believing in God with all her heart, without reasoning or philosophizing, turned out to be the only one capable of awakening in Rodion humanity, if not faith, but conscience, repentance for what he had done. She simply saves the soul of a poor student who has lost his way in philosophical reasoning about the superman.

The novel clearly shows the opposition of Sonya's humility to Raskolnikov's rebelliousness. And it was not Porfiry Petrovich, but it was this poor girl who was able to direct the student on the true path, helped to realize the fallacy of his theory and the gravity of the crime committed. She suggested a way out - repentance. It was her who obeyed Raskolnikov, confessing to the murder.

After the trial of Rodion, the girl followed him to hard labor, where she began working as a milliner. Behind kind heart, for her ability to sympathize with other people, everyone loved her, especially the prisoners.

The spiritual revival of Raskolnikov became possible only thanks to selfless love. poor girl. Patiently, with hope and faith, Sonechka takes care of Rodion, who is sick not so much physically, but spiritually and mentally. And she manages to awaken in him the awareness of good and evil, to awaken humanity. Raskolnikov, if he had not yet accepted Sonya's faith with his mind, accepted her beliefs with his heart, believed her, in the end he fell in love with the girl.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the writer in the novel reflected not so much the social problems of society as more psychological, moral, spiritual. The whole horror of the tragedy of the Marmeladov family is in the typicality of their destinies. Sonya became a bright ray here, who managed to preserve a person in herself, dignity, honesty and decency, purity of soul, despite all the trials that fell to her. And today, all the problems shown in the novel have not lost their relevance.

• The true beauty of a person does not depend on his appearance
• Beautiful is the one who performs moral deeds
• The most important thing in a person is sometimes impossible to see with your eyes.
• Outer beauty is not always a reflection of the rich spiritual world of the individual
• It happens that people who seem attractive outwardly commit absolutely immoral acts.
• A person with a truly beautiful soul creates a special, incomparable atmosphere with his presence.

Arguments

L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace". As a child, Natasha Rostova, one of the heroines of the great epic novel, was not beautiful. The attention riveted to her is impossible without inner beauty: both in childhood and in adulthood, she was distinguished by her love of life, spontaneity, and a pure soul. Another heroine that should be paid attention to is Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. In appearance, she was clearly inferior to the beauties, only her eyes were beautiful. But people who are able to feel real beauty, appreciated its inner qualities. Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova can be contrasted with Helen Kuragin: her beauty was admired in society. But this beauty is only external. In fact, Helen Kuragina is a stupid, callous, selfish, prudent, self-serving person. The external charm of the heroine does not compensate for her immoral behavior.

A.I. Solzhenitsyn "Matryona Dvor". Matryona has a completely ordinary appearance. The only part of her appearance that attracts attention is her beautiful smile. But for us, it is not external beauty that is important, but internal. It is not for nothing that the author writes that the face is good only for someone who is at odds with his own conscience. Matrena is a person from whom comes inner light, warmth. This is much more important than external attractiveness.

F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment". Svidrigailov, a rather rich and well-groomed man, in fact, does not have good spiritual qualities: he is ready to go to any meanness for the sake of his own whim. Physical beauty and ugly inner world are in no way compatible with each other: at first, in this tyrant and rapist you can see beautiful person. The image of Sonya Marmeladova is opposite. Due to malnutrition, poverty appearance the girl suffers greatly: pale, thin, frightened, wears terrible clothes. But the inner world of Sonya Marmeladova is beautiful, despite her lifestyle and appearance.

O. Wilde "Portrait of Dorian Gray". In this work, the problem of internal and external beauty is the main one. At the beginning of the work, we see in Dorian Gray a timid, bashful and incredibly handsome young man. Beauty is his source of power: no matter what the hero does, his appearance does not change. All changes affect only the portrait of a young man, painted by Basil Hallward. Gradually, Dorian Gray turns into an inhuman, immoral monster who has committed many nasty things, including even the murder of the artist. He is still as handsome as he was many years ago, only the state of his soul is depicted in the portrait. Dorian Gray wants to do away with a terrible image of himself and dies, plunging a dagger into a portrait. External beauty was fatal to him.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery "The Little Prince" Wise Thoughts little prince can teach even an adult a lot. Our hero said: “Only the heart is vigilant. You can’t see the most important thing with your eyes.” And we can say without a doubt that he is right. True beauty is inside a person, in his soul, in his right deeds.

A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter" In the work, we do not see the description of Pyotr Grinev. It doesn't really matter if he looks good or not. All the beauty of this man is expressed in his moral qualities, noble deeds. Pyotr Grinev is a man of honor who did not allow himself to betray his homeland, to leave his beloved girl in danger. His actions are beautiful, which means that he himself is beautiful.

M. Sholokhov "The fate of man." The fact that it is impossible to judge a person by appearance is proved by the image of Andrei Sokolov, the protagonist of the work. He was called to the German Müller while he was in captivity. Exhausted by labor, hungry Andrey Sokolov could not at that moment be beautiful in appearance. All his beauty was manifested in moral deeds: Sokolov refused to drink for the victory of German weapons, in spite of the enemy he did not start eating, despite hunger and lack of strength. By these actions, one can judge that a person is beautiful in soul.

immortal image

Some heroes classical literature acquire immortality, live next to us, this is exactly what the image of Sonya turned out to be in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky. By her example, we learn the best human qualities: kindness, mercy, self-sacrifice. It teaches us to love devotedly and to believe in God selflessly.

Acquaintance with the heroine

The author does not introduce us to Sonechka Marmeladova right away. She appears on the pages of the novel when a terrible crime has already been committed, two people died, and Rodion Raskolnikov ruined his soul. It seems that nothing in his life can be corrected. However, acquaintance with a modest girl changed the fate of the hero and revived him to life.

For the first time we hear about Sonya from the story of the unfortunate drunken Marmeladov. In confession, he talks about his unfortunate fate, about a starving family, and pronounces the name of his eldest daughter with gratitude.

Sonya is an orphan, the only native daughter of Marmeladov. Until recently, she lived with her family. Her stepmother Katerina Ivanovna, a sick, unfortunate woman, was exhausted so that the children would not die of starvation, Marmeladov himself drank the last money, the family was in dire need. Out of desperation, a sick woman often got irritated over trifles, made scandals, reproached her stepdaughter with a piece of bread. The conscientious Sonya decided on a desperate step. In order to somehow help the family, she began to engage in prostitution, sacrificing herself for the sake of her relatives. The story of the poor girl left a deep mark on Raskolnikov's wounded soul long before he personally met the heroine.

Portrait of Sonya Marmeladova

The description of the girl's appearance appears on the pages of the novel much later. She, like a wordless ghost, appears on the threshold of her home during the death of his father, crushed by a drunk cab driver. Timid by nature, she did not dare to enter the room, feeling vicious and unworthy. A ridiculous, cheap, but bright outfit indicated her occupation. "Meek" eyes, "pale, thin and irregular angular face" and the whole appearance betrayed a meek, timid nature, which had reached the extreme degree of humiliation. "Sonya was small, seventeen years old, thin, but rather pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes." This is how she appeared before the eyes of Raskolnikov, this is the first time the reader sees her.

Character traits of Sofia Semyonovna Marmeladova

A person's appearance is often deceiving. The image of Sonya in Crime and Punishment is full of inexplicable contradictions. A meek, weak girl considers herself a great sinner, unworthy of being in the same room with decent women. She is embarrassed to sit down next to Raskolnikov's mother, she cannot shake hands with his sister, fearing to offend them. Sonya can easily be offended and humiliated by any scoundrel, like Luzhin or the landlady. Defenseless against the arrogance and rudeness of the people around her, she is not able to stand up for herself.

A complete characterization of Sonya Marmeladova in the novel "Crime and Punishment" consists of an analysis of her actions. Physical weakness and indecision are combined in it with great mental strength. Love is at the core of her being. For the love of her father, she gives him the last money for a hangover. For the love of children, he sells his body and soul. For the sake of love for Raskolnikov, he follows him to hard labor and patiently endures his indifference. Kindness and the ability to forgive distinguish the heroine from other characters in the story. Sonya does not hold a grudge against her stepmother for a crippled life, she does not dare to condemn her father for weakness of character and eternal drunkenness. She is able to forgive and feel sorry for Raskolnikov for the murder of Lizaveta, who is close to her. “There is no one more unhappy than you in the whole world,” she tells him. To treat the vices and mistakes of the people around you in this way, you must be a very strong and whole person.

Where does a weak, fragile, humiliated girl get such patience, endurance and inexhaustible love for people? Faith in God helps Sonya Marmeladova to stand on her own and lend a helping hand to others. "What would I be without God?" - the heroine is sincerely perplexed. It is no coincidence that the exhausted Raskolnikov goes to her for help and tells her about his crime. The faith of Sonya Marmeladova helps the criminal first confess to the murder, then sincerely repent, believe in God and start a new happy life.

The role of the image of Sonya Marmeladova in the novel

The main character of F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" is considered to be Rodion Raskolnikov, since the plot is based on the story of the hero's crime. But the novel cannot be imagined without the image of Sonya Marmeladova. The attitude, beliefs, actions of Sonya reflect life position author. A fallen woman is pure and innocent. She fully atones for her sin with a comprehensive love for people. She is “humiliated and insulted” not a “trembling creature” according to Raskolnikov’s theory, but a respectable person who turned out to be much stronger than the main character. Having gone through all the trials and suffering, Sonya did not lose her basic human qualities, did not change herself and suffered happiness.

Moral principles, faith, Sonya's love turned out to be stronger than Raskolnikov's egoistic theory. After all, only by accepting the beliefs of his girlfriend, the hero acquires the right to happiness. The beloved heroine of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is the embodiment of his innermost thoughts and ideals of the Christian religion.

Artwork test

Probably, each writer has a work in which he most fully and voluminously expounds his views on the problems of interest to him. For F.M. Dostoevsky, the great master of the psychological description of a person, the novel "Crime and Punishment" became such a work.

In this novel, the story of a poor student Rodion Raskolnikov, who composed a terrible theory, according to which some people belonging to higher beings can kill others, "trembling creatures" for a good purpose, is brought to court. Raskolnikov, of course, ranked himself among the first. Having created this theory, he decides to test it in practice and kills the old pawnbroker and her sister. But it turns out that he is unable to live on as before with such a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Horrified by Raskolnikov's theory, but at the same time seeing how far his soul has moved away from human warmth and light, the author introduces the image of a savior in the face of Sonechka Marmeladova. Dostoevsky was a humanist writer and believed that good should be active, and not just be present as some abstract sign or symbol. Therefore, Sonya begins to play an active role in the novel precisely at the moment of repentance of the protagonist, and it is to her that the main merit in the purification and transformation of Raskolnikov belongs.

Prior to this, Sonya only occasionally appeared in the sketches of St. then a girl, blond, drunk, just offended by someone, then flashed a girl singing along to the organ grinder in a crinoline, in a mantilka, in a straw hat with a fiery feather. All this is bit by bit the appearance of Sonya, this is how she will appear, right from the street, at the bedside of her dying father. Only everything inside her is a categorical refutation of the blatantly beggarly attire.

Sonechka was forced to go on the "yellow ticket" by her life "among hungry children, ugly screams and reproaches", with an unfortunate drunkard father and a "crazy with grief" stepmother. Her first "earnings" - thirty rubles - she "silently laid out" in front of Katerina Ivanovna, and she "stood at her feet on her knees all evening, kissing her legs ...". Just as silently (“So not on earth, but there ... they yearn for people, cry, and do not reproach”) Sonya gave her father the last thirty kopecks for a hangover. Shame touched her "only mechanically; real debauchery has not yet penetrated a single drop into her heart." The position of this girl in society, "unfortunately, is far from being isolated and not exclusive." Before her, as Raskolnikov first believes, three roads are open: "throw into a ditch, fall into a lunatic asylum, or ... rush into debauchery, which intoxicates the mind and petrifies the heart." This is how the majority argues, only Lebezyatnikov alone - an adherent of a "new" life in "communes" - looks at Sonya's actions "as an energetic and personified protest against the structure of society" and deeply respects her for this.

Sonechka herself considers herself a "great sinner." The thought of "her dishonorable and shameful position" had long ago tormented her soul to "monstrous pain." Timid by nature, Sonya knows that "it is easier to destroy her than anyone else," that anyone can offend her "almost with impunity." And therefore, by meekness, humility "before everything and everyone," he always tries to avoid "trouble." Luzhin's act, calling Sonya "a girl of notorious behavior" and vilely representing her as a "thief", makes the girl feel a painful sense of helplessness - it becomes "too hard for her." And yet, to Raskolnikov's question: "Should Luzhin live and do abominations, or should Katerina Ivanovna die?" - she answers: “But I can’t know God’s Providence ... And who put me here as a judge: who will live, who won’t live?” Any person for her is not a "louse".

"Insatiable compassion" for the neighbor, Sonya's all-forgiving kindness is so great that she "her own last dress she’ll throw it off, sell it, go barefoot, and give it back to you if you need it.” She “believes that there should be justice in everything ... And even torture her, she won’t do anything unfair.” Faith in God gives Sonechka life force: “ What would I be without God?" When Sonya "ardently and passionately" reads to Raskolnikov the chapters of the Gospel of John about the resurrection of Lazarus, she is seized by a feeling of "great triumph" - as if she sees with her own eyes how "the deceased came out."

This inner spiritual core of hers, which helps to preserve moral beauty, boundless faith in goodness and in God, strikes Raskolnikov and makes him think for the first time about the moral side of his thoughts and actions. Rodion comes to Sonya with a confession of a perfect murder, in order to shift "at least part of his torment" onto her, and meets "her restless and painfully caring look", sees only love. After all, Sonya understands only that he is "terribly, infinitely unhappy." "There is no one more unhappy than you now in the whole world!" - she exclaims and rushes to her knees in front of Raskolnikov, hugs and kisses him, promises never to leave him anywhere. At the same time, Sonya does not feel "the slightest disgust, not the slightest disgust for him", he does not feel "the slightest shudder in her hand." Sonya only realizes that Raskolnikov is a blasphemer who does not understand anything (“You have departed from God, and God has betrayed you to the devil”), and invites him to “accept suffering and redeem himself with it”, “this very minute” go to the crossroads, kiss earth, bow to "the whole world" and say aloud: "I killed!" "Then God will send you life again."

At the same time, Sonya for Raskolnikov represents "an inexorable sentence, a decision without change" - "here - either her path, or his." Blessing for future suffering, the girl puts on Rodion's chest a "common" cypress cross, and when he begins to hesitate, she meets him with such a wild look that he cannot but declare himself.

Sonechka visits Raskolnikov in prison, and then (with the money left to her by Svidrigailov) follows him to Siberia. There she enjoys the love of all the prisoners, incomprehensible to Raskolnikov. The convicts bow to her, praise and thank her for everything. For them, she is "Mother, Sofya Semyonovna, mother ... tender, sick!", infinitely kind, understanding and compassionate. Sonya, who in her short life has already endured all conceivable and unimaginable suffering and humiliation, managed to maintain moral purity, unclouded mind and heart. No wonder Raskolnikov bows to Sonya, saying that he bows to all human suffering and grief.

The image of Sonya absorbed all the world's injustice, world's sorrow. She speaks in the novel on behalf of all "humiliated and offended". Just such a girl, with such life story, with such an understanding of the world, Dostoevsky needed to save and purify the protagonist. After all, Raskolnikov is not an ordinary, ordinary criminal, but a person who has been captured by an idea and who, due to his personal qualities, cannot refuse it without checking it in practice. Having decided on a test, Raskolnikov mentally already divided all people into "trembling creatures" and "having the right", and therefore only a few, very few, could influence his attitude by that time. It was Sonya, who, according to the writer, contained the Christian ideal of goodness, was able to withstand and win in the confrontation with the anti-human idea of ​​Rodion.

Sonya Marmeladova, a victim of the world of the Luzhins and Svidrigailovs, and at the same time the new conscience of Raskolnikov, became the bearer of a new philosophy of confrontation and response to evil. This fragile girl, endowed with a sensitive all-forgiving heart, is able to see someone else's grief and empathize with someone else's suffering. But it is wrong to see in Sonechka only humility before the misfortunes of life, she has both activity and passion for rejecting vice, and strength, and an active love for a person.

Convinced of the religious brotherhood of the destitute and of the possibility of resurrecting a person, she strives to save Raskolnikov and not only tells him of the need to atone for his guilt by nationwide repentance and suffering, but also encourages him to come to people. It is her unshakable active faith that becomes the source of the hero's rebirth.

The author of Crime and Punishment assigns one of the main places in his novel to the image of Sonechka Marmeladova, since this image embodies both world sorrow and divine, unshakable faith in the power of good. It is possible that the spiritual quest of F. M. Dostoevsky himself was embodied in this image.