Literary Techniques Used by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Crime and Punishment

A Study of the literary techniques used by Fyodor Dostoyevsky inCrime and Punishment to study the downfall and subsequent rise ofthe briny character.Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is the story of a youngstudent Raskolnikov and his need to murder an old charr to prove oneof his many philosophies. The book begins with the murder, but the chief(a) focus is on his reasoning and reactions before and after theact.It is set in St Petersburg where the main character, Raskolnikov,appears to be an ex-student living, in poverty, a life of lethargy.However, it soon emerges that he, despite the physical nature of hissituation, has a very active mind. To reveal whether he is of aspecial tenor of humans, he finds it necessary to kill, and theunfortunate subjects of his experiment be an old pawnbroker and hersister. After the murders, Raskolnikov is subject to a series ofmental and emotional changes, eventually leading to his pleaand, later, his arrest, trial and eight-year prison s entence.It was both this interesting plot and the philosophical nature ofDostoyevskys writing, which initially attracted me to this book. Italso features many themes and characters, as well as an effectivesetting. As a result, I will examine the literary techniques used inCrime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky to convey the downfalland subsequent rise of the main character, Raskolnikov. I will beginby looking at how the setting formed Raskolnikovs character, and thendiscuss the structure and other characters of the novel.The setting plays a primary role in forming Raskolnikovs character.In mid-19th century Russia, an oppressive rule is a result of theRomanov monarchy and this in... ...ition to being important in portraying Raskolnikovs changingpersonality. By fashioning such dissimilarity between the two ways thatthe two characters affect Raskolnikov, we are able to see his downfalland subsequent rise much to a greater extent clearly.Dostoyevskys writing in this book is such t hat the characters andsetting around the main subject, Raskolnikov, are used with military forcefulconsequences. The setting is both symbolic and has a power thataffects all whom reside there, most notably Raskolnikov. An effectiveStructure is also used to show changes to the plots direction andRaskolnikovs character. To add to this, the authors word choice andimagery are often extremely descriptive, and enhance the impact atevery stage of Raskolnikovs changing fortunes and character. All ofthese features aid in the portrayal of Raskolnikovs downfall andsubsequent rise.