Leitmotif

Word, phrase or image that returns several times throughout the work, tied to a character or an idea, and gains meaning with each return.

In Crime and Punishment

I really am a louse

The louse returns throughout the work, tied to the old woman, to him in the confession to Sonia, and again in the refusal before Dunya. With each return the image changes hands, and the repetition links the theory to the fall.

Part Three: The Theory, Raskolnikov

I had to know then, and know quickly: am I a louse, like everyone, or a man? Shall I manage to cross over or not? Do I dare stoop and pick it up or not? Am I a trembling creature, or do I have the right…

Part Five: The Confession, Raskolnikov

Enough!.. It's time!.. Farewell, poor thing!.. They've worn out the old mare!.. She's broken down!

Part Five: The Confession, Katerina

that I killed a loathsome, noxious louse, an old moneylending hag who serves no one, for whose death forty sins are forgiven, who sucked the lifeblood of the poor, and that is supposed to be a crime? I don't think about it, and I don't think about washing it off.

Part Six: The Surrender, Raskolnikov