Compassion and Charity

The Theme in the Work

In the novel, compassion is first an impulse that Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov feels and quickly cancels, then an act he performs against his own theory, and finally a question about the right to give. Charity is tested from beginning to end: the money he hands the Marmeladovs, the armed subscription of Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, the suspicious benevolence of Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov, the defense of Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova by Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova, and the love the convicts give Sonia. The one the book leaves standing at the end is Sonia's, which asks no payment and reads the other person by what he does, not by what he says.

In chapter II of Part One, after seeing the Marmeladovs' home, Raskolnikov tosses the copper coins he has left onto the windowsill and regrets it on the stairs. Already in the street, he works out the household's numbers and concludes that Sonia, the stepmother, and the children will cry and get used to it, because he needs that for what he is thinking to meet no obstacle. He sums up the conclusion in an insult to the whole species:

In chapter IV of Part One, on the sidewalk, he sees a drunk girl followed by a dandy, gives the policeman twenty kopecks to take her home, and when she gets up, orders the policeman to let her go. Sitting on the bench, he disdains the girl with statistics:

In chapter V of Part One, in the dream of the mare (The Dream of the Mare), the boy's pity turns into action, and nothing can stand against the crowd:

In chapter VII of Part Two, after handing the twenty rubles he had to the widow of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, he goes down the stairs like a condemned man who has been told he is pardoned. The motive for the turn is an act of pity, but what he says next already speaks of mastery, and it begins like this:

In chapter III of Part Three, when he asks his mother's forgiveness for the money, pity becomes a question of right:

In chapter IV of Part Three, seeing the poverty of the room, Sonia measures his gesture by what he had left over:

In chapter I of Part Four, Svidrigailov gives too many reasons for the offer of ten thousand rubles: he has money to spare, his conscience is clear, there is no calculation. The argument that sums up the offer:

In chapter I of Part Five, Luzhin takes up a subscription that looks like a carefully managed act of charity: a witness in the room, the money kept out of Katerina's reach, the name kept secret, ten rubles for Sonia. In chapter III of Part Five, the hundred-ruble note he secretly slipped into her pocket falls at his feet, and Lebezyatnikov, who took the gesture for kindness, says what he saw:

Still in chapter III of Part Five, Katerina, after turning out Sonia's pockets herself and seeing the note fall, defends her stepdaughter against the evidence with the only argument she has: what the girl has already done for them.

In chapter V of Part Five, Svidrigailov promises to pay for Katerina's funeral, place the three children in institutions, and pull Sonia out of the mire. He justifies the money with the question Raskolnikov put to Sonia:

In chapter I of Part Six, Svidrigailov looks after Katerina's burial, and he has already placed the three orphans in institutions, using the money he set aside for them.

In chapter VIII of Part Six, Raskolnikov, already in the street, asks himself why he went to Sonia's, and the answer he gives has nothing of charity:

In chapter I of the Epilogue, Dmitry Prokofich Razumikhin digs up the evidence the court uses in his friend's favor: the student supported a tubercular classmate for half a year and, after his death, the sick father, and pulled two children out of a burning apartment, burning himself in the process. Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova repeats the two accounts to everyone she meets.

In chapter II of the Epilogue, Sonia, who hardly appears and only once took pies and bread to the prison, begins writing the convicts' letters to their families, and when she reaches the labor site, they all take off their caps:

In the same chapter, the book sets beside this affection the hostility of the same convicts toward Raskolnikov, and from the contrast it draws its conclusion:

Raskolnikov's compassion follows a rule the book shows without stating it: it lasts while there is a villain in sight and dissolves when the cost appears, as with the coins in chapter II of Part One, or when someone contradicts him, like the policeman in chapter IV of Part One. The twenty rubles of chapter VII of Part Two are justified afterward with a thesis, in chapter III of Part Three. Sonia's compassion has no rule: she gives her father the last thirty kopecks without reproaching him, reads his gesture by what he had left over, and, in the Epilogue, is called mother by the same convicts who hate him. Luzhin's charity is the imitation that uses money to make Sonia a thief, and Svidrigailov's, in one possible reading, is the one that uses money to show Raskolnikov that he heard everything.

Who Embodies It

Sonia is compassion without theory, and the book tests her with money: in chapter II of Part One, Marmeladov tells how she gave him the last thirty kopecks without reproach. In chapter II of the Epilogue, the convicts call her mother.

Razumikhin is compassion that works. In chapter III of Part Two, he feeds Raskolnikov with a spoon and dresses him from head to toe, and in chapter III of Part Four, after Raskolnikov asks him to take his place, he takes on his mother and sister.

Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova offers her brother, in chapter V of Part Five, her own life, without asking for explanations, should he ever need it.

Katerina Ivanovna is compassion that explodes in public, defending her stepdaughter in chapter III of Part Five.

Where It Appears

• Part One, chapter II: After seeing the Marmeladovs' home, Raskolnikov tosses the copper coins onto the windowsill, regrets it on the stairs, and concludes that man gets used to everything.
• Part One, chapter IV: Raskolnikov gives the policeman twenty kopecks to take the drunk girl home, orders him to let her go when she gets up, and, on the bench, belittles the pity with the word percentage.
• Part One, chapter V: In the dream of the mare, the boy Raskolnikov hugs the bloodied muzzle of the dead mare and kisses it, trying in vain to protect her from the crowd.
• Part Two, chapter III: Razumikhin feeds Raskolnikov with a spoon, settles the debt with the landlady, and dresses him from head to toe with his mother's money, asking nothing in return.
• Part Two, chapter VII: Raskolnikov takes the run-over Marmeladov home, pays the doctor, hands the twenty rubles to the widow, and on the street Polenka promises to pray for him.
• Part Three, chapter III: Raskolnikov asks his mother's forgiveness for giving the Marmeladov widow the money she had sent, and says that to help, one must have that right.
• Part Three, chapter IV: Sonia, seeing Raskolnikov's room, says he gave them everything the day before, and the remark brings out Dunya's expression and the mother's kindness.
• Part Four, chapter I: Svidrigailov offers ten thousand rubles to ease Dunya's break with Luzhin and says that a man has no right to do even the smallest good.
• Part Four, chapter III: Razumikhin proposes a publishing firm and an apartment for everyone and, after Raskolnikov takes leave, becomes a son and brother to the mother and Dunya.
• Part Five, chapter I: Luzhin asks Lebezyatnikov to stay in the room and gives Sonia ten rubles for a subscription, without his name appearing.
• Part Five, chapter III: Katerina defends Sonia against Luzhin's accusation, saying she would give her last dress and that she sold herself for her children, and Lebezyatnikov denies the theft.
• Part Five, chapter V: Dunya offers Raskolnikov her own life if he ever needs it, and Svidrigailov promises to pay for Katerina's funeral and shelter the orphans.
• Part Six, chapter I: Svidrigailov sees to Katerina Ivanovna's burial and places the three orphans in institutions, while Sonia holds Raskolnikov's hands during the requiem mass.
• Part Six, chapter VIII: On the street Raskolnikov realizes he went to Sonia's to get her tears and her fright, to hold on to someone.
• Epilogue, chapter I: Razumikhin gathers proof that Raskolnikov supported a tubercular classmate and his father and saved two children from a fire, and Pulcheria Alexandrovna repeats the accounts to everyone.
• Epilogue, chapter II: The convicts call Sonia mother because she writes their letters to their families and brings them news, and when she reaches the labor site, they all take off their caps.

Where the Readings Diverge

Svidrigailov's benevolence can be read in two ways, and the text does not choose. In chapter I of Part Four, it is either the regret of someone who only knows how to act this way, or the preparation of someone who wants Dunya in debt to him; and Dunya, in chapter III of Part Four, fears the second. In chapter V of Part Five, it is real benevolence from someone with money to spare, or a demonstration that he heard everything and now has power over Raskolnikov.

Raskolnikov's grief on the sidewalk, in chapter IV of Part One, also can be read in two ways: genuine pain he does not admit, or rage looking for a target. In both, the name he shouts at the dandy is that of the man who pursued his sister.

At both ends, the divergence is the same question: is compassion measured by what motivates it or by what it does? The book does not decide, but it gives weights: Katerina's burial is paid for and the orphans are sheltered by someone whose motives may be doubtful (chapter I of Part Six), and Luzhin's money becomes an accusation (chapter III of Part Five). The effect of Sonia, in the Epilogue, is the only one the book shows without explaining it: the narrator asks why everyone loves her and does not answer.