Analysis Of Svidrigajlov's Personality

Inside this slow but unstoppable process of self-annihilation, the mysterious Svidrigajlov makes its appearance. His promiscuity stands in the relationship he entertains with Raskolnikov: even if he has an interesting and enigmatic past of his own, he is at the same time a shadow of Raskolnikov’s conscience. The protagonist in fact sees in him the transformation of the titanic moral of the “everything is allowed” into a depraved existence, which, for its intrinsic pettiness, only provokes disgust and rejection in his soul. Hence, Svidrigajlov represents Raskolnikov’s double who recognizes in himself his inhuman side. Svidrigajlov embodies the transition from rebellion to indifference, from titanic pride to purposelessness. Each of his actions
Aware of his lost innocence, Svidrigajlov is pushed to desecrate it further. It is the desire for profanation that still pushes him to reach for Dunya and that previously led him to violate an adolescent, pushing her to commit suicide. Life for him is no longer the ideal space to assert his free will, but his free will stage that makes him slave of his own sensuality and concupiscence. Inevitably, tragic will be his destiny, as well as Raskolnikov’s, whose act of freedom pours into the acknowledgement of his personal failure: unable to bear his proof of rebellion, he hands himself to the same law he wanted to overcome. Albeit a cynic and depraved man, through Svidrigajlov the protagonist finally comes to senses and realizes the cowardice of his homicidal rage. In both cases, the outcome is the same, even if under different guises: unlimited and arbitrary freedom self-denies, or does not support itself, handing itself to the rule of law, or, it dissolves itself in a state self-destructing boredom and
The antidote to this disillusion is represented by Sonya, who firmly believes in the religion of love. Sonya does not condemn Raskolnikov but, on the contrary, she loves him to the point that she takes his hardships as hers. If the awareness of her lost innocence seem to chain her to eternal sin, the responsible acceptance of said loss makes her nonetheless able to redeem her life. Her sufferance, if compared to Raskolnikov’s, makes her worthy of compassion and even of respect: Sonya is not bent by the uselessness of her sacrifice, which does not raise in her indifference towards life nor hate towards the same humanity that sacrificed her. The torment generated by the impossibility to ameliorate his family’s position turns into compliance with suffering. Aware of her sin, Sonya forgives and welcomes her pain as well as others. Through her love, she gives back to Raskolnikov that same dignity he thought to have lost in the sin. Animated by faith, Sonya sees in the death and resurrection of God the only possibility to give back to man his integrity without undoing his sufferings, re-establishing in him the lost divine spark. Raskolnikov eventually finds consolation in Sonya character. Sonya's appearance outside the police station at the end of the novel functions as Raskolnikov’s final awakening. The voice of Sonya grows more and more assertive as she