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Angel Thymalil
Ms. Smit
12 AP English
November 12, 2014
The Woman in Me:
Feminist reading of Crime and Punishment
In the novel, Crime and Punishment, Fyoder Dostoyevsky focuses on a twenty-three year
old man named Rasolnikov who is handsome, intelligent and broke which leads to him dropping
out of college and committing a murder. Throughout the novel, there are numerous female
characters encountered but theyre portrayed in a negative light. Looking at this novel through a
feminist lens, the women are viewed as an object of desire and the men are portrayed through
their masculine nature, but as the novel comes to an end, roles begin to change.
A major character in the novel is Sonia, the women that Rasolnikov falls in love with.
When he first meets her, he seems to pity her because shes forced to be a prostitute in order to
support her family. Sonias portrayed as meek, her voice is so mildblond little creature,
face always kind of pale, skinny (Dostoyevsky 15). This is the first image we have of Sonia
and shes illustrated as weak, filthy and not only that shes being compared to a creature. Being a
person and being compared to an animal is dehumanizing and disrespectful. We imagine an little
rat or skinny cat when we visualize her and shes belittled for being a prostitute and the men
seem to believe that they can treat her any way they want to because theyre superior to women.
They also expect the women to tolerate the pain and abuse and Sonia does all of this just to

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support her family. Being a women and coming from a poor family, the novel portrays her as
being an object that all men desire. In comparison, the first image of Rasolnikov was, a
remarkably good-looking young man, above average in height, slender and well built, with
beautiful dark eyes and darkish blond hair (Dostoyevsky 2). Not only is the audience drawn to
this character but hes described as being your perfect Prince Charming, even though he has the
most problems.
Also, an interesting fact is the person that Rasolnikov decides to kill. A woman. Alyona
was a pawnbroker in her mid-60s. Since she was so old and a woman he was able to kill her
without a problem because she was so weak and helpless. She was described to be killed in a
brutal way that you wouldnt even wish upon your worst enemy and left to die. The old woman
let Raskolnikov in, when he presents her with a fake cigarette case wrapped with a difficult knot
in order to distract her and as she turned around he reaced for the ax and He pulled the axe quite
out, swung it with both arms, scarcely conscious of himself, and almost without effort, almost
mechanically, brought the blunt side down on her head. He seemed not to use his own strength in
this. But as soon as he had once brought the axe down, his strength returned to him. The old
woman was as always bareheaded. Her thin, light hair, streaked with grey, thickly smeared with
grease, was plaited in a rats tail and fastened by a broken horn comb which stood out on the
nape of her neck. As she was so short, the blow fell on the very top of her skull. She cried out,
but very faintly, and suddenly sank all of a heap on the floor, raising her hands to her head. In
one hand she still held the pledge. Then he dealt her another and another blow with the blunt
side and on the same spot. The blood gushed as from an overturned glass, the body fell back. He
stepped back, let it fall, and at once bent over her face; she was dead. Her eyes seemed to be
starting out of their sockets, the brow and the whole face were drawn and contorted

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convulsively (Dostoyevsky 148-149). Not once did he want to go back and erase what he had
done or even think that his actions were wrong. Instead, he believes what he had done was
correct and that she deserved what she got. Killing a woman shows his masculinity and the
dominancy he had over her.
Midway through the novel, we meet Dunya, Raskolnikovs sister who possess a lot of the
traits that he has. This is a bit odd because theres a shift from the way women are normally
viewed. Shes strong-willed, intelligent and pretty but shes portrayed as being a more dominant
person because shes compassionate, self- sacrificing and generous. Dunyas the first female
character in this novel that isnt disrespected or belittled. Instead, shes seen as more of a
masculine figure in their relationship for numerous reasons. One example, is because shes more
mature than him, which is a quality that we would normally associate with a man because hes
the head of the household and that would associate him with being a father figure and in order to
achieve that, there is a level of maturity that needs to be obtained, which makes you more
confident and in control. Even though he is the male in this relationship, he seems to have more
the female attributions.
Towards the second half of the novel, everything begins to turn. When Rasolinkov is
questioned, he feels attacked and hurt and from this point onward a lot of his actions are similar
to ones associated with a woman. He turns to Sonia for her opinions and he see her in another
light. Shes no longer the prostitute to him, but an intelligent and brave person. Rasolinkov on
the other hand, is falling apart. Hes losing his mind and is confused and the power and authority
that he once had begins to vanish. Typically males are associated as being heartless and
emotionless compared to females because it shows the masculine control in a relationship but
now hes beginning to feel emotions that he doesnt know how to control and emotions are

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normally associated with women. At last when he finally confesses to his crime, he seems to
have shifted from ignorance to finally accepting everything he has done. Acceptance is more of a
female quality because it shows their lack of dominancy and males are the head of the household
and everything goes according to how they want it to happen.
Overall, looking at Crime and Punishment through a feminist lens, the role and view of
women change from one part of the story to another very quickly. At first women are viewed as
helpless and need to be under the wing of a man but later on we see roles change. The manly
figure becomes independent and lacks the masculinity that would be expected from any male of
that time. Instead we see the view of women changing and the roles, responsibilities and traits of
both genders begin to shift and even till this day its continuously changing.

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Works Cited
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. New York: Modern Library, 1950. Print.