Raskólnikov and Caim: Faces of Violence

• Autor(a) principal: Martins, Lucas Alamino Iglesias
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Abdala Barnabé, Thiago
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Teoliterária
• Texto Completo: https://revistas.pucsp.br/index.php/teoliteraria/article/view/58592
• topic: Bíblia; Crime; Dostoiévski; Bakhtin; Literatura; Literature; Bible; Crime; Dostoevsky; Bakhtin

In Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), the story of a failed law student, Raskólnikov, who, in the face of the nihilistic spirit of his time, commits a double murder against the old usurer and his sister, is narrated. Throughout history, most scholars have analyzed the characterization of the character, Raskólnikov, as a reflection of the historical-philosophical conditions of the period in which Dostoevsky composed the work. However, little study has been directed to understand the characterization of the character in relation to the biblical archetype of murder, in this case represented by Cain and his fratricidal act. In this vein, the proposed article aimed to analyze intertextually the characterization of the character Raskólnikov in light of the characterization of Cain in the biblical account of Gen 4:1-16. The biblical text in question, was examined in its synchronic form and put as a mythological-literary model of crime. Both Raskólnikov and Cain represent universal voices of violence. They are at odds with each other, given that they commit the crime, and are therefore indifferent and selfish. But they both discover that there is no crime without punishment. In this sense, the characters are invited to forgiveness, to reconciliation, and to the full restoration of dialogue.