Research Paper On Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Britannica.com states Fyodor Dostoyevsky was born on November 11, 1821, in Moscow, Rusia. Dostoyevsky’s father was a retired military surgeon who served as a doctor at the Mariinsky Hospital for the poor in Moscow. His father was a stern, suspicious, and rigid man. In contrast, his mother was a cultured woman from a merchant family. Until 1833 Dostoyevsky was educated at home, he was then sent to a boarding school. Dostoyevsky’s mother died in 1837 which affected his life traumatically. After Dostoyevsky’s death, it was revealed that his father, who died in 1839, might have been murdered by his own serfs. During this time, Dostoyevsky was a student in the Academy of Military Engineering in St. Petersburg. He was in the process of starting a …show more content…
His older brother Mikhail was his close friend and became his collaborator in publishing journals. Their fascination with literature began from a young age. As a student, Dostoyevsky was drawn to Romantic and Gothic fiction. The works especially from Sir Walter Scott, Ann Radcliffe, Nikolay Karamzin, Friedrich Schiller, and Aleksandr Pushkin. Not long after completing his degree at the Academy, Dostoyevsky gave up his military career and began his career as a writer. In 1847 Dostoyevsky began to participate in the Petrashevsky Circle. The Circle was a group who discussed utopian socialism. On April 23, 1849, he and the other members of the Petrashevsky Circle were arrested. On December 22, the prisoners were led without warning to the Semyonovsky Square where a sentence of death by firing squad was pronounced. At the last moment, the guns were lowered, orders straight from the tsar. The mock-execution was part of their punishment. One of the prisoners went permanently insane; another went on to write Crime and Punishment …show more content…
In the novel, Raskolnikov refers to the story of Lazarus in the New Testament. Lazarus was man who met the end of his days and was at rest in a tomb. Jesus arrives to the town and is asked to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus asks God for the strength needed to demonstrate the powers of the Messiah and says “with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth” (Dostoyevsky 260). In the novel, Porfiry asks whether or not Raskolnikov believes in God, and if he believes the truths behind Lazarus’ story. Reflecting on his actions, Raskolnikov sees that the time after the murder was his time of death. His confession and term in the prison led him to realize that he had been risen from the dead so to speak, and become a new man through Sonya’s love, just like