Amanda Jiang
In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the reader meets Sofya (Sonya) Marmeladov—a daughter, a prostitute, and the partner of Raskolnikov. George Pattison calls her a “holy anorexic,” a popular figure of the good-hearted prostitute who, despite her external circumstances, still maintains purity and moral goodness (49). Sonya’s biblical counterpart is Mary Magdalene, who is well known for witnessing Jesus’s Resurrection. For some, Mary Magdalene is the “Woman Who Knew the All,” the one who grasped the full meaning of Jesus.[1] For others, she is a sinful prostitute—“the sinner in the city” (Dalarun 33-34). Sonya Marmeladov, too, embodies these contradictory traits. Her presence in Raskolnikov’s life is vital in that she completes the cycle of crime and punishment. Dostoevsky’s novel establishes Sonya Marmeladov as an archetype of Mary Magdalene, whose sole influence revives Raskolnikov from spiritual death; without her, Raskolnikov would not have confessed or sought redemption.
Mary Magdalene is a composite of three distinct biblical figures: Mary of Magdala, Mary of Bethany, and the anonymous sinner who moistens Christ’s feet with her tears (Dalarun 32). Mary Magdalene first appears in a brief passage from Luke’s Gospel (8:1-3).[2] Mary Magdalene most likely sought Jesus out on her own, crossed rock roads on foot, possessed by demons, her clothing in tatters (Chilton 1). More specifically, Mary Magdalene looked for Jesus when he became known in Galilee as a rabbi who wanted to heal sinners through exorcisms.
Mary was considered unclean in the society of Jewish Galilee, a condition which later encouraged the Western tradition depicting her as a prostitute, though there is nothing in the Gospels that suggests this. According to Chilton, “Typical paintings portray her in lavish dress, arranging herself in front of a mirror, or abased in shame at Jesus’ feet. Medieval piety associated vanity with prostitution, on the grounds that women sold themselves only because they enjoyed whoring” (8). The image of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute is further promoted by the story of Mary of Egypt, who is a classic Christian folklore figure—the “whore turned ascetic” (Chilton 9). Under the influence of Christ, Mary of Egypt gave up prostitution during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the fourth century and lived in a cave thereafter. Her tale is inserted into Mary Magdalene’s biography.
In order for Mary Magdalene to have a place in the patriarchal religious narrative, she has to be sexualized. In such a way, Mary Magdalene holds “the spectrum of human behavior, from degradation to the height of religious fervor” (Chilton 20). She is often depicted nude in the rocks of La Saint-Baume. Her long and lustrous hair covers parts of the body—a behavior that fulfills standards of modesty—making Mary Magdalene the Lady Godiva of Christian spirituality.
After Jesus performed exorcisms on Mary Magdalene, she became one of his most faithful disciples.[3] She was granted three gifts of the Spirit: the abilities to exorcise, anoint, and perceive the truth of Resurrection. Jesus taught his disciples the practice of exorcism. Exorcism is “a window into how Rabbi Jesus understood the role of divine Spirit in the world” (Chilton 26). Jesus called demons “unclean spirits” and thought people, without the presence of these “unclean spirits,” were as clean as God had made Adam and Eve. One’s “impurity” was not the result of one’s contact with exterior objects; rather, impurity was the contamination of one’s own spirit. To Jesus, uncleanness derived from the “disturbed desire people conceived to pollute and do harm to themselves” (26). Having witnessed many acts of exorcism, Mary utilized the acquired skills to heal sinners.[4]
The second gift is anointment. Through the practice of anointment, Mary Magdalene becomes associated with the anonymous sinner that appears in the Gospel of Luke (7:36-50). At the home of Simon the Pharisee, she moistened Christ’s feet with her tears and anointed them with perfume. The woman was called “a sinner” and “a sinful woman,” labels that connote sexual motives. Dalarun posits, “Mary Magdalene is described as a ‘sinner in the city,’ and in the Middle Ages everyone understood that her sins were of the flesh, that she was a prostitute” (33). Initially a sinner, it was through the act of sinning that Mary achieved redemption. After anointing Christ, she became the forgiven and, later, the forgiver, for she carried on the practice of anointing other sinners.
Out of all the gifts received, the holy vision was the one that differentiated Mary Magdalene from other disciples. Scholars have traced Mary Magdalene’s lineage back to Mary of Bethany, Lazarus’s sister. According to the Bible, Mary was next to Lazarus when Jesus revived him from death (John 11). Therefore, Mary Magdalene is a holy testament to Lazarus’s spiritual and bodily revival. If Jesus is the one who forgives, then Mary Magdalene, his faithful disciple, must also provide the key to redemption. At Christ’s Resurrection, Mary was one of the first witnesses. According to the Gospel of Luke, Mary Magdalene, along with two other women, went with Jesus on his last journey to Jerusalem (8:1-2). They witnessed Jesus’s Crucifixion and stayed at the foot of the cross until the body of Jesus was taken down and placed in a tomb on land owned by Joseph, who came from the Judean town of Arimathea (23:49-56). On the next day, the women returned to the tomb with spices they had prepared the night before, expecting to find a corpse that they could anoint. When they entered, they could not find the body of Jesus. Instead, they were met with two “gleaming” male figures, who insisted that Jesus had risen (24:1-12).[5]
Unlike in the Gospel of Luke, in the Gospels of Mark and John Mary Magdalene was the first to see the empty tomb, witness the risen Christ, and tell other disciples about the Resurrection (Ralls 16). The emptying of the tomb adds value to Jesus’s Resurrection. Harriet Muray suggests, “It is the absence of the body, its disappearance and not its preservation, that signifies the Resurrection” (50). Equally important, too, is the presence of a witness who perceives the absence. Thus, Mary Magdalene completes the cycle of revival, for her redemptive vision validates Jesus’ Resurrection and confirms the possibility of salvation.
In Crime and Punishment, Sonya Marmeladov is, like Mary Magdalene, a controversial, yet significant, figure. Through her spiritual connection with Christ, Sonya is granted redemptive gifts akin to those of Mary Magdalene; her purity and selflessness illuminate divine humanity for those around her. Sonya is first mentioned in the novel when her father—Marmeladov—speaks of her sacrifices: “The first time my only daughter went on the streets I too went…(for my daughter is a street-walker, sir)” (11). Sonya sells her body to feed her downtrodden siblings and mother. She even gives money to her alcoholic father. On the first night, after selling herself, Sonya gives thirty silver roubles to Katerina Ivanovna.[6] Biblically, the thirty roubles allude to the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed Jesus.[7] Sonya views her occupation as a betrayal to Christ. However, Sonya is, by no means, a Judas-like figure. Rather, she is more so a holy sinner—a Mary Magdalene archetype—than a traitor, for she selflessly places her family’s well-being above her own, even though the action contaminates her own body. Her sins are, thus, neutralized by her caring and loving stature.
Like Mary Magdalene, Sonya’s body is sexualized, yet her soul is pure. Peter Luzhin calls Sonya “the girl of notorious conduct,” but his words are undermined by Sonya’s unyielding faith (200). When Raskolnikov first meets her in person, Sonya is approaching her father, who is dying. Raskolnikov describes her:
from under [her] hat, worn with a boyish tilt to one side, looked out a thin, pale, frightened little face; the mouth hung open and the eyes stared in terrified fixity. Sonya was small, about eighteen years old, thin but quite pretty, with fair hair and remarkable blue eyes. […] She was breathless with the speed of her arrival. At length the whispering among the crowd, or some of the words said, seemed to reach her ears; she cast down her eyes, took a step across the threshold and stood inside the room, but still very near the door. (157)
Sonya’s spiritual purity is expressed through her angelic appearance; her fair hair and “remarkable” blue eyes embody Christian dignity. She is young—a girl of only eighteen years—but also mature. The term “remarkable” highlights Sonya’s worthiness and places emphasis on her unconventionality: her inner innocence juxtaposes the public’s “words” of shame, which are aimed to denounce her role as a prostitute. Although she is tormented by her career, she is not ruined by prostitution.
When Marmeladov first sees Sonya on his deathbed, he inquires, “Who is that? Who is it?” (158). At this moment, Sonya transforms into a soothing saint, a “savior figure” who understands that there is meaning and comfort in death (Pattison 49). Initially, Marmeladov has difficulty comprehending the vision that appears in front of him because he is unable to identify with Sonya’s holiness. His final comprehension is accompanied by revelation and the desire for forgiveness. Sonya’s presence at Marmeladov’s deathbed eliminates his pride and encourages him to seek repentance. He cries to her, “Sonya! Daughter! Forgive me!” (159). Marmeladov, then, dies in Sonya’s arms. Embodying the vision of Mary Magdalene, Sonya is the witness to Marmeladov’s last rites of confession.
As an archetype of Mary Magdalene, Sonya Marmeladov similarly possesses the ability to help others exorcise their demons. In Crime and Punishment, Sonya is the sole figure who recognizes and challenges Raskolnikov’s demon. Raskolnikov’s motive to kill and lie is caused by the devil—the impurity—within him. The impurity triggers symptoms that make him “not to be himself. He was unable to stay in one place for more than a moment or concentrate his attention on any one object; his thoughts cut across one another; he talked incoherently; his hands trembled slightly” (442). Aligned with Jesus’s vision that impurity originates from an evil desire, Raskolnikov’s impurity, too, contains his most sinful and ugly ambitions. He confesses to Sonya the reason for murdering the pawnbroker:
I longed to kill without casuistry, to kill for my own benefit, and for that alone! I would not lie about it even to myself! I did not commit murder in order to use the profit and power I gained to make myself a benefactor to humanity. Rubbish! I simply murdered; I murdered for myself, for myself alone […]. I needed to experience something different, something else was pushing me along: what I needed to find out then [was] whether I was capable of stepping over the barriers or not. (354)
Raskolnikov’s repetitive “I” reflects his growing selfishness—the evil that condones spiritual degeneration. The devil within him is not capable of being a “benefactor to humanity” because it feeds on the love of self. While Raskolnikov’s murderous motive harms others, the damage is mutual, for the cultivation of impurities cause Raskolnikov, himself, to become a victim. Sonya, on the other hand, is selfless: she lives to love others. Unlike Raskolnikov, she is not fickle and does not need to experience something “different.” The Mary Magdalene archetype is a faithful follower of Christ—and of God—and is, thus, the only means through which Raskolnikov can expel his devil and embrace spirituality.
A vital aspect of the practice of exorcism is the willingness of the victim to listen to the exorcist’s command. The word exorcise (exorkizo in Mark’s Greek) means to adjure or “to bind with an oath” (Chilton 37), which is also the purpose of an exorcism. The oath is a formula that the exorcist utilizes to force the demon to listen to his or her command. Sickened by the demon within himself, Raskolnikov begs Sonya to tell him what he should do now (354). She responds with a command: “Go at once, this instant, stand at the cross-roads, first bow down and kiss the earth you have desecrated, then bow to the whole world, to the four corners of the earth, and say aloud to all the world: ‘I have done murder.’ Then God will send you life again” (355). Sonya’s command revolves around the image of the “cross-roads,” a symbol of redemption and one that “incorporates both positive and negative religious symbolism” (Tucker 225). The crossroads is associated with the cross and the Orthodox Church and, simultaneously, the world of evil spirits. Mark Kidel posits, “[the crossroads] is a point of decision and transition that many cultures recognize as a dangerous place” (qtd in Tucker 225). Therefore, when Sonya tells Raskolnikov to kiss the crossroads, she is not only commanding him to kiss the cross but also the meeting point of the evil and the good. Ultimately, Raskolnikov must confront the devil inside himself before he can expel it.
Raskolnikov kisses the earth prior to confessing his murder to the public: “He knelt in the middle of the square, bowed to the ground, and kissed its filth with pleasure and joy. He raised himself and then bowed down a second time” (445). The gesture of kneeling conveys a sense of surrender, but Raskolnikov’s own agency does not minimize the influence that Sonya has on him. When he bows to the ground for the second time, he sees Sonya “standing fifty yards away from him on his left” (445). Sonya’s proximity hints at the essence of an exorcism: the practice is spiritual yet physical. The exorcist cannot physically disconnect from the person who is possessed by demons, or else the practice will prove futile. In the novel, Sonya consistently strives to have both a spiritual and a physical presence in Raskolnikov’s life. Raskolnikov follows Sonya’s command exactly and thoroughly—ending with his confession that he was the one “who killed the old woman and her sister, Lizaveta, with an axe, and robbed them” (450). Dostoevsky’s choice to italicize Raskolnikov’s words further stresses the significance of the confession: the words are not only coming out of Raskolnikov’s mouth but also his soul—his most honest words are also the most sacred. Without Sonya, Raskolnikov would not have spoken the truth with such a conviction.
After Raskolnikov’s demon has been exorcised, his resurrection begins in the epilogue. The epilogue, by definition, is synonymous with the concept of salvation, for the word comes directly from the Greek epilogos, of the logos—the embodiment of the Word of Christ (Tucker 212). While Raskolnikov has not yet achieved full redemption in the epilogue, he is working toward obtaining salvation. According to Chilton, “Resurrection implies that an element of human identity does not disappear at death […]. A person who loves another, who incarnates this indestructible element, loves God at the same time” (65). Chilton’s proposition is further reinforced and validated by these biblical verses: “And so we know and rely on the love God has to us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). In this way, Sonya employs her gift of redemption to prompt Raskolnikov’s resurrection through the knowledge of God’s love.
The concept that God is manifested in those who live in love is depicted through Sonya’s role as an archetype of Mary Magdalene. As noted in Crime and Punishment:
There was one question which [Raskolnikov] could not answer: why was Sonya so well liked by everybody? She did not try to ingratiate herself with them; they rarely met her […]. When their relatives came to the town, the convicts told them to leave goods and even money for them in Sonya’s care […]. They would take off their caps and bow to her. ‘Little mother,’ these coarse, branded criminals would say to the slight little creature […]. They even went to her when they were ill. (460-461)
Sonya is well liked by everybody because she is tender with her affection and she forgives.[8] These, too, are the qualities of Mary Magdalene and of God. Sonya’s lack of physical proximity with the convicts does not eliminate her spiritual presence in their lives. They call her “Little mother,” which is a reminder of Sonya’s holiness. Anthony Johae posits: her first name, Sofya, which means wisdom, harbors in it “the potential for a radical transformation of surface representation (Sonya, the prostitute, but who is called ‘little mother’ by the convicts) into a profoundly metaphysical meaning (Sonya: Mother Church)” (179). Hence, holiness lives inside her. While Sonya provides love and faith to others, she also dwells within her love for God (Tucker 119). Thus, by loving Sonya, Raskolnikov is also cherishing the Christian faith that lives in her.
In order to resurrect, one not only needs to accept the presence of love, but also become entirely receptive to it. Theologian Cynthia Bourgeault argues that this can be achieved through the method of kenosis. Kenosis derives from the Greek verb kenosein, which means to empty oneself. The term was first applied to Jesus by Paul: “Though his state was that of God, / yet he did not deem equality with God / something that he should cling to. / Rather, he emptied himself[9] / and assuming the state of a slave / he was born in human likeness” (Phillippians 2:6-7). Kenosis is not synonymous with renunciation. Bourgeault contends, “Renunciation implies a subtle pushing away; kenosis is simply the willingness to let things come and go without grabbing on […]. The ‘letting go’ of kenosis is actually closer to ‘letting be’” (104). In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov performs the act of kenosis by stripping himself of his ego: “How it happened [Raskolnikov] himself did not know, but suddenly he seemed to be seized and cast at [Sonya’s] feet. He clasped her knees and wept” (463). When Raskolnikov weeps, he becomes more human—more vulnerable, yet also more open to giving and receiving love, which aligns with the purpose of kenosis, that is, the return of the self to human form (Bourgeault 103). Through Sonya’s love, Raskolnikov is raised from spiritual death.
Sonya, a holy sinner, is the sole reason that Raskolnikov repents because she is a beacon of light and love through the darkness of his evil. Just as Mary Magdalene stood as a witness to and receiver of Christ’s love, Sonya’s empathy provides comfort for the suffering; her presence forges a bridge between sinners and God’s love. In the end of Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov and Sonya “were both pale and thin, but in their white sick faces there glowed the dawn of a new future, a perfect resurrection into a new life. Love had raised them from the dead, and the heart of each held endless springs of life for the heart of the other” (463). Raskolnikov is not saved with a “civic” confession but with a change of heart that betokens true redemption (Tucker 212). This “change” of heart—a transformative act—is evidence of the divine communion: even in the misery of physical deprivation, Sonya and Raskolnikov can find solace in spirituality.
Works Cited
Bourgeault, Cynthia. The Meaning of Mary Magdalene. Shambhala Publications, 2010.
Chilton, Bruce. Mary Magdalene: A Biography. Image Publications, 2006.
Dalarun Jacques. “The Clerical Gaze.” A History of Women: Silences of the Middle Ages, edited by Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Georges Duby, and Michelle Perrot, Belknap Press, 1995, pp. 16-43.
Gibian, George, editor. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Translated by Jessie Senior Coulson, Norton Critical Edition, Norton, 1989.
Johae, Antony. “Towards an Iconography of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.” Dostoevsky and The Christian Tradition, edited by George Pattison and Diane Oenning Thompson, Cambridge UP, 2001, pp. 173-188.
Murav, Harriet. “Reading Women in Dostoevsky.” A Plot of Her Own, edited by Sona Stephan Hoisington, Northwestern UP, 1995, pp. 44-57.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Edited by Bruce M. Metzger and Roland E. Murphy, Oxford UP, 1991.
Pattison, George. “Abject Wisdom: Reflections on the Religious Meaning of Dostoevsky’s Heroines.” Exchanges of Grace: Essays in Honour of Ann Loades, edited by Natalie K. Watson and Stephen Burns, Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2008, pp. 46-54.
Ralls, Karen. Mary Magdalene. Shelter Harbor Press, 2013.
Tucker, Janet G. Profane Challenge and Orthodox Response in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Editions Rodopi B. V., 2008.
[1] Karen Ralls posits, “As is clear from the earlier Gnostic scriptures, [Mary Magdalene] was also envisaged by some as the Woman Who Knew the All, as the one who may perhaps have best understood and ultimately grasped the full message of Jesus in his time, as an inspiring teacher, and as a purveyor of wisdom” (9).
[2] “Soon Afterwards [Jesus] went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Johanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources” (Luke 8:1-3).
[3] According to Bruce Chilton, “the multiple exorcisms that Mary underwent probably took about a year, and it was through this process that she emerged as one of Jesus’ key disciples” (26).
[4] Mary Magdalene’s experience with demons refined Jesus’s practice of exorcism. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus recognized the effect of serial possession after the reference to Mary’s possession: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26).
[5] In Luke 24, the women saw two men in clothes, gleaming like angels, who said to them, “Who do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee.”
[6] “She came in and went straight to Katerina Ivanovna and laid thirty silver roubles on the table in front of her without a word” (15).
[7] “Then one of the twelve [disciples], who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray [Jesus] to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity betray him” (Matthew 26: 14-16).
[8] Suggested by Cynthia Bourgeault in The Meaning of Mary Magdalene (159). Mary Magdalene also embodies these traits.
[9] Cynthia Bourgeault mentions that this is the place where the verb kenosein appears (102).