Fyodor Dostoevsky

Introduction

In scenes reminiscent of his own Crime and Punishment (1866), Dostoevsky is interrogated by P. P. Maximov, a judicial investigator who insists that Pavel was murdered by fellow revolutionaries. Maximov attempts to induce Dostoevsky to help track them down. Their charismatic young leader, Sergei Gennadevich Nechaev, tries to convince Dostoevsky that Pavel was murdered by the police and to recruit the author for service in insurgency. On the other side, the main interest of the story The Double (1846) lies in the character of the protagonist; the other characters are sketched only thinly.

The Double was Dostoevski's second novel, appearing a year after Bednye lyudi (1846; Poor Folk, 1887). Following its publication, the leading Russian literary critic of the day, Vissarion Belinsky, mixed his praise of the book with censure for its fantastic elements, which, he said, have their place only in madhouses, but not in literature. Dostoevski himself, commenting on the reception of his novel, said that everybody found Golyadkin so boring and dull and so long-winded that it was impossible to read it. This is a verdict with which the modern reader may agree, and Dostoevski admitted that “alongside brilliant pages there is trash and rubbish.” In spite of his own criticisms, however, the author believed that The Double was a significant work. The aim of this study is to describe the character of Golyadkin who has an evil twin & Raskolnikov who commits the murder. Both characters are similar in few contexts but yet different personalities.

"The Double" and "Crime and Punishment"

"The Double" centers on the mental disintegration of Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin, Sr., the assistant to the chief clerk in a government office in St. Petersburg. The first four chapters lead up to his breakdown. In chapter 2, a visit to his German doctor, Krestyan Ivanovich Rutenspitz, reveals the protagonist's highly agitated state of mind. He has enemies, he says, who are trying to destroy him and he complains that a younger colleague of his, the nephew of his superior, Andrey Filippovich, has been awarded the promotion that he, Golyadkin, Sr., had been anticipating. His chances of a successful romance with the desirable Klara Olsufyevna have also been harmed. (Dostoevski, 12-27) Soon the reader discovers that some ugly rumors have been spread about Golyadkin, Sr., to the effect that he has been involved with a disreputable German woman, Karolina Ivanovna, and that he has behaved dishonorably toward her.

Later that day, he is refused admission to Klara's birthday party. He slips in unnoticed but clumsily draws attention to himself, tries to dance with Klara, and is escorted out. This humiliation proves to be the crucial moment in the narrative.

Fleeing down the miserable, wet November streets, attempting to escape from what he thinks is persecution, he senses someone near him. A stranger passes by, yet somehow he seems familiar, and he is dressed exactly like Golyadkin, Sr. The stranger passes by again a few minutes later. Golyadkin, Sr., recognizes him; he knows him only too well. He follows ...