THE CATEGORY OF INNOCENCE IN F. M. DOSTOEVSKY’S NOVEL “CRIME AND PUNISHMENT”

Abstract

The article examines the category of innocence in Fyodor M. Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment as one of the central philosophical and ethical ideas of the work. It analyzes the key bearers of innocence (Sonya Marmeladova, Lizaveta, children, and images from Raskolnikov’s dreams), their opposition to the protagonist, their role in relation to guilt and conscience, as well as the functions of innocence within the artistic and ideological structure of the novel. Drawing on the works of M.M. Bakhtin, N.K. Mikhailovsky, V.V. Rozanov, J.-P. Sartre, R.L. Jackson, P.E. Fokin, and other scholars, the study reveals how innocence serves as a measure of the human soul, an instrument of redemption, and a critique of contemporary society.