Crime and Punishment Literary Devices

Explanation and Analysis—Like a Drunk Man:

The narrator uses a simile that compares Raskolnikov to a “drunk man” when describing his distracted mental state following his “trial” visit to the apartment of Alyona Ivanovna, whom he intends to murder:

He went down the sidewalk like a drunk man, not noticing the passers-by and running into them, and was in the next street before he came to his senses. Looking around, he noticed that he was standing by a pothouse, the entrance to which was downstairs from the sidewalk, in the basement. At that same moment two drunks came walking out the door and, supporting and cursing each other, climbed up to the street.

After his awkward and clumsy visit to the elderly pawnbroker, which shakes his faith in his ability to carry out his plan, Raskolnikov wanders aimlessly through St. Petersburg. The narrator notes that he “went down the sidewalk like a drunk man,” almost knocking into strangers and even briefly losing awareness of his location. This simile emphasizes Raskolnikov’s distracted state, as he is preoccupied by the question of whether or not he can go through with his plan to murder “the old crone.” There is also a sense of irony in the narrator’s simile. Raskolnikov, in fact, generally abstains from alcohol, while many of the other passers-by on the street are drunk.

Explanation and Analysis—From the Air Alone:

Dostoevesky employs imagery, simile, and hyperbole in his description of the bar where Raskolnikov first meets former government official Semyon Marmeladov:

The proprietor of the establishment was in another room, but frequently came into the main room, descending a flight of stairs from somewhere [...] He was wearing a long-skirted coat and a terribly greasy black satin waistcoat, with no necktie, and his whole face was as if oiled like an iron padlock [...] There were chopped pickles, rusks of black bread, and fish cut into pieces, all quite evil-smelling. It was so stuffy that it was almost impossible to sit there, and everything was so saturated with wine-smell that it seemed one could get drunk in five minutes from the air alone.

Raskolnikov enters the bar in an agitated state after completing a “trial” of his plan to murder an elderly pawnbroker. The narrator describes the bar with rich imagery, noting the “greasy” clothing of the proprietor, the “evil-smelling” food sold there, the “stuffy” atmosphere that almost discourages Raskolnikov from sitting down. In a simile, the narrator compares the oily proprietor to an “iron padlock” and hyperbolically claims that the smell of wine is so strong that a person might “get drunk in five minutes from the air alone.” The various literary devices used in this passage underscore the seedy and unwholesome aspects of the bar frequented by the alcoholic Marmeladov.

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Explanation and Analysis—Ripened Anguish :

The narrator employs a series of metaphors and a simile to depict Raskolnikov’s inner turmoil. After Raskolnikov berates himself for his inability to provide for his mother and sister, tormenting himself with painful questions concerning his own future, the narrator notes that:

None of the questions was new or sudden, however; they were all old, sore, long-standing. They had begun torturing him long ago and had worn out his heart. Long, long ago this present anguish had been born in him, had grown, accumulated, and ripened recently and become concentrated, taking the form of a horrible, wild, and fantastic question that tormented his heart and mind, irresistibly demanding resolution. And now his mother’s letter suddenly struck him like a thunderbolt.

The narrator states that Raskolnikov’s questions “were all old, sore, long-standing” and had “worn out his heart.” Using a complex chain of metaphors, the narrator states that Raskolnikov’s “anguish” was “born in him, had grown, accumulated, and ripened recently and become concentrated.” These metaphors imagine his inner turmoil as, alternatively, a kind of child or fruit that has grown slowly within him and has now reached its final form. In stark contrast, the narrator uses a simile that compares the effect of his mother’s letter to a “thunderbolt,” which produces a quick and dramatic result on his psyche. These contrasting metaphors and similes suggest that the letter from his mother has jolted Raskolnikov into action after a long period of ruminating on his ideas.

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Explanation and Analysis—Condemned to Death:

The narrator uses a simile that compares Raskolnikov to a man who has been condemned to death at the end of an important scene in which he decides to murder an elderly pawnbroker. The fact that he feels condemned to death even though he has decided to kill someone else is situationally ironic:

It was only a few more steps to his place. He walked in like a man condemned to death. He was not reasoning about anything, and was totally unable to reason; but he suddenly felt with his whole being that he no longer had any freedom either of mind or of will, and that everything had been suddenly and definitively decided. Of course, even if he had waited years on end for a good opportunity, having his design in mind, he could not have counted with certainty on a more obvious step towards the success of this design than the one that had suddenly presented itself now.

Although he had previously concluded, based on a dream, that he lacked the emotional fortitude to carry out his plan to kill the old woman, a surprising and coincidental encounter on the street reveals to him that the woman’s sister, Lizaveta, will be out of the house in the early evening the following day. He regards this good timing as an act of fate and decides that he must go through with this scheme. At this moment, the narrator describes him, in a simile, as being “like a man condemned to death.” This simile suggests that Raskolnikov is, in some sense, being pulled towards his fate like a prisoner. However, there is also a pointed irony in this choice of simile, as Raskolnikov has not in fact been condemned to death, but rather, has decided to kill another person.

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Explanation and Analysis—Like Lightning :

The narrator uses a simile that compares an unpleasant thought to a flash of lightning in a passage that describes Raskolnikov’s distracted walk to the home of the elderly pawnbroker, whom he plans to murder and rob:

[He] suddenly became interested in precisely why the people of all big cities are somehow especially inclined, not really out of necessity alone, to live and settle in precisely those parts of the city where there are neither gardens nor fountains, where there is filth and stench and all sorts of squalor [...] “It must be the same for men being led out to execution—their thoughts must cling to every object they meet on the way,” flashed through his head, but only flashed, like lightning; he hastened to extinguish the thought…

As he walks towards the apartment, Raskolnikov finds himself preoccupied with minor observations of what he sees around him despite his grave plans. Ultimately, however, he recognizes that he is distracting himself in the manner of a man “being led out to execution,” who allows his thoughts to “cling to every object.” This realization, the narrator notes, “flashed through his head, but only flashed, like lightning.” The narrator’s simile suggests that Raskolnikov quickly pushed this thought away in order not to dwell upon it and lose his nerve.

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Explanation and Analysis—Caught in the Cogs:

The narrator employs a series of similes when describing Raskolnikov’s feeling of being trapped by fate in the hour before his murder of the elderly pawnbroker:

But in the final instance he simply did not believe himself, and stubbornly, slavishly, sought objections on all sides, gropingly, as if someone were forcing him and drawing him to it. This last day, which had come so much by chance and resolved everything at once, affected him almost wholly mechanically: as if someone had taken him by the hand and pulled him along irresistibly, blindly, with unnatural force, without objections. As if a piece of his clothing had been caught in the cogs of a machine and he were being dragged into it.

Raskolnikov, the narrator acknowledges, has put a good deal of thought into his plan to murder the woman, and he feels confident that his plan is both morally justified and feasible. However, there is a gulf between his logical acceptance of the plan and his actual willingness to carry it out. On the day that he had previously marked for the murder, he finds that he is moving forward almost involuntarily, “as if someone were forcing him and drawing him to it.” In a similar simile, the narrator states that Raskolnikov felt “as if someone had taken him by the hand and pulled him,” and further, “as if a piece of his clothing” were caught in a machine. These various similes contribute to the sense that Raskolnikov is being directed in his actions by fate rather than conscious choice.

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Explanation and Analysis—Like a Leaf :

The narrator uses vivid imagery and a series of similes to describe Lizaveta when she enters the apartment and discovers that her sister has been murdered and the murderer is still in the apartment:

Lizaveta was standing in the middle of the room, with a big bundle in her hands, frozen, staring at her murdered sister, white as a sheet, and as if unable to utter a cry. Seeing him run in, she trembled like a leaf, with a faint quivering, and spasms ran across her whole face; she raised her hand, opened her mouth, yet still did not utter a cry, and began slowly backing away from him [...]. He rushed at her with the axe; she twisted her lips pitifully, as very small children do when they begin to be afraid of something, stare at the thing that frightens them, [...]

In this dramatic scene, the narrator provides a series of striking images, such as the “spasms” that “ran across her whole face” and the single hand raised up feebly against an ax. Additionally, the narrator describes Lizaveta as being “white as a sheet,” unable to move or speak due to her shock. Rather than taking any defensive action or trying to escape, she “trembled like a leaf” and “twisted her lips pitifully, as very small children do.” These similes emphasize the helplessness of Lizaveta, who is, despite her age, too simple and innocent to save herself from Raskolnikov. While Raskolnikov can, through twisted logic, justify murdering the pawnbroker to himself, he is rattled by his own slaying of the sweet and defenseless woman.

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Explanation and Analysis—Whey Instead of Blood:

After Raskolnikov cruelly demands that Razumikhin leave him alone, Razumikhin retorts with his own insults, using both simile and metaphor to critique Raskolnikov’s resentful and lifeless personality:

“Listen to me. I announce to you that you’re all, to a man, babblers and braggarts! Some little suffering comes along, and you brood over it like a hen over an egg! Even there you steal from other authors! There isn’t a sign of independent life in you! You’re made of spermaceti ointment, with whey instead of blood in your veins! I don’t believe a one of you! The first thing you do in any circumstances is try not to resemble a human being!

Razumikhin accuses Raskolnikov of brooding over his own “suffering,” in a manner resembling “a hen over an egg.” Through this simile, then, Razumikhin suggests that Raskolnikov nurses his own feeling of injury, savoring his sense of pain and insult but taking no actions to redress his situation. Next, he suggests, in a metaphor, that Raskolnikov is “made of spermaceti ointment,” with “whey instead of blood.” Here, he imagines Raskolnikov as something less than fully human. Spermaceti is a waxy substance harvested from sperm whales, and whey is a byproduct of curdling milk. In both cases, then, he accuses Raskolnikov of being lifeless, without any real substance or nutrients in him. These similes and metaphors, then, suggest that Raskolnikov has tried to deny or cast away his own human nature.

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Explanation and Analysis—Romeo:

Before meeting with detective Porfiry Petrovich to discuss the items that Raskolnikov previously pawned to the old woman, he teases his friend Razumikhin about his growing attraction to Dunya using both simile and allusion:

“But why are you embarrassed? Romeo! Wait, I’m going to tell on you today—ha, ha, ha! Mama will have a laugh…and so will someone else…”

“Listen, listen, listen, but this is serious, it’s…ah, the devil, I don’t know what it is!” Razumikhin became utterly muddled and went cold with terror. “What are you going to tell them? I, brother…pah, what a swine you are!” “

“Just like a rose in springtime! And you have no idea how it becomes you; a six-and-a-half-foot Romeo! And so well scrubbed today; you even cleaned under your fingernails, eh? When did that ever happen before! [...] Bend down!”

With an unusually playful spirit, Raskolnikov teasingly refers to his friend as “Romeo” twice, alluding to the famous lover in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Razumikhin blushes to hear Raskolnikov’s taunts, unable to confess his feelings about Dunya despite his usually open and honest nature. Raskolnikov, however, continues to tease Razumikhin, describing him as being “like a rose in springtime,” a simile that conjures typical iconography associated with love and romance. In this scene, Raskolnikov displays an unusually playful side to his personality. However, he is also being strategic here, as he wishes to first disarm Porfiry by presenting himself in a casual and relaxed manner.

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Explanation and Analysis—Like a Mask:

Anxious, for good reason, that Svidrigailov will attempt to exploit his knowledge of Raskolnikov’s guilt in order to harass or pursue Dunya, Raskolnikov finds the older gentleman at a bar in Haymarket, where they speak candidly in a private room. Reflecting upon Svidrigailon’s handsome yet unsettling appearance, Raskolnikov uses a simile that compares his face to a mask:

Raskolnikov lowered his right elbow to the table, propped his chin from underneath with the fingers of his right hand, and fixed his eyes on Svidrigailov. For a minute or so he studied his face, which had always struck him before as well. It was somehow a strange face, more like a mask: white, ruddy, with ruddy, scarlet lips, a light blond beard, and still quite thick blond hair. The eyes were somehow too blue, and their look was somehow too heavy and immobile. There was something terribly unpleasant in this handsome and, considering the man’s age, extremely youthful face.

Taking a moment to study Svidrigailov’s face, Raskolnikov acknowledges that he is a handsome man for his age, “youthful” in appearance and well-dressed, with “thick blond hair.” Still, he concludes that there is something disconcerting in Svidrigailov’s pale face, an “immobile” quality that makes it appear “like a mask” with painted features and “too blue” eyes. This simile reflects the superficial and duplicitous nature of Svidrigailov, who poses as a benefactor but has ruined the lives of many in his pursuit of pleasure and novelty.

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Explanation and Analysis—Spill Like Champagne:

In a scene in which he finally confesses to Dunya that he murdered the pawnbroker and Lizaveta, Raskolnikov uses metaphor, simile, and allusion:

“Brother, brother, what are you saying! You shed blood!” Dunya cried out in despair.

“Which everyone sheds,” he picked up, almost in a frenzy, “which is and always has been shed in torrents in this world, which men spill like champagne, and for which they’re crowned on the Capitoline and afterwards called benefactors of mankind. But just look closer and try to see! I wished people well and would have done hundreds, thousands of good deeds, instead of this one stupidity—or not even stupidity, but simply clumsiness

As a shocked Dunya cries out that her brother has “shed blood,” Raskolnikov responds petulantly that blood has “always been shed in torrents in this world,” a metaphor that imagines the long history of violence as leaving “torrents” or rivers of blood around the world. Further, he accuses all humankind of spilling blood “like champagne,” a simile that emphasizes the casual and common nature of violence throughout history. Attempting to defend himself despite his own great feelings of shame, he alludes to Roman history, noting that men have been “crowned on the Capitoline” for killing others, an allusion to Julius Caesar, who was crowned a military tribune in a temple on the Capitoline Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The metaphor, simile, and allusion he uses here suggest that Raskolnikov is not yet ready to truly repent for his crime.

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Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment: Similes 11 key examples