Crime And Punishment

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The lack of money essentially leaves Sofia Semionovna, the daughter of Marmeladov, in a vulnerable position. Although Sonia is an "honorable girl . . .[she] has no special talents" (, Fyodor Dostoyevsky [New York: Penguin Group, 1968] 27). With no steady income flowing into the family's pockets, Sonia's three younger stepsiblings cry of hunger. In response to the cries, Katherine Ivanovna, Sonia's stepmother, introduces the idea of harlotry to Sonia. Consequently, Sonia "puts on her cape and kerchief and leaves the apartment" (28). As she re-enters later, she "walk[s] straight up to Katherine Ivanovna, and quietly put[s] thirty rubles on the table" (28). In order to quiet "the weeping of [the] hungry children," Sonia turns to a life of prostitution as a means of supporting her family (28). After tainting her body, "she [does] not utter a word[;] she [does] not even look" (28). "She [hides] her head and face in [a wool shawl] and [lies] down on the bed with her face to the wall" (28). ...

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rubles" (381). He even boldly states "that a man of [his] experience would not have taken the risk of accusing [Sonia] so directly if [he] were not quite convinced" of her guilt (381). Although Luzhin declares that "it was poverty that drove Sofia Semionovna to this," Katherine Ivanovna laments on Sonia's behalf and begins explaining how "she [only] took a yellow ticket because the children were wasting away from hunger-she sold herself for us" (385). Only when Andrey Semionovich Lebeziatnikov, Luzhin's roommate, defends Sonia do her cries hold any credence over that of the experienced man. Though Sonia becomes a prostitute to support her family, the stigma attached to the profession ...

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