Reading Novels Like A Professor: Chapter 7 – When Very Bad People Happen to Good No...

Reading Novels Like A Professor: Chapter 7 – When Very Bad People Happen to Good No...: Analyze a villain in your novel. Do you identify with him/her? Why or why not? Is the villain a complex or simple character? What is the eff...

In the book, How to Read Novels like a Professor, Thomas Foster states that, “We can comprehend what revolts us. We can begin to understand how awful people exist and commit terrible crimes, without being implicated or sullied by those crimes. We respond we feel, we may even mourn, but we do not become the thing we read” (98). These characteristics of a villain are shown through several different people in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and Punishment, but the one character in the book who reflects these aspects the clearest is Peter Luzhin. In the story, Luzhin is the fiancé of Raskolnikov’s sister Dunia. Dunia seems to be only marrying Luzhin due to his wealth in order to bring her and her mother out of poverty. Luzhin is very aware of this fact, and even though he is somewhat in love with Dunia, the only reason he wishes to marry her is so he can save her from poverty. Luzhin is very prideful and is willing to do anything just to improve his reputation. Like Raskolnikov, Luzhin is under the impression that he is of a higher power than everyone else, and has no problem showing it. I personally do not relate to the character of Luzhin at all. Luzhin seems like he is a very difficult character to be around. He is very superficial and materialistic. The character is also very self absorbed and self empowered. “I do not intend to take part in your everlasting squabbles with Amalia Ivanovna… I have come to speak of my own affairs…and I want to have a word with your stepdaughter, Sofia…Ivanovna, I think it is? Allow me to pass” (372). This passage clearly shows Luzhin’s ignorance and pride. The character does not care about anyone else but himself and his own priorities. The author uses indirect characterization in order to show us just how villainous he truly is. The quotation above may also be an example of his true arrogant nature superseding all moral codes and laws that others try to abide by.

-Conner Furr