The Motif of Ascension/Descension

Ascending/Descending

*These places aren't physical locations. Angels are pure spirits and have no bodies that take up space. The idea is also that your soul leaves your physical body on the Earth. These places are real, but you cannot travel to them.*

Heaven

top of the staircase (ascension)

-Heaven is a place of happiness and joy and everyone there knows and loves each other.

-Heaven is desirable because it means seeing God face to face for eternity. You will be in the presence of the Supreme Being who is all truth and all goodness.

Examples of Stairs in the novel

• "the staircase got darker and darker as they went up" (21)
• portrays the staircase as a dark and gloomy place
• Leaving $ at Marmeladov's
• "he changed his mind on the stairs and would have gone back"(23)
• Luzin threatens to throw him down the stairs
• Ascend to Sonia's apartment
• Ascend to his apartment
• Motivated to commit the murder:
• Hears "all was quiet on the stairs as if everyone was asleep" (61)
• Descends the stairs to retrieve the axe
• Uses the staircase as an escape from murder scene
• Warn of danger when "he was just taking a step towards the stairs when he heard the fresh footsteps" (73)

• Staircases are a recurring image throughout Crime and Punishment and Dostoevsky uses them to allow Raskolnikov to make decisions, or play a significant role in the actual murder, staircases are a primary setting for Raskolnikov's decision making and not only affect the plan, but also provide a temporary escape for Raskolnikov during and after the murder.

The common motif of

Significance to Work

In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, staircases are a recurring image and Dostoevsky uses them as a common motif to show his character's ascension or descension. Going up or down the stairs is symbolic to the character's state of being. Ascension is like that up to Heaven and descension is like that down to Hell. The middle ground between Heaven and Hell is the Purgatory where the character Raskolnikov spent most of his time suffering. He figuratively descended by committing the double axe murder. His ascension comes with the help of the Christ-like figure of Sonia, in the Epilogue, where we learn that he is beginning to bring religion into his life. Although Raskolnikov has committed what society often regards as an unforgivable sin, murder, he redeems himself through his suffering and repentence. This provides the societal commentary to the reader that no one is beyond redemption and can be forgiven for their sins.

Purgatory

purg-= purified -atory= relating to an action

Purpose:

1) a temporal punishment for sin

2) Cleansing from the attachment to sin

God forgives any sin as long as the sinner is truly repentant and sorry. God’s justice, is that good is rewarded and evil punished. The Purgatory is the middle ground.

*Purgatory purifies the soul before the entrance into heaven.

Meaning of Stairs in Literature

in

Crime and Punishment

-Ascension of the stairs can be positive, hopeful, or purposeful

-Descension of the stairs can be negative, confusing, or depressing

-Types of staircases are important to its symbolic meaning:

• traditional staircase

straightforward and suggests an uncomplicated route.

• a spiral/twisted staircase

suggests mystery and disorientation

-Staircases can also be looked at as a link because it its orimary function is to connect two floors

*A staircase is simply a passageway which can unite any two things, places, ideas, or states of being. *

Hell

at the base of the staircase (descension)

-God created hell as a place to incarcerate the devil and all the bad angels who rebelled against him.

Hell isn't a million degrees of heat from the fire at the center of the Earth, but heat from hatred and bitterness.

-It's a place of eternal torment and suffering where it is lonely and isolated.