Quotogeny

Quotes / Fyodor Dostoevsky / Crime and Punishment

Go at once, this very minute, stand at the cross-roads, bow down, first kiss the earth which you have defiled, and then bow down to all the world and say to all men aloud, 'I am a murderer!'

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, spoken by Sonia Marmeladova

Genuine Found word for word in the work, in the original and in a public-domain translation.Draft entry, not yet reviewed

Original
Поди сейчас, сию же минуту, стань на перекрестке, поклонись, поцелуй сначала землю, которую ты осквернил, а потом поклонись всему свету, на все четыре стороны, и скажи всем, вслух: "Я убил!" Тогда бог опять тебе жизни пошлет.
Translated by Constance Garnett (1914)
Go at once, this very minute, stand at the cross-roads, bow down, first kiss the earth which you have defiled and then bow down to all the world and say to all men aloud, ‘I am a murderer!’ Then God will send you life again.
Work
Crime and Punishment, 1866
Where
Part 5, chapter 4
Speaker
Sonia Marmeladova
To
Raskolnikov

The scene

In her room, on the day of her father's funeral meal, Raskolnikov has just confessed the murders to Sonia. He asks what he is to do; she jumps up, seizes him by the shoulder and tells him this. He takes it to mean Siberia and refuses: he will not go 'to them'. In Part 6, chapter 8 he remembers her words, kneels in the Haymarket and kisses 'that filthy earth with bliss and rapture'; bystanders laugh at him as drunk, the words 'I am a murderer' die on his lips, and he goes to the police office and confesses there.

Read it in the text

ЧАСТЬ ПЯТАЯ · IV

-- Экое страдание! -- вырвался мучительный вопль у Сони.

-- Ну, что теперь делать, говори! -- спросил он, вдруг подняв голову и с безобразно искаженным от отчаяния лицом смотря на нее.

-- Что делать! -- воскликнула она, вдруг вскочив с места, и глаза ее, доселе полные слез, вдруг засверкали. -- Встань! (Она схватила его за плечо; он приподнялся, смотря на нее почти в изумлении). Поди сейчас, сию же минуту, стань на перекрестке, поклонись, поцелуй сначала землю, которую ты осквернил, а потом поклонись всему свету, на все четыре стороны, и скажи всем, вслух: "Я убил!" Тогда бог опять тебе жизни пошлет. Пойдешь? Пойдешь? -- спрашивала она его, вся дрожа, точно в припадке, схватив его за обе руки, крепко стиснув их в своих руках и смотря на него огневым взглядом.

Он изумился и был даже поражен ее внезапным восторгом.

-- Это ты про каторгу, что ли, Соня? Донести, что ль, на себя надо? -- спросил он мрачно.

PART V · CHAPTER IV · Constance Garnett

“What suffering!” A wail of anguish broke from Sonia.

“Well, what am I to do now?” he asked, suddenly raising his head and looking at her with a face hideously distorted by despair.

“What are you to do?” she cried, jumping up, and her eyes that had been full of tears suddenly began to shine. “Stand up!” (She seized him by the shoulder, he got up, looking at her almost bewildered.) “Go at once, this very minute, stand at the cross-roads, bow down, first kiss the earth which you have defiled and then bow down to all the world and say to all men aloud, ‘I am a murderer!’ Then God will send you life again. Will you go, will you go?” she asked him, trembling all over, snatching his two hands, squeezing them tight in hers and gazing at him with eyes full of fire.

He was amazed at her sudden ecstasy.

“You mean Siberia, Sonia? I must give myself up?” he asked gloomily.

What it says

Repentance has to be public and bodily: humble yourself before the earth you have defiled and before all people, and God will give you life again.

Forms in circulation

  • condensedGo to the cross-roads, bow down to the people, kiss the earth, for you have sinned against it too, and say aloud to the whole world, ‘I am a murderer.’ Raskolnikov's own memory of her words in Part 6, chapter 8 (Garnett), with 'for you have sinned against it too' added. In the Russian Sonia also tells him to bow 'to all four sides' (на все четыре стороны), which Garnett leaves out, and the confession is 'I have killed!' (Я убил!).

Descent

  • KindredDostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Book 7, chapter 4 ('Cana of Galilee'), 1880After Zosima's death Alyosha throws himself down and kisses the earth, weeping, and vows to love it for ever.

Tags

TopicsMoralityCrimeSinChangeHumilityConscienceWisdomFaithReligionForgivenessPrideHumanity
SuitsClassroom
Handle with careViolence
Scalesdespairing joyfulcalm feverishplain demandingneeds context stands alonegrave wittydated modern

What it is made of

ThemeForgiveness & redemptionEarth & natureGuilt & conscienceGod & faithCrime & justice
ClaimMaxim & adviceProphecy & warning
FigureClimaxConcrete imageEnumeration
VoiceElder & holy figureIn dialogueYou
StanceEndorsed by the workSincere
ToneUrgentEcstatic
ShapeBuildingA few sentencesNeeds its context
UseSermon & faithTeaching & discussion

Nearby

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