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Rodion Raskolnikov
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<h2 id="plot">Plot</h2> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Crime_and_Punishment/mbJ24fl1">Crime and Punishment § Plot</a></p> <p>An impoverished student with a conflicted idea of himself, Raskolnikov (Rodya as his mother calls him) decides to kill a corrupt pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, with whom he has been dealing, with the idea of using the money to start his life all over, and to help those who are in need of it. It is later revealed that he also commits the murder as justification for his pride, as he wants to prove that he is "exceptional" in the way <a href="/facts/Napoleon/8TKBIjPM">Napoleon</a> was. He commits the murder, but he is so nervous during the crime that he makes a few mistakes, and he is afraid that he will be caught. </p><p>Raskolnikov finds a small purse on Alyona Ivanovna's body, which he hides under a rock without checking its contents. After he confesses to the destitute, <a href="/facts/Hooker_with_a_heart_of_gold/FqSqJqLD">pious prostitute</a> Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova, she guides him towards turning himself in to the police. Raskolnikov is sentenced to exile in <a href="/facts/Siberia/oaCoPEjF">Siberia</a>, accompanied by Sofya Semyonovna, where he experiences a psychological and spiritual rebirth. </p> <h2 id="cinema-and-television">Cinema and television</h2> <p>In film, Raskolnikov was portrayed for the first time by <a href="/facts/Derwent_Hall_Caine/4H6Qnc2m">Derwent Hall Caine</a> in the <a href="/facts/Crime_and_Punishment_(1917_film)/DnxsDvwn">1917 silent film</a> directed by <a href="/facts/Lawrence_B._McGill/DEBrye4C">Lawrence B. McGill</a>. <a href="/facts/Gregori_Chmara/InfCBsXT">Gregori Chmara</a> portrayed him in another <a href="/facts/Silent_film/32MP8dLb">silent</a> adaptation <i><a href="/facts/Raskolnikow_(film)/JvKwDUyg">Raskolnikov</a></i>, directed by <a href="/facts/Robert_Wiene/YDylJMgP">Robert Wiene</a> (1923). He was portrayed by <a href="/facts/Peter_Lorre/sx2t8pMw">Peter Lorre</a> in <a href="/facts/Josef_von_Sternberg/ms7DGHzg">Josef von Sternberg</a>'s <a href="/facts/Crime_and_Punishment_(1935_American_film)/GPLjmm0s">Hollywood film version</a> (1935), by <a href="/facts/John_Hurt/Kw4DGsRJ">John Hurt</a> in a 1979 <a href="/facts/BBC/qFateIz8">BBC</a> mini-series adaptation, by <a href="/facts/Patrick_Dempsey/RjqnAFEI">Patrick Dempsey</a> in a 1998 television movie, and by <a href="/facts/Georgy_Taratorkin/jMe0KQVw">Georgy Taratorkin</a> (1969), <a href="/facts/John_Simm/FDqARzte">John Simm</a> (2002), and <a href="/facts/Crispin_Glover/FbszC0AF">Crispin Glover</a> (2002). The character of Michel in <a href="/facts/Robert_Bresson/pGHf8PsR">Robert Bresson</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Pickpocket_(film)/0He5KVXf">Pickpocket</a></i> (1959) is based on Raskolnikov. <a href="/facts/Paul_Schrader/BMJv9rkr">Paul Schrader</a>, who wrote <i><a href="/facts/Taxi_Driver/Hz2NJ3ge">Taxi Driver</a></i> (1976), was in turn inspired by Bresson's Michel character to create <a href="/facts/Travis_Bickle/4uzgTg12">Travis Bickle</a>, <a href="/facts/Robert_De_Niro/5k4lkNfK">Robert De Niro</a>'s antihero.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Woody_Allen/nTETed3q">Woody Allen</a>'s 2005 British psychological thriller <i><a href="/facts/Match_Point/0MfD3fHu">Match Point</a></i> is partly intended as a debate with <i>Crime and Punishment</i>: protagonist Chris Wilton (<a href="/facts/Jonathan_Rhys_Meyers/UWqBy1VL">Jonathan Rhys Meyers</a>) is seen early on reading the book and identifying with Raskolnikov, and ultimately murders two people, a crime for which he narrowly escapes justice.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Johnston, Sheila (22 April 2018). "Film-makers on film: Paul Schrader". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 July 2018. <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3589003/Film-makers-on-film-Paul-Schrader.html" target="_blank">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3589003/Film-makers-on-film-Paul-Schrader.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Goyios, Charalampos (July 2006). "Living Life as an Opera Lover: On the Uses of Opera as Musical Accompaniment in Woody Allen's Match Point". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 21 January 2012. <a href="http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2006/40/match-point/" target="_blank">http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2006/40/match-point/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>