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superfluous person in the book. Among the most admirably
conceived characters are the examining magistrate
Porfyrius, a legal genius, and the landed proprietor
Svidrigaïlof, a very complex nature, a voluptuary, who is in
love with Raskolnikof’s sister, and who pursues her. He
is a man of intellect, has an excellent head, and, although
he has one or more unrepented murders on his conscience,
he possesses both courage and sense of honor in his way.
As the murderer from selfishness, by numerous details
in regard to his way of acting and thinking, he forms a
contrast to the hero of the book, who writhes under
Svidrigaïlof’s contention that they have one certain
characteristic in common.
Dostoyevski’s delineation of character here is of the
first rank; it is profound, and bold. Nevertheless,
after the manner of Dickens, it leaves almost the whole
of the relations between the sexes, if not untouched,
yet undescribed. In this domain, however, the poet
does not escape the paradoxical; thus the morally
irreproachable fallen woman reminds us more of an
antithesis in human form by Victor Hugo than of a real
person.
His aversion to describing the natural sensual life is
all the more impressive since here, as in most of the
author’s other books, he dwells on unnatural, turbid
appetites. We notice Svidrigaïlof’s hideous passion for
young girls. And we compare the amazing inquisition
in “The Possessed,” where Shatof questions Stavrogin
if it is true that in St. Petersburg he belonged to a
secret society which had for its object the satisfaction of
unnatural lust, if he has really said that the Marquis
de Sade could go to school to him, and if he has
debauched and misused children.[1]
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