Dostoyevsky's Women: Crime and Punishment's Female Archetype on the Stage

Abstract

This thesis analyses how Crime and Punishment (1866) reinforces a female Dostoyevskyan archetype and whether Campbell and Columbus’ 2003 theatre adaptation emphasises this typology. The representation of women in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment reiterates the 19th century Christian belief that female suffering is pre-ordained by God, as well as necessary in order to achieve spiritual rebirth of oneself and others. Campbell and Columbus’ adaptation has been praised for its conciseness and faithfulness to the novel, and adds onto the idea of a single female archetype by specifically asking one actress to perform all female roles. By closely analysing the portrayal of the female characters in both the text of the novel and the script of the adaptation it can be argued that the adaptation recognises the archetype that is present in Dostoyevsky’s work. This thesis demonstrates how Campbell and Columbus acknowledge the 19th century female archetype of the suffering woman in the adaptation. While the adaptation is faithful to the archetype, Campbell and Columbus’ adaptation has failed to serve as a critique of this antiquated female archetype for the 21st century theatregoer.