Diffusing Tension and Educating the Essay

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This is also true in another tragedy of murder, Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. One of the more humorous characters in the novel is the drunken Marmeladov. Marmeladov is an alcoholic, and his long, rambling monologues are a startling counterpoint to the seriousness with which Raskolnikov regards his life. Without characters like Marmeladov, the novel would be almost unbearably claustrophobic and ridden with tension, as Raskolnikov tormented himself with guilt over his double murder, and the police officer Porfiry tried to trick the law student into a confession. But like the porter, Marmeladov serves an important function in underlining the novel's theme. It shows the desperation to which the poor in Russia sink: Marmeladov's dissipation forces his daughter Sofia to become a prostitute.

Without knowing Sofia and the patience with which she bears her sacrifice and her misery, Raskolnikov would never have found his path to moral redemption. Even in comedic and ridiculous people like the porter and Marmeladov, there is significance: the porter sees how there is always a danger of a kingdom being overthrown, and Marmeladov's behavior, which might seem funny to a distanced observer, has consequences that destroy his family.

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It is also the sight of people like prostitutes and drunks that drive Raskolnikov to kill the old pawnshop broker, in hopes of using her money in his misguided plot to help people.

Authors that attempt to show the full range of humanity use both humor and pathos, even when they write tragedy. In the famously funny Canterbury Tales, when Chaucer tells a relatively serious story, like "The Pardoner's Tale" that shows that money is the root of all evil, there is humor in the contrast between the money-hungry teller of the tale and the tale's stated moral. Just as human life and history contains comedy and tragedy, these authors use comedic figures as critical plot devices and pepper their dialogue with intentional and unintentional words that emphasize the author's critical themes.

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