The Redeemed Prostitute in Dostoevsky
In his novels, Dostoevsky "believed in the value and necessity of suffering” (Simons 163), and out of this suffering comes the possibility for redemption.
The figure of the sexually traumatized character (or prostitute) comes up in many of Dostoevsky's novels, such as those described below.
“Vyacheslav Ivanov notes (...) that the significance and justification of suffering are that its victim not only suffers for himself but also for others" (Simons 168), a trait that may be reflected in our female characters below. This victim of suffering "deliberately takes upon herself not only the affliction, but the curse of another’s deed" (Simons 168). Simons continues that Dostoevsky's primary objective "is to show that the repentant sinner is able to gain redemption only through voluntarily accepted suffering" (Simons 169). If one is able to accept their suffering at their own will, they may be redeemed. This is the lens within which our sexually traumatized females will be examined.
As Sonia says, “Suffer and expiate your sin by it, that’s what you must do" (Simons 169).
Liza (Notes From Underground)
Liza, "sold by her father" (De Macedo 30), has suffered greatly. In the novel, she is used, mistreated and even "hated" by The Underground Man (De Macedo 33). She is doomed to suffer and be abused by the Underground Man because "sexuality is presented as something bad in itself, [and] the greatest humiliation that can be inflicted" (De Macedo 33).
However, her character is seen as redemptive, "tak[ing] the Underground Man in her arms as one would hold a child" (De Macedo 33), and resigning to her life of suffering.
Sonia Semyonovna (Crime and Punishment)
Sonia is borne out of suffering, forced to enter into prostitution "at the age of fifteen" in order to save her family from starvation (Simons 168). In the novel, “before Sonya ever utters a word," “her father, Raskolnikov, and Luzhin present competing identities for her ranging from a model of Christian self-sacrifice to a common prostitute” (Blake 255).
Being a prostitute, and also "a victim of the sins of others” (Simons 168), Sonia is able to be pitied for her suffering, while also simultaneously judged for her lack of virtue. Even though she self-sacrificed her sexuality out of the goodness of her heart, Sonia is seen as unfit to live in the same house as the rest of her family because of her sullied reputation.
Yet Sonia is also seen as "the figure of the therapist who treats trauma" (De Macedo 44), and is able to be a redeemed figure due to her "self-sacrificial nature" (Blake 255). She inspires redemption in Raskolnikov and Marmeladov because of her own nature, "grace, beauty, [and] purity" (De Macedo 79).
Nastasya Filippovna (The Idiot)
“Natasya Filippovna is the agent of trauma because she looks for the truth under a pile of lies” (De Macedo 201). Nastasya accepts her own suffering and self-sacrifices as a means to cope with her trauma. Her life had been destroyed by Totsky, who took advantage of her and ruined her reputation and future prospects.
Nastasya is able to imagine the possibility of redemption through the eyes of Myshkin. She says to him, “I was always imagining someone like you, kind, good and honest, and so stupid that he would come forward all of a sudden and say, ‘You are not to blame, Nastasya Filippovna, and I adore you!’ I used to dream like that, till I nearly went out of my mind” (De Macedo 213). However, she is unable to accept this redemption offered by Myshkin, for she cannot disassociate from the trauma she has faced and accept redemption ("I'm a shameless slut myself! I was Totsky's concubine. ... Prince, you ought to marry Aglaya Yepanchin and not Nastasya Filippovna [...] I will be afraid of ruining you and of being reproached for it by you afterwards" [Dostoevsky 202]). Unable to escape from her own poor impression of herself, Nastasya self-sacrifices and runs off with Rogozhin to continue her suffering, this time at her own hand, thereby voluntarily accepting her suffering and gaining redemption in that way (Simons 169).
Grushenka (Brothers Karamazov)
De Macedo writes about the woman who has had a love affair, and in this reflection of self-hatred and inconsistency we may read the characters of Nastasya Filippovna and Grushenka. "She doesn’t care about anything, starting with herself. The man says she is crazy. She thinks that he is probably right, but whether she thinks this or something else makes no difference" (De Macedo 206).
Grushenka, similar to Nastasya, has the potential for redemption in another's eyes and is unable to accept it. She speaks about Alyosha: “‘He is the first, the only one who has pitied me, that’s what it is. Why did you not come before, you angel?’ (...) ‘I’ve been waiting all my life for someone like you [to] come and forgive me. I believed that […] someone would really love me, not only with a lustful love!’” (De Macedo 214). Yet Grushenka "remains imprisoned in her grievance," "does not respect herself very much", and "leaves everything to go back to her first love, who turns out to be a despicable man" (De Macedo 201). Thus Grushenka voluntarily continues her suffering, and may be pitied and potentially redeemed because of this.