On Bakhtin’s Polyphonic Theory & Dialogicality

in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

Presented by Zhang Zhe

 1 Polyphonic Theory

(1) Polyphony
• The term “polyphony” is originally a nomenclature of music which refers to a
musical genre that is widely used prior to the eighteenth century in Europe.

• Unlike chord and the tuning systems in music, this musical genre has neither main
melody nor accompanying sounds. With their own ways of sound production, all
of the sounds are independent and overlapping each other, thus creating the
polyphonic music.

“on the one hand, the different parts of the polyphonic music have their
independence in terms of rhythm, accent, sound intensity and the ups and
downs of the tunes; on the other hand, these different parts exist in harmony
with each other to create an integrated whole” (Li, 2003: 17).
 1 Polyphonic Theory

(2) Polyphonic novel

• In the book Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics, Bakhtin deprives the term

polyphonic from music and applies it into the theory of fiction.

• He is the first to propose that “ ‘polyphony’ or ‘multi-voices’ is the

fundamental artistic characteristic of Dostoevsky's novels ” (Bakhtin, 2010: 6).

• Bakhtin deems that there exist two genres of novels: the traditional monologic
novel and the polyphonic novel.
 1 Polyphonic Theory

(2) Polyphonic novel

① The traditional monologic novel

The characters are turned into objects which are closed, they are merely simple objects of the
author's consciousness and fixed elements of the author's design, thus readers can hear no voice
other than the only one voice which is dominated by the author.

② The polyphonic novel

The characters, by the very nature of its independence, have a dual role to play. Firstly, they are
objects of the author's discourse. Secondly, they are subjects of their own discourse.

“A plurality of independent and unmerged voices and consciousness, a

genuine polyphony of fully valid voices is in fact the chief characteristic of
Dostoevsky's novels” (Bakhtin, 2010: 6).
 1 Polyphonic Theory

(3) The important characteristics of polyphonic novel

① Dialogicality
According to Bakhtin, no individual can be isolated from others and achieves an existence as completely
independent. He has to communicate and to make dialogues with others, and only in this way, these unmerged
voices can be fully presented and show their uniqueness.
 The great dialogues (大型对话):
It refers to the arrangement of the dialogues on the structure of the novel, including the dialogues of the characters
and the dialogues of the plot structure.
The dialogues of the characters can be divided into two types: the dialogues among the heroes and the dialogues
between the author and the heroes.
 The micro-dialogues (微型对话):
It refers to the phenomenon of double-voicedness(双声语) at the micro level of discourse, including the dialogues
of the inner language of the character, and the inner monologue of the character.
 1 Polyphonic Theory
(3) The important characteristics of polyphonic novel
② The equal author-hero relationship

 Bakhtin explains that in traditional monologic novel, the author is the “father” of the work who explains or
judges his characters, or tries to fit them into some moral framework; in a word, the authorial voice controls
the discourse from above (Bakhtin, 2010: 67).

 While in the polyphonic novel, the heroes are “no voiceless slaves, but free people, capable of standing
alongside their creator, capable of not agreeing with him and even of rebelling against him” (Bakhtin, 2010: 13) .

③ Unfinalizability

Based on the establishment of the heroes' own consciousness, the novel and the heroes show signs of their
unfinalizability and unfinishedness. The unfinalizability is presented mainly on the uncertainty and unfinishedness
of the novel's structure and its heroes.
2 Dialogicality in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

 The novel depicts a poor college student Raskolnikov, who is

poisoned by anarchist ideas and thinks that he is a superman and can
do whatever he wants. For the sake of his livelihood, he killed the old
lady Alyona , a loan shark and her innocent sister Lizaveta, and
created a murder that shocked all Russia. After a remorse of inner
pain, he finally surrendered himself under the advice of the Christian
Sonya and was sentenced to exile in Siberia.

 The novel focuses on the psychological changes of the hero after the
crime, revealing the suffering life of the lower classes of Russia.
2 Dialogicality in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

(1) The dialogues among the heroes

• Once the dialogues among the heroes are unfolded, a strong confrontation is formed. No one in the dialogue
can eliminate the will of other parties. They continue to talk and constantly struggle, but maintain a relative
relationship and constitute a dynamic dialogue.

‘Suffer and expiate your sin by it, that’s what you must do.’
‘No! I am not going to them, Sonya!’
‘What wrong have I done them? Why should I go to them? What should I say to them? …. Sonia!
I am not going to them. And what should I say to them—that I murdered her, but did not dare to
take the money and hid it under a stone?’ he added with a bitter smile. ‘Why, they would laugh at
me, and would call me a fool for not getting it. A coward and a fool! They wouldn’t understand and
they don’t deserve to understand. Why should I go to them? I won’t.
(Dostoevsky, 2006: 189-190).
2 Dialogicality in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

(2) The dialogues between the author and the heroes

 In the novel, the heroes all have independent thoughts. Dostoevsky doesn’t pay attention to the
question of who the hero is, but to what the hero has endured and how he knows the world.

 The dialogues between the author and the hero is concentrated in the author's description of the
hero's criminal mentality.

 The polyphonic novel gives the hero great freedom, but it is by no means absolute freedom. The
dialogues between the author and the hero makes the author's thought become an integral part of
the hero's thought, reflecting the separation of the author's consciousness and the hero's
consciousness.

 The novel reflects the complexity and contradiction of the author's inner consciousness at a deep
level.
2 Dialogicality in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

(3) The inner monologue of the heroes

…. But I am talking too much. It’s because I chatter that I do nothing. Or perhaps it is
that I chatter because I do nothing. I’ve learned to chatter this last month, lying for days
together in my den thinking … of Jack the Giant-killer. Why am I going there now?
Am I capable of that? Is that serious? It is not serious at all. It’s simply a fantasy to
amuse myself; a plaything! Yes, maybe it is a plaything.’
(Dostoevsky, 2006: 8).

• It fully displays the subjective feelings of the heroes, strengthens the hero's self-awareness and frees the
heroes from the constraints of the author. Therefore, the heroes can speak the inner thoughts boldly.
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