The metaphysical meaning of the image of a wall in F.M. Dostoevsky’s works

Abstract

The article deals with the symbolic meanings that the image of the wall has in F.M. Dostoevsky’s works. It is shown that in the story “White Nights” the walls of the room of the protagonist have two opposite functions: on the one hand, they act as boundaries of the inner, subjective space of the personality in which it can freely develop spiritually, and, on the other hand, they limit freedom, do not allowing a person to master, to make the whole endless objective world his own. Particular attention is paid to the story “Notes from the Underground”, where the main character constantly refers to the image of a “stone wall” as a visual sign of the limited freedom of a person, its constraint by the laws of the external, objective world. As a result of the generalization of all the options for using the image of the wall, its deepest philosophical meaning was revealed – the designation of the inner sacred space in which a person finds his God and thereby acquires the ability to influence the outside world, regardless of its laws, i.e. overcoming all its “stone walls”. This meaning is most clearly realized in novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, where Alyosha Karamazov finds his faith in the monastery walls and then goes out into the world to change it in accordance with his idea of perfection. The authors demonstrate the possibility of comparing the three forms of relationship of Dostoevsky's heroes to the opposition of the inner and outer space of their lives, defined by the walls of the dwelling, with the three stages of personality development in the philosophy of S. Kierkegaard – aesthetic (taking all boundaries for granted), ethical (rebellion against laws and boundaries) and religious (overcoming boundaries in an act of faith).