Prostitutes Redeemed.

Sonia is the only character in Crime and Punishment that seems to bring light to the darkness of Raskolnikov’s world. It is not a priest, a preacher, or a member of the clergy that comes and pulls him out of his despair; it is a prostitute. She sold her body to men, but she did it to feed her family.

Mrs. Warren did the same thing; she sold herself in order to live.

Mary Magdalene is perhaps the most famous prostitute of all time. We don’t know the circumstances of her decision to give her body away; all we know is that she was one…and that she was redeemed.

One of the first two women mentioned was redeemed, as well. One was not.

Why?

When Sonia was presented with the opportunity to continue to prostitute herself, or to choose to give her soul to one man and not her body to any, she chose to change. In loving Raskolnikov – in his redemption – Sonia was redeemed. She sacrificed her old self in order to play a part of drawing him to salvation. When faced with love, she could never be the same.

Mrs. Warren is condemned because she was faced with the same choice; she no longer had to prostitute herself in order to survive. But instead of forsaking her old way of life when it was no longer necessary out of love for what was right – out of love for her daughter – she refused. She stayed the same, and even aided in the spreading of her sin.

When Mary Magdalene stood in the presence of the greatest Love of the universe, she bowed low and wept. As an act of humility, she spent what was most likely her life savings - money she had earned by selling herself – and poured it out on the feet of Jesus. Mixed with her tears and dried with her hair, she surrendered herself to Love. Rejecting all she was in the hope of being accepted by Him, Mary Magdalene was never the same.

She was redeemed. Sonia was redeemed. Sacrifice brought them a new life…a life with Love.