New
New
Year 11
Eduqas

Considering the use of dialogue in Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment'

I can explain and analyse Dostoevsky's use of dialogue in an extract from 'Crime and Punishment'.

New
New
Year 11
Eduqas

Considering the use of dialogue in Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment'

I can explain and analyse Dostoevsky's use of dialogue in an extract from 'Crime and Punishment'.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Dialogue might be hard to construct in writing because it relies heavily on body language.
  2. Dialogue is important because it not only reveals information about the characters but also wider ideas of connection.
  3. Arguably, Dostoevsky structures the dialogue to immediately create a sense of tension.
  4. Potentially, the use of punctuation and division of dialogue show Raskolnikov's impoverished status.
  5. The use of body language demonstrates Raskolnikov's tension and anxiety.

Keywords

  • Dialogue - a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or film

  • Contrast - an obvious difference between two or more things

  • Impoverished - very poor; deprived of strength or vitality

  • Ellipsis - a type of punctuation that represents a pause or that something has been intentionally left out

Common misconception

That dialogue is a superfluous part of a text and can't be analysed in the same way as other structural or language features.

We can analyse dialogue by considering how it's structured, how the conversation is divided up, the use of punctuation and through the use of body language.

It would be useful to have pupils try to read their created dialogues with a partner so that they can see if it sounds realistic or not.
Teacher tip

Equipment

The copy of the extract from Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' is in the additional materials.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following is a definition of dialogue?
Correct answer: a conversation between two or more people
a long speech by one person
a section or speech at the end of a book
Q2.
A 'scowl' suggests which of the following emotions?
joy
Correct answer: anger
sadness
Q3.
'The conscious and unconscious movements and postures by which attitudes and feelings are communicated' is the definition of language.
Correct Answer: body
Q4.
Which of the following body language positions suggests a negative emotion?
Correct answer: hunched over shoulders
Correct answer: crossed arms
open arms
standing tall
Q5.
'An obvious difference between two or more things' is the definition of which word beginning with 'c'?
Correct Answer: contrast, contrasting
Q6.
'A type of punctuation that represents a pause or that something has been intentionally left out' is the definition of an .
Correct Answer: ellipsis

6 Questions

Q1.
What is Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' about?
a naive character who struggles to understand the world around him
Correct answer: a man who is desperate to escape poverty so plans to kill his pawnbroker
a man accused of murdering his father
Q2.
Arguably, dialogue is hard to write because so much of the nuance of it depends on language.
Correct Answer: body
Q3.
'Grinding your teeth' suggests which of the following emotions?
Correct answer: stress
joy
excitement
Q4.
'Very poor; deprived of strength or vitality' is the definition of which word beginning with 'i'?
Correct Answer: impoverished
Q5.
Structurally, the reference to the "police" at the beginning of the dialogue in 'Crime and Punishment' immediately creates a sense of ...
Correct answer: tension.
relief.
apathy.
Q6.
Within a dialogue, we might imagine the person who has more words and takes up more space to ...
Correct answer: be more powerful.
Correct answer: be in a heightened emotional state.
feel powerless.
feel diminished.

Additional material

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