Crime and Punishment Part 1, Chapters 1-4

Part 1, Chapters 1-4

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov exits his cupboard-like apartment and sneaks down the stairs like a mouse hiding from a cat. Raskolnikov is afraid of meeting his landlady, to whom he owes a heavy debt, and although he isn't a coward, he would still rather avoid the unpleasant interaction. He starts towards his destination, a journey whose steps he had counted once before. Raskolnikov is tortured by a plan he has concocted and is only able to continue by convincing himself that this trip was merely a practice. He is a man crushed with poverty, and although he is a handsome man, he is dressed in rags and hasn't had anything to eat for nearly two days. As he walks along in the busy Haymarket, a drunken man hails him and identifies him as the man with the German hat. Raskolnikov panics because he feels that his ugly decrepit hat is far too recognizable and that he should have worn something less distinct.

He makes his way to an apartment building and avoids meeting any of the doorkeepers by sneaking into a dark stairway. He climbs to the fourth floor and notices the only other occupant of the floor preparing to vacate the apartment, which makes Aliona Ivanovna, the old and thin pawnbroker, the only occupant of the whole fourth floor. He rings her bell, and when she opens the door, he reminds her about his visit nearly a month prior. He pawns a silver watch for a pittance. The old lady tells him that he has missed his payment for the last item he had pawned, and so she further reduces the amount for the watch. Raskolnikov is positively enraged by her behavior but reminds himself of the reason he came, and carefully observes where the pawnbroker keeps her prized possessions as well as the keys she uses to lock her precious chests. He leaves the apartment after attempting to casually inquire about the pawnbroker's sister and her whereabouts, and as he leaves he also mentions to the pawnbroker his desire to pawn another item very soon. Once he is out of the apartment, his thoughts continue to torture him as he examines his convictions to commit what he has planned.

He enters a tavern for the first time in his life and sits down to drink a glass of beer. As Raskolnikov sits in the tavern, he craves company, looking around at the patrons of the dingy place. There sits a man of fifty, who has the look of a retired clerk, the man keeps staring at Raskolnikov as he nurses his drink. Soon, he speaks to Raskolnikov and enquires from him in an eloquent speech, whether he was a man of education and service. Upon discovering that Raskolnikov was a student, the man walks drunkenly towards him and sits down across from him with his drink. The other patrons in the tavern are evidently accustomed to this stranger, and even the barkeeper comes down to sit close to where the man sits. This man is Semion Zaharovich Marmeladov, an alcoholic who confesses that he has been sleeping in a hay barge for the past five days. He is destitute with poverty and excessively drunk.

Marmeladov then begins to recount his tale of woe and poverty, he had been a widower with a daughter of 14 when he had first married Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladov. Before marrying him, she had been married to an officer from whom she had three young children, but the officer had a problem with cards, and so had wound up in the court and then the morgue. She had been left helplessly poor, and her proud stature had prevented her from reaching out to the relations that had abandoned her so. In that hopeless state, she had married Marmeladov, who at the time had been employed as a clerk. For the whole first year of their marriage, Marmeladov had abstained from drinking. Katerina was still unhappy, and although her first husband had beat her near the end, she still berated Marmeladov when she spoke of him and compared him to Marmeladov. Circumstances changed, and Marmeladov lost his position, and later when he had secured for himself another position, his weakness for drinking caused him to lose it.

Sofya Semionovna Marmeladov is Marmeladov's daughter from his prior marriage and has suffered much maltreatment from her stepmother, who had been driven to cruelty as she watched her small children starve. Sonya attempted to make ends meet, but failed miserably, until one night when Katerina accused her of eating while the children remained starving. That night Sonya had gone out and returned with a lot of money which she then handed to Katerina. Sonya went to a corner of the home and cried the whole night. Katerina lay at her feet and kissed them the whole night. They had lain and cried together while Marmeladov laid in the same room, intoxicated with the drink but yet aware of what had occurred.

The landlady discovered that Sonya had taken to prostitution, and had forced her eviction. Lebezyatnikov, a man from whom Marmeladov had borrowed capital, had at first been interested in Sonya but he too had turned against her when he discovered her prostitution. Katerina had defended her stepdaughter, and in so doing had been beaten by Lebezyatnikov. Sonya was caused to move out, live alone, and only sneak in to see them in the dark of the night. She supplied Katerina with what money she made and attempted to keep all five of them fed.

Marmeladov had recently secured for himself another position, and that salary had meant much to his family. Both Katerina and Sofia went out of their way to make sure Marmeladov was rested and had enough to eat, but alas the need for drink caused him to yet again lose his position. Now it had been five days since he had returned home, but earlier that very day, he had gone to his daughter to seek money for drinks and she had given him her every last dime. Marmeladov understood what that money meant, and where it came from, but he still used it to get drunk. He truly despises himself for all he has wrought on his family. He speaks of how even a swine like him will eventually receive God's mercy for God understands that men like him never believe they are worth saving. The other patrons of the tavern laugh throughout his tale and swear at him for speaking aloud his ravings.

Finally, Marmeladov asks Raskolnikov to help him back home, and Raskolnikov practically lifts the man home. There, he meets Katerina, a thin and graceful woman of thirty, clearly marked with consumption, pacing in her hallway of a room. The small children are emaciated with hunger and have unhealthy appearances. She attacks Marmeladov as soon as she sees him, and searches his pockets for any money that may yet remain. She even berates Raskolnikov for drinking at the tavern, and before Raskolnikov leaves the room, he sets aside all the money he has in his pocket on the windowsill of their squalid apartment. He regrets leaving the money after he reaches the stairs, for he thinks that he needs it too but he does not turn back to retrieve it.

The following day he wakes up irritable and ill-tempered, his poverty-stricken apartment only serves to depress him further. The maid, Nastasya, who is supposed to clean the room every day, had capitalized on Raskolnikov's desire to be alone, and so his room remained dirty for long periods. Now, she comes to him with a cup of tea and tells him that the landlady is considering calling the police since Raskolnikov hasn't paid his rent. The maid asks him why he doesn't go out to teach anymore, and he replies that it was because of how little students paid for the classes. She asks if he expects to make a fortune altogether instead of working slowly and securing it, and he agrees that he did indeed want a fortune. She then informs him that she had received a letter for him and at his urging brings it to him.

Raskolnikov reads the address and realizes that it is a letter from his mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikov. She begins the letter by apologizing for not writing to him earlier. She was unable to do so as she had sought a loan from a local lender in lieu of her pension so that she could send Raskolnikov some money. The past months had allowed her to repay the loan, and now that their fortune had improved she was hopeful of sending him more money. She recounts that his sister, Avdotia Romanovna Raskolnikov, Dunya, had experienced much maltreatment at her previous place of employment, a fact they had hidden from Raskolnikov for they had been worried that he would drop everything and return to them. Dunya had been employed as a governess in the family of Marfa Petrovna but had then been hounded by the lady's husband, Mr. Svidrigailov. The man had pressed Dunya many times and even proposed to make her his mistress on another estate. He happened to be overheard by his wife as he was attempting to persuade Dunya, and the lady had mistakenly assumed that Dunya had seduced her husband. She had banished Dunya, and then methodically spread the false story of Dunya's seduction throughout the whole community. Both Dunya and her mother had been forced to bear a lot of disrespect as people had begun to believe this narrative. But Marfa Petrovna's husband had finally confessed to her the truth and provided evidence of Dunya's innocence in the form of a letter.

Marfa Petrovna had then done all she could to make amends to Dunya, she had begun by repairing her reputation in the community, and had also produced a favorable suitor for Dunya. The suitor was Peter Petrovich, a court councilor from St. Petersburg of some 45 years. Dunya had gladly accepted the match, even though there was no great love between them. Dunya had informed her mother that she wished to have her fiancé employ her brother, Raskolnikov, in his law office, for he too was a student of law at the university. She was positive that once the match was made, and the ceremony completed, then Peter Petrovich would also readily sponsor Raskolnikov's education at the university, which Raskolnikov had discontinued for want of subsistence.

Lastly, Raskolnikov's mother informs him by way of the letter that both she and Dunya would meet Raskolnikov very soon, as they plan to leave for St. Petersburg within a week. She ends the letter by reminding him that Dunya loves him even more than herself and that both of them only want his happiness.

Raskolnikov is at first moved to tears by the letter, but by the end of it, he is filled with wrath and allows his feet to carry him where they may, he walks aimlessly around the city and mutters to himself in fury. He walks the streets and thinks about the letter. He decidedly declares to himself that his sister simply cannot be allowed to marry a man like Peter Petrovich. He was a businessman, and only wanted a wife who had experienced poverty and so would be grateful to a life of comfort provided by him. Raskolnikov loves his sister dearly, and understands that her nobility extends beyond a mere desire for luxury. He recognizes that she is marrying the businessman in order to improve the conditions of her only brother. He could not have it, in his mind he compares the situations of Sonya and Dunya, and to him, they both seem similar in circumstance. Although Sonya's situation is forced by starvation and not by want for her brother's success. He dejectedly concludes that he is in no position to aid his family. How could he forbid her to marry Peter Petrovich when he had no means yet of providing his mother and sister with a better life? He simply couldn't forbid it, but perhaps he could murder the man. He has a confrontation with a fat-rich man who is eyeing a young and drunk young girl with lecherous eyes.

After the encounter, Raskolnikov recalls that he had set out to visit his friend, Razumikhin, who was a peer from the university. Similar to Raskolnikov, he had been forced to halt his course due to poverty, but he had a reputation for being ever- resourceful and positive. Even now, he was probably working very hard to ensure that he had enough money to return to the course. Raskolnikov had a reputation for being haughty, and so didn't have a lot of friends, but one couldn't know a man like Razumikhin and not be his friend.

Analysis

Nihilism was a position that developed around the mid 19th century in Russia, it placed importance on the material world and dismissed emotional concerns. One of the major themes explored in the book is nihilism, and the opening chapters establish the theme centrally by means of the personality of the protagonist. Raskolnikov is an intelligent, handsome, and emotionally detached young man that analyses all things in life with a rationalist and materialist viewpoint. He doesn't truly display any compassion and dismisses the feelings as well as emotions of other people offhandedly. This feature of his character is perhaps most prominent in his description of the old pawnbroker. The words with which he describes her can be considered dehumanizing, and in the later chapters, this dehumanization escalates as he compares her to a louse.

The conflict in the initial chapters lies in the moral turmoil that Raskolnikov experiences as he gathers the logical arguments in favor of committing murder, but finds himself unable to come to terms with the physical act of violence. In this regard, his visit to the tavern, the first-ever in his life, can be viewed as his departure from the moral argument as he descends into the dark and dingy tavern. Although the beer seems to ease his mind a little, this act of drinking is a figurative barrier that he crosses and enters into a realm of malice and violence.

These chapters introduce the subplots of Dunya's engagement and the family of Marmeladov's. A motif that is shared between these aspects of the novel is that of poverty, the author uses abject poverty to demonstrate the depth of the characters' love for their families. Sonya and Dunya can indeed be viewed as doubles and Raskolnikov observes the same when he first learns of Dunya's engagement. His reaction to the letter from his mother and his response to the squalid condition of the Marmeladov's displays a clear pattern in his behavior. Raskolnikov is a man of duality, at times he is moved by great compassion for others, but this compassion is quickly pushed away and replaced by a more pessimistic outlook. At first, he feels bad for the starving Marmeladov's and so leaves for them his last remaining penny, but as he climbs down the stairs he comes to regret his actions for he blames them for Sonya's condition.