Crime and Punishment Part 2, Chapters 1-4
Part 2, Chapters 1-4
Raskolnikov lies on his couch as soon as he returns to his room, then falls into a blank mindset where sleep soon finds him. He wakes at dawn and is horrified to find that he had left the door to his room unlatched. He latches his door, and begins to minutely inspect his clothes for any traces of blood. He then cuts away the small noose he had constructed to hold the ax, tears it to shreds, and empties his pockets of all the things that he had stolen from the apartment. This was an aspect of the action that he had given little thought to when he had been planning the deed. He stuffs the purse and the valuables in a hole in the wall but it is far too conspicuous, so he resolves to leave the apartment and hide it elsewhere but his mind is unclear. He shivers with cold and lies back down on the sofa.
He wakes up the next morning to loud knocking, and discovers the maid at his door along with the porter, at once he becomes convinced that he has been discovered. He unlatches his door with reluctance, and receives a letter from the porter. The letter is a summons to the police station. The maid remarks at his ill appearance and urges him to stay in bed longer, but Raskolnikov wishes to go to the police at once. He has given up and begins to believe that his crime has been uncovered. He leaves the valuables poorly hidden in his room and begins his way towards the police station. On his way, he begins to entertain notions of confession.
He arrives at the police station, where he is directed towards the head clerk, Zamyotov. Raskolnikov is asked to wait, and they are soon joined by Ilya Petrovich, the assistant superintendent. Raskolnikov argues with the assistant superintendent and discovers that he had been summoned to the police for not repaying a debt whose I.O.U. his landlady had extracted from him many months ago. Ilya Petrovich is then joined by his superior, Nikodim Fomich, the superintendent. He is more sympathetic to Raskolnikov given his scholarly vocation, and although Raskolnikov tries to explain to them all why the I.O.U. the landlady had produced was malicious, it makes little difference to them. Inside, Raskolnikov is greatly relieved at discovering that he had been summoned for something so trivial.
The head clerk helps him write a declaration in response to the I.O.U., which indicates that he won't leave the imperial capital and will venture to repay the sum at a later date. Raskolnikov is suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to confess his true crime to the police, and when he turns to the officers, he happens to overhear their conversation. They are discussing the murder of the Pawnbroker and have ruled out the two men who had been responsible for fetching the porter, men that Raskolnikov had narrowly avoided. The police are certain that they are yet to discover anyone who had seen the murderer, and hearing so, Raskolnikov is filled with relief. He turns to leave but faints before he can exit the door.
He comes to his senses in the presence of the officers, Ilya Petrovich inquires whether Raskolnikov is ill, and when he assents, he asks him if he had left his home yesterday and if so at what time. Raskolnikov replies evenly that he had left for a short walk the previous evening at 7. Ilya Petrovich's tone of voice indicates suspicion but he does not ask him anything else. Raskolnikov recovers himself and leaves the building, once he is outside, he becomes convinced that they suspect him, and so he decides that he must rid himself of the stolen trinkets.
Raskolnikov reaches home and finds that no one has yet searched his room. He resolves to discard all the loot in the canal and so be rid of it. He collects it all and immediately sets out for the canal, but he is unable to toss the valuables because the surrounding area is very busy. On his way to the banks of Neva, he discovers a small and deserted alleyway leading to a secluded courtyard where he finds a stone, he lifts it and places all of the valuables into the small hole made by the rock. He continues to walk and soon finds himself near the house of Razumikhin. Since he had earlier resolved to visit his friend a few days prior, he goes to his home. Razumikhin lives in a poverty- stricken apartment but is busily writing when Raskolnikov arrives. He expresses concern for Raskolnikov's ill and ragged appearance, but Raskolnikov is nearly in delirium. He explains that he had initially planned to ask Razumikhin for some lessons so that he may earn some money but had now come to understand that he didn't desire them any longer. Razumikhin replies that he had no lessons to give, but he has been occupied with some translation work recently with which he could use Raskolnikov's help. He gives Raskolnikov some German papers to translate, an advance payment, and promises to pay more once the work is completed. Raskolnikov leaves without uttering a word, but then returns within a few moments. He returns the German papers as well as the money and only utters that he doesn't want translation work before he leaves.
He is yet again lost in reverie and is nearly trampled by a horse-drawn carriage. He returns home some three hours later and falls asleep. He wakes up in the middle of the night to hear screaming. His landlady is screaming with pain as Ilya Petrovich beats her, for he hears him muttering as he hits her. Raskolnikov is convinced that this is concerning his crime and so waits with bated breath. The noise soon dies down, and Raskolnikov falls back into a fevered sleep. He wakes up to the sound of the maid, who brings him some things to eat. He asks her why the landlady was being beaten by the police in the night, and a perplexed Nastasya explains that no such thing had occurred. He is surprised and unbelieving, he doesn't eat anything but only drinks a glass of water and sinks back into oblivion.
Raskolnikov became extremely ill and stayed in bed for nearly four days. When he recovers he remembers being held down by an unrecognizable yet familiar figure and Nastasya. He had raved and attempted to run out into the streets during his fits of half-awake nightmares but finally, he comes to himself to find Nastasya with another gentleman at his bedside. He discovers that his mother has sent him money, and so he is required to sign for the amount. They are soon joined by Razumikhin, who appears to be very familiar with the apartment and the maid. He converses with the gentleman on behalf of Raskolnikov, for Raskolnikov is behaving like he is still too disoriented to completely understand what is occurring around him.
He learns from Razumikhin that after he had left Razumikhin's apartment, the man had become very upset with his friend and had sought to find him to punish him. He had tracked him to this building and had discovered Raskolnikov to be very ill. So he had brought along a doctor who was his friend, Zossimov, it was he who had overseen Raskolnikov's recovery. He had determined no serious cause for Raskolnikov's illness. Razumikhin had then made inquiries around his apartment and learned of all the complications in his present situation. He had concluded that Raskolnikov's main problem was the I.O.U. and the landlady, so Razumikhin had gone about to salvage the situation. He had spoken to the landlady on his behalf and had greatly improved her disposition towards Raskolnikov. Razumikhin had even visited the police office, where he had become close friends with Zamyotov, the head clerk. Raskolnikov is completely baffled by all that has changed around him, his bed sheets are clean, and the quilt is replaced with a much warmer one. He fails to completely understand what he had revealed to his caregiver in the depths of his fever ravings.
Razumikhin soon leaves with some of the money that Raskolnikov had received from his mother, but before he leaves, he reveals to Raskolnikov that in his ravings he had only spoken of his socks, trousers, and some other nonsensical things. After he is gone, Raskolnikov jumps out of his bed and discovers the pieces of clothing that he had cut away from his old clothes for they had been stained with blood. They were still in the stove, where no one had seemingly looked. And his sock, the one that had been soaked in blood was so grimy now that it was impossible to perceive any blood on it. Raskolnikov then sank into a sleep.
He wakes up again in the evening of the same day when Razumikhin returns, Raskolnikov feels much more clear-headed now. Razumikhin begins to show Raskolnikov the clothes he had purchased for him with the money he'd taken from him earlier that day. He had made arrangements for everything, from hat to boots, and the landlady had very kindly paid the price for his linens. Razumikhin then reassures his friend that he needn't worry about paying back the landlady for she would be much more gentle with him now that Razumikhin had won her over. He then dresses Raskolnikov in all the clothes that he had bought for him, just as their common friend and doctor, Zossimov arrives.
Analysis
The first part of the novel is dedicated to the crime while the rest of the parts deal with the punishment, which begins with the very beginning of the second part of the book. Raskolnikov had thought the murder of the old woman would allow him to experience a sense of superiority, for he had transgressed the laws of men and shown himself to be a 'Napoleon'. Instead, he suffers deeply due to his conscience, so much so that he begins to contemplate confession when he visits the police office. Although he is yet to think about atoning for his crime, until this point in the novel, his only concern is preventing discovery.
Another major theme explored in the novel is that of alienation, Raskolnikov feels separate from his peers in both intellect and morality, he is then further separated due to his abject poverty. However, none of these factors are as great of a severing as the murder of two women, the knowledge of his transgression cuts him off from all people even his family.
Most of Dostoevsky's works make use of contrast in developing characters, and in this part of the novel, a strong contrast is made between Raskolnikov and Razumikhin. Both of them struggle with poverty and have had to leave the university for want of funds. It can be argued that Raskolnikov has more of a motivation to work and earn money than Razumikhin, for Raskolnikov has a mother and sister to care for while Razumikhin doesn't. However, Razumikhin is seen to be working hard irrespective of his living conditions, which are worse than Raskolnikov's. Raskolnikov chooses to be separated from people citing his intellect and poverty, while Razumikhin makes friends and relations despite the same.
