Crime and Punishment Part 6, Chapters 1-6

Part 6, Chapters 1-5

Raskolnikov is overcome by Svidrigailov's revelation, and he spends the next few days in a daze, unable to understand where he is or what he is doing. He sees Svidrigailov a couple more times after that fateful day, but the man is occupied with the funeral arrangements as well as other businesses. In their last meeting, he tells him that 'fresh air' was the best thing a person could have. Raskolnikov feels like his life is being dangled between Porfiry and Svidrigailov. He awakens on the day of Katerina's funeral but had earlier decided that he would not attend the event. He has only had one interaction with Sonya since he had revealed to her his secret, she had laid her head on his shoulder, and he had not felt any disgust or fear in her, but only grief.

Raskolnikov begins to eat but is interrupted by Razumikhin, who has come to swear at Raskolnikov for treating his family so poorly, and wishes to confirm whether Raskolnikov is going mad. Raskolnikov tells him of how he had praised Razumikhin to his sister, whom he felt probably loved him as much as he loved her. Razumikhin is very taken aback at this, but cryptically tells him that it would have been possible at another time but no longer. Dunya had received a mysterious letter and had told him that their time together would soon be coming to an end. Razumikhin leaves with both happiness and melancholy in his heart. Raskolnikov decides that it would now be best for him to go out and seek Svidrigailov who he believed wished for him to do so.

Just as he is about to leave, he finds Porfiry Petrovich at his door. Porfiry comes in and sits down across from Raskolnikov, Raskolnikov isn't perturbed by his coming, all the nervousness and fear had suddenly fled from him at the sight of the lawyer. He prepares himself and questions Porfiry about his purpose for coming to see him. Porfiry begins with his desire to apologize for their last encounter, which had ended with both of them behaving in an ungentlemanly fashion. He now wishes to have everything out in the open with Raskolnikov, and so begins by telling him about how certain incidents had led him to believe that Raskolnikov was indeed the murderer, and how the article had given him something to cling onto. However, the only thing he had to rely upon was psychology. Zamyotov had also been convinced of Raskolnikov's guilt but had then become unsure when Raskolnikov had confronted him in the restaurant in his delirium. Porfiry confesses that he has a great liking for Raskolnikov, but his conviction that Raskolnikov was indeed the perpetrator had led him to manipulate and toy with him so callously. At this point, Raskolnikov begins to believe that Porfiry had somehow concluded that Raskolnikov wasn't the murderer.

Then Nikolai had confessed to the murder. Nikolai was an artist who had only recently come to Petersburg, back at his village, Nikolai had been a devout man under the care of a wise elder. He had come to the city and his morals had been corrupted, so when he had been suspected of a crime, Nikolai had returned to the teachings of his youth. One of the things that had been thoroughly drilled into him by his elders had been the acceptance of suffering, and so Nikolai had chosen to suffer by confessing to a crime he had not committed. Porfiry believes that Nikolai is not the criminal and that the murderer had committed the crime driven by a theory, one the criminal himself had ceased to believe. Astonished at this turn of events, Raskolnikov asks Porfiry who had then murdered the women if not Nikolai, and Porfiry, equally surprised, states that it was obvious to him that Raskolnikov was the murderer. Raskolnikov attempts to deny it, but Porfiry convinces him that he is certain in his belief.

Porfiry urges Raskolnikov to confess and accept his sentence, as it would allow him to move on, and to continue living his life once his sentence had been served. He promises him a mitigated sentence if he cooperates with the investigation, but Raskolnikov refuses outright and states that he didn't care for a more generous sentence. Porfiry tells him that he will be forced to arrest Raskolnikov within the next couple of days if he doesn't come forward. Before he leaves, he requests that Raskolnikov, if he should decide to kill himself before his arrest, he should consider leaving a small note for Porfiry with the details of where he had hidden the loot. Raskolnikov goes out to find Svidrigailov but isn't quite sure what he is supposed to do once he finds him, he considers the letter that Dunya had received. He is convinced that she had no other relations or friends in Petersburg, and so the letter could only be from Svidrigailov who might be attempting to take advantage of Dunya by threatening her with the information he had learned of Raskolnikov. He then reaches a clear conclusion, that if such a thing did indeed occur, he would murder Svidrigailov and be done with it. He finds himself in a location that he hadn't planned to visit, he had wanted to go to the house of Sonya, where he thought he would be able to meet Svidrigailov. However, he is standing close to a tavern and had seemingly taken a wrong turn, but he suddenly perceives Svidrigailov through a window of the tavern.

Svidrigailov invites Raskolnikov to the tavern, and they sit down to converse. Svidrigailov is fascinated by Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov tries to understand what Svidrigailov wants and warns him that he plans on killing him if he has any plans of bringing harm to his sister or forcing her into a bad situation. Svidrigailov confesses that he has no such plans but admits that it is women that he is interested in, and women are the reason why he had come to Petersburg. When Raskolnikov attempts to leave, Svidrigailov entices him to stay with the temptation of a story about Dunya and how she had saved Svidrigailov.

He begins by informing him that he and Marfa Petrovna had made a legal contract before their marriage was finalized, because Marfa Petrovna had found him in a terrible state. He had been in heavy debt and had been taken to prison for it. She had offered to marry him and rescue him from his debt, but given that Marfa Petrovna was older than him, Svidrigailov had explained to her that he would be incapable of remaining faithful to her. She was a jealous woman but she wished to be with him, so she had a legal contract drawn up in which they both agreed that he would only pursue the maids and other such women but never anyone of their station. In addition, he had to ensure that he informed Marfa Petrovna whenever he did something of the sort. When Dunya came into the household, Svidrigailov was completely transfixed by her beauty but attempted to stay away from her. However, Dunya was the one to initiate their contact. She had come to him to prevent him from badgering one of the maids in the house, and he had begun to groom and charm her. He admits that he could have had Dunya in the palm of his hand but he had made an error by rushing her. The matter soon came to the notice of Marfa Petrovna, and Raskolnikov was already aware of how it proceeded from there.

Raskolnikov becomes extremely suspicious of Svidrigailov because of how he speaks about his sister and informs him so. He asks him whether he had sent a letter to Dunya for she had received one, and it had seemed to affect her. Svidrigailov attempts to dissuade him from that notion by informing him of his imminent marriage to a young sixteen-year-old girl from a poor family and speaks in detail of his deviant attraction to young girls. Raskolnikov calls out the man's disgusting habits, but Svidrigailov laughs off the insults. He then takes Raskolnikov's leave for he wants to visit his newly acquired fiancé. They exit together, but Raskolnikov is convinced that the man wishes his sister harm and so decides to follow him.

Svidrigailov is surprised to discover that Raskolnikov didn't go the other way and instead followed him, Svidrigailov pretends to be very busy. Raskolnikov follows Svidrigailov to his home, where Raskolnikov discovers that Sonya wasn't at home, just as Svidrigailov had informed him. Svidrigailov then tells Raskolnikov that he is leaving with a carriage, and offers him a place in the carriage, but Raskolnikov feels content that the man doesn't plan to do anything with Dunya at present, and so leaves him. Svidrigailov gets off the carriage before the next turn, but Raskolnikov is already lost deep in his reverie and passes by a waiting Dunya without even noticing her. She notices Raskolnikov and also sees Svidrigailov cautiously following her brother. Svidrigailov mimes to her and has her come out of Raskolnikov's sight. He informs her that Raskolnikov had held him up and that he had also been aware of the letter that Svidrigailov had sent to Dunya. Although Dunya is reluctant to follow Svidrigailov back to his apartment, she does so because Svidrigailov had ascribed to some dark stories in his letter to her. They are supposed to meet Sonya, but Svidrigailov tells her that Sonya isn't present.

Svidrigailov recounts to Dunya the basic facts of Raskolnikov's confession and attempts to explain his motivations for committing the crime. At first, Dunya is in complete disbelief but slowly begins to accept the truth. Svidrigailov offers his help, he tells her that he has friends in powerful places and so can make all her problems vanish. His only want is Dunya. Dunya sees an evil light in his eyes and attempts to leave, but Svidrigailov had already locked the door. He tells her that the house was empty and no one was likely to hear them. Dunya comes to terms with her situation, she barricades herself in the corner with a small table and pulls out a revolver. Svidrigailov recognizes the revolver as one that had been in his home. He continues to advance towards her, seeming to be eager for her to use the gun.

As Svidrigailov moves, Dunya shoots at him but the bullet only grazes his head, and he waits for her to put up the revolver again. He advances further and Dunya fires another bullet but it misfires. He tells her to put up the gun again. He moves towards her again, but Dunya tosses the gun away, and he quickly moves in and gently holds her waist. He asks her if she could ever love him, and Dunya tells him that she could not. He throws the key onto the table, leaves her, and turns to the window. He tells her to hurry and leave him quickly, and Dunya runs from the room.

Analysis

By this point in the novel, it is evident that Svidrigailov is a villain much like Peter Petrovich was earlier in the book. It is almost unfair to categorize the two of them in one group for they are vastly different, most particularly in their ability to manipulate the people around them to secure what they want. Both of these men have made a fortune for themselves with the power of their intellect, although Svidrigailov was massively in debt before his marriage. However, it is established that he was a capable estate manager and his wife had come to rely on him, as such both of these men can be considered industrious. Svidrigailov is the face of evil in the novel, although he is depicted with nuance and a minute sense of compassion. Until the chapter where he attempts to rape Dunya, it is almost impossible to understand his machinations, but the reader is never left in doubt that there is more to the character than his seemingly charitable nature in aiding the orphaned Marmeladov's.

Dunya shines in the conflict with Svidirgailov, she is exposed to a situation in which it would be impossible for anyone to morally condemn Dunya for murdering Svidrigailov. Despite her dangerous situation, Dunya decides not to kill the man for she believes that the spilling of blood is a sin, as she later tells Raskolnikov. In this way, she stands directly opposed to her brother, who had no reason to murder the old woman but chose to do it anyway. The author uses both Dunya and Razumikhin to put forward the argument that crime is not simply a product of the environment but rather the choice of the individual.