Retelling of the novel "Crime and Punishment" by F.M. Dostoevsky. Retelling of the novel Crime and Punishment (detailed retelling) Brief retelling of Crime and Punishment Part 1

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment was written in 1866. The writer came up with the idea for the work back in 1859, when he was serving his sentence at hard labor. Initially, Dostoevsky was going to write the novel “Crime and Punishment” in the form of a confession, but in the process of work, the original idea gradually changed and, describing his new work to the editor of the magazine “Russian Messenger” (in which the book was first published), the author characterizes the novel as “a psychological report of one works."

“Crime and Punishment” belongs to the literary movement of realism, written in the genre of a philosophical and psychological polyphonic novel, since the ideas of the characters in the work are equal to each other, and the author stands next to the characters, and not above them.

A summary of chapters and parts compiled on “Crime and Punishment” allows you to familiarize yourself with the key points of the novel, prepare for a literature lesson in the 10th grade or a test. You can read the retelling of the novel presented on our website online or save it to any electronic device.

Main characters

Rodion Raskolnikov- a poor student, a young, proud, selfless youth. He “was remarkably good-looking, with beautiful dark eyes, dark blond, above average height, thin and slender.”

Sonya Marmeladova- the native daughter of Marmeladov, a drunkard, a former titular councilor. “A small girl, about eighteen years old, thin, but quite pretty blonde, with wonderful blue eyes.”

Petr Petrovich Luzhin- Dunya’s fiancé, a calculating, “prim, dignified, with a cautious and grumpy physiognomy” gentleman of forty-five years old.

Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov– a gambler with a contradictory character who has crossed several lives. “A man of about fifty, above average height, portly.”

Porfiry Petrovich- an investigative police officer who was involved in the murder of an old pawnbroker. “A man of about thirty-five, shorter than average height, plump and even with a paunch, shaven, without a mustache and without sideburns.” A smart man, a “skeptic, a cynic.”

Razumikhin- student, friend of Rodion. A very intelligent young man, although sometimes simple-minded, “his appearance was expressive - tall, thin, always poorly shaven, black-haired. Sometimes he got rowdy and was known as a strong man."

Dunya (Avdotya Romanovna) Raskolnikova- Raskolnikov’s sister, “a firm, prudent, patient and generous, although with an ardent heart” girl. “Her hair was dark brown, a little lighter than her brother’s; the eyes are almost black, sparkling, proud and at the same time, sometimes, for minutes, unusually kind.”

Other characters

Alena Ivanovna- an old money-lender who was killed by Raskolnikov.

Lizaveta Ivanovna- the sister of the old pawnbroker, “a tall, clumsy, timid and humble girl, almost an idiot, thirty-five years old, who was in complete slavery to her sister, worked for her day and night, trembled before her and even suffered beatings from her.”

Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov- Sonya’s father, a drunkard, “a man over fifty, of average height and heavy build, with gray hair and a large bald spot.”

Ekaterina Ivanovna Marmeladova- a woman of noble birth (from a bankrupt noble family), Sonya’s stepmother, Marmeladov’s wife. “A terribly thin woman, thin, rather tall and slender, with beautiful dark brown hair.”

Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova- Rodion’s mother, a woman of forty-three years old.

Zosimov- doctor, friend of Raskolnikov, 27 years old.

Zametov- Clerk at the police station.

Nastasya- cook of the landlady from whom Raskolnikov rented a room.

Lebezyatnikov- Luzhin's roommate.

Mikola– dyer who confessed to the murder of an old woman

Marfa Petrovna Svidrigailova- Svidrigailov’s wife.

Polechka, Lenya, Kolya- children of Katerina Ivanovna.

Part one

Chapter 1

The main character of the novel, Rodion Raskolnikov, is in a situation bordering on poverty; he has eaten almost nothing for the second day and owes the owner of the apartment a decent amount for rent. The young man goes to the old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna, pondering on the way a “mysterious” matter, thoughts about which have been bothering him for a long time - the hero was going to kill.

Arriving at Alena Ivanovna, Raskolnikov pawns a silver watch, while carefully examining the furnishings of her apartment. Leaving, Rodion promises to return soon to pawn the silver cigarette box.

Chapter 2

Entering the tavern, Raskolnikov meets the titular adviser Marmeladov. Having learned that Rodion is a student, the intoxicated interlocutor begins to talk about poverty, saying that “poverty is not a vice, it is the truth, poverty is a vice, sir,” and tells Rodion about his family. His wife, Katerina Ivanovna, having three children in her arms, married him out of despair, although she was smart and educated. But Marmeladov drinks away all the money, taking the last thing out of the house. In order to somehow provide for his family, his daughter, Sonya Marmeladova, had to go to the panel.

Raskolnikov decided to take the drunken Marmeladov home, since he was no longer able to stand on his feet. The student was struck by the squalid conditions of their housing. Katerina Ivanovna begins to scold her husband for drinking away the last of his money again, and Raskolnikov, not wanting to get involved in a quarrel, leaves, for reasons unknown to himself, leaving them some change on the windowsill.

Chapter 3

Raskolnikov lived in a small room with a very low ceiling: “it was a tiny cell, about six steps long.” The room had three old chairs, a table, a large sofa in rags and a small table.

Rodion receives a letter from his mother Pulcheria Raskolnikova. The woman wrote that his sister Dunya was slandered by the Svidrigailov family, in whose house the girl worked as a governess. Svidrigailov showed unambiguous signs of attention to her. Having learned about this, Marfa Petrovna, his wife, began to insult and humiliate Dunya. In addition, forty-five-year-old court councilor Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin with a small capital wooed Duna. The mother writes that she and her sister will soon come to St. Petersburg, since Luzhin wants to arrange the wedding as quickly as possible.

Chapter 4

Raskolnikov was greatly alarmed by his mother's letter. The young man understands that his relatives agreed to the marriage of Luzhin and Dunya only to end poverty, but the young man is against this marriage. Raskolnikov understands that he has no right to forbid Dunya from marrying Luzhin. And Rodin again began to think about the thought that had tormented him for a long time (the murder of the pawnbroker).

Chapter 5

While walking around the Islands, Raskolnikov decided to snack on a piece of pie and vodka. The young man had not drunk for a long time, so he almost immediately got drunk and, before reaching home, fell asleep in the bushes. He had a terrible dream: an episode from his childhood in which men were slaughtering an old horse. Little Rodion cannot do anything, he runs up to the dead horse, kisses its muzzle and, angry, rushes at the man with his fists.

Having woken up, Raskolnikov again thinks about the murder of the pawnbroker and doubts that he will be able to decide on it. Passing by the market on Sennaya, the young man saw the old woman’s sister, Lizaveta. From Lizaveta’s conversation with the traders, Raskolnikov learns that the pawnbroker will be alone at home tomorrow at seven in the evening. The young man understands that now “everything has been decided finally.”

Chapter 6

Raskolnikov accidentally overhears a conversation between a student and an officer that the old money-lender is unworthy of living, and if she were killed, then her money could be used to help many poor young people. Rodion was very excited by what he heard.

Arriving home, Raskolnikov, being in a state close to delirium, begins to prepare for murder. The young man sewed a loop for the ax on the inside of the coat under the left armpit so that when the coat was put on, the ax would not be visible. Then he took out a “pawn” hidden in the gap between the sofa and the floor - a tablet the size of a cigarette case, wrapped in paper and tied with a ribbon, which he was going to give to the old woman to distract attention. Having finished the preparations, Rodion stole an ax from the janitor's room and went to the old woman.

Chapter 7

Arriving at the pawnbroker, Rodion was worried that the old woman would notice his excitement and not let him in, but she took the “pawn”, believing that it was a cigarette holder, and tried to untie the ribbon. The young man, realizing that he must not hesitate, takes out an ax and brings the butt of it down on her head, the old woman sagged, Raskolnikov beats her a second time, after which he realizes that she has already died.

Raskolnikov takes the keys from the old woman’s pocket and goes to her room. As soon as he found the pawnbroker's wealth in a large pack (chest) and began to stuff the pockets of his coat and trousers with them, Lizaveta unexpectedly returned. In confusion, the hero also kills the old woman’s sister. He is overcome by horror, but gradually the hero pulls himself together, washes the blood from his hands, ax and boots. Raskolnikov was about to leave, but then he heard footsteps on the stairs: clients had come to the old woman. After waiting until they leave, Rodion himself quickly leaves the pawnbroker’s apartment. Returning home, the young man returns the ax and, going into his room, without undressing, fell into oblivion on the bed.

Part two

Chapter 1

Raskolnikov slept until three o'clock in the afternoon. Waking up, the hero remembers what he did. In horror, he looks through all the clothes, checking to see if there are any traces of blood left on them. He immediately finds the jewelry he had taken from the pawnbroker, which he had completely forgotten about, and hides it in the corner of the room, in a hole under the wallpaper.

Nastasya comes to Rodion. She brought him a summons from the police officer: the hero needed to appear at the police office. Rodion is nervous, but at the station it turns out that he is only required to write a receipt with an obligation to pay the debt to the landlady.

Just about to leave the station, Rodion accidentally overhears the police talking about the murder of Alena Ivanovna and faints. Everyone decides that Raskolnikov is ill and is sent home.

Chapter 2

Fearing a search, Rodion hides the old woman’s valuables (a wallet with money and jewelry) under a stone in a deserted courtyard surrounded by blank walls.

Chapter 3

Returning home, Raskolnikov wandered for several days, and when he woke up, he saw Razumikhin and Nastasya next to him. The young man receives a money transfer from his mother, who sent money to pay for housing. Dmitry tells his friend that while he was sick, policeman Zametov came to see Rodion several times and asked about his things.

Chapter 4

Another comrade, medical student Zosimov, comes to see Raskolnikov. He begins a conversation about the murder of Alena Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta, saying that many are suspected of the crime, including the dyer Mikola, but the police do not yet have reliable evidence.

Chapter 5

Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin comes to Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov reproaches the man that he is going to marry Duna only so that the girl will be grateful for the rest of her life for ridding her family of poverty. Luzhin tries to deny this. An angry Raskolnikov kicks him out.

Raskolnikov's friends leave after him. Razumikhin worries about his friend, believing that “he has something on his mind! Something motionless, oppressive."

Chapter 6

Accidentally entering the Crystal Palace tavern, Raskolnikov meets Zametov there. Discussing with him the case of the murder of an old woman, Rodion expresses his opinion on how he would act in the place of the killer. The student asks what Zametov would do if he were the killer and almost directly says that it was he who killed the old woman. Zametov decides that Rodion is crazy and does not believe in his guilt.

Walking around the city, Raskolnikov decides to drown himself, but, having changed his mind, half-delirious goes to the house of the murdered old money-lender. There is renovation going on and the student talks to the workers about the crime that happened, everyone thinks he is crazy.

Chapter 7

On the way to Razumikhin, Raskolnikov sees a crowd gathered around the accidentally knocked down, completely drunk Marmeladov. The victim is taken home, he is in serious condition.
Before his death, Marmeladov asks Sonya for forgiveness and dies in his daughter’s arms. Raskolnikov gives all his money for Marmeladov's funeral.

Rodion feels that he is recovering and goes to visit Razumikhin. Dmitry accompanies him home. Approaching Raskolnikov’s house, the students see light in its windows. When the friends went up to the room, it turned out that Rodion’s mother and sister had arrived. Seeing his loved ones, Raskolnikov fainted.

Part three

Chapter 1

Having come to his senses, Rodion asks his family not to worry. Talking with his sister about Luzhin, Raskolnikov demands that the girl refuse him. Pulcheria Alexandrovna wants to stay to look after her son, but Razumikhin persuades the women to return to the hotel.

Razumikhin really liked Dunya, he was attracted by her beauty: in her appearance, strength and self-confidence were combined with softness and grace.

Chapter 2

In the morning, Razumikhin visits Raskolnikov’s mother and sister. Discussing Luzhin, Pulcheria Alexandrovna shares with Dmitry that in the morning they received a letter from Pyotr Petrovich. Luzhin writes that he wants to visit them, but asks that Rodion not be present during their meeting. Mother and Dunya go to Raskolnikov.

Chapter 3

Raskolnikov feels better. A student tells his mother and sister about how yesterday he gave all his money for a funeral to a poor family. Raskolnikov notices that his relatives are afraid of him.
The conversation turns to Luzhin. Rodion is unpleasant that Pyotr Petrovich does not show due attention to the bride. The young man is told about Pyotr Petrovich’s letter; he is ready to do what his relatives think is right. Dunya believes that Rodion must certainly be present during Luzhin’s visit.

Chapter 4

Sonya came to Raskolnikov with an invitation to Marmeladov’s funeral. Despite the fact that the girl’s reputation does not allow her to communicate on equal terms with Rodion’s mother and sister, the young man introduces her to his loved ones. When leaving, Dunya bowed to Sonya, which greatly embarrassed the girl.

When Sonya was walking home, some stranger began to pursue her, who turned out to be her neighbor (later in the plot it becomes clear that it was Svidrigailov).

Chapter 5

Raskolnikov and Razumikhin go to Porfiry, since Rodion asked a friend to introduce him to the investigator. Raskolnikov turns to Porfiry with the question of how he can claim his right to the things that he pawned to the old woman. The investigator says that he needs to file a report with the police, and that his things are not missing, since he remembers them among those seized by the investigation.

Discussing the murder of the pawnbroker with Porfiry, the young man realizes that he is also suspected. Porfiry recalls Raskolnikov’s article. In it, Rodion sets out his own theory that people are divided into “ordinary” (the so-called “material”) and “extraordinary” (talented, capable of saying a “new word”)”: “ordinary people must live in obedience and have no right to overstep law." “And extraordinary people have the right to commit all sorts of crimes and break the law in every possible way, precisely because they are extraordinary.” Porfiry asks Raskolnikov if he considers himself such an “extraordinary” person and whether he is capable of killing or robbing, Raskolnikov replies that “it very well may be.”

Clarifying the details of the case, the investigator asks Raskolnikov if he saw, for example, during his last visit to the pawnbroker, the dyers. Hesitating to answer, the young man says that he didn’t see it. Razumikhin immediately answers for his friend that he was with the old woman three days before the murder, when the dyers were not there yet, because they were working on the day of the murder. The students leave Porfiry.

Chapter 6

A stranger was waiting near Rodion’s house, who called Rodion a murderer and, not wanting to explain himself, left.

At home, Raskolnikov began to suffer from fever again. The young man dreamed of this stranger, who beckoned him to the apartment of the old money-lender. Rodion hit Alena Ivanovna on the head with an ax, but she laughs. The student tries to run away, but sees a crowd of people around him judging him. Rodion wakes up.

Svidrigailov comes to Raskolnikov.

Part four

Chapter 1

Raskolnikov is not happy about Svidrigailov’s arrival, since because of him Dunya’s reputation has seriously deteriorated. Arkady Ivanovich expresses the opinion that he and Rodion are very similar: “birds of a feather.” Svidrigailov is trying to persuade Raskolnikov to arrange a meeting for him with Dunya, since his wife left the girl three thousand, and he himself would like to give Dunya ten thousand for all the troubles he caused her. Rodion refuses to arrange their meeting.

Chapters 2-3

In the evening, Raskolnikov and Razumikhin visit Rodion’s mother and sister. Luzhin is outraged that the women did not take into account his request, and does not want to discuss the details of the wedding in front of Raskolnikov. Luzhin reminds Dunya of the dire situation her family is in, reproaching the girl for not realizing her happiness. Dunya says that she cannot choose between her brother and her fiancé. Luzhin gets angry, they quarrel, and the girl asks Pyotr Petrovich to leave.

Chapter 4

Raskolnikov comes to Sonya. “Sonya’s room looked like a barn, had the appearance of a very irregular quadrangle, and this gave it something ugly.” During the conversation, the young man asks what will happen to the girl now, because she now has an almost crazy mother, brother and sister. Sonya says that she cannot leave them, because without her they will simply die of hunger. Raskolnikov bows at Sonya’s feet, the girl thinks that the young man is mad, but Rodion explains his action: “I didn’t bow to you, I bowed to all human suffering.”

Rodion draws attention to the New Testament lying on the table. Raskolnikov asks to read the chapter about the resurrection of Lazarus to him: “the cinder has long gone out in the crooked candlestick, dimly illuminating in this beggarly room a murderer and a harlot who strangely came together to read the eternal book.” Leaving, Rodion promises to come the next day and tell Sonya who killed Lizaveta.

Their entire conversation was heard by Svidrigailov, who was in the next room.

Chapter 5

The next day, Raskolnikov comes to Porfiry Petrovich with a request to return his things to him. The investigator again tries to check the young man. Unable to bear it, Rodion, very nervous, asks Porfiry to finally find him guilty or not guilty of the murder of the old woman. However, the investigator avoids answering by saying that there is a surprise in the next room, but does not tell the young man what it is.

Chapter 6

Unexpectedly for Raskolnikov and Porfiry, they bring in the dyer Mikola, who confesses in front of everyone to the murder of Alena Ivanovna. Raskolnikov returns home and on the threshold of his apartment meets that mysterious tradesman who called him a murderer. The man apologizes for his words: as it turned out, he was the “surprise” prepared by Porfiry and now repented of his mistake. Rodion feels calmer.

Part five

Chapter 1

Luzhin believes that Raskolnikov is solely to blame for his quarrel with Dunya. Pyotr Petrovich thinks that it was in vain that he did not give the Raskolnikovs money before the wedding: this would have solved many problems. Wanting to take revenge on Rodion, Luzhin asks his roommate Lebezyatnikov, who knows Sonya well, to call the girl to him. Pyotr Petrovich apologizes to Sonya that he will not be able to attend the funeral (although he was invited), and gives her ten rubles. Lebezyatnikov notices that Luzhin is up to something, but does not yet understand what exactly.

Chapter 2

Katerina Ivanovna organized a nice wake for her husband, but many of those invited did not come. Raskolnikov was also present here. Ekaterina Ivanovna begins to quarrel with the owner of the apartment, Amalia Ivanovna, because she invited just anyone, and not “better people and precisely the acquaintances of the deceased.” During their quarrel, Pyotr Petrovich arrives.

Chapter 3

Luzhin reports that Sonya stole a hundred rubles from him and his neighbor Lebezyatnikov is a witness to this. The girl is at first lost, but quickly begins to deny her guilt and gives Pyotr Petrovich his ten rubles. Not believing in the girl’s guilt, Katerina Ivanovna begins to empty her daughter’s pockets in front of everyone and a hundred-ruble bill falls out. Lebezyatnikov understands that Luzhin has gotten him into an awkward situation and tells those present that he remembered how Pyotr Petrovich himself slipped Sonya money. Raskolnikov defends Sonya. Luzhin screams and gets angry and promises to call the police. Amalia Ivanovna kicks Katerina Ivanovna and her children out of the apartment.

Chapter 4

Raskolnikov goes to Sonya, thinking about whether to tell the girl who killed Lizaveta. The young man understands that he must tell everything. Tormented, Rodion tells the girl that he knows the killer and that he killed Lizaveta by accident. Sonya understands everything and, sympathizing with Raskolnikov, says that “no one in the whole world is now more unhappy” than him. She is ready to follow him even to hard labor. Sonya asks Rodion why he went to kill, even if he didn’t take the loot, to which the young man replies that he wanted to become Napoleon: “I wanted to dare and killed... I just wanted to dare, Sonya, that’s the whole reason!” . “I needed to find out something else: Will I be able to cross or not! Am I a trembling creature or do I have the right?
Sonya says that he needs to go and confess what he has done, then God will forgive him and “send life again.”

Chapter 5

Lebezyatnikov comes to Sonya and says that Katerina Ivanovna has gone crazy: the woman forced the children to beg, walks along the street, hits a frying pan and forces the children to sing and dance. They help carry Katerina Ivanovna into Sonya’s room, where the woman dies.

Svidrigailov approached Rodion, who was with Sonya. Arkady Ivanovich says that he will pay for Katerina Ivanovna’s funeral, place the children in orphanages and take care of Sonya’s fate, asking him to tell Duna that he will spend the ten thousand that he wanted to give her. When Rodion asks why Arkady Ivanovich became so generous, Svidrigailov replies that he heard all his conversations with Sonya through the wall.

Part six

Chapters 1-2

Funeral of Katerina Ivanovna. Razumikhin tells Rodion that Pulcheria Alexandrovna fell ill.

Porfiry Petrovich comes to Raskolnikov. The investigator states that he suspects Rodion of murder. He advises the young man to report to the police station and confess, giving him two days to think about it. However, there is no evidence against Raskolnikov, and he has not yet admitted to the murder.

Chapters 3-4

Raskolnikov understands that he needs to talk with Svidrigailov: “this man harbored some kind of power over him.” Rodion meets Arkady Ivanovich at the tavern. Svidrigailov tells the young man about his relationship with his late wife and that he really was very much in love with Dunya, but now he has a fiancee.

Chapter 5

Svidrigailov leaves the tavern, after which, secretly from Raskolnikov, he meets with Dunya. Arkady Ivanovich insists that the girl come to his apartment. Svidrigailov tells Duna about the conversation he overheard between Sonya and Rodion. The man promises to save Raskolnikov in exchange for Dunya’s favor and love. The girl wants to leave, but the door is locked. Dunya takes out a hidden revolver, shoots at the man several times, but misses, and asks to let her go. Svidrigailov gives Dunya the key. The girl, throwing down her weapon, leaves.

Chapter 6

Svidrigailov spends the entire evening visiting taverns. Returning home, the man went to see Sonya. Arkady Ivanovich tells her that he might go to America. The girl thanks him for arranging the funeral and helping the orphans. A man gives her three thousand rubles so that she can live a normal life. The girl initially refuses, but Svidrigailov says that he knows that she is ready to follow Rodion to hard labor and she will definitely need the money.

Svidrigailov wanders into the wilderness of the city, where he stays at a hotel. At night, he dreams of a teenage girl who died long ago because of him, drowning herself after a man broke her heart. Going out into the street at dawn, Svidrigailov shot himself in the head with Dunya’s revolver.

Chapter 7

Raskolnikov says goodbye to his sister and mother. The young man tells his loved ones that he is going to confess to killing the old woman and promises to start a new life. Rodion regrets that he could not cross the cherished threshold of his own theory and his conscience.

Chapter 8

Raskolnikov goes to Sonya. The girl puts a cypress pectoral cross on him, advising him to go to the crossroads, kiss the ground and say out loud “I am a killer.” Rodion does as Sonya said, after which he goes to the police station and confesses to the murder of the old pawnbroker and her sister. There the young man learns about Svidrigailov’s suicide.

Epilogue

Chapter 1

Rodion is sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Siberia. Pulcheria Alexandrovna fell ill at the beginning of the trial (her illness was nervous, more like insanity) and Dunya and Razumikhin took her away from St. Petersburg. The woman comes up with a story that Raskolnikov has left and lives with this fiction.

Sonya leaves for a party of prisoners in which Raskolnikov was sent to hard labor. Dunya and Razumikhin got married, both plan to move to Siberia in five years. After some time, Pulcheria Alexandrovna dies of longing for her son. Sonya regularly writes to Rodion's relatives about his life in hard labor.

Chapter 2

At hard labor, Rodion could not find a common language with other prisoners: everyone did not like him and avoided him, considering him an atheist. The young man reflects on his fate, he is ashamed that he ruined his life so mediocrely and stupidly. Svidrigailov, who managed to commit suicide, seems to the young man to be stronger in spirit than himself.

All the prisoners fell in love with Sonya, who came to Rodion; when they met, they took off their hats in front of her. The girl gave them money and things from loved ones.

Raskolnikov fell ill and is in the hospital, recovering hard and slowly. Sonya visited him regularly and one day Rodion, crying, threw himself at her feet and began hugging the girl’s knees. Sonya was scared at first, but then she realized “that he loves, loves her endlessly.” “They were resurrected by love, the heart of one contained endless sources of life for the heart of the other”

Conclusion

In the novel Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky examines issues of human morality, virtue and the human right to kill one’s neighbor. Using the example of the main character, the author shows that any crime is impossible without punishment - student Raskolnikov, who, wishing to become a great personality like his idol Napoleon, kills the old pawnbroker, but cannot bear the moral torment after his crime and he himself admits his crime. guilt. In the novel, Dostoevsky emphasizes that even the greatest goals and ideas are not worth human life.

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A novel in six parts with an epilogue

Part one

I

At the beginning of July, in an extremely hot time, in the evening, one young man came out of his closet, which he had rented from tenants in S m lane, onto the street and slowly, as if in indecision, went to the K well bridge. He successfully avoided meeting his mistress on the stairs. His closet was right under the roof of a tall five-story building and looked more like a closet than an apartment. His landlady, from whom he rented this closet with dinner and servants, was located one staircase down, in a separate apartment, and every time, when going out into the street, he certainly had to pass by the landlady’s kitchen, which was almost always wide open to the stairs. And every time the young man, passing by, felt some kind of painful and cowardly sensation, which he was ashamed of and from which he winced. He owed everything to his mistress and was afraid to meet her. It’s not that he was so cowardly and downtrodden, quite the opposite; but for some time he had been in an irritable and tense state, similar to hypochondria. He became so deeply involved in himself and secluded himself from everyone that he was afraid of even any meeting, not just a meeting with his hostess. He was crushed by poverty; but even the cramped situation had recently ceased to burden him. He completely stopped his daily affairs and did not want to deal with them. In essence, he was not afraid of any mistress, no matter what she was plotting against him. But to stop on the stairs, listen to all this nonsense about all this ordinary rubbish, which he has nothing to do with, all this pestering about payment, threats, complaints, and at the same time dodge, apologize, lie, no, it’s better to slip through somehow cat up the stairs and sneak away so no one can see. However, this time the fear of meeting his creditor struck even him as he went out into the street. “What business do I want to encroach on and at the same time what trifles am I afraid of! he thought with a strange smile. Hm... yes... everything is in the hands of a person, and yet he blows it by the nose, solely out of cowardice... this is an axiom... I wonder what people are most afraid of? They are most afraid of a new step, a new word of their own... But by the way, I talk too much. That's why I don't do anything, because I chat. Perhaps, however, it’s like this: that’s why I’m chatting because I’m not doing anything. It was in this last month that I learned to chat, lying in the corner for whole days and thinking... about King Pea. Well, why am I going now? Am I capable of This? Isn't it This seriously? Not serious at all. So, for the sake of fantasy I amuse myself; toys! Yes, perhaps even toys!” The heat outside was terrible, and also stuffy, crowded, everywhere there was lime, scaffolding, brick, dust and that special summer stench so familiar to every St. Petersburger who does not have the opportunity to rent a dacha - all this at once unpleasantly shook already frayed nerves young men. The unbearable stench from the taverns, of which there are especially many in this part of the city, and the drunks who were constantly encountered, despite the weekday time, completed the disgusting and sad coloring of the picture. A feeling of deepest disgust flashed for a moment in the thin features of the young man. By the way, he was remarkably good-looking, with beautiful dark eyes, dark brown hair, above average height, thin and slender. But soon he fell into a sort of deep thought, even, or rather, as if into some sort of oblivion, and walked on, no longer noticing his surroundings, and not wanting to notice them. Occasionally he only muttered something to himself, from his habit of monologues, which he had now admitted to himself. At that very moment he himself realized that his thoughts were sometimes confused and that he was very weak: for the second day he had eaten almost nothing at all. He was so poorly dressed that another, even an ordinary person, would have been ashamed to go out into the street in such rags during the day. However, the area was such that it was difficult to surprise anyone with a suit. The proximity of Sennaya, the abundance of famous establishments and, predominantly, the guild and craft population, crowded in these central St. Petersburg streets and alleys, sometimes replete the general panorama with such subjects that it would be strange to be surprised when meeting another figure. But so much malicious contempt had already accumulated in the soul of the young man that, despite all his, sometimes very youthful, ticklishness, he was least ashamed of his rags on the street. It was a different matter when meeting with other acquaintances or with former comrades, whom he did not like to meet at all... And meanwhile, when one drunk, who, unknown why and where, was being transported along the street at that time in a huge cart drawn by a huge draft horse, suddenly shouted to him as he drove by: “Hey you, German hatter!” and screamed at the top of his lungs, pointing his hand at him, the young man suddenly stopped and frantically grabbed his hat. This hat was tall, round, Zimmerman's, but all already worn out, completely red, full of holes and stains, without a brim and bent to one side at the ugliest angle. But it was not shame, but a completely different feeling, even similar to fear, that gripped him. "I knew it! he muttered in embarrassment, I thought so! This is the worst of all! Some kind of stupidity, some vulgar little thing, could ruin the whole plan! Yes, the hat is too conspicuous... It’s funny, that’s why it’s noticeable... My rags definitely need a cap, at least some old pancake, and not this freak. Nobody wears something like this, they’ll notice it a mile away, they’ll remember it... the main thing is that they’ll remember it later, and that’s evidence. Here you need to be as inconspicuous as possible... Little things, little things are the main thing!.. It’s these little things that always ruin everything...” It was not long for him to go; he even knew how many steps from the gates of his house: exactly seven hundred and thirty. Once he counted them when he was really daydreaming. At that time, he himself still did not believe these dreams of his and only irritated himself with their ugly, but seductive audacity. Now, a month later, he was already beginning to look differently and, despite all the teasing monologues about his own powerlessness and indecision, he somehow even involuntarily got used to considering the “ugly” dream as an enterprise, although he still did not believe himself. He even went now to do sample his enterprise, and with every step his excitement grew stronger and stronger. With a sinking heart and a nervous trembling, he approached a huge house, one wall overlooking a ditch and the other facing the south street. This house consisted entirely of small apartments and was inhabited by all sorts of industrialists - tailors, mechanics, cooks, various Germans, girls living on their own, petty officials, and so on. Those coming in and out scurried about under both gates and in both courtyards of the house. Three or four janitors served here. The young man was very pleased not to meet any of them, and unnoticed he immediately slipped out of the gate to the right onto the stairs. The staircase was dark and narrow, “black,” but he already knew and studied it all, and he liked the whole situation: in such darkness, even a curious glance was harmless. “If I’m so afraid right now, what would happen if something really happened before affairs get there?..” he thought involuntarily as he walked to the fourth floor. Here his path was blocked by retired soldier porters who were carrying furniture out of one apartment. He already knew before that a German family official, an official, lived in this apartment: “So, this German is now moving out, and, therefore, on the fourth floor, along this staircase and on this landing, there remains, for some time, only one The old woman's apartment is occupied. That’s good... just in case...” he thought again and called the old woman’s apartment. The bell rattled faintly, as if it were made of tin rather than copper. In such small apartments of such houses, almost all calls are like this. He had already forgotten the ringing of this bell, and now this special ringing seemed to suddenly remind him of something and clearly imagine it... He shuddered, his nerves were too weakened this time. A little later, the door opened a tiny crack: the tenant was looking through the crack at the newcomer with visible distrust, and only her eyes were visible, sparkling from the darkness. But seeing a lot of people on the platform, she was encouraged and opened the door completely. The young man stepped over the threshold into a dark hallway, partitioned off by a partition, behind which was a tiny kitchen. The old woman stood before him silently and looked at him questioningly. She was a tiny, dry old woman, about sixty years old, with sharp and angry eyes, a small pointed nose and bare hair. Her blond, slightly gray hair was greased with oil. Around her thin and long neck, similar to a chicken leg, there was some kind of flannel rag wrapped around her, and on her shoulders, despite the heat, a frayed and yellowed fur coat was hanging. The old woman coughed and groaned every minute. The young man must have looked at her with some special look, because the old distrust suddenly flashed in her eyes again. “Raskolnikov, a student, was with you a month ago,” the young man hastened to mutter with a half-bow, remembering that he needed to be more polite. “I remember, father, I remember very well that you were there,” the old woman said clearly, still not taking her questioning eyes off his face. So, sir... and again, about the same business... Raskolnikov continued, a little embarrassed and surprised at the old woman’s incredulity. “Perhaps she’s always like this, but I didn’t notice that time,” he thought with an unpleasant feeling. The old woman paused, as if in thought, then stepped aside and, pointing to the door to the room, said, letting the guest go forward: Come on in, father. The small room into which the young man walked, with yellow wallpaper, geraniums and muslin curtains on the windows, was at that moment brightly lit by the setting sun. "AND Then, therefore, the sun will shine the same way!..” as if by chance flashed through Raskolnikov’s mind, and with a quick glance he looked around everything in the room in order to study and remember the location if possible. But there was nothing special about the room. The furniture, all very old and made of yellow wood, consisted of a sofa with a huge curved wooden back, a round oval table in front of the sofa, a toilet with a mirror in the wall, chairs along the walls and two or three penny pictures in yellow frames depicting German young ladies with birds in your hands, that’s all the furniture. In the corner in front of a small icon a lamp was burning. Everything was very clean: both the furniture and the floors were polished; everything sparkled. “Lizaveta’s work,” thought the young man. Not a speck of dust could be found in the entire apartment. “It’s the wicked and old widows who have such purity,” Raskolnikov continued to himself and glanced curiously at the chintz curtain in front of the door to the second, tiny room, where the old woman’s bed and chest of drawers stood and where he had never looked. The entire apartment consisted of these two rooms. Anything? “The old woman said sternly, entering the room and still standing right in front of him to look him straight in the face. I brought the mortgage, that’s it! And he took out an old flat silver watch from his pocket. On the back of their tablet was a depiction of a globe. The chain was steel. Yes, I’ll pledge the deadline as before. It's only three days since the month has passed. I’ll pay you another month’s interest; be patient. And that is my good will, father, to endure or sell your thing now. How much for a watch, Alena Ivanovna? And you walk around with trifles, father, it’s literally worth nothing. Last time I paid you two tickets for the ring, but you can buy it new from a jeweler for one and a half rubles. Give me four rubles, I’ll buy it, my father’s. I'll receive the money soon. One and a half rubles, sir, and a percentage in advance, if you want, sir. One and a half rubles! The young man screamed. Your will. And the old woman handed him back the watch. The young man took them and became so angry that he wanted to leave; but he immediately changed his mind, remembering that there was nowhere else to go and that he had also come for something else. Let's go! he said rudely. The old woman reached into her pocket for the keys and went into another room behind the curtains. The young man, left alone in the middle of the room, listened curiously and thought. You could hear her unlock the chest of drawers. “It must be the top drawer,” he thought. She, therefore, carries the keys in her right pocket... All on one bunch, in a steel ring... And there is one key there, three times larger than all of them, with a jagged beard, of course, not from the chest of drawers... Therefore, Is there another box, or some kind of styling... This is interesting. The styling all has such keys... But how vile it all is...” The old woman returned. That's it, father: if there is a hryvnia per month per ruble, then for one and a half rubles you will be charged fifteen kopecks, a month in advance, sir. Yes, for the previous two rubles, you still owe twenty kopecks in advance on the same account. And in total, therefore, thirty-five. Now you only have to get fifteen kopecks for your watch. Here you get it, sir. How! So now the ruble is fifteen kopecks! Exactly so, sir. The young man did not argue and took the money. He looked at the old woman and was in no hurry to leave, as if he still wanted to say or do something, but as if he himself didn’t know what exactly... I, Alena Ivanovna, maybe one of these days, will bring you one more thing... silver... a good... one cigarette case... just like I’m returning from a friend... He became embarrassed and fell silent. Well then, we’ll talk, father. Goodbye, sir... Are you still sitting at home alone, aren’t your sisters here? he asked as casually as possible, going out into the hallway. What do you care about her, father? Nothing special. That's what I asked. You are now... Goodbye, Alena Ivanovna! Raskolnikov left in decided embarrassment. This confusion grew more and more. As he walked down the stairs, he even stopped several times, as if suddenly struck by something. And finally, already on the street, he exclaimed: "Oh my God! how disgusting it all is! And really, really I... no, this is nonsense, this is absurdity! “he added decisively. And could such horror really come into my head? However, what filth is my heart capable of! The main thing: dirty, dirty, disgusting, disgusting!.. And I, for a whole month...” But he could not express his excitement either in words or exclamations. The feeling of endless disgust, which began to oppress and trouble his heart even as he was just walking towards the old woman, had now reached such proportions and was so clearly revealed that he did not know where to escape from his melancholy. He walked along the sidewalk like a drunk, not noticing passers-by and bumping into them, and came to his senses already in the next street. Looking around, he noticed that he was standing next to a tavern, the entrance to which was from the sidewalk along the stairs down to the basement floor. Just at that moment, two drunks came out of the door and, supporting and cursing each other, climbed into the street. Without thinking for long, Raskolnikov immediately went downstairs. He had never entered a tavern before, but now his head was spinning, and besides, a burning thirst tormented him. He wanted to drink cold beer, especially since he attributed his sudden weakness to the fact that he was hungry. He sat down in a dark and dirty corner, at a sticky table, asked for beer and greedily drank the first glass. Immediately everything calmed down, and his thoughts became clearer. “It’s all nonsense,” he said hopefully, “and there was nothing to be embarrassed about!” Just a physical disorder! One glass of beer, a piece of cracker, and then, in an instant, the mind becomes stronger, the thought becomes clearer, the intentions become firmer! Ugh, what a nonsense all this is!..” But, despite this contemptuous spit, he already looked cheerful, as if suddenly freed from some terrible burden, and looked around in a friendly manner at those present. But even at that moment he had a distant presentiment that all this receptivity to the better was also painful.

At the beginning of June, when the streets of St. Petersburg were hot and stuffy, Rodion Raskolnikov left his closet and carefully went down so as not to meet the landlady from whom the young man rented his squalid home. He lived very poorly, his clothes had long worn out, he had recently dropped out of university and lived in poverty, not even able to pay for his room. Leaving the house, Raskolnikov went to the old money-lender to take money from her as collateral. A plan is ripening in his head, which he has been thinking about for several months, preparing to implement. He knows how many steps separate his house from the pawnbroker's house, and suddenly he is struck by the thought that his hat is too conspicuous. He thinks with disgust that some insignificant detail can ruin everything. The heat only aggravates his nervous excitement, so Rodion thinks to abandon his plan: “all this is disgusting, disgusting, disgusting!”, he believes. But then he mentally returns to his plans, noticing in passing that an apartment in the old building is being vacated, which means that only one will remain occupied... The oldest, Alena Ivanovna, lives in a two-room apartment with her sister, the silent and submissive Elizaveta, who is staying with Alena Ivanovna in “complete slavery” and “the pregnant woman walks around every minute.”

Leaving the old silver watch and receiving much less money than he planned, Raskolnikov goes into a pub, where he meets Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov. Marmeladov, dirty and constantly drunk, tells his new acquaintances about his life, about his dismissal from service, about his family, which suffers from poverty. Marmeladov’s wife Katerina Ivanovna has three children from her first marriage, she is the widow of an officer, after the death of her husband she was left without funds, so out of hopelessness and difficulty she agreed to marry Marmeladov. Marmeladov’s daughter Sonya was forced to go to the panel in order to somehow help her half-brother and sisters and Katerina Ivanovna. Marmeladov takes money from Sonya, steals the last of the house to drink again, constantly cries and repents, blames himself for everything, but does not stop drinking. Raskolnikov takes his husband home, where a scandal arises. Leaving there even more depressed from what he heard and saw, Rodion leaves several coins on the windowsill.

The next morning Rodion received a long letter from his mother. She explains why she did not write for so long and was not able to send her son money. To help him, Raskolnikov’s sister Dunya went to serve the Svidrigailovs, where she borrowed one hundred rubles in advance, and therefore could not free herself when Svidrigailov began to pester her. Marfa Petrovna, Svidrigailov's wife, found out about her husband's intentions, but blamed the girl for everything, disgracing her throughout the city. After some time, her husband’s conscience woke up and he showed his wife Dunya’s letter, in which he rejects all of Svidrigailov’s proposals and asks him to think about Marfa Petrovna. Then Mrs. Svidrigailova visits all the families in the city, talking about this unfortunate oversight and trying to restore Dunya’s reputation. Meanwhile, the mother writes to Rodion, there is a man for Dunya - adviser Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin. The woman tries to describe Luzhin from a positive side, but Raskolnikov understands well that this marriage is arranged only because Dunya loves her brother most of all and seeks to help him with funds and a possible career with the help of Luzhin. The mother describes Luzhin as a direct and frank person, explaining this in the words of Luzhin himself, who, without hesitation, said that he wants to marry an honest woman, but certainly poor, but a man should not be obliged to his wife, but on the contrary - the wife should see her own in the man benefactor. Soon Rodion's mother reports that Luzhin will visit St. Petersburg on business, so Raskolnikov has to meet him. After some time, he and Dunya will come to him. Rodion finishes reading the letter with indignation and a firm intention not to allow this marriage, so Dunya openly sells herself, thereby buying her brother’s well-being. According to Rodion, this is even worse than the act of Sonya Marmeladova, who saves hungry children from death. He thinks about the future, but understands that until he graduates from university and can get a job, a lot of time will pass, and he despairs about the fate of his sister and mother. Then the thought of the pawnbroker returns to him again.

Raskolnikov leaves the house and wanders aimlessly around the city, talking to himself. Suddenly he notices a drunk, exhausted girl walking along the boulevard. He understands that she was simply drunk, dishonored and thrown out onto the street. When a fat man tries to approach the girl, Raskolnikov understands his dirty intentions and calls a policeman, gives money for a cab driver to take the girl home. Reflecting on the fate of the girl, he realizes that he can no longer save her. Suddenly he remembers that he left the house with the intention of entering his university friend Razumikhin, but decides to postpone the visit until “when the topic is finished”... Rodion is frightened by his own thoughts, unable to believe that he has really already decided everything. He is irritated and frightened, wanders for a long time until he falls exhausted on the grass and falls asleep. He has a dream in which he, a boy of about seven, walks with his father and sees a horse harnessed to a cart. The owner of the horse, Kolya, drunk and excited, invites everyone to get into the cart, but the horse is old and cannot budge. He beats her with a whip, others join in the beating, and the enraged drunks beat the animal to death. Little Rodion cries, runs up to the dead horse and kisses its face, he throws his fists at Kolya, but his father picks him up and carries him away. Waking up, Raskolnikov realizes with relief that this is horror - just a terrible unpleasant dream, but heavy thoughts do not leave him. Will he really kill the pawnbroker? Is he really capable of doing this, really taking an ax and hitting him on the head? No, he can't, he won't stand it. This thought makes the young man’s soul feel lighter. Here he sees the pawnbroker’s sister Lizaveta, who is making an agreement with her friends that she will come to them tomorrow at seven to do some business. This means that the old one will be there tomorrow, and this returns Raskolnikov to his old thoughts, he understands that now everything has been decided finally.

Raskolnikov recalls how a month and a half ago he accidentally overheard a conversation between an officer and a student who were discussing that pawnbroker. The student said that he would kill him and rob him without any twinge of conscience, because so many people suffer from poverty, so much good can be done with the money of the old, and what is his life worth on the general scale. But when the officer asked whether he could kill the pawnbroker himself, the student replied that he could not. This chance conversation between two strangers had a very strong influence on Rodion.

The next day, Raskolnikov cannot collect his thoughts, he prepares for murder: he sews a loop on the inside of his coat to hide an ax in it, prepares a “collateral” - an ordinary piece of iron is wrapped in paper and tied with twine to divert the old woman’s attention. Raskolnikov steals an ax from the janitor and carefully, slowly, so as not to attract attention, heads to the pawnbroker’s house. As he climbs the stairs, he notices that the apartment on the third floor is empty and is being renovated. The loan shark reveals to Raskolnikov: when she turns her back to him, he hits her on the head, then again and again, takes her keys and rummages around the apartment, stuffing his pockets with money and deposits. His hands are shaking, he wants to drop everything and leave. Suddenly he hears a noise and runs into Lizaveta, who has returned home. She doesn't even raise her hands to defend herself when she sees him with the axe. He kills the pawnbroker's sister and tries to wash the blood off his hands and the axe. Suddenly he notices that the front doors have been open all this time, he scolds himself for his inattention and closes them, but mentions that he needs to run, and opens it again, standing listening. Raskolnikov hears some steps, it closes from the inside only when people rise to the third floor. Visitors ring the doorbell and are very surprised that no one opens, because the old one never leaves the house. They decide that something has happened, and one of them goes to call the janitor. The second one, after standing, also leaves. Then Raskolnikov rushes out of the apartment and, hiding on the third floor behind the door of an empty apartment while the strangers were climbing up as a janitor, runs out of the house into the street. Rodion is scared and doesn’t know what to do now. He returns to his room, throws the ax that he stole to the janitor in the janitor’s room, and, going up to his room, falls exhausted onto the bed.

PART TWO

Raskolnikov wakes up early in the morning. He is nervous and shivering. Trying to eliminate traces of blood on his clothes, he remembers that the things he stole are still in his pockets. He rushes in a panic, finally decides to hide them behind a torn piece of wallpaper in the corner, but realizes that it’s visible that way, they don’t bury it that way. Every now and then he is thrown into sleep and some kind of nervous numbness. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and they brought a summons from the police. Raskolnikov leaves the house, his condition is aggravated by the indescribable heat. Following the police, he decides to tell everything about the crime. When tortured, he will kneel and tell everything. But he was called to the police officer not because of this, but because of his debt to the owner of the apartment. It becomes easier for him, he is filled with animal joy. He watches the clerk, the people around him, and the magnificent lady Luisa Ivanovna, who is being shouted at by the policeman’s assistant. Raskolnikov himself, in hysterical excitement, begins to talk about his life, about how he was going to marry the owner’s daughter, but she died of typhus, and talks about his mother and sister. They listen to him and force him to write a receipt that he will pay the debt. He finishes writing, but does not leave, although he is no longer detained. It occurs to him to tell about his crime, but he hesitates. By chance he hears a conversation about yesterday's murder of an old woman and her sister Elizabeth. Raskolnikov tries to leave, but loses consciousness. When he wakes up, he says that he is sick, although everyone around him looks at him suspiciously. Raskolnikov hurries home because he needs to get rid of things by any means, he wants to throw them into the water somewhere, but there are people everywhere, so he hides things under a stone in one of the remote courtyards. He goes to Razumikhin. They have not seen each other for a long time, but Raskolnikov only mutters something incomprehensible, refuses help and leaves without explaining anything, angering and surprising his friend.

On the street, Raskolnikov almost falls under a carriage; he is mistaken for a beggar and given a coin. He stops at the bridge over the Neva, on which he once loved to stand, looking out over the panorama of the city. He throws a coin into the water, it seems to him that at that moment he cut himself off from everyone and everything, “like scissors.” Returning home, he falls on the bed in a heavy nervous sleep, he is in a fever, Raskolnikov hears some screams, he is afraid that they will come to him now, time begins to delirium. His delirium is interrupted by the cook Nastasya, who comes to feed him; she says that he dreamed all these screams. Raskolnikov cannot eat, it becomes more and more difficult for him, in the end he loses consciousness and only comes to his senses on the fourth day. He sees Nastasya and Razumikhin in his room, who were caring for him. Razumikhin settled this matter with the debt, while Raskolnikov was unconscious, he received thirty-five rubles from his mother, and with part of this money Razumikhin buys Raskolnikov new clothes. Zosimov, a doctor and friend of Razumikhin, also comes. Sitting at the table, Razumikhin and Zosimov talk about the murder of the pawnbroker. They also remember the investigator in this case, Porfiry Petrovich, who is supposed to come to Razumikhin’s housewarming party. They say that the artist Nikolai, who worked in an apartment on the third floor, was accused of murder because he was trying to hand over earrings that belonged to Likhvartsi. The painter says that he found those earrings outside the apartment door and did not kill anyone. Then Razumikhin tries to reconstruct the whole picture of the crime. When Kokh and Pestryakov (the people who came to the pawnbroker when Raskolnikov was there) rang the doorbell, the killer was in the apartment, Razumikhin argues, and when they went after the janitor, he ran and hid in an empty apartment on the third floor. It was at this time that the painters ran out of it, chasing each other for fun. There the killer accidentally dropped the case with earrings, which Nikolai later found. When Koch and Pestryakov returned upstairs, the killer disappeared.

During their conversation, an older, not very pleasant-looking man comes into the room. This man is Dunya’s fiancé, Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin. He informs Rodion that his mother and sister will soon arrive in St. Petersburg and stay in rooms at his expense. Rodion understands that these rooms are very dubious premises. Luzhin says that he has already purchased a separate apartment for himself and Dunya, but it is now being renovated. He himself stayed with his friend Andrei Semenovich Lebezyatnikov. Luzhin thinks aloud about modern society, about the new trends that he follows, and says that the more well-organized private enterprises in a society, the better the whole society is organized. Therefore, according to Luzhin’s philosophy, you must first love yourself, because to love your neighbor is to tear your clothes in half, give half, and both will be left naked.

Razumikhin interrupts Luzhin, the society returns to discussing the crime. Zosimov believes that the old woman was killed by one of those to whom she gave loans. Razumikhin agrees and adds that investigator Porfiry Petrovich is interrogating them. Luzhin, intervening in the conversation, begins to talk about the crime level, about the increase in the number of crimes not only among the poor, but also in the upper strata. Raskolnikov joins the conversation. He says that the reason for this is precisely Luzhin’s theory, because when it is continued, it means that people can be killed. Raskolnikov turns to Luzhin, without hiding his irritation, asking whether Luzhin is really more satisfied that his bride is poor and now he can feel like the master of his fate. Rodion drives Luzhin away. He goes, indignant. When everyone has left, Raskolnikov goes to wander around the city, he enters a tavern, where he asks about the latest newspapers. There he meets Zametov, a clerk from the police station, a friend of Razumikhin. In his conversation with him, Raskolnikov is very nervous; he tells Zametov what he would do if he killed the old woman. “What if it was I who killed the old woman and Lizaveta? Admit it, would you believe it? Yes? - He asks. Raskolnikov left in a state of complete nervous exhaustion. If at the beginning of the conversation Zametov had any suspicions, now he decides that they are all groundless, and Raskolnikov is just a nervous and strange guy. At the door, Rodion meets Razumikhin, who does not understand what is happening to his friend, invites Raskolnikov to a housewarming party. But he only asks to leave him at last and goes.

Raskolnikov stops on the bridge, looks into the water, and suddenly a woman nearby throws herself into the water, and a policeman saves her. Having thrown away the unexpected thought of suicide, Raskolnikov heads to the police station, but ends up at the house where he committed the murder. He talks with the workers who are renovating the pawnbroker’s apartment and starts talking to the janitor. He seems very suspicious to all of them. On the street, Rodion notices a person who was hit by a carriage. He recognizes Marmeladov and helps take him home. Marmeladov is dying. Ekaterina Ivanovna sends the priest and Sonya so that she can say goodbye to her father. Dying, he asks his daughter for forgiveness. Raskolnikov leaves all his money to Marmeladov’s family and leaves, he asks Ekaterina Ivanovna’s daughter Polya to pray for him, leaves his address and promises to come again. He feels that he can still live on, and his life did not die with the old money-lender.

Raskolnikov goes to Razumikhin and talks to him in the hallway. On the way to Rodion's house, the men talk about Zosimov, who considers Raskolnikov crazy, about Zametov, who no longer suspects Rodion. Razumikhin says that he himself and Porfiry Petrovich were really waiting for Raskolnikov. The light is on in Rodion’s room: his mother and sister have been waiting for him for several hours. Seeing them, Rodion consciousness.

PART THREE

Having woken up, Raskolnikov tells how he kicked out Luzhin, he insists that Dunya refuse this marriage, because he does not want to accept her sacrifice. “Either I or Luzhin,” says Rodion. Razumikhin tries to calm down Raskolnikov's mother and sister, explaining all of Rodion's illnesses. He falls in love with Dunya at first sight. Having seen them off, he returns to Raskolnikov, and from there he again goes to Dunya, inviting Zosimov with him. Zosimov says that Raskolnikov has signs of monomania, but the arrival of his relatives will definitely help him.

Waking up the next morning, Razumikhin reproaches himself for yesterday’s behavior, because he behaved too eccentrically, which may have frightened Dunya. He goes to them again, where he tells Rodion’s mother and sister about the events that, in his opinion, could lead to Rodion’s condition. Raskolnikov's mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, says that Luzhin did not meet them with Dunya at the station, as he promised, but instead sent a footman; today he also did not come, although he promised, but he sent a note. Razumikhin reads a note in which it is written that Rodion Romanovich greatly offended Luzhin, so Luzhin does not want to see him. And therefore he asks that tonight, when he comes to them, Rodion will not be there. In addition, Luzhin says that he saw Rodion in the apartment of a drunkard who died in the carriage, and knows that Rodion gave his daughter, a girl of dubious behavior, twenty-five rubles. Dunya decides that Rodion must come.

But before that, they themselves go to Rodion, where they find Zosimov, Raskolnikov is very pale and depressed. He talks about Marmeladov, his widow, her children, Sonya, and why he gave them the money. Rodion’s mother talks about the unexpected death of Svidrigailov’s wife, Marfa Petrovna: according to rumors, she died from her husband’s abuse. Raskolnikov returns to yesterday’s conversation with Dunya: “Either I or Luzhin,” he says again. Dunya replies that she will not marry Luzhin if he is not worthy of her respect, and this will become clear in the evening. The girl shows her brother Luzhin’s letter and asks him to definitely come.

While they are talking, Sonya Marmeladova comes into the room to invite Raskolnikov to the funeral. Rodion promises to come and introduces Sonya to his family. Dunya and her mother go, inviting Razumikhin to their place for dinner. Raskolnikov tells his friend that the old one contained his collateral: a watch from his father and a ring given by Dunya. He is afraid that these things will be lost. Therefore, Raskolnikov ponders whether he should turn to Porfiry Petrovich. Razumikhin says that this definitely needs to be done, and Porfiry Petrovich will be glad to meet Rodion. Everyone leaves the house, and Raskolnikov asks Sonya for her address. She walks scared, very afraid that Rodion will see how she lives. A man is watching her, he accompanies her to the door of her room, only there he speaks to her. He says that they are neighbors, he lives nearby, and recently arrived in the city.

Razumikhin and Raskolnikov go to Porfiry. Rodion is worried about everything, Porfiry knows that yesterday he was in the old apartment and asked about the blood. Raskolnikov resorts to cunning: he jokes with Razumikhin, hinting at his attitude towards Duna. Rodion laughs. Razumikhin, laughing, comes to Porfiry. Rodion tries to make his laughter sound natural. Razumikhin is quite sincerely angry because of Rodion’s joke. Within a minute, Rodion notices Zametov in the corner. This makes him suspicious.

Men talk about forced things. It seems to Raskolnikov that Porfiry Petrovich knows. When the conversation turns to crime in general, Razumikhin expresses his thoughts and says that he does not agree with socialists who explain all crimes solely by social factors. Then Porfiry mentions Raskolnikov’s article published in the newspaper. The article is called “About Crime”. Raskolnikov didn’t even know that the article had been published after all, because he wrote it several months ago. The article talks about the psychological state of the criminal, and Porfiry Petrovich says that the article is a completely transparent hint that there are special people who have the right to commit crimes. According to Raskolnikov, all outstanding people who are able to say a new word are, by their nature, criminals to a certain extent. People are generally divided into two categories: the lower (ordinary people), who are only material for the reproduction of new people, and real people, capable of creating something new, saying a new word. And if a person from the second category needs to step over a crime, through blood, for the sake of her own idea, she can afford to do it. The first are conservative people, accustomed to listening, they are people of the present, and the second are destroyers by nature, they are people of the future. The former only preserve humanity as a species, while the latter advance humanity towards the goal.

“How can we distinguish these ordinary ones from the unusual ones?” — Porfiry Petrovich is interested. Raskolnikov believes that only a person of the lowest rank can make a mistake in this distinction, because many of them consider themselves a new person, a person of the future, while real new people are not noticed or even despised. According to Raskolnikov, very few new people are born. Razumikhin indignantly disagrees with his friend, saying that allowing oneself to step over blood “out of conscience” is more terrible than official permission to shed blood, legal permission...

“What if some ordinary guy thinks he’s Lycurgus or Mohammed and starts removing obstacles?” - Asks Porfiry Petrovich. And didn’t Raskolnikov himself, when writing the article, feel at least a little like an amazing person who was saying a “new word”? Quite possibly, Raskolnikov answers. Did Raskolnikov, for the sake of all humanity, also decide to steal or kill? - Porfiry Petrovich does not subside. If I had overstepped, then, of course, I wouldn’t have told you,” answers a gloomy Rodion and adds that he does not consider himself Napoleon or Mohammed. Who in Rus' considers himself Napoleon? .. - Porfiry smiles. Was it not Napoleon who killed our Alena Ivanovna with an ax just last week? - Zametova suddenly asks. Gloomy, Raskolnikov is getting ready to leave and agrees to visit the investigator tomorrow. Porfiry is trying to confuse Rodion in the end, allegedly confusing the day of the murder with the day when Raskolnikov went to the pawnbrokers.

Raskolnikov and Razumikhin go to see Pulcheria Alexandrovna and Dunya. Dear Razumikhin is indignant that Porfiry Petrovich and Zametova suspect Rodion of murder. Suddenly something occurs to Rodion and he returns home, where he checks the hole under the wallpaper: there is nothing left there. There's nothing there. Going out into the yard, he notices the janitor pointing him out to a man. The man leaves silently. Rodion catches up with him and asks what this means. The man, looking into Rodion’s eyes, quietly and clearly says: “Murderer!”

Irritated and amazed, Raskolnikov returns to his room on weak legs, his thoughts are confused. He discusses what kind of person he was. He despises himself for his weakness, because he knew in advance what would happen to him. But he knew it! He wanted to step over, but couldn’t... He didn’t kill the old woman, but the principle... He wanted to step over, but he remained on this side. All he could do was kill! Those others are not like him. The real owner destroys Toulon, organizes a massacre in Paris, forgets the army in Egypt, wastes half a million people in Moscow... and it is he who is erected a monument after his death. Consequently, everything is allowed to such people, but not to him... He convinced himself that he was doing this for a good cause, but now what? He suffers and despises himself: and deservedly so. In his soul there arises hatred for everyone and at the same time love for the dear, unfortunate Elizabeth, mother, Sonya...

He understands that at such a moment he can unwittingly tell everything to his mother... Raskolnikov falls asleep and sees a terrible dream, where today's man lures him into the pawnbroker's apartment, and she is alive, he hits her again with an ax, and she laughs. He starts to run - some people are already waiting for him. Rodion wakes up and sees a man on the threshold - Arkady Petrovich Svidrigailov.

PART FOUR

Svidrigailov says that he needs Raskolnikov’s help in one matter that concerns his sister. She herself will not let him in, but together with his brother... Raskolnikov refuses Svidrigailov. He explains his behavior towards Dunya with love, passion, and to accusations of his wife’s death he replies that she died of apoplexy, and he only hit her “only twice with a whip”... Svidrigailov speaks without stopping. Examining the guest, Rodion suddenly remarks out loud that Svidrigailov can be a decent person in a certain case.

Svidrigailov tells the story of his relationship with Marfa Petrovna. But she bought him out of prison, where he ended up for debt, married him and took him to the village. She loved him very much, and all her life she kept a document about the thirty thousand rubles he paid as a guarantee that the man would not leave her. And only a year before her death she gave him this document and gave him a lot of money. Svidrigailov tells how the late Marfa Petrovna came to him. Shocked, Raskolnikov thinks that the deceased moneylender appeared to him too. “Why did I think that something like this would happen to you,” Rodion exclaimed. Svidrigailov feels that there is something in common between them; he admits that as soon as he saw Rodion, he immediately thought: “This is the one!” But he can't explain which is the same. Raskolnikov advises Svidrigailov to see a doctor, considers him abnormal... Meanwhile, Svidrigailov says that the dispute between him and his wife arose because she organized Dunya’s engagement to Luzhin. Svidrigailov himself believes that he is not Dunya’s match, and is even ready to offer her money to ease the break with her fiancé, and Marfa Petrovna left Dunya three thousand. Svidrigailov really wants to see Dunya; he himself is soon going to marry a girl. On his way out, he runs into Razumikhin at the door.

Arriving at Pulcheria Alexandrovna and Dunya, the friends meet Luzhin there. He is angry, because he asked Raskolnikov not to let him in.

When it comes to Marfa Petrovna, Luzhin reports the arrival of Svidrigailov and talks about this man’s crime, which he allegedly learned from his wife. The niece of Svidrigailov’s acquaintance, pawnbroker Resslikh, hanged herself in the attic of the house, allegedly because Svidrigailov “cruelly insulted” him. According to Luzhin, Svidrigailov tortured and drove his servant to suicide. But Dunya objects and says that Svidrigailov treated the servants well. Raskolnikov reports that Svidrigailov came to see him, and that Marfa Petrovna bequeathed money to Dunya.

Luzhin is about to leave. Dunya asks him to stay to find out everything. But, according to Luzhin, a woman’s attitude towards a man should be higher than her attitude towards her brother - he is angry that he is being put “on the same level” with Raskolnikov. He reproaches Pulcheria Alexandrovna for misunderstanding him and writing lies about him in her letter to Rodion. Intervening, Raskolnikov reproaches that Luzhin said that he left the money not to the widow of the deceased Marmeladov, but to his daughter, about whom Luzhin spoke in an undignified tone. Raskolnikov declares that Luzhin is not worth Dunya’s little finger. The dispute ends with Dunya herself ordering Luzhin to leave, and Rodion kicking him out. Luzhin is outraged, he knows that the rumors about Dunya are false, but he considers his decision to marry her a worthy act, for which everyone should be grateful to him. He can't believe that two poor, helpless women are not submitting to him. For many years he dreamed of marrying a simple, but reasonable, honest and beautiful girl. And so his dreams began to come true, it could help him in his career, but now everything is lost! But Luzhin does not give up hope of fixing everything...
Finally, everyone is happy that Luzhin went. Dunya admits that she wanted to get money this way, but she didn’t even realize that Luzhin was a scoundrel. Excited Razumikhin does not hide his joy. Telling his family about Svidrigailov’s visit, Raskolnikov says that he seemed strange, almost crazy: he either said that he would go, or that he was going to get married. Dunya is worried, her intuition tells her that Svidrigailov is planning something terrible. Razumikhin persuades the women to stay in St. Petersburg. He promises that he will get money and they will be able to publish books; he says that he has already found them good premises. Dunya really likes his idea. Meanwhile, Rodion is about to leave. “Who knows, maybe we’ll see each other again,” he says involuntarily. Having caught up with him, Razumikhin tries to find out at least something. Rodion asks his friend not to abandon his mother and Dunya. Their glances meet, and Razumikhin is struck by a terrible guess. He turns pale and freezes in place. "Do you understand now?" - Raskolnikov says.

Raskolnikov goes to see Sonya; she has an amazing, irregularly shaped, clear and miserable room. Sonya talks about the owners who treat her well, remembers Ekaterina Ivanovna, whom she loves very much: she is so unhappy and sick, she believes that there should be justice in everything... Sonya reproaches herself that a week before her father’s death she refused to read him a book, and She did not give Katerina Ivanovna the collar that she had purchased from Elizabeth. “But Katerina Ivanovna is sick,” Rodion objects, “and you can get sick, then they will take you to the hospital, but what will happen to the children? Then the same thing will happen with Polya as with Sonya” and “No!” .. - Sonya screams. - God will protect her! “Maybe there is no God at all,” Raskolnikov answers. Sonya cries, she considers herself infinitely sinful, suddenly Rodion bows and kisses her foot. “I didn’t bow to you, I bowed to all human suffering,” he says quietly. He says that Sonya’s biggest sin is that she has lost everything, that she lives in the dirt, that hates, and this does not save anyone from anything, and it would be better for her to just kill herself...
Rodion understands from Sonya’s eyes alone that she has thought about suicide more than once, but her love for Katerina Ivanovna and her children make her live. And the dirt in which he lives did not touch her soul - she remained clean. Placing all her hopes on God, Sonya often goes to church, but constantly reads and knows the Gospel well. Last week it happened in the church: Elizabeth sent a memorial service for the dead, which was “fair.” Sonya reads aloud to Raskolnikov the parable of the resurrection of Lazarus. Raskolnikov tells Sonya that he left his family and now he only has her left. They are cursed together, they must go together! “You also stepped over,” says Rodion, “you were able to step over. You killed yourself, you ruined your life... yours, but it’s all the same... For if you’re left alone, crazy like me... You have to break everything and take the suffering upon yourself. And power over the trembling creatures and over the entire human anthill is the goal. Raskolnikov says that he will follow now, but if tomorrow (if he comes at all), he will tell Sonya who killed Lizaveta. Meanwhile, in the next room, Svidrigailov overheard their entire conversation...

The next morning, Raskolnikov goes to see investigator Porfiry Petrovich. Rodion is sure that the mysterious man who called him a murderer has already denounced him. But in the office no one pays attention to Raskolnikov; the young man is very afraid of the investigator. Having met him, amiable as always, Rodion gives him a receipt for the watch he pawned. Noticing Raskolnikov's excited state, Porfiry starts an intricate conversation, testing the young man's patience. Raskolnikov cannot stand it, asks to be interrogated according to the form, according to the rules, but Porfiry Petrovich does not pay attention to his exclamation and seems to be waiting for something or someone. The investigator mentions Raskolnikov’s article about criminals and says that the criminal should not be arrested too early, because, remaining free, he will finally come and confess. This is more likely to happen to a developed, nervous person. And the criminal can escape, then “he won’t escape from me psychologically,” says Porfiry Petrovich. In addition, the criminal does not take into account that, in addition to his plans, there is also nature, human nature. So it turns out that some young man will cunningly think through everything, hide it, one might seem to rejoice, but he will go ahead and faint! Raskolnikov holds on, but clearly sees that Porfiry suspects him of murder. The investigator tells him that he knows how he went to the pawnbroker’s apartment and asked about the blood, but... everything explains this by Rodion’s mental illness, as if he did all this in delirium. Unable to bear it, Raskolnikov shouts that it was not in delirium, it was in reality!
Porfiry Petrovich continues his confusing monologue, which completely confuses Raskolnikov. Rodion himself both believes and does not believe that he is suspected. Suddenly he shouts that he will no longer allow himself to be tormented: arrest me, they will search me, but please act according to form, and not play with me! At this time, the accused painter Nikolai comes into the room and loudly confesses to the murder he committed. Somewhat reassured, Rodion decides to leave. The investigator tells him that they will definitely meet again... Already at home, Raskolnikov thinks a lot about the conversation with the investigator, remembers the men he waited for yesterday. Suddenly the door opens slightly and the same man stands on the threshold. Raskolnikov freezes, but the husband apologizes for his words. Suddenly Rodion remembers that he saw him when he went to the apartment of the murdered pawnbroker. This means that the investigator, apart from psychology, has nothing on Raskolnikov?! “Now we’ll fight again,” Raskolnikov thinks.

PART FIVE

Waking up, Luzhin, angry at the whole world, thinks about breaking up with Dunya. He is angry with himself for telling his friend Lebezyatnikov about this, and he is now laughing at him. Other troubles also irritate him: one of his cases in the Senate did not pass, the owner of the apartment demands to pay a penalty, the furniture store does not want to return the deposit. All this increases Luzhin’s hatred for Raskolnikov. Luzhin regrets that he did not give money to Duna and her mother - then they would have felt obligated. Remembering that he was invited to Marmeladov’s wake, Luzhin learns that Raskolnikov should also be there.
Luzhin despises and hates Lebezyatnikov, whom he knows about from the provinces, because he is his guardian. He knows that Lebezyatnikov allegedly has influence in certain circles. Arriving in St. Petersburg, Luzhin decides to get closer to “our younger generations.” In this, in his opinion, Lebezyatnikov can help, although he himself is a simple-minded person. Luzhin has heard about some progressives, nihilists and denouncers, and he is more afraid of denouncers. Andrei Semenovich Lebezyatnikov is a man who seizes on every fashionable idea, turning it into a caricature, although he serves this idea quite sincerely. He dreams of creating a commune, wants to include Sonya in it, he himself continues to “develop” him, surprised that she is too timid and shy with him. Taking advantage of the fact that the conversation was about Sonya, Luzhin asks to call her and gives her ten rubles. Lebezyatnikov is delighted with his action.

“The pride of the poor” forces Katerina Ivanovna to spend at least half of the money left by Rodion on the funeral. His landlady Amalia Ivanovna, with whom they constantly quarreled, helps him in preparations. Ekaterina Ivanovna is dissatisfied that neither Luzhin nor Lebezyatnikov is there, and is very happy when Raskolnikov arrives. The woman is nervous and excited, she is coughing up blood and is close to hysterics. Worried about her, Sonya is afraid that all this could end badly. And so it turns out - Ekaterina Ivanovna begins to quarrel with the hostess. In the midst of a quarrel, Luzhin arrives. He claims that one hundred rubles disappeared from him when Sonya was in his room. Sonya replies that he himself gave her ten, and she didn’t take anything else. Having come to the girl’s defense, Ekaterina Ivanovna begins to empty Sonya’s pocket, when suddenly money falls out. Katerina Ivanovna screams that Sonya cannot steal, sobs, and turns to Raskolnikov for protection. Luzhin demands to call the police. But he’s happy and publicly “forgives” Sonya. Luzhin’s accusation is refuted by Lebezyatnikov, who says that he himself saw him plant money on the girl. At first he thought that Luzhin was doing this to avoid words of gratitude, from the bottom of his heart. Lebezyatnikov is ready to swear to the police that everything happened like that, but he doesn’t understand why Luzhin needs such a base act. “I can explain,” Rodion suddenly intervenes. He says that Luzhin wooed his sister, Dunya, but quarreled with him. Having accidentally seen how Raskolnikov gave money to Katerina Ivanovna, he told Rodion’s relatives that the young man had given their last money to Sonya, hinting at the dishonesty of this girl and some kind of connection between Raskolnikov and Sonya. Therefore, if Luzhin managed to prove Sonya’s dishonesty, he could quarrel between Rodion and his mother and sister. Luzhin was driven away.
In despair, Sonya looks at Rodion, seeing him as a protector. Luzhin shouts that he will find “justice.” Unable to bear all this, Sonya runs home in tears. Amalia Ivanovna kicks Marmeladov's widow and children out of the apartment. Raskolnikov goes to Sonya.

Raskolnikov feels that “he must” tell Sonya who killed Lizaveta, and anticipates the terrible torment that will be the consequence of this confession. He is afraid and doubts, but the need to tell everything increases. Raskolnikov asks Sonya what she would do if she had to decide whether Ekaterina Ivanovna or Luzhin should die. Sonya says that she foresaw such a question, but she doesn’t know, doesn’t know God’s providence, and it’s not for her to decide who lives and who doesn’t, she asks Raskolnikov to speak directly. Then Rodion confesses to the deliberate murder of the old woman and the accidental murder of Elizabeth.

“What have you done to yourself! .. Now there is no one more unhappy than you in the whole world,” Sonya screams in despair, hugging Raskolnikov. She will go with him to hard labor! But suddenly she realizes that he has not yet fully realized the horror of what he did. Sonya begins to question Rodion. “I wanted to become Napoleon, that’s why I killed...” says Rodion. It would never have occurred to Napoleon to think about whether to kill the old one or not, if he needed it... He killed just a louse, senseless, disgusting... No, Raskolnikov objects to himself, not a louse, but he wanted to dare and kill … “I needed to find out… am I a louse like everyone else, or a human being? .. Am I a trembling creature or do I have the right... I didn’t have the right to go there, because I’m a louse like everyone else! .. Did I kill the old woman? I killed myself! .. So what's now? ..” - Rodion addresses Sonya.
The girl tells him that he must go out to the crossroads and kiss the ground that he soiled with murder, bow on four sides and say out loud to everyone: “I killed!” Raskolnikov must accept suffering and atone for his guilt with it. But he doesn’t want to repent in front of people who torture each other and also talk about virtue. They are all scoundrels and will not understand anything. “I still have to fight,” says Raskolnikov. “Maybe I’m a man, and not a louse, and I hastened to condemn myself...” However, Rodion immediately asks Sonya if she will go to see him in prison... The girl wants to give him her cross, but he does not take it: “better later.” Lebezyatnikov looks into the room, he says that Katerina Ivanovna is going out: she went to her man’s former boss and made a scandal there, came back, beats the children, sews them some hats, is going to take them out into the street, walk around the courtyards, pounding the basin instead , music, so that the children sing and dance... Sonya runs out in despair.

Raskolnikov returns to his closet, he reproaches himself for making Sonya unhappy with his confession. Dunya comes to him, she says that Razumikhin assured her that all the accusations and suspicions on the part of the investigator were groundless. Excited, Dunya assures her brother that she is ready to give him her whole life, if only he will call. Raskolnikov speaks about Razumikhin, praising him as an honest man who knows how to love deeply. He says goodbye to his sister, and she goes away worried. Rodion is overcome by melancholy, a premonition of many years that will pass in this melancholy... He meets Lebezyatnikov, who talks about Katerina Ivanovna, who, distraught, walks the streets, makes children sing and dance, screams, tries to sing, coughs, cries. The policeman demands that order be maintained, the children run away, catching up with them, Katerina Ivanovna falls, her throat begins to bleed... She is carried to Sonya. In the room, near the dying woman’s bed, people gather, among them Svidrigailov. A woman dreams and dies in a few minutes. Svidrigailov offers to pay for the funeral, place the children in an orphanage, and put one and a half thousand in the bank for each person until they reach adulthood. He is going to “pull Sonya out of the hole”... According to him, Raskolnikov begins to guess that Svidrigailov overheard all their conversations. But he himself does not deny this. “I told you that we will get along,” he says to Rodion.
PART SIX

Raskolnikov is in a strange mental state: he is seized by either anxiety or apathy. He thinks about Svidrigailov, whom he has seen several times in recent days. Now Svidrigailov is busy arranging for the children of the deceased Ekaterina Ivanovna and the funeral. Having come to a friend, Razumikhin says that Rodion’s mother is sick, but she still came with Dunya to her son, and no one was at home. Raskolnikov says that Dunya “may already be in love” with Razumikhin. Razumikhin, intrigued by his friend's behavior, thinks that Rodion may be connected with political conspirators. Razumikhin recalls the letter that Dunya received and which excited her very much. Razumikhin also remembers Porfiry Petrovich, who talked about the painter Nikolai, who confessed to the murder. After seeing his friend off, Raskolnikov wonders why Porfiry needs to convince Razumikhin that an artist should.

The arrival of Porfiry himself almost shocks Rodion. The investigator reports that he was here two days ago, but did not find anyone. After a long and vague monologue, Porfiry reports that it was not Nikolai who committed the crime, but confessed only through piety - he decided to accept suffering. Another person killed... killed two, according to the theory, killed. She killed her and couldn’t take the money, but when she managed to take it, she hid it under a stone. Then she came to an empty apartment... half delirious... she killed, but she considers herself an honest person, and despises others... “Yes... who... killed? “- Raskolnikov cannot stand it. “So you killed,” replies Porfiry Petrovich. The investigator says that he is not arresting Raskolnikov because he has no evidence against him yet, and besides, he wants Rodion to come and confess. In this case, he considers the crime to be the result of insanity. Raskolnikov only smiles, he supposedly does not want such a mitigation of his guilt. Porfiry says how Rodion came up with the theory, and now it’s a shame that he fell through, that it turned out not at all original, but insidiously and disgusting... According to the investigator, Raskolnikov is not a hopeless scoundrel, he is one of the people who will endure any torment if only they find “faith or God." When Raskolnikov has done this, he now need not be afraid, but should do what justice requires. The investigator says that he will come to arrest Rodion in two days and is not afraid that he will run away. “You can’t get by without us now,” he tells him. Porfiry is sure that Raskolnikov will admit everything anyway and will decide to accept suffering. And if he decides to commit suicide, let him leave a detailed note, where he will inform about the stone under which he hid the stolen...
After the investigator left, Raskolnikov hurries to Svidrigailov, without understanding why. Svidrigailov heard everything, then went to Porfiry Petrovich, but will he still go? Maybe it won't work at all? What if he has some intentions regarding Dunya and is going to use what he heard from Raskolnikov? They talk in a tavern, Raskolnikov threatens to kill Svidrigailov if he pursues his sister. He claims that he came to St. Petersburg more in relation to women... He considers debauchery an activity no worse than all the others, because there is something natural in it... This is a disease only if you do not know the limits. Otherwise all that was left was to shoot himself. Or does the nastiness of all this not stop Svidrigailov, Rodion asks, has he already lost the strength to stop? Svidrigailov calls the young man an idealist and tells the story of his life...

Marfa Petrovna bought him out of debtor's prison, she was older than Svidrigailov, she was ill with some kind of illness... Svidrigailov did not claim allegiance. They agreed that he would never leave his wife, would not go anywhere without her permission, and would never have a permanent mistress. Marfa Petrovna allowed him to have relationships with the maids, but he promised her that he would never love a woman of his circle. They had quarreled before, but everything somehow calmed down until Dunya appeared. Marfa Petrovna herself took her as a governess and loved her very much. Svidrigailov fell in love with Dunya at first sight and tried not to react to the words of the woman who praised Dunya. The woman Svidrigailova told Duna about their family secrets and often complained to her. Dunya finally felt pity for Svidrigailov as a lost man. And in such cases, the girl certainly wants to be “saved,” resurrected and revived to a new life.

It was at this time that a new girl, Parasha, appeared on the estate, pretty, but very smart. Svidrigailov begins to court her, which ends in a scandal. Dunya asks Svidrigailov to leave the girl. He feigns shame, talks about his fate, and begins to flatter Duna. But it also reveals his dishonesty. As if wanting revenge, Svidrigailov mocks Dunya’s attempts to “revive” him and continues his relationship with the new maid, and not only with her. They quarreled. Knowing about Dunya's poverty, Svidrigailov offers her all his money so that she will run away with him to St. Petersburg. He was unconsciously in love with Dunya. Having learned that Marfa Petrovna somewhere “got this evil... Luzhin and almost staged a wedding,” Svidrigailov was indignant. Raskolnikov argues that Svidrigailov abandoned his intentions regarding Dunya, and it seems to him that he did not. Svidrigailov himself reports that he is going to marry a sixteen-year-old girl from a poor family - he recently met her and her mother in St. Petersburg and still maintains his acquaintance, helping them with funds.
Having finished speaking, Svidrigailov heads towards the exit with a gloomy face. Raskolnikov follows him, worried that he will not suddenly go to Dunya. When it comes to Rodion’s conversation with Sonya, which Svidrigailov dishonestly overheard, Svidrigalov advises Rodion to discard moral questions and go somewhere far away, even offering money for the trip. Or let Raskolnikov shoot himself.

Having finished speaking, Svidrigailov heads towards the exit with a gloomy face. Raskolnikov follows him, worried that he will not suddenly go to Dunya. When it comes to Rodion’s conversation with Sonya, which Svidrigailov dishonestly overheard, Svidrigalov advises Rodion to discard moral questions and go somewhere far away, even offering money for the trip. Or let Raskolnikov shoot himself.

To distract Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov takes a carriage and goes somewhere, but soon lets him go and returns unnoticed. Meanwhile, Rodion, deep in thought, stands on the bridge. Only he passed by Dunya and didn’t notice. While the girl hesitates to call her brother, she notices Svidrigailov, who is beckoning her to him. Svidrigailov asks Dunya to go with him, as if she wants to talk to Sonya and look at some documents. Svidrigailov admits that he knows her brother’s secret. They talk in Svidrigailov's room. Dunya returns to Svidrigailov the letter he wrote, in which there are many hints about the crime committed by his brother. Dunya firmly says that she does not believe in this. Svidrigailov talks about Rodion’s conversation with Sonya, which he overheard. He tells how Rodion killed Lizaveta and the old one, he killed according to the theory that he himself came up with. Dunya wants to talk to Sonya. Svidrigailov, meanwhile, offers his help, he agrees to take Rodion away from here, but everything depends only on Dunya: she will remain with Svidrigailov. Dunya demands that he open the door and let her out. The girl takes out a revolver and shoots, but the bullet only touches Svidrigailov’s hair and hits the wall, she shoots again - it misfires. She throws the revolver in despair: “So you don’t love me? - Sidrigailov asks her. - Never? “Never,” exclaims Dunya. The man silently gives her the key. A moment later he notices the revolver, puts it in his pocket and leaves.
In the evening, Svidrigailov goes to Sonya, talks about his possible departure to America and gives her all the receipts that he left for Katerina Ivanovna’s children, and gives Sonya three thousand rubles. He asks to convey his regards to Raskolnikov and Razumikhin and walks into the rain. Going to see his fiancee, he tells her that he must go and leaves a large sum of money. He wanders the streets, then somewhere on the outskirts he rents a shabby room. He lies and thinks about Dunya, about the suicidal girl, looks out the window for a long time, then walks along the corridor. In the corridor he notices a girl of about five who is crying. He feels sorry for the girl, he takes her to his place and puts her to bed. Suddenly he sees that she is not sleeping, but smiles slyly at him, stretches her hands towards him... Svidrigailov is scared, screams... and wakes up. The girl is sleeping peacefully, Svidrigailov turns out. He stops at the fire tower and specifically in front of the fireman (to be an official witness) shoots himself with a revolver.

In the evening of the same day, Raskolnikov comes to his mother. Pulcheria Alexandrovna talks to him about his article, which she is reading for the third time, but does not understand much of it. The woman says that her son will soon become famous, Rodion says goodbye to him, says that he must go. “I will never stop loving you,” he adds. Dunya is waiting for him at home. “If I considered myself strong before, even if I’m not afraid of shame now,” he tells his sister, he is going to go to the investigator and confess everything. “Aren’t you, by going to suffer, already washing away half of your crime?” - Dunya asks. Raskolnikov is furious: “What crime?” - He shouts. Is it really a crime that he killed the nasty pawnbroker who only harmed people, killed the nasty louse? He doesn’t think about it and doesn’t intend to wash it off! “But you shed blood,” Dunya shouts. “Which everyone sheds... which flows and has always flowed in the world, like a waterfall...” replies Rodion. He says that he himself wanted good and did a hundred, no, thousands of good deeds instead of one stupidity... And this thought is not at all as stupid as it seems now, during the failure... He wanted to take the first step, and then everything would be settled with immeasurable benefit... Why is hitting people with bombs a legal form? - Rodion shouts. “He doesn’t understand my crime!”

Seeing the inexpressible torment in his sister’s eyes, Rodion came to his senses. He asks Dunya not to cry for them and to take care of her mother, he promises that he will try “to be honest and courageous all his life,” although he is a murderer. Later, Raskolnikov, lost in thought, walks down the street. “Why do they love me so much if I’m not worth it! Oh, if only I and no one loved me, and I myself would not love anyone! All this wouldn’t exist,” he argues.
Evening had already come when Rodion came to Sonya. In the morning Dunya came to the girl and they talked for a long time. Sonya waited all day for Rodion in anxiety and excitement. She drove away thoughts of his possible suicide, but they still took over. Then Rodion finally came to her. He is very excited, his hands are shaking, he cannot stop at one thing. Sonya puts a cypress cross on Raskolnikov, and keeps Elizabeth’s copper cross for herself. “Cross yourself, pray at least once,” Sonya asks Rodion. He is baptized. Raskolnikov comes out and on the way remembers Sonya’s words about the crossroads. He trembled all over, remembering this and rushed into the very possibility of this new complete sensation. Tears rolled down his face... He knelt down in the middle of the square, bowed to the ground and kissed the dirty ground with pleasure and happiness... Raskolnikov stood up and bowed a second time. Passers-by laughed at him. He noticed Sonya, who was secretly following him. Raskolnikov comes to the police station, where he learns about Svidrigailov’s suicide. Startled, he goes outside, where he runs into Sonya. With a confused smile, he returns and confesses to the murder.

Epilogue
Siberia. On the banks of a wide river stands a city, one of the administrative centers of Russia... Rodion Raskolnikov has been imprisoned in prison for nine months. A year and a half has passed since his crime. At the trial, Raskolnikov did not hide anything. The fact that he hid the stolen wallet and items under a rock without using them or even knowing how much he stole greatly impressed the judges and investigators. They decided that he committed the crime in a state of certain temporary insanity. The confession also contributed to a reduced sentence. In addition, attention was paid to other circumstances of the defendant’s life: during his studies, he supported a sick friend with his last funds, and after his death he cared for his second sick father. According to the landlady, during a fire Rodion saved two small children. Finally, Raskolnikov was sentenced to eight years of hard labor. Everyone convinces Pulcheria Alexandrovna that her son has temporarily gone abroad, but she feels some problems and lives only in anticipation of a letter from Rodion; over time, she dies. Dunya marries Razumikhin. Razumikhin continues his studies at the university and in a few years the couple plans to move to Siberia.

Sonya leaves for Siberia with Svidrigailov’s money, writes detailed letters to Dunya and Razumikhin. Sonya often sees Raskolnikov. He, according to her, is gloomy, taciturn, not interested in anything, understands his situation, does not expect anything better, has no hopes, is not surprised by anything... He does not shy away from work, but does not ask for it, and is completely indifferent to food... Raskolnikov lives in a common room. The convicts don't like him. He starts to get sick.

In fact, he has been ill for a long time - mentally. He would be happy if he could blame himself, but his conscience does not see guilt in what he did. He wants to repent, but repentance does not come... Why was his theory worse than others? He is tormented by the thought of why he did not commit suicide. Everyone loves him: “You are the master! You are an atheist,” they tell him. Raskolnikov is silent. He wonders why everyone fell in love with Sonya so much.
Raskolnikov is admitted to the hospital. In delirium, he sees a dream that the world is about to perish due to some unprecedented disease. People go crazy and consider every thought they have to be true. Everyone believes that the truth lies only in him alone. Nobody knows what is good and what is evil. There is a war of all against all. During Rodion’s illness, Sonya often came under the windows of his room, and one day he saw her. After that he was gone for two days. Returning to the prison, Raskolnikov learns that Sonya is sick and lying at home. In a note, Sonya tells him that she will soon get better and will come to him. “When he read this note, his heart beat strongly and painfully.”

The next day, while Raskolnikov is working by the river, Sonya approaches him and quickly extends her hand to him. Suddenly something seemed to pick him up and throw him at her feet. Rodion cried and hugged her knees. Sonya realizes that he loves her. They decide to wait and be patient. There are still seven years left.

Raskolnikov was resurrected, reborn, he felt with his whole being... In the evening, lying on his bunk, Raskolnikov takes out from under his pillow the Gospel brought to him by Sonya.

The main character is Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a student who dropped out of university. He lives in a cramped closet, like a coffin, in poverty. He avoids his landlady because he owes her money. The action takes place in the summer, in a terrible stuffiness (the theme of “yellow Petersburg” runs through the entire novel). Raskolnikov goes to an old woman who lends money on bail. The old woman’s name is Alena Ivanovna, she lives with her half-sister, the dumb, downtrodden creature Lizaveta, who “walks around pregnant every minute,” works for the old woman and is completely enslaved by her. Raskolnikov brings a watch as collateral, remembering all the smallest details along the way, as he prepares to carry out his plan - to kill the old woman.

On the way back, he goes into a tavern, where he meets Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, a drunken official who talks about himself. His wife, Katerina Ivanovna, has three children from her first marriage. Her first husband was an officer, with whom she ran away from her parents' house, played cards, and beat her. Then he died, and out of despair and poverty she had to marry Marmeladov, who was an official, but then lost his job. From his first marriage, Marmeladov has a daughter, Sonya, who was forced to go to work in order to somehow feed herself and feed the rest of her children. Marmeladov drinks with her money and steals money from the house. Suffering from this. Raskolnikov takes him home. There is a scandal at home, Raskolnikov leaves, discreetly placing the money that the Marmeladov family so needs on the window. The next morning, Raskolnikov receives a letter from home from his mother, who apologizes for not being able to send money. The mother says that Raskolnikov’s sister Dunya entered the service of the Svidrigailovs. Svidrigailov treated her badly, then began to persuade her to have a love affair, promising all sorts of benefits. Svidrigailov's wife, Marfa Petrovna, overheard the conversation, blamed Dunya for everything and kicked her out of the house. Acquaintances turned away from the Raskolnikovs, since Marfa Petrovna rang about this throughout the district. Then everything became clear (Svidrigailov repented, Dunya’s indignant letter was found, the servants confessed). Marfa Petrovna told her friends about everything, the attitude changed, Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin wooed Dunya, who was going to St. Petersburg to open a law office. Raskolnikov understands that his sister is selling herself in order to be able to help her brother, and decides to prevent the marriage. Raskolnikov goes out into the street and meets on the boulevard with a drunken girl, almost a girl, who, apparently, was drunk, dishonored and put out on the street. A guy walks nearby, trying on the girl. Raskolnikov gives money to the policeman so that he can take the girl home in a cab. She thinks about her future unenviable fate. He understands that a certain “percentage” follows exactly this path in life, but does not want to put up with it. He goes to his friend Razumikhin and changes his mind along the way. Before reaching home, he falls asleep in the bushes. He has a terrible dream that he, little, is walking with his father to the cemetery where his younger brother is buried, past a tavern. There is a draft horse harnessed to a cart. The drunken owner of the horse, Mikola, comes out of the tavern and invites his friends to sit down. The horse is old and cannot move the cart. Mikolka frantically whips her. Several more people join him. Mikolka kills a nag with a crowbar. The boy (Raskolnikov) throws his fists at Mikolka, his father takes him away. Raskolnikov wakes up and thinks about whether he can kill or not. Walking down the street, he accidentally hears a conversation between Lizaveta (the old woman’s sister) and friends who invite her to visit, i.e. the old woman will be left alone tomorrow. Raskolnikov enters a tavern, where he overhears a conversation between an officer and a student playing billiards about the old money-lender and about Lizaveta. They say that the old woman is vile and sucks blood from people. Student: I would kill her, rob her without a twinge of conscience, how many people disappear, and the vile old woman herself will die not today or tomorrow. Raskolnikov comes home and goes to bed. Then he prepares for the murder: he sews a loop for an ax under his coat, wraps a piece of wood with a piece of iron in paper, like a new “mortgage”, to distract the old woman. Then he steals an ax from the janitor's room. He goes to the old woman, gives her the “mortgage”, quietly takes out an ax and kills the pawnbroker. After that, he begins to rummage through cabinets, chests, etc. Suddenly Lizaveta returns. Raskolnikov is forced to kill her too. Then someone rings the doorbell. Raskolnikov doesn’t open it. Those who come notice that the door is locked from the inside with a latch, and feel something is wrong. Two go down after the janitor, one remains on the stairs, but then he can’t stand it and also goes down. Raskolnikov runs out of the apartment. The floor below is undergoing renovation. The visitors and the janitor are already climbing the stairs; Raskolnikov is taking refuge in the apartment, which is being renovated. The group goes up, Raskolnikov runs away.

Part 2

Raskolnikov wakes up, examines the clothes, destroys the evidence, and wants to hide the things he took from the old woman. The janitor comes and brings a summons to the police. Raskolnikov goes to the police station. It turns out that they are demanding that the landlady collect money in the case. At the station, Raskolnikov sees Luisa Ivanovna, the owner of the brothel. Raskolnikov explains to the clerk that at one time he promised to marry the daughter of his landlady, spent a lot, and issued bills. Then the owner's daughter died of typhus, and the owner began to demand payment of bills. Out of the corner of his ear, Raskolnikov hears a conversation at the police station about the murder of an old woman - the interlocutors are discussing the circumstances of the case.

Raskolnikov faints, then explains that he is unwell. Coming from the station, Raskolnikov takes the old woman’s things from home and hides them under a stone in a remote alley. After that, he goes to his friend Razumikhin and tries to chaotically explain something. Razumikhin offers to help, but Raskolnikov leaves. On the embankment, Raskolnikov almost falls under the carriage. Some merchant's wife and her daughter, mistaking him for a beggar, give Raskolnikov 20 kopecks. Raskolnikov takes it, but then throws the money into the Neva. It seemed to him that he was now completely cut off from the whole world. He comes home and goes to bed. Delirium begins: Raskolnikov imagines that the mistress is being beaten. When Raskolnikov woke up, he saw Razumikhin and the cook Nastasya in his room, who were caring for him during his illness. The artel worker comes and brings money from his mother (35 rubles). Razumikhin took the bill from the landlady and vouched for Raskolnikov that he would pay. Buys clothes for Raskolnikov. Zosimov, a medical student, comes to Raskolnikov’s closet to examine the patient. He talks with Razumikhin about the murder of the old pawnbroker. It turns out that the dyer Mikolai was arrested on suspicion of murder, and Koch and Pestryakov (those who came to the old woman during the murder) were released. Mikolai brought the owner of the liquor store a case with gold earrings, which he allegedly found on the street. She and Mitriy were painting right on the stairs where the old woman lived. The owner of the tavern began to find out and found out that Mikolay had been drinking for several days, and when he hinted at the murder, Mikolay started to run. Then he was arrested when he wanted to hang himself drunk in a barn (he had pawned a cross before that). He denies his guilt, he only admitted that he did not find the earrings on the street, but behind the door on the floor where they were painting. Zosimov and Razumikhin argue about the circumstances. Razumikhin reconstructs the whole picture of the murder - both how the killer was found in the apartment, and how he hid from the janitor, Kokh and Pestryakov on the floor below. At this time, Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin comes to Raskolnikov. He is neatly dressed, but does not make the best impression on Raskolnikov. Luzhin reports that Raskolnikov's sister and mother are coming. They will stay in rooms (a cheap and dirty hotel), for which Luzhin pays. An acquaintance of Luzhin’s, Andrei Semenych Lebezyatnikov, also lives there. Luzhin philosophizes about what progress is. In his opinion, progress is driven by selfishness, that is, personal interest. If you share your last shirt with your neighbor, then neither he nor you will have a shirt, and you will both walk around half naked. The richer and more organized an individual is and the more such individuals there are, the richer and more comfortable the society is. The conversation turns again to the murder of the old woman. Zosimov says that the investigator is interrogating the pawnbrokers, that is, those who brought things to the old woman. Luzhin philosophizes about why crime has increased not only among the “lower classes,” but also among the relatively wealthy. Raskolnikov says that “according to your theory it happened” - if everyone is for himself, then people can be killed. “Is it true that you said that it is better to take a wife out of poverty, so that later you can better rule over her?” Luzhin is indignant and says that Raskolnikov’s mother is spreading this gossip. Raskolnikov quarrels with Luzhin and threatens to throw him down the stairs. After everyone has left, Raskolnikov gets dressed and goes to wander the streets. He ends up in an alley where brothels are located, etc. He thinks about those sentenced to death, who, before execution, are ready to agree to live in a space of a meter, on a rock, just to live. “Scoundrel man. And the one who calls him a scoundrel for this is a scoundrel.” Raskolnikov goes to a tavern and reads newspapers there. Zametov approaches him (the one who was at the police station when Raskolnikov fainted, and then came to Raskolnikov during his illness, an acquaintance of Razumikhin). They are talking about counterfeiters. Raskolnikov feels as if Zametov suspects him. He talks about what he would have done in the place of the counterfeiters, then about what he would have done with the old woman’s things if he had killed her. Then he asks directly: “What if I killed the old woman and Lizaveta? After all, you suspect me! Leaves. Zosimov is sure that the suspicions about Raskolnikov are wrong.

Raskolnikov collides with Razumikhin. He invites Raskolnikov to a housewarming party. He refuses and asks everyone to leave him alone. Walking across the bridge. In front of his eyes, a woman tries to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge. They pull her out. Raskolnikov has thoughts of suicide. He goes to the crime scene and tries to question the workers and the janitor. They kick him out. Raskolnikov walks down the street, wondering whether to go to the police or not. Suddenly he hears screams and noise. He goes at them. The man was crushed by the crew. Raskolnikov recognizes Marmeladov. They take him home. At home, a wife with three children: two daughters - Polenka and Lidochka - and a son. Marmeladov dies, they send for the priest and Sonya. Katerina Ivanovna is hysterical, she blames the dying man, people, God. Marmeladov tries to ask Sonya for forgiveness before his death. Dies. Before leaving, Raskolnikov gives all the money he has left to Katerina Ivanovna, he says to Polenka, who catches up with him with words of gratitude so that she can pray for him. Raskolnikov understands that his life is not over yet. “Haven’t I lived now? My life with the old woman hasn’t died yet!” He goes to Razumikhin. He, despite the housewarming party, accompanies Raskolnikov home. The dear one says that Zametov and Ilya Petrovich suspected Raskolnikov, and now Zametov repents, and that Porfiry Petrovich (the investigator) wants to meet Raskolnikov. Zosimov has his own theory that Raskolnikov is crazy. Raskolnikov and Razumikhin come to Raskolnikov’s closet and find his mother and sister there. Raskolnikov takes a few steps back and faints.

One day in July, Raskolnikov went out onto a stuffy street and wandered to the old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna. He was going to pawn her father's silver watch - and at the same time make a sample an enterprise I've been thinking about lately.

The angry, grumpy old woman Alena met Raskolnikov unfriendly. She gave him only a penny for the watch. Raskolnikov carefully examined the pawnbroker’s apartment, and when he left her on the street, he suddenly stopped and said: “What horror could have occurred to me! How disgusting and dirty it all is!” From hunger and nervous breakdown he was drawn to go into the tavern.

Crime and Punishment. Feature film 1969 Episode 1

Chapter 2. A ragged elderly man sitting in a tavern started talking to Raskolnikov. He introduced himself as a former official, Marmeladov, and told the sad story of his life. After his first marriage, Marmeladov took as his wife Katerina Ivanovna, a woman of noble birth, but poor. The family soon fell into poverty: Marmeladov lost his job due to redundancy, this caused him to drink and could not find another job due to his drunkenness. Katerina Ivanovna fell ill with consumption. There was nothing to support her three small children from another husband. Sonya, Marmeladov’s daughter from his first wife, involuntarily sacrificed herself to her family: in order to save her father, stepmother and her children, she became a prostitute. A few weeks ago Marmeladov entered the service, but then started drinking again. Ashamed to go home, he spent the night among tramps, and today he went to Sonya’s apartment to ask for a hangover. (See the full text of Marmeladov’s monologue.)

Raskolnikov and Marmeladov. Drawing by M. P. Klodt, 1874

Raskolnikov took Marmeladov home. In his miserable home, he saw Katerina Ivanovna with ragged children and red, sick spots on her cheeks. Out of despair, this hot-tempered woman began to drag Marmeladov, who had drunk his last money, by his hair. In a fit of compassion, Raskolnikov quietly left them alms from his last copper money on the windowsill and left.

Chapter 3. The next day, Raskolnikov woke up at home hungry. Out of pity, the landlady's maid Nastasya brought him tea and cabbage soup.

She told Raskolnikov that the landlady wanted to report him to the police for debts. She also gave him the letter that had arrived to him yesterday from his mother who remained in the province. His mother wrote that due to lack of funds she could hardly help Rodion. Raskolnikov's sister, Dunya, who lived with her, in order to send her brother at least a little money, became a governess in the house of local landowners - Mr. Svidrigailov and his wife Marfa Petrovna. Svidrigailov began to harass the beautiful Dunya. Having learned about this, Marfa Petrovna glorified her throughout the city. The girl was the subject of mocking gossip for a long time, but then Marfa Petrovna found Dunya’s letter to Svidrigailov, where she firmly rejected his advances - and she herself began to restore her reputation, reading the letter in all houses. Duna was wooed by a wealthy relative of Marfa Petrovna, Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, a 45-year-old business man, a litigator, “an enemy of prejudice” and a supporter of “the beliefs of the newest generations.” Luzhin intended to open a law office in St. Petersburg and explained that he wanted to marry an honest girl, but without a dowry, so that, having learned the plight from a young age, she would then consider her husband as a benefactor all her life.

The mother wrote that Dunya accepted Luzhin’s offer and dreams of seeing her brother Rodion as an assistant in his office, and maybe even a partner. Luzhin had already left for St. Petersburg, summoning his fiancée and mother. They will soon arrive in the capital, where they will be able to see Rodion, although the thrifty groom did not even pay for their travel and is unlikely to agree that after his marriage to Dunya, their mother lived with them.

Chapter 4. Raskolnikov went out into the street, thinking excitedly about his mother’s letter. He understood: by following Luzhin, Dunya sacrifices herself - she hopes to build a career for her brother with the help of her future husband. For the same reason, the mother, who understands the stingy groom well, agrees to the marriage. Raskolnikov decided to oppose this marriage. However, he understood that in the coming years he would not have a way to help his sister and mother - and even if he upset Luzhin’s matchmaking now, then later Dunya would still face a worse fate. "What to do? - he thought. – Resign yourself to a pitiful, shameful fate or quickly decide to do something bold?»

On the boulevard, Raskolnikov noticed a young drunken girl in a torn dress, who was being stalked by a young libertine walking behind her. Remembering the story of his own sister with Svidrigailov, Raskolnikov almost threw himself at the street veil. The beginning of the fight was broken up by an elderly policeman with a kind, intelligent face. Raskolnikov gave the policeman his last money to hire a cab for the girl home, but this first emotional movement in the next moment seemed funny to him. It did not coincide with his new theory about the right of the strong, according to which it turned out: let the dandy have some fun!

Chapter 5. Wandering, Raskolnikov reached the dacha Islands and fell asleep there under a bush from hunger and nervous weakness. He had a dream that, while walking as a child with his father on the outskirts of his hometown, he saw how a drunken man Mikolka put his drunken friends into a large cart and together with them began to whip the thin mare harnessed to it with whips so that she would gallop. The weak horse barely moved. The enraged riders began to hit her in the eyes, then Mikolka began to beat her with a crowbar - and left to her death. The child Rodya, screaming pitifully, rushed to kiss the bloody horse's muzzle... (See Raskolnikov's first dream - about a slaughtered nag.)

Waking up, Raskolnikov exclaimed: “God! Will I really take an ax, start hitting him on the head... will I slide in sticky blood, pick the lock and tremble, covered in blood?..” He prayed that God would deliver him from his “damned dream.” But, walking back home through Sennaya Square, Raskolnikov suddenly saw the younger sister of the pawnbroker, Lizaveta, whom some tradesman had invited to his home tomorrow, at seven in the evening, on a trading matter. The unexpected news that the old woman would be left home alone tomorrow at seven seemed to him a sign of fate!

...He slept almost the entire next day after meeting Lizaveta on Sennaya, and when he woke up, he saw that it was already evening. Excitedly, he jumped up in bed, sewed a loop to the inside of his clothes so he could carry an ax unnoticed, made a “pledge” out of two pieces of wood, wrapped it in paper and tied it with a cord.

It was already seven o'clock. Raskolnikov ran out into the street. He quietly stole the ax downstairs, in the open closet of the janitor. On the way to the pawnbroker's house, he felt as if he was being led to the scaffold. At first there was no answer to his call, but then a slight rustling was heard behind the door, and they began to remove the lock.

Chapter 7. Entering the apartment, Raskolnikov gave Alena Ivanovna the “mortgage”. The old woman was tangled for a long time in the intricately wound cord around him. When she, in annoyance, made a movement to turn towards Raskolnikov, he took an ax out from under her clothes and hit her on the head several times. The old woman collapsed to the floor. Raskolnikov took a bunch of keys from her pocket and ran into the bedroom. Under the bed he found a chest with stuffed things, opened it and began to fill his pockets with the first thing that came to hand. (See full text of the murder scene.)

A rustling sound was suddenly heard from behind. Raskolnikov ran out of the bedroom and saw Lizaveta, who had returned home, standing over her sister’s body. He rushed at her, hit her on the head with an ax - and was horrified to notice that the front door to the apartment remained unlocked!

Illustration for “Crime and Punishment” by artist N. Karazin

The second murder was unexpected. Raskolnikov was in a hurry to leave, but someone began to climb up the entrance stairs from below. Raskolnikov barely had time to lock the door. The unknown person approached her, began to persistently ring the bell, pull the door handle and shout for the old woman to open it. Soon another one approached, with a young voice, and noticed that the door lags when pulled - which means it is locked not with a lock, but with a hook from the inside! Why don't they open it?

They both decided that something was wrong! The young man ran downstairs to get the janitor. The first one remained at the door at first, but after waiting, he also went down to the entrance. Raskolnikov followed him out. Several people were already coming up from below. Raskolnikov was losing hope of slipping away unnoticed, but suddenly he noticed that one apartment, in which he had seen beautiful workers on his way to the old woman, was now open and empty. He slid into it, waited until the others went upstairs and quickly left the house. In his yard, he threw the ax into the old place - and lost himself at home on the sofa, half-delirious...