Doestoevsky's Crime and Punishment Chapter Analysis- Chpt 5 Part 3

CONTEXTUALIZE

• This chapter speaks of the former and impoverished student Raskolnikov who has already formulated a theory in which he would be conceived as an extraordinary man. This theory is one he has proved by murdering a despicable old pawnbroker and her half sister who happened to walk in. Immediately after committing the crime he feels drastically ill and he is only semi-concious. A few days after the crime he discovers his friend Razumihkin has been looking for him. Raskolnikov then receives a visit from LUzhin, engaged to Raskolnikov’s sister Dunya. Ras sends him away as he does not appreciate the man’s domineering attitude towards his sister. Following this, Ras basically recovers and feels capable of going out and reading about his crime in the papers. He then proceeds to visit the police station and nearly confesses his crime there. The officials are suspicious. He then assists to the death of MArmeladov, struck in the street and gives all his money to the man’s destitute widow. After this, Ras denounces Dunya’s fiancée and won’t let her marry such a “nasty man”. Raskolnikov then hears that Porfiry, the police inspector is interviewing anyone who had anything to do with the murder victim the pawnbroker and it is at this point that my chapter comes in. It is a very chaotic episode in the book in which Raskolnikov goes rather crazy in his mind. A little later in the model, it becomes apparent that Sonya is a universal symbol to Raskolnikov (Sonya is a character which represents Raskolnikovs redemptive human side) and he says he will confess to truth to her. AS he does this, Svidrigailov is listening through the door and can use what he hears to bribe Raskolnikov’s sister, Dunya, into sleeping with him. She does not comply and Svidrgailov murders himself that night. Porfiry then announces to Ras that he is fully aware who committed the murder. Raskolnikov is later sentence to 8 years of prison in Siberia.Sonya follows him and it is there that He can begin his regeneration.  

ANALYSIS

GENERAL

• Present of full view of thirty five year old Porfiry
• Immediately apparent that Raskolnikov has a worthy opponent
• For example in the discussion of article P wants to know if while he was composing Ras didn’t consider himself to be extraordinary because he has uttered a new word
• That is if Ras theory is believed then he must have considered himself as extraordinary even thought he assures P that he is no Napoleon or Mahomet.
• Even thought Ras disclaims his pretention to being extraordinary man, nevertheless what is new and original in his theory is that he “sanctions bloodshed in the name of conscience”
• That is the great man is obligated to give to the world his new word and if it means killing a person in order to do so then the great man must do that
• P is also very clever when he asks R in a casual manner if he by any chance saw two painters
• This is a trap and Ras knows it because there were no painters when he found watch but there were when she was murdered
• Ras is clever enough to discover the trap and thus escape his perception of trap shows return of rational powers consequently P is, as Ras thought, “playing cat and mouse” games
• If there seen to be contradiction in parts of Ras theory such as maintaining that the great will suffer and also later that the great must be above sympathy and dependence these contradictions are intentional on Dostoevskys part
• Instead it has to be un-précised that Raskolnikov at the time of the murder had not worked out his theory in complete detail though contradictions exist so that later Ras will have to justify them when he is trying to explain his crime to Sonya.  
• So to put it more simply, Raskolnikov had to commit the murder before he had completely formulated the theory.
• This is because Dostoevsky wishes to show how the young intellectual can be influenced by various theories and then use them before he has a chance to analyze them.

UNDERSTANDING WHY RASKOLNIKOV MURDERED:

• In order to understand why Raskolnikov committed the murders, the discussion on his article based on crime is essential.
• Things that have pointed towards his sense of superiority: his disdain for others, is sense of arrogance towards them, his inordinate and overzealous obsession with one idea and his suspected egoism.
• Although he says himself that he would never admit such a thing to Porfiry, ROdya does consider himself as one of those “extraordinary men”. He utters new words and thinks new thoughts giving him the right to kill whoever stands in his way.  
• This shows he believes or did believe he was a natural criminal as well as being a man with superior and extraordinary capabilities.
• Hence, he is isolated from other people because of his murder as well as through the logical process that he went through to commit the crime.

DOSTOEVSKY SOCIAL COMMENTARY

• Yet again we see Dostoevsky slipping into a kind of social commentary through Razumikhin’s arguments regarding socialism and crime.
• He says that socialists thinks that once they put their system into place,  there will be no more crime. However, he also argues that the socialist way doesn’t take into account nature and history.  
• It will "at once organize the whole of mankind and instantly make it righteous and sinless, sooner than any living process, without any historical and living way!"
• So is it only about words/ theories and not about possibility and practicality?
• Dostoevsky subtly makes reference to these new social sciences as systems that do not input the past and reject what happened before to an extent that any promise they make is practically impossible to keep.
• This is not the first time he speaks of the failure of the Soviet experiment in Russian in a negative way.

PORFIRY VS RAZUMHIKIN

• Porfiry is strangely enough portrayed as a liar who is a relation of Razumikhin’s.  
• Despite this we can soon tell that the two are practically opposites.
• Razumihkin is clumsy, he randomly blurts out comments due to his excessive honesty and desire to be frank.
• Profiry is more of a sly character who is very cunning, sneaky and not open at all. He has frequent mood swings that change for no obvious reason.
• He has one last attempt at the end of the chapter in which he wants to catch Raskolnikov by asking him if he noticed any painters around last time he was present at the pawnbrokers.
• Raskolnikov outsmarts him here and answers innocently as an outraged Razumihkin exclaims “What’s the matter with you!”, visibly unwilling to believe that Porfiry could be in relation to him when he just deliberately tried to twist facts to catch his friend in a lie.
• And even when Porfiry apologizes, his relation is unconvinced and tells him to be more careful.
• Razumihkin’s complete and total honesty makes it difficult for him to comprehend other people’s dishonesty. He stands incredulous in front of Porfiry’s behaviour.  

RODYA’s PARANOIA

• We get a good sense of how paranoid Rodya can be as this is revealed in the force of his inner monologue which occurs when Porfiry leaves to go get tea.
• There is a strong contrast between his composed outer demeanour and his crazied, out of control and frenzied thoughts in his head.
• There is imagery of Rodya as an animal in a trap when he thinks "and then you'll see how I despise you". This thought process is strange and awkward but revelas what he actually feels as in a desperate attempt at self-preservation he tries to endow a confession with arrogant pride.  
• He himself has already figured  out this could be that he is paranoid, but he does attempt to calm down and balance his view on things.
• However, Raskolnikov still manages to second guess himself as he tries to read between the lines and deduce what he can from the ton of his comrades Porfiry and Razumhikin. He wants to know what that wink from Porfiry meant!
• Raskolnikov goes on and on ranting about zamytov as he feverishly ask himself if Porfiry is up to date about his visit to the man’s apparment the day before.
• The chaos in Raskolnikov’s mind is expressed through the millions of questions he poses to himself , every one sounding more urgent than the last in this unrelenting rush.

TONE AND LANGUAGE:

• The tone created in this chapter mirrors both the chaos in Raskolnikov’s mind and the chaos physically occurring in the scene.
• There is an extremely strong contrast present in the emotions each character feels.
• Raskolnikov is extremely amused at his fellow’s appearance and cannot bare to hold it in very long, Razumihkin explodes at this and it is visible he is extremely irritable whilst Porfiry tries to keep his composure and attempts to welcome the guests with a smile to soothe the mood.
• However, there is not only contrast between the men and how each is feeling but also because the men occasionally have a rapid mood swing.
• Raskolnikov for example, is amused and rather excited until he starts doubting himself and wondering whether the others are aware of what he’s done.
• His inner thoughts reflect the panic in his mind, he is outwardly seeming calm enough but in his mind he is panicking and cursing himself for acting the way he did: “WOMAN! Why did i say it like that!”
• “Stupid! Clumsy! Why did i put that in?”  
• “Why did he say ‘in HER apartment’ like that?”
• “Why are they using that tone?”
• Raskolnikov in piling on tons of questions and he is on the verge of spitting out the entire truth to them because he feels he cannot restrain this madness any longer.  
• There is a lot of dialogue in this section and the rest is usually written as narrative (this is just like most of the book is written- lots of dialogue followed by narrative which helps us easily visualize the scene and what is going on.)
• There is quite a lot of action described in this scene- specifically the movements of each character such as Razumhikin banging his fist on the table when frustrated by Raskolnikov’s annoying laughter at the beginning of the chapter.
•   This contributes to the chaotic and tense tone and atmosphere created.
• The language is more or less formal when narrative form is employed but it becomes slightly more colloquial and conversational when the men insult each other such as Raskolnikov calling his friend a “Swine”.