Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Part Four, Chapter 3 commentary

100 Days of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and Crime and Punishment September 1 - December 10, 2024

100 Days of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and Crime and Punishment

September 1 - December 10, 2024

November 5

Crime and Punishment Part Four, Chapter 3, 8 pages

Next passage:

November 7

Crime and Punishment Part Four, Chapter 4, 18 pages

Bye-bye, Luzhin!!! What a loser!!!

“Vanity contributed much to this conviction, as did that degree of self-confidence which is best called self-admiration.

Having risen from insignificance, Pyotr Petrovich had a morbid habit of admiring himself, highly valued his intelligence and abili-ties, and sometimes, alone with himself, even admired his own face in the mirror. But most of all in the world he loved and valued his money, acquired by labor and various means: it made him equal to all that was higher than himself.”

How could ANYONE reject him?! Such ingratitude!!!

“Nevertheless, he still valued highly his determination to elevate Dunya to himself, and regarded it as a great deed.”

Why?! Because he NEEDS her!!! To smooth his transition into Saint Petersburg circles!!!

“As for Dunya, she was simply necessary for him; it was unthinkable for him to renounce her.”

He was dreaming of bestowing himself on a “well-behaved and poor girl (she must be poor), very young, very pretty, well born and educated, very intimidated, who had experienced a great many misfortunes and was utterly cowed before him, a girl who would all her life regard him as her salvation, stand in awe of him, obey him, wonder at him and at him alone.”

Dostoevsky will go back to this topic in the 1870s - in his devastating novella “The Gentle Creature” (Кроткая, 1876). The French director Robert Bresson, who turned Crime and Punishment into the film Pickpocket (1959), which we are watching at FilmScene on December 12, made an adaptation of “The Gentle Creature” (Une femme douce) in 1969. His third Dostoevsky adaptation was the 1966 “Au Hasard Balthazar” based on “The Idiot” - which we are reading next fall!!! So much Bresson ahead!!!

Luzhin needed Dunechka for his social status…

“He knew that here women could be "quite, quite" beneficial. The charm of a lovely, virtuous, and educated woman could do wonders to smooth his path, attract certain people, create an aura... and now it had all collapsed! This present, ugly breakup affected him like a bolt of lightning. It was some ugly joke, an absurdity!”

What a lucky escape!!!

“Razumikhin was in ecstasy. He did not yet dare to express it fully, but was trembling all over as in a fever, as if a two-hundred-pound weight had fallen off his heart. Now he had the right to give his whole life to them, to serve them...”

The drunk with love Romeo is melting into a loving puddle at the bewildered Dunechka’s feet!!!

"We'll keep an eye on him! I'll stay on his trail." Razumikhin cried energetically. "I won't let him out of my sight! Rodya gave me his permission. He told me himself today: 'Protect my sister.' And do I have your permission, Avdotya Romanovna?" Dunya smiled and gave him her hand, but the worry would not leave her face. Pulcheria Alexandrovna kept glancing at her timidly; however, the three thousand had obviously set her at ease.”

But how will he support her?!?!?! Publishing, of course!!! He has an uncle with capital - and an understanding of the business - and knowledge of languages!!!

“Dunya's eyes were shining.

"I like what you're saying very much, Dmitri Prokofich," she said.”

That’s A LOT better than living under the boot of Luzhin in a state of perpetual torpor and gratitude…

But brother… Why are you leaving?!?!?! Because Raskolnikov must travel a different route, a long journey, and the process has not even crystallized in his feverish mind - AND soul…

"I wanted to tell you ... as I was coming here... I wanted to tell you, mama... and you, Dunya, that it's better if we part ways for a while. I'm not feeling well, I'm not at ease... I'll come myself afterwards... when I can. I think of you and love you... Leave me! Leave me alone! I decided on it even before... I decided on it for certain... Whatever happens to me, whether I perish or not, I want to be alone. Forget me altogether. It's better... Don't make inquiries about me. When need be, I'll come myself, or... send for you. Perhaps everything will rise again!... But for now, if you love me, give in... Otherwise I'll start hating you, I feel it... Good-bye!"

The following is one of the most heart wrenching passages in the novel - done SPECTACULARLY in the ballet…

“It was dark in the corridor; they were standing near a light. For a minute they looked silently at each other. Razumikhin remembered that minute all his life. Raskolnikov's burning and fixed look seemed to grow more intense every moment, penetrating his soul, his consciousness. All at once Razumikhin gave a start. Something strange seemed to pass between them... as if the hint of some idea, something horrible, hideous, flitted by and was suddenly understood on both sides... Razumikhin turned pale as a corpse.

"You understand now?" Raskolnikov said suddenly, with a painfully contorted face. "Go back, go to them," he added suddenly, and, turning quickly, he walked out of the house…”

Raskolnikov passes the care of his mother and sister to his friend - and goes off to seek redemption, if it can be granted to him… This is the moment in the ballet when I totally lost it - and sobbed all the way to the end… It was metaphysically transcendent… But no spoilers - we have SUCH A READING EXPERIENCE AHEAD!!!

“Razumikhin, would keep an eye on him, would find him a doctor, a good doctor, the best, a whole consultation... In short, from that evening on Razumikhin became their son and brother.”

Dunechka!!! AND a samovar!!!

1970 Crime and Punishment film adaptation, directed by Lev Kulidzhanov, Georgy Taratorkin as Raskolnikov, Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Porfiry, Victoria Fyodorova as Dunechka.