Crime and Punishment & Other Great Novels of Dostoevsky
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Contents
Crime and Punishment — Part V — Chapter II
Overview
Katerina Ivanovna’s memorial dinner, funded from Raskolnikov’s charity, spirals into humiliation and conflict driven by Katerina Ivanovna’s wounded pride, poverty, and illness. Guests mock, Amalia Ivanovna and Katerina Ivanovna trade insults, and Sonia is publicly slighted. The uproar peaks with threats of eviction—just as Luzhin arrives, primed to act.
Summary
Katerina Ivanovna hosts a memorial dinner for Marmeladov, spending most of the funeral money to assert dignity before the lodgers and Amalia Ivanovna. The guests are mostly coarse or unfamiliar, including a drunken commissariat clerk and two Poles; the respectable lodgers stay away. Katerina Ivanovna, coughing blood yet animated, manages the table with brittle pride.
Raskolnikov arrives and is seated at her side. Sonia comes late with Luzhin’s polite apologies and promises of help, which soothe Katerina Ivanovna. Eager to prove gentility, Katerina Ivanovna boasts of her upbringing, displays her school certificate, and describes plans to open a boarding school with Sonia’s assistance, while snubbing Amalia Ivanovna.
Mockery from the guests and a crude bread “valentine” to Sonia heighten tension. Amalia Ivanovna’s awkward anecdotes and claims about her father provoke Katerina Ivanovna’s scorn; the drunken clerk’s interjections further inflame the room. Katerina Ivanovna’s pride and nervous strain oscillate between mirth and fury as she defends Sonia’s character and her own status.
The quarrel explodes when Amalia Ivanovna claims “ladies” refused the invitation and taunts with hints about Sonia’s “yellow ticket.” Katerina Ivanovna counters with insults about Amalia Ivanovna’s origins and name, threatening to trample her cap. Amid cries and frightened children, Amalia Ivanovna demands they leave and snatches the spoons, while Katerina Ivanovna rushes at her.
At the height of the uproar, the door opens and Luzhin appears, surveying the scene with severity, signaling an imminent confrontation.
Who Appears
- Katerina Ivanovna MarmeladovWidow hosting the memorial dinner; proud, ill, volatile; boasts of gentility, defends Sonia, and clashes bitterly with Amalia.
- Amalia Ivanovna (Lippevechsel)Landlady who prepares the table; offends and is insulted; threatens eviction and seizes spoons amid the brawl.
- Rodion RaskolnikovAttends the dinner, observes with disgust, humors Katerina, and watches Sonia closely.
- Sofya (Sonia) Semyonovna MarmeladovArrives with Luzhin’s apologies; tries to calm Katerina; is mocked and shamed over the ‘yellow ticket.’
- Pyotr Petrovitch LuzhinAbsent through most of the dinner; arrives at the climax, poised to exploit the chaos.
- Commissariat clerkDrunken guest who heckles and worsens the disorder with crude remarks and constant drinking.
- The Pole (lodger helper)Overeager assistant to Katerina’s preparations; brings two other Poles and helps manage a disruptive guest.
- PolenkaKaterina’s elder daughter; tends the younger children during the chaotic meal.