Crime and Punishment & Other Great Novels of Dostoevsky
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Contents
Crime and Punishment — Part I — Chapter IV
Overview
Raskolnikov vows to stop Dounia’s marriage to Luzhin, condemning its humiliating terms and the family’s self-sacrificial logic. A boulevard incident with a drunken girl exposes his volatile morality as he helps, then withdraws. Haunted by an ominous recurring idea, he remembers Razumihin, hinting at a possible lifeline amid his growing crisis.
Summary
Raskolnikov reacts to his mother’s letter with a fixed resolve: he will never allow Dounia to marry Luzhin. He dissects Luzhin’s stinginess and condescension, foresees the humiliating tone of the marriage, and condemns his mother’s hopeful dependence. He concludes Dounia consents only as a sacrifice for him and their mother, likening it to Sonia’s fate, and rejects accepting such a sacrifice.
Driven by this turmoil, Raskolnikov insists something must be done immediately, not in a distant future he cannot guarantee. In despair, he contemplates renouncing life or action altogether. A dark, returning thought from earlier days reappears with new urgency, leaving him dizzy and oppressed.
On the boulevard, he notices a drunken, disheveled teenage girl and an eager, well-dressed dandy shadowing her. Raskolnikov confronts the man and summons a sympathetic policeman, urging protection for the girl. When the girl staggers off with the dandy following at a distance, Raskolnikov abruptly reverses himself, telling the policeman to let them be, then sinks into self-disgust and broods on society’s cold “percentage” that consigns girls like her to ruin.
He suddenly recalls he meant to go to Razumihin and, wondering why, turns to thoughts of that old comrade—cheerful, resilient, resourceful, and once close to him—contrasting Razumihin’s warmth with his own isolation of recent months.
Who Appears
- Rodion Romanovitch RaskolnikovProtagonist; condemns Dounia’s marriage, wrestles with sacrifice, despairs, erratically aids a drunken girl, recalls Razumihin as a possible support.
- Avdotya Romanovna (Dounia)Raskolnikov’s sister; her planned marriage to Luzhin is seen as a self-sacrifice for family.
- Pyotr Petrovitch LuzhinDounia’s fiancé; criticized for stinginess and a patronizing doctrine of grateful wives.
- Pulcheria AlexandrovnaRaskolnikov’s mother; hopeful and dependent on Luzhin’s aid, unintentionally pressuring Dounia’s sacrifice.
- Police constableSensible, compassionate officer who tries to help the drunken girl after Raskolnikov alerts him.
- Well-dressed dandyPredatory stranger who follows the drunken girl, retreating only when challenged.
- Drunken young girlTeenage girl, disheveled and intoxicated; object of the dandy’s pursuit and Raskolnikov’s conflicted intervention.
- Dmitri RazumihinRaskolnikov’s resilient, good-natured university friend; remembered as a potential anchor.
- SvidrigaïlovFormer employer linked to Dounia’s past; invoked as a measure of what Dounia can endure.
- Sonia MarmeladovSymbol of self-sacrifice; Raskolnikov compares Dounia’s proposed marriage to Sonia’s fate.