Crime and Punishment & Other Great Novels of Dostoevsky
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Contents
Chapter VI. Pyotr Stepanovitch is Busy
Overview
With provincial tensions rising, Pyotr Stepanovitch maneuvers authorities and radicals alike. He wins von Lembke’s secret cooperation to delay arrests, denounces Shatov and implicates Kirillov, and pockets an anonymous warning. He primes Karmazinov, corrals Kirillov and Shatov for Virginsky’s gathering, and escorts Stavrogin there after Mavriky’s failed, humiliating plea that Stavrogin marry Liza—checked by Stavrogin’s revelation that he is already married.
Summary
As the fête date is fixed, von Lembke grows anxious amid cholera scares, factory filth at Shpigulin’s, fires, crime, and rumors. Yulia Mihailovna, intoxicated by influence and flattered by Pyotr Stepanovitch, pushes risky measures. She sends Pyotr to cheer Lembke. Pyotr returns Lembke’s lost novel with praise, then steers the talk to manifestoes and unrest, including a deranged sub-lieutenant who bit his superior and carried seditious leaflets.
Pyotr minimizes any vast conspiracy, yet “intercedes” for Shatov while betraying him as author of the poem “A Noble Personality,” showing a note linking Shatov to its printing abroad and pointing to Kirillov. He urges Lembke to wait six days before acting, promising results and secrecy from Yulia. When Lembke shows an anonymous informer’s letter demanding a pardon and pension, Pyotr dismisses it as a hoax and takes it to “trace” the author.
Uneasy after Pyotr leaves, Lembke is pressed by his dour clerk Blum to stage a dawn search of Stepan Trofimovitch Verhovensky’s rooms for forbidden books and manifestoes; Yulia’s entrance interrupts but Blum persists, setting up a coming scandal. Meanwhile, Pyotr visits Karmazinov, flatters and needles him, debates Russia’s decay and the power of manifestoes, and even “dates” the coming upheaval from May to October, which Karmazinov greedily notes.
Pyotr then secures Kirillov’s continued readiness to kill himself on signal and to sign a letter claiming responsibility for leaflets, refusing only petty staging demands; Kirillov shelters the fugitive Fedka and agrees to appear at Virginsky’s meeting as a silent, imposing presence. Pyotr next bullies Shatov to attend and surrender the secret press and papers, warning that staying ambiguous risks being marked for death by revolutionaries.
At Stavrogin’s, Mavriky Nikolaevitch arrives unexpectedly to beg him to marry Lizaveta Nikolaevna, admitting her torn passions; Stavrogin reveals he is already married, and Mavriky departs pale, threatening violence if Liza is harmed. Pyotr sweeps up Stavrogin for Virginsky’s gathering, and on the way they discuss tactics: Pyotr’s titles and sentiment, and Stavrogin’s darker idea—binding members by shared blood. Stavrogin is prodded to speak to the assembled “fellows.”
Who Appears
- Pyotr Stepanovitch VerkhovenskyMaster manipulator; wins Lembke’s six-day delay, betrays Shatov, leverages Kirillov’s planned suicide, corrals attendees for Virginsky’s meeting, and escorts Stavrogin.
- Andrey Antonovich von LembkeAnxious governor; swayed by Pyotr to delay action, shares an anonymous letter, yet remains uneasy as Blum presses a search.
- Yulia MihailovnaAmbitious spouse influencing policy; indulges Pyotr’s flattery and imagined conspiracies, unknowingly excluded from key secrets.
- BlumLembke’s gloomy clerk; urges a dawn search of Stepan Trofimovitch, setting up a coming administrative embarrassment.
- KarmazinovVainglorious writer; flatters Pyotr, debates Russia’s decay, greedily notes Pyotr’s forecast of upheaval.
- KirillovEngineer; reaffirms intent to kill himself on signal and take blame, shelters Fedka, agrees to attend Virginsky’s meeting.
- ShatovFormer associate; identified as author of the seditious poem, pressured to hand over the press and attend the meeting.
- Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch StavroginCentral figure; revealed to be secretly married, accompanies Pyotr to the meeting, teased to address the group.
- Mavriky NikolaevitchLiza’s betrothed; begs Stavrogin to marry her, then threatens him upon learning of the secret marriage.
- Fedka (the convict)Fugitive hidden by Kirillov; earmarked by Pyotr for future tasks.
- VirginskyHost of the name-day gathering used as cover for the conspiratorial meeting.