Chapter 6 The Prosecutor Catches Mitya

Dmitri is ordered to undress for a search. Lawyers and peasant witnesses examine his bloodstained clothes and even his cap, treating him like a thief. Dmitri, ashamed and enraged, is denied his garments as evidence and is forced into Kalganov’s tighter coat and clean shirt, feeling disgraced.

Returned to interrogation, Dmitri lashes out at the officials’ contempt and insists he would not hide guilt if he had killed his father. He demands witnesses be called, refusing to explain his money. The prosecutors maintain their composure and proceed methodically.

They confront Dmitri with Grigory’s testimony that, upon entering the garden, he saw the house door standing open, implying Dmitri ran from it. Dmitri furiously denies this, calling it a lie or hallucination. The investigators then produce Fyodor Pavlovitch’s emptied envelope, found behind the screen, once marked for three thousand roubles.

Shocked, Dmitri accuses Smerdyakov of the murder and theft, arguing only Smerdyakov knew the hiding place and signal. The prosecutors counter with Dmitri’s own earlier claim about the envelope under the pillow and the open door evidence, pressing the unexplained money in his hands.

Overwhelmed by the cumulative suspicions—bloodstains, the open door, the empty envelope, and his silence about the cash—Dmitri finally declares he will reveal the shameful source of his money, seeking to avert further self-incrimination.