PART II, CHAPTER 1

Summary

Raskolnikov awakens from his stupor at around two in the morning. Realizing that his pockets are full of stolen pledges, he empties them and hides the pledges in a hole in the wallpaper. He removes the loop from within his overcoat. He notices that his pockets are lined with blood. He falls back into a stupor and is woken up around ten by Nastasya, who tells him that he has been summoned to the police station. Raskolnikov believes that his crime has been discovered. He leaves for the station, intending to tell the police everything about the murder if he is questioned. As he puts on his socks, he notices the blood is still on them.

At the police station, Raskolnikov learns that he has been sent for because he owes money to his landlady, Mrs. Chebarov. He is greatly relieved at this. He addresses the police captain, Nikodim Fomich, and the clerk, Ilya Petrovich, telling him that he has no money as he is a poor ex-student. He also tells how he was formerly betrothed to his landlady's daughter, who later died of typhus. He is asked to sign an IOU. The police officers note that Raskolnikov appears pale and sick and that his hand trembles as he tries to write out the IOU. Raskolnikov is now nearly overcome by a sudden urge to confess his gruesome crime to the police captain.

Raskolnikov overhears an argument between the two police officers about the murders he has committed. They discuss the story as related by the two young men, Koch and Petriakov, who were outside the apartment. Of course, Raskolnikov, unknown to them, was hiding inside at that time. On hearing this story, Raskolnikov swoons. The police officers help him to recover. They ask him questions concerning his health and his whereabouts on the previous day. Then they allow him to go home. Raskolnikov believes that the police suspect him.

Notes

Raskolnikov can get no sleep after committing the crime and lies in a stupor. He cannot think clearly and his attempts to clean up after the murder and to hide the evidence have been unsystematic and poorly planned.

Raskolnikov has forgotten what Nastasya told him (in Chapter 3) about his landlady's complaint to the police regarding his non- payment of the rent. He goes to the police station thinking that his crimes have been discovered. He displays all the nervousness and lack of tact of an inexperienced criminal. His hatred of officials and institutions is evident in the way in which he speaks to the police officer. However, the reader also sees the more cordial side of Raskolnikov when he speaks affably to the police captain, Nikodim Fomich.

Raskolnikov's inability to control his nerves in moments of tension are evident once more, as he faints on hearing news of the murders being related to the police captain. He later blames his fainting spell on the smell of fresh paint in the police station: the reader knows that this smell reminds him of the place where he hid after committing the murders. Throughout this episode, Raskolnikov feels a strong need to confess his brutal crimes to the police captain, but fate seems to play a hand here, and he is prevented from doing so by his fainting spell.

He goes home thinking that he is under suspicion for the murders. At least three times in this one scene, he feels the urge to confess but he fails to do so. Symbolically, he is forced to relive his crime with each failure to confess, or when he wears the socks covered in dried blood.

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