Nikolai and Mitka (the painters) Character Analysis in Crime and Punishment

The two painters get in a fight in the second-floor apartment during the murder, allowing Raskolnikov to hide and later escape. Nikolai is suspected of murdering the old woman and Lizaveta, for a time, because he attempted to pawn an item dropped by Raskolnikov during his escape. Nikolai confesses falsely to the murder, under apparent coercion, but his lie is discovered by Porfiry.

Nikolai and Mitka (the painters) Character Timeline in Crime and Punishment

The timeline below shows where the character Nikolai and Mitka (the painters) appears in Crime and Punishment. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

As he is going downstairs, the two painters on the second floor coincidentally get into an argument and run out, leaving the apartment... (full context)

...open palm” (being open to bribes), and Razumikhin interrupts to say he is defending the house-painters in the case of the old woman and Lizaveta. Raskolnikov is again disturbed at mention... (full context)

Zossimov asks why the painters are under suspicion. Razumikhin informs him that Mikolai, one of the painters, pawned off two... (full context)

Finally, after the investigators asked why Mikolai was afraid of the police if he was innocent of the murders, he said he’d... (full context)

But the surprise is different from what Porfiry intended. Instead of witnesses, the painter Nikolai is brought in. A crowd waits in the doorway and Nikolai confesses to the murder,... (full context)

...be going to Marmeladov’s funeral, and finds it funny that Porfiry will attempt to dispute Nikolai’s confession point by point. Porfiry admits that Raskolnikov is astute and playful, like Nikolai Gogol,... (full context)

...Porfiry to give this shred of psychological evidence against Raskolnikov. The man apologizes, now, because Nikolai has confessed, and Raskolnikov is upset for having assumed Porfiry had more information against him. (full context)

...spring on Raskolnikov; he was instructed to wait behind the partition and emerge later, but Nikolai beat him to it and confessed. Porfiry then questioned both Nikolai and the tradesman after... (full context)

...received a letter, presumably from Svidrigailov, that she finds “very disturbing.” He also reports that Nikolai the painter has confessed to the two murders. (full context)

Porfiry then explains Nikolai’s confession, which he set about disproving, especially since Nikolai was revealed to be a religious... (full context)