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Part 2, Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Crime and Punishment, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Criminality, Morality, and Guilt
Madness and Intoxication
Coincidence and Free Will
Money and Poverty
Family
Summary
Analysis
Although in a state of near-delirium, Raskolnikov remembers some of what happens next. He senses that numerous people are in the room, and then Nastasya alone. He awakes around ten a.m. the next day, with Nastasya and an unknown man in the room. Raskolnikov asks the man to identify himself and Razumikhin enters, saying he brought Zossimov the doctor to him twice in his sleep. The man introduces himself to Raskolnikov as a merchant’s agent and representative of Vakhrushin, the man who controls his mother’s pension.
Raskolnikov is set to receive a small amount of money from his mother, who has been given it on advance from the man who controls her pension. This advance is granted because Dunya is to be married, and everyone in the provincial town expects that Dunya and Pulcheria will soon come into money. Thus Dunya’s marriage is the basis of the family’s entire future.
Themes
The agent asks Raskolnikov to sign a receipt for 35 roubles sent by his mother. Raskolnikov initially does not wish to sign but Razumikhin convinces him, and the money is laid out. The agent departs. Razumikhin encourages Raskolnikov to eat soup and asks Nastasya to bring beer and tea. Raskolnikov follows orders meekly, believing it might be his advantage to “conceal” his strength and presence of mind, and pretend to be sicker than he is.
Razumikhin arrives and begins serving as Raskolnikov’s protector, a position he will occupy for the rest of the novel. Raskolnikov understands that, if he pretends to be incapacitated, he might be able to better manipulate the actions of Razumikhin and his family.
Themes
Razumikhin tells how he found Raskolnikov’s lodgings via the government registry. Razumikhin has come to learn of Raskolnikov’s behavior in the police station and has met the chief, the lieutenant, and Zamyotov, the clerk. And he has “sweet-talked” Raskolnikov’s landlady, courting her and praising her to Raskolnikov.
Razumikhin’s relationship with the landlady is never fully explained, but his abilities as a talker and gentleman are later on display. It is clear that he is willing to use these charms to further his own agenda—in this case, to provide for his friend and insure Raskolnikov can continue to stay in his small apartment.
Themes
Although the landlady had decided to “chase Raskolnikov out” of the apartment, Razumikhin has convinced her she ought to care for Raskolnikov and give him more time to pay, since he was, after all, engaged to her daughter. Razumikhin learns more about Raskolnikov’s mother and sister through the landlady, and tells Raskolnikov he even brought Zamyotov the clerk to visit during Raskolnikov’s delirium. This latter piece of information startles and worries the already-nervous Raskolnikov.
Raskolnikov fears Zamyotov, who knows that Raskolnikov has fainted during discussion of the crime. Raskolnikov later reveals how he “would have” committed the murder to Zamyotov during the course of a strange conversation at a tavern. This conversation will serve as additional evidence incriminating Raskolnikov.
Themes
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Razumikhin tells Raskolnikov he had been raving in his sleep about scraps of cloth and the interaction with the police, although Razumikhin seems to suspect nothing other than the side effects of feverish illness. Razumikhin leaves and Raskolnikov leaps out of bed, scanning the room for bits of evidence. No one seems to have suspected anything, nor has the room been searched. He intends to go out and rent another apartment, fleeing everyone entirely, but he drinks most of a beer and falls back asleep.
It is one of Raskolnikov’s great fears: that he will give away his guilt in his sleep. While he is awake he can control, or at least try to control, his speech, but when he sleeps his unconscious is given free reign. As it happens he does rave about the murder while sleeping, but Razumikhin does not know enough about the crime to connect Raskolnikov’s words to the fatal acts.
Themes
Razumikhin wakes up him several hours later, having arrived with new clothes for his friend. Razumikhin shows him a new hat, shirt, trousers, and boots, all purchased with the money Pulcheria sent. Raskolnikov initially does not want to change but Razumikhin convinces him. Raskolnikov briefly forgets how Razumikhin came upon this money, thus worrying his friend with his continued delirium and weakness. At this moment Zossimov the doctor enters to examine Raskolnikov.
Razumikhin uses some of Raskolnikov’s newly-acquired wealth to outfit him in better clothes. Raskolnikov’s forgetfulness in this episode briefly scares Razumikhin, who wonders periodically whether his friends is suffering from nervous exhaustion or whether he has actually gone insane. Zossimov the doctor hints, later, that the latter is the case.
Themes
