CHAPTER 6

The debate about fate continues as Raskolnikov retraces the growth of his plan. Has fate really played a part in directing the murder? Does chance have that much influence on human behavior? Raskolnikov insists it does, even long after the crime has been committed. You may wonder. Dostoevsky doesn't say directly what he thinks, but he does give you some clues that Raskolnikov makes the decisions that he wants to make. Events and emotions may help explain why he acts, but the decisions are his.

We learn that he has known about the pawnbroker for six months, and that he first visited her six weeks before the novel begins. We don't find out here, or ever, what made him give up his jobs and his communication with others about that time. He explains, though, that he began to feel superstitious and to believe that coincidence was helping to further his own evil plans and ideas.

The revulsion that he felt for the old lady the first time he saw her is also intimately connected with his plan to kill her. He was not alone in his hatred of her. The very night he met her, he overheard her described as a selfish and abusive louse who plans to leave all the money she has extorted from poor people to a monastery. There the money will buy perpetual prayers for the repose of her soul.

The student who described Alena Ivanovna as a louse and detailed the way she mistreats her long-suffering sister also insisted that it would be doing humanity a favor to murder the old hag:

Kill her, take her money, on condition that you dedicate yourself with its help to the service of humanity and the common good: don't you think that thousands of good deeds will wipe out one little, insignificant transgression?

The idea couldn't have found a more receptive audience-or one more likely to act-than the eavesdropping Raskolnikov. How closely the student's ideas support his own! The conversation seemed to him a profound coincidence, "as if there were indeed something fateful and fore-ordained about it." But is he really killing to serve humanity-or simply to prove something to himself? Readers have argued that question ever since the novel was published.

The day of the murder, the third day of the story, Raskolnikov sleeps most of the time. He has worked out many details of the murder plan already. His careful planning makes his crime seem more appalling, more evil-to himself and to us. For many people, it is easier to forgive an impetuous, spur-of-the-moment murder than one which is premeditated (planned). Our laws distinguish clearly between premeditated and accidental murder.

NOTE:

Raskolnikov spends a lot of time thinking about crime and criminals. He has a theory that criminals become physically and mentally ill when they commit crimes. They are unable to use their reason when they need it most, to avoid detection. One question he can't answer is whether the illness causes crime, or the crime causes illness. It is a question that people are still asking about mental competence and criminal behavior, especially in cases that use insanity defenses. As you read the novel, think about where you stand on this issue.

Raskolnikov insists at one point that, unlike a common criminal, he won't get sick or be unable to function at the time of the murder, because what he is planning is "no crime." This idea may take you by surprise, and the idea is dropped as suddenly as it was raised. Later on, though, it will turn out to be very important in understanding his motives for killing.

Raskolnikov's erratic behavior quickens as the fatal hour approaches. Time slips away; he is late; he must find an axe; he curses his distinctive hat. Despite some holes in his plan and some careless mistakes, "luck" or fate seems to push Raskolnikov closer and closer to the "terrible act" that's been obsessing him. At last he reaches the pawnbroker's door. It is his third, fatal visit, and he rings the doorbell three ominous times.

NOTE:

The number 3 is sometimes used as a signal of doom. One modern usage you might compare is "Three strikes and you're out." Dostoevsky uses the number 3 over and over. Watch for it. It's almost always a signal.

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