Part III - Chapter I Practice Quiz — Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Part III - Chapter I
What does Raskolnikov demand of Dounia at the start of Part III, Chapter I?
He demands that she refuse her engagement to Luzhin by the next morning, calling the marriage "an infamy" and giving her an ultimatum: "It's me or Luzhin!"
How does Dounia initially respond to Raskolnikov's demand about Luzhin?
She pushes back, asking "What right have you?" before checking herself and suggesting he is too tired and ill to discuss it now.
What does Razumihin promise to do after escorting Pulcheria Alexandrovna and Dounia home?
He promises to run back to check on Raskolnikov, fetch Dr. Zossimov to examine him, and send the women reports on Raskolnikov's condition within the hour.
What dramatic gesture does Razumihin make on the pavement while escorting the women?
He falls to his knees on the deserted pavement and insists on kissing both women's hands, declaring himself unworthy of them.
What does Razumihin do when Zossimov calls Dounia "a fetching little girl"?
He flies at Zossimov, seizes him by the throat, shakes him by the collar, and squeezes him against the wall, shouting "If you ever dare..."
What does Razumihin report when he returns to the women's lodgings twenty minutes later?
He reports that Raskolnikov "sleeps like a top, soundly, quietly" with Nastasya watching over him, and promises to return with Zossimov.
What plan does Razumihin make regarding Zossimov and the landlady's flat?
He arranges for Zossimov to sleep at the landlady's flat to be near Raskolnikov, while he himself will sleep in the passage outside Raskolnikov's door.
How does Dostoevsky describe Dounia's physical appearance in this chapter?
She is tall, strikingly well-proportioned, strong, and self-reliant, with dark brown hair, almost black eyes with a proud light, and a slightly projecting lower lip that gives her face "a peculiarly individual and almost haughty expression."
How does Pulcheria Alexandrovna compare physically to Dounia?
At forty-three, she retains traces of her former beauty and looks younger than her age. She resembles Dounia twenty years older, "but without the projecting underlip." Her hair has begun to grow grey and her cheeks are hollow from anxiety.
What attracts Razumihin to Dounia upon first meeting her?
He sees her "transfigured by her love for her brother and her joy at meeting him," then watches her lower lip quiver with indignation at Raskolnikov's cruel words—and "his fate was sealed."
What kind of doctor is Zossimov, and how does he behave during his visit?
He is the young doctor treating Raskolnikov. He visits with "the reserve and extreme seriousness of a young doctor at an important consultation," addresses himself solely to Pulcheria Alexandrovna, and deliberately avoids noticing Dounia's beauty.
Why does Raskolnikov say "let me act like a scoundrel, but you mustn't... one is enough"?
He is telling Dounia that while he may be a scoundrel himself (alluding unconsciously to his crime), he refuses to let his sister degrade herself through a mercenary marriage to Luzhin. One morally compromised person in the family is enough.
What theme does Raskolnikov's ultimatum about Luzhin illustrate?
The tension between self-sacrifice and personal autonomy. Raskolnikov opposes Dounia's self-sacrifice (marrying for his benefit) yet imposes his own authoritarian will on her, showing how protective love can shade into tyranny.
What philosophical idea does Razumihin express in his drunken speech about truth and error?
He argues that authentic individual error is more valuable than borrowed correctness: "To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. In the first case you are a man, in the second you're no better than a bird."
How does Zossimov's diagnosis connect to the novel's theme of guilt and conscience?
Zossimov identifies both material and "moral" causes for Raskolnikov's illness, including "certain ideas" and something approaching monomania. This carries dramatic irony: the reader knows the "moral" cause is guilt over murder.
How does the chapter explore the theme of poverty and class in St. Petersburg?
Razumihin denounces Luzhin for placing the women in shabby lodgings, calling it "a scandal." The cramped rooms, dark staircases, and dangerous nighttime streets all reinforce how poverty constrains the characters' choices and safety.
What is the dramatic irony in Raskolnikov's statement "I am not delirious"?
While he is lucid about Luzhin's unworthiness, the reader knows his broader mental disturbance stems from his concealed guilt over murder—something no one in the room suspects. His insistence on rationality is itself ironic given his true situation.
How does Dostoevsky use setting to reinforce mood in this chapter?
The cramped sickroom, dim staircase lit by Nastasya's candle, dark St. Petersburg streets, and the women's shabby lodgings all create a claustrophobic atmosphere that mirrors the characters' emotional confinement and Raskolnikov's psychological entrapment.
How does Dostoevsky use Razumihin's drunkenness as a narrative device?
Razumihin's intoxication allows Dostoevsky to blend comedy with sincerity. His drunken state explains his extravagant behavior (kneeling, throat-grabbing) while his genuine warmth and competence shine through, creating passages that are simultaneously absurd and emotionally revealing.
What does "monomania" mean in the context of Zossimov's diagnosis?
An obsessive preoccupation with a single idea or subject. Zossimov uses it to describe Raskolnikov's fixation, unknowingly pointing toward his "extraordinary man" theory and his guilt over the murders.
What does Razumihin mean when he calls Luzhin "a skin-flint"?
A miser or extremely stingy person. Razumihin uses the term as part of his denunciation of Luzhin, alongside "spy," "speculator," and "buffoon," to argue that Luzhin is unworthy of Dounia.
What does "crest-fallen" mean when Razumihin describes Luzhin leaving?
Dejected, humiliated, or dispirited. Razumihin says Luzhin "went out crest-fallen" after Raskolnikov drove him away, suggesting Luzhin's vanity was wounded when his attempt to impress failed.
Who says "Through error you come to the truth! I am a man because I err!" and what does it mean?
Razumihin says this during his drunken walk with the women. It expresses his belief that making one's own mistakes is essential to being fully human, and that authentic individual thinking—even when wrong—is superior to passively adopting others' ideas.
What does Raskolnikov mean when he says "You are marrying Luzhin for my sake. But I won't accept the sacrifice"?
He is telling Dounia that he knows she accepted Luzhin's proposal primarily to gain financial resources to support him. He refuses to benefit from her self-sacrifice, which he views as morally intolerable—even though his demand that she obey him is itself a form of control.