Plot Summary
Part IV, Chapter III of Crime and Punishment opens with a psychological portrait of Pyotr Petrovitch Luzhin reeling from his broken engagement to Dounia. The chapter begins inside Luzhin's mind as he processes his humiliation, revealing the true nature of his feelings: he never loved Dounia as a person but coveted a beautiful, impoverished, grateful wife who would worship him and advance his social ambitions. His vanity and self-admiration are laid bare—he had fantasized for years about possessing a helpless woman who would be "slavishly grateful all her life for his heroic condescension."
The scene shifts to the Raskolnikov family. Dounia confesses she was tempted by Luzhin's money but is relieved the engagement is broken. Pulcheria Alexandrovna thanks God for their deliverance. Razumikhin is quietly elated—the obstacle to his love for Dounia has been removed. Only Raskolnikov remains brooding and indifferent despite having orchestrated Luzhin's departure.
Character Development
Raskolnikov relays Svidrigaïlov's offer of ten thousand roubles to Dounia and his desire for a meeting. The family reacts with alarm, but Dounia is "strangely impressed" and senses that Svidrigaïlov "has got some terrible plan." Razumikhin enthusiastically offers to protect the family and proposes an ambitious publishing venture—borrowing capital from his uncle combined with Dounia's three thousand roubles—to translate and publish European books. The plan energizes everyone, and even Raskolnikov endorses the idea.
Themes and Motifs
The chapter's emotional center arrives when Raskolnikov abruptly announces he must leave his family. He tells his mother and sister: "it would be better for us to part for a time. I feel ill, I am not at peace." His farewell carries an ominous finality—"perhaps it is the last time we shall see each other"—hinting at his growing awareness that his crime has irrevocably separated him from those he loves. The themes of alienation, guilt, and isolation crystallize in this moment.
Literary Devices
The chapter concludes with a powerful scene in the darkened corridor. Raskolnikov and Razumikhin stare at each other in silence, and "something strange, as it were, passed between them… some idea, some hint… something awful, hideous, and suddenly understood on both sides." This moment of unspoken recognition—where Razumikhin intuits the terrible secret Raskolnikov carries—is one of Dostoevsky's masterful uses of psychological suspense. Razumikhin turns pale but accepts his charge to care for the family, becoming a surrogate son and brother "from that evening."