Plot Summary
Part V, Chapter III of Crime and Punishment takes place during Katerina Ivanovna’s disastrous memorial dinner for her late husband Marmeladov. The chapter’s central drama is Luzhin’s attempt to frame Sonia as a thief. Pyotr Petrovitch Luzhin arrives at the gathering and publicly accuses Sonia of stealing a hundred-rouble note from his table. Sonia, terrified and bewildered, denies the charge, but when Katerina Ivanovna angrily turns out Sonia’s pockets to prove her innocence, a folded hundred-rouble note tumbles out—planted there by Luzhin himself.
Character Development
This chapter is a pivotal moment for several characters. Luzhin reveals the full depth of his pettiness and calculated malice: having been rejected by Dunya and humiliated by Raskolnikov, he orchestrates an elaborate revenge scheme using Sonia as a pawn. Lebeziatnikov, Luzhin’s own roommate and a previously comic figure, rises to the occasion as an unlikely hero. He witnessed Luzhin secretly slip the note into Sonia’s pocket and exposes the plot in a passionate, breathless speech. Raskolnikov then delivers a calm, devastating explanation of Luzhin’s motive: by proving Sonia a thief, Luzhin hoped to vindicate his earlier insinuations to Dunya and their mother, thereby restoring himself to their good graces. Katerina Ivanovna fiercely defends Sonia throughout, her consumptive body trembling with rage and maternal devotion. Sonia herself remains largely passive and speechless, overwhelmed by the injustice—yet her quiet suffering deepens Raskolnikov’s resolve to seek her out.
Themes and Motifs
The chapter dramatizes the theme of justice versus manipulation. Luzhin weaponizes social respectability and legal threat against the most vulnerable person in the room, illustrating how power can be wielded through accusation alone. The theme of self-sacrifice appears through both Sonia and Katerina Ivanovna: Katerina invokes Sonia’s “yellow passport” (prostitution license), reminding the crowd that Sonia sold herself to feed her family. The motif of public shame recurs throughout, as the gathered lodgers form a kind of improvised court whose judgment shifts with each new revelation. Dostoevsky also explores the idea that truth emerges through unlikely witnesses—neither the rational intellectual nor the respectable gentleman, but the awkward, shortsighted Lebeziatnikov and the impoverished Raskolnikov bring the truth to light.
Literary Devices
Dostoevsky employs dramatic irony throughout the chapter: the reader senses Luzhin’s guilt before it is revealed, particularly through his overly detailed and self-serving accusation. The chapter reads almost as a courtroom drama, with Luzhin as prosecutor, Sonia as defendant, Lebeziatnikov as surprise witness, and Raskolnikov as defense counsel. Physical symbolism reinforces the moral structure: the crumpled ten-rouble note that Katerina flings at Luzhin’s face becomes a gesture of defiance, while the planted hundred-rouble note “describing a parabola in the air” is described with almost scientific precision, underscoring the cold calculation behind the frame-up. The chapter concludes with Raskolnikov’s quiet determination to visit Sonia, setting up the confessional scene that follows.