Part V - Chapter V Practice Quiz — Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Part V - Chapter V
What news does Lebeziatnikov bring to Sonia's room at the start of Part V, Chapter V?
He reports that Katerina Ivanovna has gone out of her mind — she has been thrown out of officials' homes and is now forcing her children to sing and dance in the streets for money.
What does Katerina Ivanovna plan to do with her children in the streets?
She plans to dress them as street performers, have them sing French songs and dance, and beg for money outside the general's window to shame him into helping them.
Why does Dunya visit Raskolnikov in this chapter?
She comes to express her love and support after Razumikhin told her about the police suspicions against Raskolnikov. She promises to tell their mother nothing alarming and asks him to visit soon.
What does Raskolnikov say about Razumikhin to Dunya before she leaves?
He tells her that Razumikhin is "competent, hardworking, honest and capable of real love" — essentially endorsing him as a partner for Dunya, which alarms her because it sounds like a final farewell.
How does Katerina Ivanovna's street performance end?
A policeman intervenes, the children run away in terror, and Katerina stumbles and collapses while chasing them. She hemorrhages blood from her consumptive lungs and is carried to Sonia's room.
What happens to Katerina Ivanovna at Sonia's room?
She is laid on the bed, drifts in and out of delirium — singing song fragments and calling out to officials — refuses a priest, and dies of her consumption.
What does Svidrigailov offer to do after Katerina's death?
He offers to pay for the funeral, place Kolya and Lida in a good orphan asylum, and settle 1,500 roubles on each of the three children when they come of age.
What shocking revelation does Svidrigailov make at the end of the chapter?
He reveals that he lodges at Madame Resslich's, on the other side of the wall from Sonia's room, meaning he has overheard Raskolnikov's confession of murder to Sonia.
How does Katerina Ivanovna's character manifest in her final hours?
Her fierce pride dominates even in madness — she insists on her aristocratic heritage, demands her children speak French, and appeals to officials and the Tsar. She refuses a priest, believing God already knows her suffering.
What emotional state is Raskolnikov in during this chapter?
He is at his most isolated: "Never, never had he felt himself so fearfully alone." He feels a "cold leaden misery" with a sense of permanence. He simultaneously pushes away loved ones and reaches toward them.
How does Sonia behave throughout the chapter's crisis?
She runs after Katerina in the streets, weeps and begs her to come home, bends over her when she falls, and offers her own room for the dying woman. She embodies selfless devotion throughout.
What role does Lebeziatnikov play in this chapter?
He serves as messenger and practical helper — first alerting Sonia and Raskolnikov to Katerina's breakdown, then helping track down the street performance. He also absurdly suggests curing madness through logical argument.
What does Svidrigailov's behavior in this chapter reveal about him?
His generosity toward the orphans seems genuine, but his knowledge of Raskolnikov's confession gives him dangerous leverage. He combines apparent benevolence with sinister manipulation, echoing Raskolnikov's own words back to him.
How does the theme of pride versus humility appear in this chapter?
Katerina's aristocratic pride drives her mad performance and leads to her death, while she refuses spiritual humility by declining a priest. This contrasts with Sonia's humble, self-sacrificing love and quiet faith.
How does this chapter develop the theme of suffering and redemption?
Katerina believes her suffering should earn God's forgiveness without confession. Raskolnikov's growing isolation suggests suffering without purpose leads to despair. The chapter questions whether suffering alone can redeem without the willingness to confess and submit.
What does the chapter suggest about the relationship between madness and society?
Katerina's madness is shown as the logical endpoint of systemic cruelty — eviction, poverty, official indifference. Lebeziatnikov's naive belief that logic can cure madness satirizes rational approaches to problems rooted in social injustice.
How does the theme of isolation appear in Raskolnikov's scenes?
Despite Dunya's love and Sonia's devotion, Raskolnikov feels "fearfully alone." His guilt creates a barrier he cannot cross — he wants to embrace Dunya but fears she will "shudder" when she learns the truth. His crime has severed him from human connection.
What dramatic irony is present in Katerina Ivanovna's street performance?
She forces her children to sing French aristocratic songs to prove their gentility, but the performance only demonstrates the grotesque gap between her self-image and her actual circumstances — a consumptive woman dying in the streets.
How does Dostoevsky use foreshadowing in Raskolnikov's farewell to Dunya?
Raskolnikov's praise of Razumikhin and his inability to embrace his sister foreshadow his eventual confession and separation from his family. His thought "Perhaps it really would be better in Siberia" hints at his coming surrender.
What is the effect of Svidrigailov's echoing Raskolnikov's own words?
When Svidrigailov says the pawnbroker was not "a louse" and asks "is Luzhin to go on living... or is she to die?", he mirrors Raskolnikov's language from his confession. This creates a chilling recognition scene and establishes Svidrigailov as a dark double who has absorbed Raskolnikov's philosophy.
What does "consumption" refer to in the context of Katerina Ivanovna's illness?
Consumption is the 19th-century term for tuberculosis, a bacterial lung disease. Katerina's hemorrhaging — coughing up "nearly a pint of blood" — represents the terminal stage of the disease.
What is a "barrel-organ" that Katerina Ivanovna references?
A barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument played by turning a crank, commonly associated with street performers. Katerina plans to use one (or substitute a frying pan) as accompaniment for her children's begging performance.
What does "Cinq sous" mean in the song Katerina teaches her children?
"Cinq sous" means "five cents" in French. Katerina chooses this French song to demonstrate her children's aristocratic upbringing, ironically highlighting their desperate need for money.
Who says: "I have no sins. God must forgive me without that. He knows how I have suffered"?
Katerina Ivanovna says this on her deathbed when offered a priest. It reveals her belief that her immense suffering has already earned divine forgiveness without the need for confession.
Who says: "Never, never had he felt himself so fearfully alone"?
This is the narrator describing Raskolnikov's emotional state after returning to his room. It captures his deepening isolation as guilt separates him from everyone who cares about him.