Crime and Punishment Ch. 15: Me or Luzhin

Summary

Raskolnikov wakes from his faint to find Pulcheria and Dunya at his bedside, faces agonized and hands trembling. He cuts off Razumihin's warm consolations, grips mother and sister, and in a broken voice sends them away with him for the night. When his mother vows to stay, he cries don't torture me. Dunya whispers them out. Alone with his family gone, he rallies enough to deliver a command: he does not want that marriage; at the first opportunity tomorrow Dunya must refuse Luzhin so they never hear his name again. This marriage is an infamy. He will act like a scoundrel, but they must not. It's me or Luzhin. Go now. He turns to the wall and will not hear another word.

Razumihin bustles as nurse and host, then escorts the ladies down the dark stairs, scolding Nastasya and the landlady. He warns that Rodya slipped out today while delirious, that the Bakaleyev lodgings Luzhin chose are foul, and that the family must not tell Rodya about a letter or anything that could shock him. At the street door he learns they arrived that evening on a late train. His devotion is clumsy but fierce: he will sit up all night, chase visitors from his own party, and keep the invalid in sight.

On the pavement Razumihin, drunk from his uncle's champagne, becomes eloquent and unguarded. He kisses the ladies' hands, praises Dunya's beauty, and declares that to go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. Then he blurts what he has seen: your fiancé is a scoundrel. Pulcheria is scandalized; Dunya flushes. He insists Luzhin is unworthy, describes the wretched rooms, and offers himself as protector while stumbling through the night air.

Zossimov follows to consult. In the ladies' new lodging he diagnoses something approaching a monomania, urges quiet and no upsetting news, and promises a calm visit at ten tomorrow. Razumihin's jealousy flickers when the doctor praises Dunya's looks; the two young men half quarrel over who may help. Razumihin jokes that Praskovya Pavlovna the landlady wants him to marry her daughter, then swears he will bring Raskolnikov to the ladies in the morning. Part III opens with the family reunited but the Luzhin engagement on the knife-edge Raskolnikov has forced, while Razumihin's love and Zossimov's clinical worry circle the secret he still cannot speak. Nastasya and the landlady hover; the uncle's party still roars upstairs. Dunya has not yet agreed, only heard. Pulcheria trembles between gratitude to Razumihin and horror at his bluntness. The engagement that was to save the family now hangs on a sick man's command and a drunk friend's insult, with the police story still unspoken in the room they left behind.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Blocking a Harmful Match Without Full Disclosure

When you cannot tell the whole story, you can still forbid a concrete harm. Dostoevsky shows Raskolnikov ordering Dunya to refuse Luzhin while Razumihin calls the fiancé a scoundrel.

That skill matters whenever a relative faces a coercive partner and you hold secrets that explain the urgency.

Coming Up in Chapter 16

In the morning Razumihin will wake ashamed, Luzhin's letter will arrive about Marmeladov's money, and the family will meet Raskolnikov at ten with the engagement still unresolved Razumihin wakes at eight haunted by the thrice accursed yesterday: drunk, base and mean, he abused Dunya's fiancé from stupid jealousy though he knows nothing of Luzhin or their bargain. He scrubs, dresses carefully, and swears to.

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Original text

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Chapter 15

Me or Luzhin

PART III CHAPTER I Raskolnikov got up, and sat down on the sofa. He waved his hand weakly to Razumihin to cut short the flow of warm and incoherent consolations he was addressing to his mother and sister, took them both by the hand and for a minute or two gazed from one to the other without speaking. His mother was alarmed by his expression. It revealed an emotion agonisingly poignant, and at the same time something immovable, almost insane. Pulcheria Alexandrovna began to cry. Avdotya Romanovna was pale; her hand trembled in her brother’s. “Go home... with him,” he…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

When to Say No to the Match

Identify a time a relative faced a commitment that felt exploitative (partner, job, loan, landlord). Write what you could oppose without full disclosure, who could speak for you, and what harm blocking it might prevent. Compare Raskolnikov's refuse Luzhin order and Razumihin's scoundrel speech.

Consider:

•Separate protecting someone from controlling them
•Notice who carries truth when the patient cannot
•Ask what tomorrow's confrontation will cost the silent person

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Me or Luzhin

Summary