Crime and Punishment Ch. 31: Katerina's Death

Summary

Lebeziatnikov bursts in on Sonia and Raskolnikov: Katerina Ivanovna has gone out of her mind. She was turned away from generals, plans a barrel-organ in the street, beats the children in actor caps. Sonia runs out; Raskolnikov and Lebeziatnikov follow. Lebeziatnikov lectures on curing insanity with logic in Paris while Raskolnikov returns to his garret and feels never had he felt himself so fearfully alone, resolving she shall not come to prison.

Dounia visits briefly with love, Razumihin’s reassurance, and a message that she will not tell their mother everything. Raskolnikov praises Razumihin awkwardly as a parting hint, then sends her away so he can face what comes without dragging her into his garret dread. Lebeziatnikov finds him again: Katerina leads the children on the canal bank near Sonia’s lodging, clapping and singing Cinq sous while crowds jeer. Raskolnikov tries boarding-school vanity; she raves about the inkpot thrown at the general, counts Polenka’s farthings, sings Marlborough and French songs in torn green shawl and crushed hat.

A policeman and a sympathetic official intervene; Kolya and Lida flee, Katerina runs after them, falls, and blood pours from her chest, not a stone cut. They carry her to Sonia’s room. Delirium mixes dance steps, Dagestan, appeals to excellency; she hands the children to Sonia, cries The ball is over, refuses the priest, and dies with a deep sigh. Sonia holds the body; Polenka and the little ones scream in turban and feather cap.

Svidrigailov appears, offers funeral and orphan arrangements, fifteen hundred roubles each for the children, help for Sonia, and spends Dunya’s ten thousand. He quotes Raskolnikov’s louse speech from the confession overheard through the wall and insists she wasn’t a louse. Raskolnikov turns white. Svidrigailov has been standing in the doorway. He will put Polenka and the little ones into an orphan asylum and settle fifteen hundred roubles to each on coming of age, so Sonia need have no anxiety. The certificate of merit lies on the bed. Lebeziatnikov says she is dead. Rodion Romanovitch, I must have two words with you, says Svidrigailov, coming up to the window. He points to the corner where the dead woman lies.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Reading Help That Heard Your Secret

Charity after confession can feel like mercy and still be leverage. After Raskolnikov tells Sonia the truth, Katerina dies in her room and Svidrigailov offers funeral funds while quoting his private words about lice, overheard through the wall.

Before you accept help from someone who knew your secret first, ask what they heard and what friendship will cost your family.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Polenka

Katerina dies in the room, and Svidrigailov offers funeral money with questions attached. Polenka is the child who will be left with that bargain. Help that arrives in the same hour as a secret is never only mercy, and he has learned how to stand in the doorway holding both the coins and the leverage.

Continue this thoughtSvidrigailov Lives the Theory Without the Fever

Coming Up in Chapter 32

A strange period began for Raskolnikov: it was as though a fog had fallen upon him and wrapped him in a dreary solitude from which there was no escape. Recalling that period long after, he believed that his mind had been clouded at times.

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Chapter 31

Katerina's Death

Lebeziatnikov looked perturbed. “I’ve come to you, Sofya Semyonovna,” he began. “Excuse me... I thought I should find you,” he said, addressing Raskolnikov suddenly, “that is, I didn’t mean anything... of that sort... But I just thought... Katerina Ivanovna has gone out of her mind,” he blurted out suddenly, turning from Raskolnikov to Sonia. Sonia screamed. “At least it seems so. But... we don’t know what to do, you see! She came back—she seems to have been turned out somewhere, perhaps beaten.... So it seems at least.... She had run to your father’s former chief, she didn’t find him at…

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Katerina's Death

Summary

Why This Matters