Crime and Punishment Ch. 34: Svidrigailov at the Tavern

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Svidrigailov at the Tavern

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Summary

Part VI Chapter III sends Raskolnikov to Svidrigailov after Porfiry's open accusation, not to the police or the Haymarket cross Sonia described. He wonders whether Svidrigailov has been to Porfiry, whether manoeuvring to block that visit is even worth the fatigue, and fears the man knows his secret and may use Dunya if he learned it from the wall. Dunya's letter that morning gnaws at him; Luzhin or another hand may be moving. He thinks he should tell Razumihin but recoils. In cold despair he decides that then he shall kill him if his sister is harmed. Sonia stands in his mind as an irrevocable sentence he cannot face yet; Svidrigailov is the meeting he cannot postpone, though their evil is not the same kind.

On X. Prospect he finds Svidrigailov in a tavern window with a pipe, then in a dirty back room with champagne, a hand-organ girl named Katia, and obsequious Philip. The saloon roars with singers and billiards while they sit over half a glass and leftover steak. Each watched the other pretend not to see; each accuses the other of feigning sleep at the doorway. Svidrigailov mocks miracle talk, says he told Raskolnikov the tavern address twice while he lay on the sofa, and claims it has been stamped mechanically on his memory, then lectures on Petersburg men who walk talking to themselves and warns that someone besides him may be watching.

Raskolnikov cuts through the performance: if Svidrigailov pursues Dunya using what was discovered, I will kill you before you get me locked up. He demands any real news at once because time is precious. Svidrigailov laughs at plans, calls himself nothing with no specialty, admits card-sharping and a passion for women, debates vice as occupation and disease, then flinches from suicide talk and admits he is afraid of death and somewhat a mystic. He is rushing off to a casual woman but will spare an hour, he says, and hid like a schoolboy in the window because Raskolnikov might hinder him from whatever appointment pulls him away. Raskolnikov rises, disgusted at the braggart Schiller talk and the filth of the room; Svidrigailov begs him stay and offers to tell how a woman tried to save him, your sister, adding that Avdotya Romanovna can only excite the deepest respect.

The chapter is the tavern duel of two predators, not Raskolnikov's police confession or kissing the earth at Sonia's command. He leaves still sickened by Svidrigailov's face like a young mask and by the offer hanging in the air. Part VI Chapter IV continues Svidrigailov's long story of Dunya and what happened when she tried to save him.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Reading a Staged Coincidence

A meeting that feels fated is often a direction you were given twice while half listening. Svidrigailov sits in the tavern window on the X Prospect, says he stamped the address on Raskolnikov's memory, and moves toward a story about Dunya.

Before you trust chance, ask who told you where to go and what family lever comes next.

Coming Up in Chapter 35

Svidrigailov tells how Dunya once tried to save him, binding Raskolnikov's jealousy and dread before the next move toward Sonia or the police Part VI Chapter IV continues in the tavern where Svidrigailov, flushed on champagne, tells Raskolnikov how he once pursued Dunya. He opens with debtors' prison and Marfa Petrovna buying him out, then the unwritten marriage contract: he would stay her husband.

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Original text

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Chapter 34

Svidrigailov at the Tavern

He hurried to Svidrigaïlov’s. What he had to hope from that man he did not know. But that man had some hidden power over him. Having once recognised this, he could not rest, and now the time had come. On the way, one question particularly worried him: had Svidrigaïlov been to Porfiry’s? As far as he could judge, he would swear to it, that he had not. He pondered again and again, went over Porfiry’s visit; no, he hadn’t been, of course he hadn’t. But if he had not been yet, would he go? Meanwhile, for the present he fancied…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

Map a Planted Meeting

Describe a time you arrived somewhere without planning to and found someone waiting who claimed it was fate. What directions had you heard before? What did they want to discuss about someone you love?

Consider:

•Who repeated the address or time
•Whether you were tired or distracted when told
•What story about family followed the coincidence

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Svidrigailov at the Tavern

Summary