Crime and Punishment Ch. 35: Svidrigailov on Dunya

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Svidrigailov on Dunya

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Summary

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, never leave without permission, never keep a permanent mistress, while she allowed maids with her secret knowledge and demanded he confess any serious passion. He speaks a decorous funeral oration for Marfa Petrovna, then turns to your sister: Marfa Petrovna fell in love with Dunya as governess, told her every family secret, and resented Svidrigailov's silence until rumors about his past filled Dunya's ears.

Raskolnikov interrupts with Luzhin's charge about a child's death and the footman who came after death to fill his pipe; Svidrigailov waves both away with annoyance but admits the gossip worked in his favor. He describes Dunya's natural aversion giving way to pity for a lost soul, the bird flying into the cage of herself, bound to want to save him, and boasts how he used flattery, the weapon that never fails, because nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery. He calls her a potential martyr, almost morbidly chaste, then the Parasha scandal, garden confrontations, interviews, tears, and eyes that frightened her and later haunted his dreams until frenzy drove him to offer thirty thousand roubles to run away to Petersburg with eternal vows. Marfa Petrovna then nearly matched Dunya to Luzhin through a scoundrelly attorney, the same bargain he had proposed.

Raskolnikov, seeing the wine take hold, accuses him of coming to Petersburg with designs on Dunya. Svidrigailov deflects, jokes about secrets between lovers, then answers in one word that he is going to get married, a betrothed arranged by Madame Resslich: a sixteen-year-old in a muslin frock, diamonds worth fifteen hundred roubles, kisses on his knee, and talk of nature and truth while everyone deceives himself. He brags of a cancan hall, a thirteen-year-old dancer, and taking home a mother he flattered with money and lessons, until Raskolnikov calls him a depraved Schiller and Svidrigailov laughs that he tells these tales for the pleasure of hearing outcries. Philip brings water; Svidrigailov pays, grows ruder, and walks toward the Hay Market while Raskolnikov follows on the pavement, uneasy and suspicious of whatever appointment or design still hides behind the monologue. Raskolnikov had come for news after threatening murder if Dunya were used in the prior chapter; he leaves with disgust, jealousy, and no confession of his own crime. This chapter is Svidrigailov's Dunya confession in the tavern, not Sonia's faith scene or legal aftermath; Part VI Chapter V continues toward the Hay Market.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Separating Pity from Permission

Compassion becomes a lever when someone narrates your urge to save them as a trap they prepared. Svidrigailov tells how Dunya pitied him, how flattery worked better than truth, and how thirty thousand roubles nearly bought her before he boasts a child bride.

When a dangerous man praises your family's goodness, name his designs aloud and refuse to follow without a plan.

Coming Up in Chapter 36

Svidrigailov walks toward the Hay Market on business he will not delay; Raskolnikov follows, still unsure whether the betrothal story hides a move against Dunya Part VI Chapter V opens with Raskolnikov following Svidrigailov from the Hay Market, refusing to lose sight of him because the half-tipsy marriage stories have not ended his designs on Dunya, especially after her letter that morning. They measure.

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Original text

4,381 wordscomplete

Chapter 35

Svidrigailov on Dunya

“You know perhaps—yes, I told you myself,” began Svidrigaïlov, “that I was in the debtors’ prison here, for an immense sum, and had not any expectation of being able to pay it. There’s no need to go into particulars how Marfa Petrovna bought me out; do you know to what a point of insanity a woman can sometimes love? She was an honest woman, and very sensible, although completely uneducated. Would you believe that this honest and jealous woman, after many scenes of hysterics and reproaches, condescended to enter into a kind of contract with me which she kept throughout…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

Audit a Rescue Fantasy

Describe a time someone cast your kindness as their opportunity while telling stories meant to shock or distract you. What did they want you to stop questioning?

Consider:

•Whether pity was treated as consent
•What flattery or shock story followed
•What you did when they walked away smiling

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Svidrigailov on Dunya

Summary