Forgive me ... for having evil thoughts
Crime and Punishment Week 26: Part Four, Chapter 6
Welcome to Week 26 of my slow-read of Crime and Punishment. This week’s chapter is Part Four, Chapter 6.
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This week’s characters
(I don’t include Raskolnikov in this listing as he’s in most of the chapters)
Surprise!
Synopsis
After much kerfuffle, Nikolai bursts into the room where we left Raskolnikov and Porfiry at the end of the previous chapter. He gets down on his knees and confesses to the murder of both women… with an axe. It all seems staged, although Porfiry does seem to be genuinely surprised, as if his plan has gone awry.
You may recall that Nikolai was one of the two decorators who were working in the empty apartment where Raskolnikov took refuge on the night of the murder. He and the other decorator, Mitka, had run off down the stairs, leaving the apartment empty, and were fighting each other in a playful manner out in the courtyard.
Porfiry accuses Nikolai of having had words put in his mouth after his confession, a comment which does not go unnoticed by Raskolnikov. Porfiry dismisses Raskolnikov at this point, but lets him know that he’ll need to talk with him again at a later date. Raskolnikov is feeling more level-headed now and apologises for his previous outburst; then goes on to declare that he considers Porfiry’s profession to be comical. We then get another reference to Gogol.
"Tee-hee! Very witty sir, very witty indeed... you don't miss a thing, do you? Such a lively mind! And you're always quick to see the funny side of things... tee-hee! Wasn't it Gogol, of all writers, who was apparently most adept at that?"
“Yes, it was.”
“So there we are… Gogol it was… looking forward to our next meeting my dear sir.”
Raskolnikov goes straight home and finds himself in a bit of a bewildered state. He’s aware that he almost gave the game away in response to Porfiry’s questioning. He has to use this reprieve to dig himself out of the hole. And he’s wondering what Porfiry’s purported ‘surprise’ was all about? Was it still to come?
The door to his apartment then swings open and in steps a stranger. It’s a tradesman, one who was at the bottom of the stairs when Raskolnikov had gone back to the apartment after the murder in a delirious state, demanding to see the blood. The tradesman had reported to Porfiry about having seen Raskolnikov at the apartment that night, whereupon Porfiry had seized the opportunity and set up a sting, hiding the tradesman behind a partition and having him poised to appear at a certain moment of the interview, thus entrapping Raskolnikov. Only Nikolai’s entrance spoiled the whole plan and then the tradesman was dismissed from the police station just after Raskolnikov. So the tradesman goes round to Raskolnikov’s to seek forgiveness for his part in the pantomime. Raskolnikov informs him that God will forgive him. He leaves, and then Raskolnikov states, ‘Now we can put up a fight,’ as he leaves his apartment to head to Marmeladov’s wake.
It’s rather a farcical chapter. The interview scene was a set-up on Porfiry’s part and it didn’t go to plan. Had it done so, the story might well have ended here with a confession from Raskolnikov. But he got away when the plan went wrong and is now out there wondering what to do with himself. You can bet your bottom dollar that that interview won’t be the last time that he and Porfiry cross swords. But what will happen before that?
All quotations in this post are taken from Roger Cockrell’s translation of 2022, Alma Classics, © Roger Cockrell 2022
Translation Points
I’ve chosen the idiom from Cockrell’s translation ‘throw caution to the wind’ as it struck me as particularly elegant within the context.
The full sentence from which this idiom is lifted is available on the Translation Comparison spreadsheet, along with examples from all the chapters of the book up to this point.
Russian - Порфирий действовал хотя слишком решительно, но почти наверное.
Garnett - Porfiry, though playing a bold game
Coulson - though perhaps he had pursued it too vigorously
McDuff - Porfiry had acted, if somewhat too vigorously
P&V - Porfiry had acted almost unerringly, albeit too resolutely.
Ready - Porfiry had taken excessively drastic, but almost unerring steps.
Pasternak Slater - though overly decisive
Katz - Porfiry's strategy now, though overly decisive
Cockrell - Porfiry might have thrown caution to the wind
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Chapters 5 and 6 almost had the quality of a play, I thought. All this shouting and whispering and banging fists on tables — in my mind's eye I could see two actors on a stage working hard on this scene. Both chapters really grabbed me though at the same time they felt very strange. Imagine having a conversation like that with a policeman...
"Throw caution to the wind"—what a brilliant choice by Cockrell! Her translation surpasses the original since it adds an interesting idiom that wasn't there before.
However, the Russian phrase needs completion, since using "хотя" requires a corresponding "но" clause—otherwise it's syntactically incomplete and awkward. — «Порфирий действовал хотя слишком решительно, но почти наверное».
Though I should note that this phrasing sounds dated now. Modern Russian would use "наверняка" instead of "наверное".