Human nature is like a mirror
Crime and Punishment Week 25: Part Four, Chapter 5
Welcome to Week 25 of my slow-read of Crime and Punishment. This week’s chapter is Part Four, Chapter 5.
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This week’s characters
(I don’t include Raskolnikov in this listing as he’s in most of the chapters)
A long chapter set in the police station, with a lot of dialogue between Rodion and Porfiry Petrovich, the lead investigator of the double murder.
Synopsis
Rodion goes to see Porfiry Petrovich. He brings an application to have his pawned watch returned to him. I can relate to how he’s overthinking every little phrase, as if wondering what an innocent man would sound like and trying to sound like that.
Rodion goes off on a bit of a rant, asking Porfiry to get on with the questioning or let him go in peace because he’s busy and has stuff to do, such as go to Marmeladov’s funeral.
Porfiry explains that the ‘formal techniques’ that Rodion mentioned in his rant about how interrogations are conducted have their place, but that there is more to be gained from informal conversations. He points out that, when intelligent, thinking men like he and Rodion get together, it can often be awkward to get a conversation going.
It then gets very interesting, as Porfiry explains that no case is ever a textbook case; they all have their own peculiarities. Sometimes he may have firm evidence against a suspect but still allows the suspect to think he’s free so that he ends up hanging himself with his own rope. No, bad analogy, let’s go with the analogy Porfiry used, which is to say that the suspect is like a moth, unable to resist natural law, flying around a candle flame. It feels very much like he knows that Rodion is the murderer, not only to us the readers, but also to Rodion. He turns white and tries to compose himself, all the while feeling caught.
Human nature is like a mirror, sir, the clearest of mirrors! Look into it and admire what you see!
Porfiry continues in this vein until he provokes a response from Rodion, which he gets and then some. Rodion shouts at him to be quiet. If he believes him to be guilty of the double murder, then he should arrest him and get on with it, otherwise he should shut up.
Porfiry goes on to say that Razumikhin and he had had dinner the previous night and that Porfiry knows all about Rodion’s exploits, including that he’d gone to enquire about renting the apartment where the murders took place and questioned the workmen about the blood.
We leave the chapter as Rodion is about to walk out, after reacting pretty badly to Porfiry’s ranting, whereupon Porfiry announces that he has a surprise for Rodion.
And in walks…
See you in the next chapter!
All quotations in this post are taken from Roger Cockrell’s translation of 2022, Alma Classics, © Roger Cockrell 2022
Translation Points
This week I’ve chosen the idiom ‘in our neck of the woods’ from this paragraph on p314 of Cockrell:
“Ah, my dear fellow! So you’ve come to see us… in our neck of the woods…” Porfiry began, holding out both hands to him.
Russian - в наших краях
Garnett - in our domain
Coulson - in our territory
McDuff - in our neck of the woods
P&V - in our parts
Ready - in our neck of the woods
Pasternak Slater - in our part of town
Katz - in our territory
Cockrell - in our neck of the woods
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