Ilya Petrovich

Assistant Police Superintendent, Lt Powder-Keg

Description: He wore a ginger moustache that stood up horizontally on both sides of a face that was almost entirely featureless, expressing nothing other than a certain insolence. 

Pronunciation

Part Two

Chapter 1

When they first meet, he gets into a shouting match with Raskolnikov. He then shouts at Louisa Ivanovna to reprimand her for a noisy party. He then goes on a rant about writers and how they’re ‘all the same’.

Nikodim Fomich, the police superintendent, enters and we learn of Ilya Petrovich’s nickname, Lieutenant Powder-Keg:

“Poverty is not a crime, my friend, whatever you think! We all know what a powder keg you are – can’t bear to be slighted. You’ve obviously taken offence at something, and couldn’t restrain yourself,” Nikodim Fomich continued, turning affably to Raskolnikov, “yet there was no need for that. He is the most ab-so-lute-ly splendid fellow, I can assure you, but he’s liable to erupt at any moment! He’ll flare up, become enraged and boil over –and then nothing! It’s all gone! So, when all’s said and done, he has a heart of gold! That’s what he was called in his regiment: ‘Lieutenant Powder-Keg’…”