None of you are worth her little finger.
Crime and Punishment Week 29: Part Five, Chapter 3
Welcome to Week 29 of my slow-read of Crime and Punishment. This week’s chapter is Part Five, Chapter 3.
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This week’s characters
(I don’t include Raskolnikov in this listing as he’s in most of the chapters)
Luzhin • Lebezyatnikov • Sonya • Amalia Lippewechsel • Katerina Ivanovna
That Luzhin is some guy.
Synopsis
Luzhin enters. Katerina Ivanovna entreats him to help her and he refuses, stating that he will not get involved in her spat with Amalia and that he’s come on business and wishes to speak to Sonya. He commences with his speech in which he accuses Sonya of having stolen a one-hundred rouble note from Lebezyatnikov’s apartment. So that was his game when he invited her round and magnanimously gave her ten roubles. This phrase shows just what a despicable man he is: ‘… and finally taking into account your position in society and its associated behaviour…’. Ugh.
Katerina explodes in Sonya’s defence and throws the crumpled-up ten-rouble note back at Luzhin, hitting him in the eye. She declares that she’ll go to the Tsar himself to seek retribution and invites Luzhin to search Sonya in front of everyone. This he does and—surprise, surprise—a folded-up one-hundred-rouble note falls out of her pocket. Obviously Sonya is both mystified and mortified. Katerina denounces Luzhin as a slanderer and entreats Rodion to speak up on Sonya’s behalf. Luzhin explains that, though he is outraged at the theft, he’s willing to let it slide. At this point, Lebezyatnikov speaks up, calling Luzhin a blackguard and remonstrates with him for inviting Lebezyatnikov to speak up as witness.
"I'm perfectly sane... but you... you're an absolute blackguard! Oh, that was such a low trick on your part! I stood there listening to everything you said, deliberately waiting so that I could understand it all, since, I must confess, it doesn't make perfect sense even now... But what impelled you to do it, I have no idea."
"But do what, for Heaven's sake? Stop talking in nonsensical riddles like this! Or maybe it's because you've had too much to drink?"
"You're the one, you vile man, who's maybe had too much to drink, not me! I never drink vodka at all, since it's against my principles! Can you believe it: it was him all along! He was the one who gave Sofya Semyonovna that hundred-rouble note with his own hands - I saw it, with my own eyes.
I will swear to it! It was him, it was him!" Lebezyatnikov insisted, turning to each and every person in the room.
Lebezyatnikov then goes on to explain how he’d seen Luzhin’s depositing the one-hundred-rouble note in Sonya’s pocket and how he’d wondered what his reason could be. There seems no doubt that he’s telling the truth. In fact, the reason he’d called round in the first place was that he was worried that Sonya—not knowing that it was in her pocket—might lose the banknote and he wanted to whisper in her ear that it was there in order to prevent that from happening.
Of course Luzhin tries to deny everything that Lebezyatnikov has levelled against him, but no one in the room is buying it. Rodion steps in with an explanation. In his opinion, it was done to drive a wedge between Rodion and his mother and sister, to prove to the women that Rodion was frittering away the money they’d given him on Sonya, a young woman of the oldest profession.
By the way, here is Rodion, the man who a few chapters earlier was positively ill with nervous tension, giving a clear, calm and eloquent explanation. Is this because he’s employing virtue ethics to defend a defenceless woman? Yes, I’m reading Aristotle right now, which is why this scene stands out to me in philosophical terms. When Rodion’s worrying about what he’s done and being caught, he’s weak and ill, but when he steps out of himself and uses his intellect to help someone, he becomes hale and hearty. Just a thought.
His decisive tone, convinced manner and stern expression had made an extraordinary impression on everybody.
Luzhin senses that the gig is up and leaves, denouncing Lebezyatnikov as an idiot and telling them all that they haven’t heard the last of it. Sonya left in shame just after him. A drunk side-character throws a glass at Luzhin as he departs, but misses and instead hits Amalia. She reacts by giving Katerina Ivanovna her marching orders from the apartment. Katerina is distraught and claims that she’s going to find justice:
"What! As if that godless slander weren't enough - now this vile creature's attacking me! I'm being kicked out of my apartment on the day of my husband's funeral... After all my hospitality, I'm being turned out onto the street with my orphans! But where shall I go?" the poor woman howled, sobbing and gasping for breath. "Good Lord," she cried, her eyes flashing, "is there no justice? Who would you want to protect, if not us orphans? But we'll see! There is justice and truth in this world - there is, and I will find it! This instant, just you wait, you godless creature! Polechka, stay here with the children, I'll be right back. Wait for me, on the street, if you have to! We'll see if there's justice in this world!"
Q: Why do you think Raskolnikov seems so strong in this chapter?
All quotations in this post are taken from Roger Cockrell’s translation of 2022, Alma Classics, © Roger Cockrell 2022
Translation Points
I loved the phrase out of tune in Cockrell’s translation for the Russian verb не гармонировал. It’s literal and musical. I was intrigued to see how the others had dealt with it. Let’s take a look.
The full phrase whence this sentence is lifted is available to read on the comparison spreadsheet.
I feel like any translator using a variant of the word harmony is being a bit too literal. Ready’s utterly out of place is a nice rendering too, as in fact is Garnett’s slightly incongruous. It just shows you how even such a simple verb can be played around with.
Russian - Кроме того, что этот "деловой и серьезный" человек слишком уж резко не гармонировал со всею компанией
Garnett - Not only was this “serious business man” strikingly incongruous
Coulson - Besides the fact that this 'solid citizen' was sharply out of harmony
McDuff - For in addition to the fact that this 'serious and businesslike' man all too plainly failed to harmonize
P&V - Besides the fact that this "businesslike and serious" man was so sharply out of harmony
Ready - Leaving aside the fact that this 'business-like and serious' man looked utterly out of place
Pasternak Slater - Not only was this 'businesslike and serious' person quite out of keeping
Katz - Besides, this "businesslike and earnest" man seemed in such disharmony
Cockrell - Apart from the fact that this "serious and businesslike" man seemed strikingly out of tune with everyone else in the room
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That's an interesting note about Aristotle. It's actually surprising that Rodion spoke so coherently. I looked into it, and at the time when he was at university, they weren't yet training lawyers and weren't teaching any public speaking skills. And he was generally an introvert, not particularly sociable - so where he developed such eloquence is questionable. I'm not sure if Dostoevsky meant to suggest here an unusually awakened gift of eloquence because he was finally defending someone else. But this monologue really stands in stark contrast to all his other speeches.