An Overview---Svidrigailov discloses to Raskolnikov a lot about his life. He tells his side of the story regarding Dunya. The way he tells it, Dunya wasn't as innocent as everyone believes, but that she liked him too.
-He says that he now has a fiance, therefore that R's suspicions about him going after Dunya are erroneous. The fiance is only a very young girl, and Svidgigailov apparently has no moral qualms about this, and his other lecherous exploits. This disgusts and infuriates Raskolnikov.
-R is intent on accompanying Svid, but Svid eventually gives him the slip, allowing him to follow through with his intentions to meet with Dunya on a bridge. R happens to be on the bridge also, but is oblivious to the meeting.
-Svidrigailov takes Dunya back to his rooms, locks her in, and sets about telling her that her brother is the murderer. He sets himself up to be the saviour, and pledges his love to her. If she will be with him, he can save her brother.
-Dunya tries to flee when S starts to force himself on her. She draws a pistol- which she had stolen from him when she suspected him poisoning his wife- and shoots twice, barely grazing him. He asks her to shoot him properly, but she can't, and flees.
-Svidrigailov goes to see Sonya, gives her a stack of money, and tells her that he knows everything about the murders.
-He leaves, and wanders off into the rain. He gets a room for the night, where he has nightmares. In one dream he helps a five year old girl, only for her to turn into some kind of harlot. In the dream he feels horrible about this.
-The following morning, Svidrigailov leaves, takes the gun and goes somewhere on a mission. He finds a man, and standing in front of him, puts the gun to his temple and kills himself.
Svidrigailov's Exit--
The majority of this section has followed Svid, and we have finally found out the truth about him, with the author letting us in on the characters' strange, private thought process. In some ways I found him a sadder character than Raskolnikov, and one that I could sympathise more with. It was really shocking, the way the story followed his downward spiral to suicide, and really quite moving. What made him somewhat redeeming for me, was his dream about the little girl. Even though he showed so much apathy in waking life to his lecherous ways, this dream seems to show that there was more going on deep inside him, that he did feel shame, and that he did have genuine desires to love and help in a proper way.
Like Brother like Sister?--
The episode with Dunya drawing the pistol was very surprising and suspenseful. Dunya was able to pull the trigger. Is she like her brother? there is a lot to compare and contrast. Her motives are a lot different, driven by fear, and love for her brother. Also, with the final chance to take the fatal shot at Svidrigailov, she chose not to do it. It really seemed to me like a choice, rather than that she couldn't do it. The easiest thing would have been to shoot, but she didn't. To me she is a lot stronger than her brother, though he was the one who was able to 'cross over'.
For Next Week-- Read Part 6, vii-end!
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