Crime and Punishment · Chapter
II explained
Raskolnikov, in a state of panic after the murder, retrieves the stolen goods from his room and desperately tries to dispose of them.
What happens
Raskolnikov, in a state of panic after the murder, retrieves the stolen goods from his room and desperately tries to dispose of them. His initial plan to throw them in the canal is thwarted by people, leading him to hide them under a stone in a deserted courtyard. A moment of intense relief is followed by a return of psychological torment, including a hallucinatory episode where he believes the police are beating his landlady. Nastasya attends to him, suggesting his experiences are hallucinations born of illness and guilt.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the emotional peak where Katerina Ivanovna's desperate, final appeal for respect and protection is pub…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Psychological Torment
Raskolnikov's frantic actions, paranoia, and the hallucination of the landlady's beating demonstrate his rapidly deteriorating mental state post-crime.
- Guilt and Conscience
His inability to even look at the stolen goods and the 'blood crying in your ears' hallucination point to a subconscious, tormenting guilt manifesting physically.
Characters to notice
- Raskolnikov
Panicked and feverish, he retrieves and hides the stolen goods, experiences a brief moment of relief, then descends into deeper psychological torment and hallucination.
- the landlady
Appears in Raskolnikov's hallucination as being beaten by Ilya Petrovitch; Nastasya later denies any such event occurred.
- Dostoevsky
The narrative voice detailing Raskolnikov's frantic internal state and the oppressive atmosphere of St. Petersburg.
Key passages
“"I have buried my tracks! And who, who can think of looking under that stone?"”
After hiding the stolen goods, Raskolnikov experiences a fleeting but intense joy, believing he has successfully concealed all evidence of his crime.
Highlights his momentary delusion of safety and mastery, which is immediately shattered.
“"It is because I am very ill," he decided at last, "I have been worrying and fretting, and I don’t know what I am doing.…"”
Raskolnikov tries to rationalize his irrational actions and mental confusion by attributing them to physical illness.
Shows his attempt to evade the psychological and moral roots of his distress.
“"That’s the blood crying in your ears. When there’s no outlet for it and it gets clotted, you begin fancying things."”
Nastasya explains Raskolnikov's violent hallucination as a physical symptom of his fever and internal turmoil.
Blends folk belief with psychological insight, suggesting his guilt is manifesting as somatic and sensory delusion.
