Synopsis
Seven hundred and thirty paces. Raskolnikov knows the distance to the pawnbroker’s door. Tonight he walks it with an axe under his coat. In his stifling Petersburg garret, the former student had it all worked out. One cruel woman would die, and the money in her chest could put a hundred lives to rights. Then her sister Lizaveta comes home, a bundle in her arms.
Two women are dead. Raskolnikov hides the purse under a stone without opening it. The magistrate, Porfiry, wants a word about an article he once wrote. Does Raskolnikov really believe that certain men have the right to kill? He can argue that point all afternoon. It’s the question about the house painters, slipped in as he’s leaving, that nearly gives him away.
Sonya sells herself to keep her family fed. By candlelight, she reads him the story of Lazarus from a book Lizaveta gave her. Before he leaves, he makes her a promise. Next time he comes, he’ll tell her who killed her friend.
