Chapter 5 Of Raskolnikov's Conscience

Raskolnikov’s conscience deals with morality and free will versus guilt in this chapter as Porfiry constantly asks him questions about his life, his religious views and the day of the pawn lady’s murder. In chapter five, Razumihin and Raskolnikov visit Porfiry. Razumihin introduces Raskolnikov to his uncle, Porfiry and Zamyotov enters. Raskolnikov becomes very restless and hopes his relaxed entrance will convince the detectives he has nothing to do with the murders. Raskolnikov knows Porfiry is a clever man and very intelligent and he will have to outsmart Porfiry to maintain his innocence. He believes that Porfiry is suspicious of him. Porfiry asks Raskolnikov about his items from Alyona and says that two items with his name on it have been …show more content…
Raskolnikov believes that sometimes people have to break old laws to create new laws and new ideals and uses Napoléon Bonaparte, a prominent leader during the French Revolution, as an example. He argues that anyone who wants to create new ideals must be a criminal who destroys the old ideals, and he should have right to do so. Porfiry asks Raskolnikov is he believes in God and the New Testament and brings up the story about Lazarus. Porfiry tries to make Raskolnikov fumble while answering tricky questions about Lazarus, a man resurrected by Jesus; Raskolnikov manages to answer properly and says that extraordinary people are very rare. As Raskolnikov is about to leave, Porfiry asks him if he thinks he is one of the very rare, extraordinary people and says that he does not believe he is like Napoléon. Porfiry asks him one last question regarding whether or not he had seen the painters the day he had visited Alyona and he answers that he did not see them; Razumihin interrupts and says that Raskolnikov must have confused the dates. Raskolnikov realizes Porfiry’s trick question and quickly says he had mixed up the dates and leaves Porfiry’s