community-datasets/crime_and_punish · Datasets at Hugging Face

line stringlengths 2 76
Voznesensky Prospect under which the purse and the trinkets were found.
The whole thing, in fact, was perfectly clear. The lawyers and the
judges were very much struck, among other things, by the fact that he
had hidden the trinkets and the purse under a stone, without making
use of them, and that, what was more, he did not now remember what the
trinkets were like, or even how many there were. The fact that he had
never opened the purse and did not even know how much was in it seemed
incredible. There turned out to be in the purse three hundred and
seventeen roubles and sixty copecks. From being so long under the stone,
some of the most valuable notes lying uppermost had suffered from the
damp. They were a long while trying to discover why the accused man
should tell a lie about this, when about everything else he had made
a truthful and straightforward confession. Finally some of the lawyers
more versed in psychology admitted that it was possible he had really
not looked into the purse, and so didn’t know what was in it when he
hid it under the stone. But they immediately drew the deduction that
the crime could only have been committed through temporary mental
derangement, through homicidal mania, without object or the pursuit of
gain. This fell in with the most recent fashionable theory of temporary
insanity, so often applied in our days in criminal cases. Moreover
Raskolnikov’s hypochondriacal condition was proved by many witnesses, by
Dr. Zossimov, his former fellow students, his landlady and her servant.
All this pointed strongly to the conclusion that Raskolnikov was not
quite like an ordinary murderer and robber, but that there was another
element in the case.

To the intense annoyance of those who maintained this opinion, the
criminal scarcely attempted to defend himself. To the decisive question
as to what motive impelled him to the murder and the robbery, he
answered very clearly with the coarsest frankness that the cause was
his miserable position, his poverty and helplessness, and his desire to
provide for his first steps in life by the help of the three thousand
roubles he had reckoned on finding. He had been led to the murder
through his shallow and cowardly nature, exasperated moreover by
privation and failure. To the question what led him to confess, he
answered that it was his heartfelt repentance. All this was almost
coarse....

The sentence however was more merciful than could have been expected,
perhaps partly because the criminal had not tried to justify himself,
but had rather shown a desire to exaggerate his guilt. All the strange
and peculiar circumstances of the crime were taken into consideration.
There could be no doubt of the abnormal and poverty-stricken condition
of the criminal at the time. The fact that he had made no use of what he
had stolen was put down partly to the effect of remorse, partly to his
abnormal mental condition at the time of the crime. Incidentally the
murder of Lizaveta served indeed to confirm the last hypothesis: a man
commits two murders and forgets that the door is open! Finally, the
confession, at the very moment when the case was hopelessly muddled by
the false evidence given by Nikolay through melancholy and fanaticism,
and when, moreover, there were no proofs against the real criminal, no
suspicions even (Porfiry Petrovitch fully kept his word)--all this did
much to soften the sentence. Other circumstances, too, in the prisoner’s
favour came out quite unexpectedly. Razumihin somehow discovered and
proved that while Raskolnikov was at the university he had helped a poor
consumptive fellow student and had spent his last penny on supporting
him for six months, and when this student died, leaving a decrepit
old father whom he had maintained almost from his thirteenth year,
Raskolnikov had got the old man into a hospital and paid for his funeral
when he died. Raskolnikov’s landlady bore witness, too, that when they
had lived in another house at Five Corners, Raskolnikov had rescued two
little children from a house on fire and was burnt in doing so. This was
investigated and fairly well confirmed by many witnesses. These facts
made an impression in his favour.

And in the end the criminal was, in consideration of extenuating
circumstances, condemned to penal servitude in the second class for a
term of eight years only.

At the very beginning of the trial Raskolnikov’s mother fell ill. Dounia
and Razumihin found it possible to get her out of Petersburg during the
trial. Razumihin chose a town on the railway not far from Petersburg, so
as to be able to follow every step of the trial and at the same time
to see Avdotya Romanovna as often as possible. Pulcheria Alexandrovna’s
illness was a strange nervous one and was accompanied by a partial
derangement of her intellect.

When Dounia returned from her last interview with her brother, she
had found her mother already ill, in feverish delirium. That evening
Razumihin and she agreed what answers they must make to her mother’s
questions about Raskolnikov and made up a complete story for her
mother’s benefit of his having to go away to a distant part of Russia
on a business commission, which would bring him in the end money and
reputation.

But they were struck by the fact that Pulcheria Alexandrovna never
asked them anything on the subject, neither then nor thereafter. On the
contrary, she had her own version of her son’s sudden departure; she
told them with tears how he had come to say good-bye to her, hinting
that she alone knew many mysterious and important facts, and that Rodya
had many very powerful enemies, so that it was necessary for him to be
in hiding. As for his future career, she had no doubt that it would be
brilliant when certain sinister influences could be removed. She assured
Razumihin that her son would be one day a great statesman, that his
article and brilliant literary talent proved it. This article she was
continually reading, she even read it aloud, almost took it to bed
with her, but scarcely asked where Rodya was, though the subject was
obviously avoided by the others, which might have been enough to awaken
her suspicions.

Voznesensky Prospect under which the purse and the trinkets were found.

The whole thing, in fact, was perfectly clear. The lawyers and the

judges were very much struck, among other things, by the fact that he

had hidden the trinkets and the purse under a stone, without making

use of them, and that, what was more, he did not now remember what the

trinkets were like, or even how many there were. The fact that he had

never opened the purse and did not even know how much was in it seemed

incredible. There turned out to be in the purse three hundred and

seventeen roubles and sixty copecks. From being so long under the stone,

some of the most valuable notes lying uppermost had suffered from the

damp. They were a long while trying to discover why the accused man

should tell a lie about this, when about everything else he had made

a truthful and straightforward confession. Finally some of the lawyers

more versed in psychology admitted that it was possible he had really

not looked into the purse, and so didn’t know what was in it when he

hid it under the stone. But they immediately drew the deduction that

the crime could only have been committed through temporary mental

derangement, through homicidal mania, without object or the pursuit of

gain. This fell in with the most recent fashionable theory of temporary

insanity, so often applied in our days in criminal cases. Moreover

Raskolnikov’s hypochondriacal condition was proved by many witnesses, by

Dr. Zossimov, his former fellow students, his landlady and her servant.

All this pointed strongly to the conclusion that Raskolnikov was not

quite like an ordinary murderer and robber, but that there was another

element in the case.

To the intense annoyance of those who maintained this opinion, the

criminal scarcely attempted to defend himself. To the decisive question

as to what motive impelled him to the murder and the robbery, he

answered very clearly with the coarsest frankness that the cause was

his miserable position, his poverty and helplessness, and his desire to

provide for his first steps in life by the help of the three thousand

roubles he had reckoned on finding. He had been led to the murder

through his shallow and cowardly nature, exasperated moreover by

privation and failure. To the question what led him to confess, he

answered that it was his heartfelt repentance. All this was almost

coarse....

The sentence however was more merciful than could have been expected,

perhaps partly because the criminal had not tried to justify himself,

but had rather shown a desire to exaggerate his guilt. All the strange

and peculiar circumstances of the crime were taken into consideration.

There could be no doubt of the abnormal and poverty-stricken condition

of the criminal at the time. The fact that he had made no use of what he

had stolen was put down partly to the effect of remorse, partly to his

abnormal mental condition at the time of the crime. Incidentally the

murder of Lizaveta served indeed to confirm the last hypothesis: a man

commits two murders and forgets that the door is open! Finally, the

confession, at the very moment when the case was hopelessly muddled by

the false evidence given by Nikolay through melancholy and fanaticism,

and when, moreover, there were no proofs against the real criminal, no

suspicions even (Porfiry Petrovitch fully kept his word)--all this did

much to soften the sentence. Other circumstances, too, in the prisoner’s

favour came out quite unexpectedly. Razumihin somehow discovered and

proved that while Raskolnikov was at the university he had helped a poor

consumptive fellow student and had spent his last penny on supporting

him for six months, and when this student died, leaving a decrepit

old father whom he had maintained almost from his thirteenth year,

Raskolnikov had got the old man into a hospital and paid for his funeral

when he died. Raskolnikov’s landlady bore witness, too, that when they

had lived in another house at Five Corners, Raskolnikov had rescued two

little children from a house on fire and was burnt in doing so. This was

investigated and fairly well confirmed by many witnesses. These facts

made an impression in his favour.

And in the end the criminal was, in consideration of extenuating

circumstances, condemned to penal servitude in the second class for a

term of eight years only.

At the very beginning of the trial Raskolnikov’s mother fell ill. Dounia

and Razumihin found it possible to get her out of Petersburg during the

trial. Razumihin chose a town on the railway not far from Petersburg, so

as to be able to follow every step of the trial and at the same time

to see Avdotya Romanovna as often as possible. Pulcheria Alexandrovna’s

illness was a strange nervous one and was accompanied by a partial

derangement of her intellect.

When Dounia returned from her last interview with her brother, she

had found her mother already ill, in feverish delirium. That evening

Razumihin and she agreed what answers they must make to her mother’s

questions about Raskolnikov and made up a complete story for her

mother’s benefit of his having to go away to a distant part of Russia

on a business commission, which would bring him in the end money and

reputation.

But they were struck by the fact that Pulcheria Alexandrovna never

asked them anything on the subject, neither then nor thereafter. On the

contrary, she had her own version of her son’s sudden departure; she

told them with tears how he had come to say good-bye to her, hinting

that she alone knew many mysterious and important facts, and that Rodya

had many very powerful enemies, so that it was necessary for him to be

in hiding. As for his future career, she had no doubt that it would be

brilliant when certain sinister influences could be removed. She assured

Razumihin that her son would be one day a great statesman, that his

article and brilliant literary talent proved it. This article she was

continually reading, she even read it aloud, almost took it to bed

with her, but scarcely asked where Rodya was, though the subject was

obviously avoided by the others, which might have been enough to awaken

her suspicions.