Part1, Chapter 5: Raskolnikov opts not to go to Razumikhin's after all and instead goes to a bar, where he has some vodka and then goes to a park and falls asleep. He dreams that he is a child in his hometown, walking with his father through the streets. He observes a peasant trying to force his old mare to pull a heavy wagon full of people. The horse is struggling beneath the peasant's whip and cannot pull the weight at all. The peasant becomes angry and he beats the animal to death while Raskolnikov watches. The boy becomes so distraught that he tears away from his father and runs to the dead horse, throwing his arms around it and weeping. Raskolnikov wakes shaken and disturbed, asking himself whether he will really murder the old pawnbroker woman with an ax. At this moment, while walking through the Hay Market, Raskolnikov overhears a conversation relaying that Lizaveta, the pawnbroker's step-sister, will be out visiting a peddler and his wife at seven o'clock. The text relates that in later remembrance, the coincidence seemed to Raskolnikov like the hand of fate. In other words, the act that he was formerly torn over committing has been decided by a force outside him. This is interesting, because it clashes with Raskolnikov's concept of the extraordinary man who steps over obstacles and takes fate into his own hands. In other words, Raskolnikov is not the extraordinary man he purports to make allowances for.
Part1, Chapter 6: The story discusses how Raskolnikov had first visited the pawnbroker. The previous winter, a fellow student had suggested he visit her and although he had not gone then, he had recalled her address six weeks ago. On his first visit he had pawned a ring given to him by his sister. He had felt an insurmountable disgust for the old woman upon seeing her for the first time and on the way home from her house a strange thought began taking shape in his mind. He stopped into a restaurant and happened to overhear a conversation between a young officer and a student which voiced his thoughts. They were arguing, in a philosophical sense, about whether it would be morally wrong to murder the old woman, since she was such a vile and despicable person. They went on to describe how Lizaveta was abused by the pawnbroker. Raskolnikov was shocked to hear his own ideas being discussed. Again, his superstition suggested that this was some kind of sign.
After recalling this conversation, Raskolnikov lies down for a while and then makes preparations for the murder. He attaches a sling to the inside of his coat, wraps up a phony pledge that the pawnbroker will have to fumble with to untie and goes to the kitchen to get an ax. Unexpectedly, the ax is not in its usual spot and he must take one from the janitor's room. He arrives at the pawnbroker's apartment at seven-thirty. He rings three times and is highly anxious by the time she finally unlatches the door.
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