Part 5: Chapter 4 Summary

Raskolnikov goes to visit Sonia after the disastrous dinner, having decided to confess his murders to her. However, as usual, he talks around the subject, posing the following hypothetical situation to her: if she had to decide who should go on living, her stepmother or Luzhin, whom would she choose? Sonia answers that life and death are God's domain, no one else's. Her answer does not satisfy him.

When he tries to go on with his confession, a sudden hatred of Sonia comes over him. Yet when he looks in her eyes, he feels close to her again. He asks her to guess who killed Lisaveta. Very slowly, she realizes the truth, and her face takes on a childlike terror. Sonia moves away but then returns and clasps his hands, crying 'What have you done to yourself!' There must be...