Raskolnikov murders Lizaveta

Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov murders Lizaveta Ivanovna when she unexpectedly returns to the apartment and finds her sister, Alyona Ivanovna, dead. Her arrival turns the first killing into an immediate confrontation with an unplanned witness; the second death deepens Raskolnikov’s fear and disgust, while his confused efforts to escape continue in the aftermath.

The Unexpected Witness

After hearing a faint cry from the room where Alyona Ivanovna lay, Raskolnikov stops and waits, holding his breath. When he hears no further sound, he gets up and runs from the bedroom with the axe. Lizaveta Ivanovna is standing in the middle of the room with a large bundle in her arms, looking at her murdered sister. Her sudden appearance is not part of what he expected, and he is already moving toward her before he has recovered from the shock of hearing someone else in the apartment.

The Killing

Lizaveta Ivanovna trembles and backs away into a corner, staring at Raskolnikov but unable to cry out. She raises an empty hand toward him, but does not defend herself. Raskolnikov attacks her with the axe, killing her. The scene presents her stillness and inability to respond alongside his abrupt violence: she has entered carrying a bundle, and within moments that ordinary purpose is overtaken by the crime.

Immediate Consequences

After Lizaveta Ivanovna falls, Raskolnikov loses his composure. He picks up her bundle, drops it, and runs into the entry. The unexpected second murder intensifies his fear, but horror and revulsion also rise in him; the narration indicates that, had he been able to grasp the full difficulty and hideousness of his situation, he might have abandoned escape and surrendered out of loathing for his actions.

Instead, a blank, dreamlike state takes hold. He becomes distracted by immediate practical details, washes his hands and the axe, and checks his clothes and boots for stains before trying to leave. These attempts to manage the evidence do not restore his ability to reason clearly. Lizaveta Ivanovna’s death marks the point at which the crime has exceeded the act he had set out to commit, while his frightened, disordered response carries the consequences forward.