Smerdyakov, the household servant

Smerdyakov, the household servant becomes the focus of Dmitri’s suspicion during the investigation into Fyodor Pavlovich’s murder. A scream that precedes Smerdyakov’s epileptic fits first appears as a recurring source of terror for Marfa Ignatyevna; later, Dmitri explains the window signals between Fyodor Pavlovich and Smerdyakov and openly names the servant as the murderer. The scenes make Smerdyakov both a figure already associated with the household’s hidden signals and the target of Dmitri’s increasingly explicit accusation.

Signs and Suspicion

Before Dmitri lays out his accusation, Smerdyakov is present in the narrative through the household’s fear of his fits. Marfa Ignatyevna, asleep in her bed after taking a draught, wakes at the sound of his epileptic scream from the next room. The scream always precedes his attacks and leaves her terrified and upset; she has never grown accustomed to it. The detail makes Smerdyakov’s illness a repeated, disruptive presence in the house, though it does not by itself establish any connection between his fits and the murder.

Dmitri’s account of the window-knocking signals supplies a different kind of sign. In his interrogation, he describes the signals Fyodor Pavlovich invented for Smerdyakov, explaining what each tap meant and demonstrating the taps on the table. The signals connect the two men through a private code, and Dmitri treats that knowledge as relevant to reconstructing what happened. His detailed explanation gives the investigation a concrete line of inquiry, while also showing that Dmitri knows how the household’s secret communication worked.

Dmitri’s Accusation

When the investigators observe that Smerdyakov is suspected too, Dmitri fixes his eyes on the floor and gloomily admits that he had been thinking of him from the beginning. He places the suspicion as far back as the moment he ran out to them from behind the curtain, while acknowledging that he had been shouting that he was responsible. His account thus holds two ideas together: Dmitri’s own apparent guilt and his belief that Smerdyakov may be the actual killer.

The accusation becomes a cry of certainty when Dmitri hears that the envelope was found behind the screen, on the floor by the bed. Thunderstruck, he suddenly shouts that Smerdyakov murdered Fyodor Pavlovich and robbed him. Dmitri’s stated reason is specific: no one else knew where the old man had hidden the envelope. The concealed money therefore becomes the decisive link in Dmitri’s reasoning, transforming suspicion into a direct charge of murder and theft.

Significance in the Inquiry

The sequence develops through three distinct forms of evidence: the household’s recurring experience of Smerdyakov’s screams, the coded taps Dmitri demonstrates, and the hidden envelope that he says only Smerdyakov could have known about. Each detail changes the shape of the inquiry without making the same claim. The scream establishes a frightening pattern associated with Smerdyakov’s fits; the taps establish secret communication; the envelope gives Dmitri a proposed motive and opportunity for the robbery. His conclusion is forceful, but in these scenes it remains his accusation rather than a finding by the investigators.

Smerdyakov’s role in these moments is consequently defined by what the others can interpret: Marfa Ignatyevna’s fear of his fits and Dmitri’s effort to connect him to the murder. Dmitri’s accusation also complicates his own position. He has been proclaiming his guilt, yet has suspected Smerdyakov from early in the interrogation; faced with the evidence about the envelope, he insists that another person knew where it was hidden. The investigation turns on the tension between confession, suspicion, and the meaning assigned to signs inside the household.