Person
Alyona Ivanovna
Also known as the old pawnbroker, the old woman, Alyona.
An old pawnbroker to whom Raskolnikov brings a pledge in the opening chapter. She is suspicious, exacting, and businesslike, measuring time and interest as closely as she measures the object in her hand. Her flat and habits give Raskolnikov the practical knowledge he has come to gather.
Part I, Chapter VI
A student's tavern talk paints her as cruel, miserly, and useless, with Lizaveta kept under her power. The conversation gives Raskolnikov's private thought a public, ugly echo.
Part I, Chapter VII
Raskolnikov kills her with the axe while pretending to bring another pledge.
Part II, Chapter V
Her murder is the talk of the district; the police comb her flat and puzzle over the pledges the old woman had hoarded.
Part III, Chapter V
Her murder becomes the case through which Porfiry tests Raskolnikov's theory and nerves.
Part V, Chapter IV
In confessing to Sonia, Raskolnikov lays the murder of the old pawnbroker bare, the deed named aloud for the first time since the axe fell.
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