The essence of Raskolnikov's theory about crime as he presents it involves the duties and obligations of a class of people classified as the "ordinary people" as contrasted to the "extraordinary people." He outlines that (1) the perpetration of a crime is always accompanied by illness. Either the illness causes a person to commit the crime or else committing the crime causes one to become ill. (2) All men are divided into "ordinary" and "extraordinary." (3) Ordinary men have to live in submission and have no right to transgress the law because they are ordinary. (4) On the contrary, the extraordinary man has the right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way because he is extraordinary. That is not an official legal right but an inner right to decide in his own conscience whether to overstep the law or any obstacle that stands in the way of the practical fulfillment of his idea. (5) All great men would (or should) have the right to eliminate a few men in order to make their discoveries known to the benefit of all humanity. (6) All great men capable of giving something new (some "New Word") must not submit to the common law, or if they do, then this is proof that they do not belong among the extraordinary people. Being great means breaking from the common rut of ordinary laws. (7) In conclusion, men are divided into two categories the inferior (or ordinary) who can only reproduce their kind, and the superior "men who have the gift or talent to utter a new word."
After his explanation, Porfiry subtly wonders if Raskolnikov might have thought of himself as being "extraordinary" while composing or formulating this particular theory. Raskolnikov maintains that even if he did think that, he would not tell Porfiry, but he assures him that he does not consider himself to be a Napoleon or a Mahomet. Porfiry wonders then if this superior person would suffer, and Raskolnikov responds that "suffering and pain are always obligatory on those of wide intellect and profound feeling."
After hearing the explanation, Porfiry then returns to the business of the pledges and asks Raskolnikov if he remembers seeing some painters at work there. Raskolnikov feels that there is a trap here somewhere and tells that he cannot recall seeing any painters, but that someone was moving out. Razumihkin reminds Porfiry that the painters were only at work on the day of the murder and that Raskolnikov's last time there was several days before the murder. Porfiry pretends to have been confused and offers Raskolnikov his apologies.
