Porfiry begins rattling on about these poisoned cigarettes, and Raskolnikov wonders if Porfiry is going to play the same old game again. He throws Raskolnikov off guard by apologizing for their last meeting — "it was such a strange scene" — and perhaps he acted unfairly. He wants to convince Raskolnikov that he is sincerely attracted to him, and he believes that Raskolnikov is "a most honorable man with elements of greatness in him." Furthermore, he possesses a noble soul and elements of magnanimity.
Porfiry also wants to explain all the various circumstances that led him to think Raskolnikov is the murderer — the pledges, the theory, the illness, the return to the scene of the crime, and other matters. He then explains why Nikolay the painter confessed to the murder. The painter happens to belong to an old religious order, which believes that man should suffer and to suffer at the hands of authorities is the best type of suffering, but above all "simply suffering is necessary."
At the end of his narration, Porfiry then explains how Nikolay could not have committed the murder. Instead, after describing the events surrounding the murder, he announces, "you Rodion Romanovitch, you are the murderer." After making this accusation, Porfiry tells him that he will not arrest him for several days because he wants Raskolnikov to come of his own volition and openly make the confession. To arrest him "is not to my interest."
Porfiry then tells Raskolnikov why he likes him and advises Raskolnikov to learn to love life, not to scorn the possibility of a mitigation of sentence. Likewise, he advises Raskolnikov to suffer "because suffering is a great thing." Before he leaves, Porfiry announces that he has no fear Raskolnikov might be tempted to run away; therefore, he is quite safe in letting him remain free until he confesses.
