Porfiry's Theories in Crime and PunishmentRaskolnikov commits a murder. He has a theory. Porfiry is an investigator. He too has a theory. Porfiry's gets closer and closer to victory. Porfiry Petrovich believes many things about criminal nature - and that is why he believes that these things will happen to Raskolnikov, the man he has named as the perpetrator of the murder. He uses the comparison of a butterfly approaching a candle, that if he lets the criminal wallow in a mixture of freedom and terror, he will be able to complete a mathematical proof of the crime, and that the best thing for the criminal to do is to tell the truth, during which he will end up lying and causing his plan to fail. Porfiry Petrovich is perhaps an excellent wax maker. He also produces very powerful and resilient matches. He uses these skills to light and let burn a candle which brings Raskolnikov in, so far twice, under the naive pretense of taking care of his father's watch. We know that Raskolnikov no longer cares about things in the material world. He places everything he stole under a rock. He gave 25 rubles to Katerina's family. Money and possessions do not concern Raskolnikov. He is there because of the undeniable force of the light that Porfiry relentlessly projects on him. Raskolnikov fits this aspect of Porfiry's theory perfectly. Unlike Porfiry for Raskolnikov's theory, Raskolnikov finds no holes to dig in Porfiry's theory. Descartes believed that mathematics was the only thing that truly existed with certainty outside of his own existence, his own mind. Porfiry strongly believes in the benefit of having “mathematical” proof to determine a suspect’s guilt. Like Descartes, Porfiry is capable of doubting all things, such as circumstantial evidence and inclinations, to wait for the completion and realization of a "mathematical formula" that leads directly to the true perpetrator of the crime. However, Porfiry's equation is not yet balanced. This is why Raskolnikov is still spared for a while. The possible arrival of Nikolai disrupts this desire to develop a concrete mathematical theory for Porfiry..