Pozdnychev begins by describing his life before marriage. He is a nobleman and graduated from law school before living what he considered to be the typical bachelor lifestyle until age 30. He slept with many women, making a concerted effort to remain ignorant and free of any attachments by paying them for their company. He recalls one incident when he forgot to pay a woman he slept with and was inconsolable until he managed to track her down and pay her, thereby freeing himself from any obligation toward her.

Through this period, he considered himself a morally upright person and always planned to eventually find himself the ideal wife and live a perfect, “pure” conjugal life. He now looks back on this period with shame and considers the freedom he once valued as the worst kind of “debauchery.”

Pozdnychev now believes that living so debauched a lifestyle prior to marriage led to him killing his wife; he actually killed her before even meeting her.

He first had sex at the age of 16, when he and his brother went to a brothel along with their friends, who had already introduced them to other vices such as drinking and card games.