The Devils (The Possessed)

As he walks home, Stavrogin meets an escaped convict named Fedka. Peter mentioned that Fedka was in the city and that he has a previous association with him; Stavrogin accuses Fedka of waiting for him on Peter’s orders and tells the convict to stay away from him. After Fedka leaves, Stavrogin arrives at a house at the “very edge of town” (275). Captain Lebyadkin welcomes him inside, explaining that he is now sober. The captain is “far from serene” (279), however, and he complains about the way Peter has been treating him. He reacts badly when Stavrogin reveals his plan to make his marriage to Marya public. Stavrogin is worried that Lebyadkin may have sent “some stupid letter” (284) to the authorities, informing against political activists in the hope of receiving beneficial treatment for himself. In financial desperation, he agreed to distribute political pamphlets containing revolutionary ideas that he did not really understand. When Stavrogin goes to see Marya, the captain is preoccupied with paranoid thoughts.

Stavrogin finds Marya asleep. She wakes from her “bad dreams” (289) and seems initially frightened by his presence. When he suggests that they leave Russia and live together in Switzerland, Marya’s condition seems to worsen. She accuses him of being an “imposter” (294) and loudly proclaims that he plans to threaten her with a knife. He pushes her backward into a sofa, and she says a curse on his name. Stavrogin leaves the apartment as Lebyadkin must hold his sister back. In the street, Fedka approaches Stavrogin. He asks for money again. Though he initially considers taking Fedka to the police, Stavrogin asks him about his recent crimes. Fedka happily confesses to a litany of sins. When he repeats his request for money, Stavrogin laughs and throws the contents of his wallet in the gutter for the man to grab.

The next day, the duel between Stavrogin and Gaganov takes place. Gaganov considers Stavrogin to be a “shameless coward” (298) and takes every small detail of the event as an even greater insult. Maurice Nikolaevich acts as Gaganov’s second. Since the men agree that the duel will continue for three rounds of fire, the men face each other down three times. Each time, Gaganov misses Stavrogin. Each time, Stavrogin fires his gun into the air on purpose. Gaganov can only slightly wound Stavrogin’s finger but he is incensed by Stavrogin’s refusal to shoot him. Stavrogin explains that he does not “want to kill anyone else” (303). When all three shots are fired, the duel is over and Gaganov is “crushed” (305). He leaves with Maurice Nikolaevich. After, Kirillov says that Stavrogin should have killed Gaganov.

Stavrogin returns home. He tells the servants that he will only see his mother when he sees fit. Dasha is sick. She talks to Stavrogin and they agree to “break it off” (308) with regard to their relationship. He complains that he is a “vile and contemptible” (308) person but promises to be with Dasha in her final moments. She plays the role of his confidant, referring to herself as his nurse. Stavrogin confesses to her that he gave 50 rubles to Fedka. He is concerned that this might be considered “an advance” (309) for the murder of his wife, Marya. He confesses that he has been entertaining the idea and hopes that Dasha could still be with him if he paid a man to kill Marya. Horrified, Dasha leaves without a word.

The story of the duel quickly spreads through the town. Most people declare themselves “unequivocally” (311) on the side of Stavrogin. As people discuss the matter, a general consensus is reached in which Stavrogin had no choice but to act as he did. Stories of Stavrogin’s “mysterious adventures in Switzerland” (315) fade away. While Varvara begins to see Stepan as a lazy man who has relied on her generosity for too long, Yulia Mikhailovna, the wife of the new governor, begins to form a new friendship with Stepan’s son, Peter Verkhovensky. Yulia decides to organize a “literary gathering” (317) in the town. She enlists Peter’s help and plans to have Peter and Karmazinov both give readings, alongside Stepan.

Cracks begin to form in the relationship between Peter and Stavrogin; Peter criticizes Stavrogin’s recent behavior. Peter also visits his father to talk about the upcoming literary festival. He does not respect his father, nor his father’s work, and insists on previewing any material that might be read so that Stepan is not “too boring” (321). He mocks his father for his failed attempts to enter into a romantic relationship with Varvara. The narrator believes that Peter intends to embarrass and shame his father “for some distant, extraneous reason of his own” (324) and promises to explain this reason in detail later in the story.

Instead, he turns his attention to the new governor, Andrei Antonovich von Lembke. Von Lembke is a self-made man who rose up through the military ranks, particularly when he married his ambitious and aristocratic wife. He enjoys making cardboard dioramas, though his model of a church embarrasses his wife. Rather than build these models, he agrees to write a book to satisfy his creative interests. However, he is not allowed to talk about it. When he shows his writing to Peter, he is insulted that Peter pretends not to have read the book and then claims to have lost the only copy on the streets of the town. Von Lembke dislikes his wife’s growing affinity for Peter, particularly as she always seems to side with the young new radical with his “flagrant lack of respect” (329). Von Lembke and Peter disagree on many political topics, specifically with regard to the implementation of radical, though perhaps necessary, new ideas.

Preparations are made for Yulia’s literary festival. Young people—including Peter and Liputin—meet regularly in Yulia’s house and “play various pranks, sometimes rather unruly ones” (337). The narrator gives examples of these “scandalous escapades” (339). Fedka robbed several items from a local church and the incident is incorrectly attributed to the group of “mockers.” A live mouse was placed behind the broken glass where an icon once was. After the incident, Liza donated her diamond earrings to the church as “an adornment for the setting” (343).

Two days after the donation of the earrings to the church, the narrator joins Liza, Stavrogin, Peter, and a group of people on a “rather eccentric exhibition” (344). They visit Semyon Yakovleivich, a ”holy fool” who entertains many people. During the journey, they pass a hotel where a man has “shot himself” (345) and they each stop to look at the body. Their stunned silence soon turns to merriment, however, and they are told to leave by the police chief.

The group arrives at the house of Semyon Yakovleivich, where tea is being served to certain visitors depending on the monk’s volatile moods. Liza asks her fiancé Maurice Nikolaevich to embarrass himself by bowing before the monk. He obeys, appearing “tall, ungainly, ridiculous” (353). In the confusing aftermath of the scene, Liza may have slapped Stavrogin across the face. The narrator confesses that he “saw nothing” (354), but the other members of the party insist that something may have happened.

Varvara plans to host her own literary event in Skvoreshniki after Yulia’s event is over, so that everyone in town can “see which house [is] better” (354). Amid her preparations, Varvara invites Stepan to meet her. She informs him that she will provide him with funds to live anywhere else, just “not here” (356). She criticizes his patronizing attitude and his refusal to educate her; she is now interested in radical new political ideas that make Stepan’s views seem outdated. In a demonstration of his love for her, Stepan insists that he does not want her money and that he plans to “make things right” (262). Varvara dismisses his proclamations.