Demons

The narrator begins his chronicle with Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky, a former academic who cultivates the reputation of a persecuted liberal intellectual. His brief university career was followed by an invitation to tutor Varvara Petrovna Stavrogina's son, Nikolay. Stepan's own son, Pyotr, was raised elsewhere and seldom sees his father. Varvara Petrovna has supported Stepan for decades, but their friendship mixes affection, dependency, wounded pride, and attempts at control. The narrator recalls grievances neither quite forgives and Stepan's uncertainty about the nature of their attachment.

An attempt to reestablish their standing among the progressive literary circles of Petersburg ends badly. Stepan's defense of art draws ridicule, while writers who hope to take control of Varvara Petrovna's proposed journal offer her little genuine partnership. Back in the province, Stepan presides over a small group that includes the narrator, Liputin, Shatov, and Virginsky. The narrator describes Virginsky's troubled household, including its history with Captain Lebyadkin, and the mismatch between the group's liberal declarations and its conduct. When Stepan speaks admiringly of earlier Russian liberals, Shatov angrily argues that they misunderstood and looked down upon the Russian people, severing themselves from popular faith. Stepan nevertheless attempts to make peace with him. These conflicts establish the ideological and personal divisions behind the coming events.

The narrator turns to Nikolay Stavrogin, Varvara Petrovna's son, whose upbringing under Stepan Trofimovich involved a precociously intimate friendship with his tutor. After leaving for the lyceum and then military service, Nikolay acquired a reputation for dissipation. On an earlier visit to their provincial town, several years before the present events, he scandalized society by pulling the elder Pavel Pavlovich Gaganov by the nose, kissing Liputin's wife publicly, and biting the governor's ear. After he was detained and became violently ill, physicians attributed his conduct to an attack of brain fever. Some townspeople remained skeptical, but he recovered, made conciliatory visits, and left to travel abroad for more than three years.

In the present year, Varvara Petrovna learns that Nikolay has become close to the Drozdov family, particularly Lizaveta Nikolayevna, while traveling abroad. Praskovya Ivanovna returns with an uncertain and contradictory account of a falling-out between Liza and Nikolay. She also mentions Liza's jealousy of Varvara's ward Darya Pavlovna, without establishing that Darya behaved improperly. Varvara writes for Nikolay to return sooner and conceives a plan to marry Darya to Stepan Trofimovich. Darya gives a restrained assent, and Varvara explains the financial arrangements to Stepan. His eventual consent is complicated by debts and by his son Pyotr's intention to dispose of an estate Stepan has mismanaged. Varvara still treats the marriage as a proposal under her control, not as an accomplished engagement.

While awaiting clarity about Varvara Petrovna's plan to marry him to Darya Pavlovna, Stepan Trofimovich withdraws from his acquaintances and repeatedly complains to the narrator. His patroness sends curt notes and is preoccupied with the visit of the writer Karmazinov, whom the narrator encounters and finds vain. Liputin arrives with the engineer Aleksey Nilych Kirillov, an acquaintance of Pyotr Verkhovensky and Nikolay Stavrogin. Kirillov angrily objects to Liputin's embellishments of his opinions, and Liputin uses the visit to spread disturbing reports about Captain Lebyadkin, his sister Marya, alleged payments involving Stavrogin, and an accusation directed at Darya. Neither the narrator nor Stepan can treat these insinuations as established facts.

Liza later meets Stepan on horseback, accompanied by Mavriky Nikolayevich, and greets her old teacher warmly. After failing to find Shatov, the narrator visits Kirillov at his lodgings. In a separate conversation, Kirillov develops his theory that deliberately overcoming the fear of death through suicide would constitute a radical freedom from God. The narrator also encounters an intoxicated Captain Lebyadkin, whose talk and behavior add to the surrounding gossip, including his infatuation with Liza.

Returning from a visit to the Drozdovs, Stepan alternates between resentment of Varvara Petrovna and anxiety for her. He fears that marrying Darya will conceal what he calls another man's sins, an accusation arising from suspicion rather than proof. His attachment to Varvara and hopes that his estranged son Pyotr will rescue him leave his decisions unstable.

At Lizaveta Nikolayevna's invitation, Shatov meets with her and the narrator at the Drozdovs' home. Liza proposes compiling important newspaper reports into an annual publication, hoping to put some of her money to socially useful work. She asks Shatov to advise her, but the discussion becomes strained when the practical question of a printing press arises. Liza also shows her visitors a letter addressed to her by Captain Lebyadkin, containing unwanted romantic verses and hints of trouble. Shatov departs abruptly. Afterwards Liza privately asks the narrator to arrange a meeting with Lebyadkin's sister, Marya Timofeyevna, and insists that she cannot wait long.

The narrator subsequently seeks out Shatov, who recounts how he and Kirillov travelled to America to experience working-class life firsthand. Shatov and the narrator visit Marya, who lives in miserable conditions under her brother's neglect and abuse. Her speech shifts between religious imagery, recollection, and apparent fantasy, including an uncertain account of a child. The narrator cannot establish what her stories signify. On Sunday, as Stepan Trofimovich and the narrator await a planned meeting with Varvara Petrovna, Marya approaches Varvara outside church. Varvara gives her money and a shawl and takes her home; Liza unexpectedly insists on joining them.

At Varvara Petrovna's house, her unexpected invitation to Marya Timofeyevna causes consternation among the assembled visitors. Praskovya Ivanovna and Liza arrive, Darya Pavlovna is called in, and Marya's remarks raise the damaging allegation that Darya mishandled money intended for Captain Lebyadkin. Varvara defends Darya while questioning the captain, who arrives in person but speaks in evasive hints rather than disclosing whatever he knows about Marya and Nikolay Stavrogin.

Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky, Stepan Trofimovich's estranged son, unexpectedly arrives and announces that Stavrogin has returned to town. When Nikolay himself enters, Varvara pointedly asks whether Marya is his lawful wife. He does not answer her directly, but approaches Marya respectfully and escorts her away. Pyotr offers an elaborate explanation portraying Nikolay as Marya's benefactor and her supposed claims as an unfortunate fantasy. Varvara accepts this consoling account and offers Marya her protection, although Pyotr's reliability is not established and Nikolay pointedly mocks his tendency to subordinate truth to success.

The apparent reconciliation disintegrates when Pyotr publicly reads and comments on his father's private letters. He exposes Stepan's fears about marrying Darya to cover another man's alleged sins, humiliating him and angering Varvara. Shortly afterward, Shatov walks up to Nikolay and strikes him violently in the face. Nikolay visibly struggles with the impulse to retaliate but holds back; the narrator cannot know his thoughts. Liza screams and faints.

Eight days after Shatov strikes Stavrogin, conflicting rumors circulate about the incident, Liza's collapse, and Marya Lebyadkina. Pyotr Verkhovensky rapidly cultivates influential acquaintances, including the governor's wife, while behaving cruelly toward his father. Varvara Petrovna quietly settles the property problem between Stepan Trofimovich and Pyotr. Liputin reports, without public confirmation, that Liza is to marry Mavriky Nikolayevich.

One evening Pyotr visits Stavrogin and speaks insistently of their dealings, his ambitions, the local unrest, and the people he hopes to manipulate. Stavrogin gives him little encouragement. After Pyotr leaves, Varvara finds her son motionless in a troubled sleep and withdraws in fear. Later that rainy night Stavrogin visits Kirillov to arrange a duel with Artemy Gaganov over Gaganov's repeated insults. They also discuss Kirillov's belief that voluntary suicide can defeat the fear of death and make a new form of human freedom possible.

Stavrogin next calls on Shatov to warn that Pyotr's conspiratorial associates regard him as a possible informer and may kill him. Shatov describes his withdrawal from the revolutionary circle and his earlier dependence on Stavrogin's ideas. Stavrogin confirms that his secret marriage to Marya is legally valid and says he intends to make it public. Shatov passionately sets out his theory of Russia as a God-bearing people, while Stavrogin questions him about his own faith and about the influence Stavrogin formerly exerted over both Shatov and Kirillov. Their meeting ends in estrangement, without settling their ideological differences.

Walking through the rainy town after leaving Shatov, Stavrogin meets Fedka the Convict on the bridge. Fedka, who has connections with Pyotr Verkhovensky, hints that his services may be useful, but Stavrogin rebuffs him. Stavrogin continues to Captain Lebyadkin's new lodgings and reproaches him for drinking, mistreating Marya, misusing her support payments, and making threats. He declares that he intends to acknowledge his secret marriage publicly, thereby depriving the captain of a source of leverage. Lebyadkin, disoriented by the prospect, recounts his involvement in distributing revolutionary papers and his fear of exposure; Stavrogin questions what the captain may have disclosed.

Stavrogin visits Marya and offers to acknowledge her as his wife and provide for her in a secluded life abroad. She becomes frightened and then accuses the man before her of being an impostor, insisting that he is not the prince she remembers. Her accusation develops into an angry confrontation; Stavrogin pushes her away and leaves. The episode reveals her sense of abandonment and the unstable boundary between memory and delusion, but does not establish every claim she makes.

On the bridge again, Fedka follows Stavrogin and alludes more openly to the possibility of eliminating Captain Lebyadkin and Marya for payment. Stavrogin strikes and threatens him, but eventually bursts into laughter and throws him a wad of money, which Fedka gathers from the mud. Whether that payment signifies acceptance of Fedka's proposal is not explicitly settled here.

The next afternoon Stavrogin duels with Artemy Pavlovich Gaganov, who continues to resent the earlier insult to his father. Kirillov acts as Stavrogin's second, and Mavriky Nikolayevich serves Gaganov. In the first exchange, Gaganov's bullet grazes Stavrogin's little finger, while Stavrogin fires deliberately high. A second exchange brings another high shot from Stavrogin, which Gaganov interprets as an insult rather than mercy. In the third, Gaganov's shot damages Stavrogin's hat, and Stavrogin fires into the trees, ending the duel without seriously wounding either man. Gaganov feels humiliated, and Stavrogin departs angrily.

Returning home, Stavrogin asks his servant to keep his mother from disturbing him. Darya Pavlovna nevertheless visits. She indicates that her earlier marriage to Stepan Trofimovich will not take place and says she remains willing to assist Stavrogin, while refusing to define her life solely through his expectations. Stavrogin refers to Fedka's proposal to kill Captain Lebyadkin and Marya Timofeyevna and voices apprehension about what he himself might do. Darya insists she will not abandon her convictions or her freedom of decision. Stavrogin's self-restraint at the duel contrasts with the danger and uncertainty of his private choices.

The account of Stavrogin's duel circulates through the town, and society's attitude turns in his favor. His decision not to shoot Gaganov is recast as proof of remarkable self-command. Varvara Petrovna takes pride in her son's renewed standing, while Yuliya Mikhaylovna praises his conduct and makes further overtures toward Varvara. Public approval rests as much on social fashion and influential opinion as on knowledge of Stavrogin's motives.

Pyotr Stepanovich calls on his father, Stepan Trofimovich, and reads his behavior through the most humiliating possible interpretation. Having gained access to his father's letters to Varvara Petrovna, he mocks Stepan's dependence on her and claims that their attachment amounted to idleness and financial exploitation. Stepan threatens to strike him and repudiates his accusations. Their argument makes apparent the cruelty and estrangement between the generations.

The narrator then recounts Governor Andrey Antonovich von Lembke's earlier career and marriage to the ambitious Yuliya Mikhaylovna. The couple hope to acquire provincial influence, but her sponsorship of Pyotr has enabled him to treat von Lembke with insolent familiarity. The governor's growing resentment and anxiety become part of the political circumstances Pyotr exploits.

Preparations for the governor's charity gala intensify, with Yuliya Mikhaylovna encouraging a circle of young pranksters and self-styled reformers around her, among them Pyotr, Lyamshin, and Liputin. Their mocking behavior contributes to the town's growing disorder. An icon of the Mother of God near the marketplace is robbed and desecrated, with a live mouse reported inside its broken case. The narrator writing afterward attributes the theft to Fedka the Convict while reporting, rather than confirming, allegations against Lyamshin. Liza responds to the public offense by bowing before the icon and donating her earrings.

Two days later Liza brings the narrator along on a group excursion to visit the local holy man Semyon Yakovlevich. She behaves exuberantly and then harshly insists that Mavriky Nikolayevich kneel before him. The scene collapses in distress and embarrassment. Liza reportedly encounters Stavrogin near the exit, but conflicting accounts of her reaction prevent the narrator from establishing precisely what occurred.

Meanwhile Varvara Petrovna summons Stepan Trofimovich to her estate and offers to formalize an allowance that would let him live elsewhere, ending their decades of domestic dependence. She now professes enthusiasm for fashionable utilitarian ideas, dismissing his reverence for art and condemning conventional charity. Stepan is hurt by her judgments and refuses to reduce their long relationship to money. Their quarrel ends with his decision to leave her household.

As the charity gala approaches, Governor von Lembke becomes anxious about revolutionary leaflets, military indiscipline, and cholera and labor unrest at the Shpigulin factory. Pyotr Verkhovensky visits and offers to identify supposed conspirators. He presents Shatov as the author of a subversive publication while portraying the local radicals as a handful of misguided people, and seeks a short interval in which to manage the situation. The narrator later cautions that Pyotr's confidence in having manipulated the governor is misplaced. An official subordinate, Blum, also presses for intrusive investigations, creating additional uncertainty about the authorities' actions.

Pyotr visits the writer Karmazinov, who fears unrest and contemplates leaving Russia; their exchange lays bare Karmazinov's vanity and Pyotr's use of purported inside knowledge. At Kirillov's lodgings, Pyotr presses the engineer about an earlier understanding that Kirillov would leave a suicide note taking responsibility for the group's crimes. Kirillov insists that his intended suicide has his own philosophical purpose, not the Society's. Pyotr also confronts the ill Shatov about the printing press and insists that he attend that evening's gathering at Virginsky's. Shatov resists attempts to bind him to the revolutionary circle.

Mavriky Nikolayevich visits Stavrogin and, deeply troubled by Liza's unhappiness, suggests that Stavrogin alone might make her happy. Their exchange exposes the complications of Stavrogin's acknowledged marriage. Pyotr then summons Stavrogin to the gathering and describes the tactics by which he fabricates the appearance of a large centralized conspiracy. When Stavrogin suggests that forcing four members to murder a fifth would bind them through shared blood, the notion anticipates a particularly dangerous escalation.

A gathering at Virginsky's house, nominally for his birthday, brings together local radicals, curious outsiders, and several members of Pyotr Verkhovensky's inner circle. Arguments about family authority and religion turn acrimonious before Shigalyov presents his proposed system of universal equality. His theory divides humanity into a small ruling minority and an obedient majority, exposing the coercive premises of his vision. Other guests dispute both his conclusions and their practical implementation.

Pyotr speaks as if authorized by a vast revolutionary organization, although the actual extent of that network remains obscure. Rather than allowing an open discussion, he tests the guests by asking whether they would denounce a planned political murder. The question unsettles the meeting. Shatov angrily rejects the implied demand and leaves, accusing Pyotr of acting as a spy; Kirillov and Stavrogin also depart. The others quarrel over loyalty, deception, and the authority of the supposed movement. Their reactions reveal a fragmented group, not a united body that has freely accepted a plan of violence.

After leaving Virginsky's gathering, Pyotr follows Stavrogin and Kirillov to the engineer's lodging. He produces an anonymous warning taken from the governor and seeks Stavrogin's money to dispose of the troublesome Fedka. Stavrogin refuses and accuses Pyotr of intending to kill Shatov in order to bind the remaining conspirators through shared guilt. He also suspects Pyotr hopes that payments to Captain Lebyadkin will put him in danger from Fedka, and that Marya may be killed with him. When Fedka appears at the door, Stavrogin leaves, rebuffing Pyotr's attempts to restrain him.

Pyotr pursues Stavrogin into the street and lays out an increasingly extravagant political vision: small circles spreading disorder, discipline imposed through mutual surveillance, and a society kept obedient by ignorance and fear. He openly distinguishes his personal quest for power from the egalitarian ideals of others. Most urgently, he wants Stavrogin to become an unseen, almost legendary figure, 'Ivan the Tsarevich', around whom the people could rally. Stavrogin neither accepts the role nor endorses Pyotr's promised schemes. Pyotr offers to arrange Liza's surrender to Stavrogin and to resolve the problem of Marya, then ends by threatening that Stavrogin has only a few days to decide.

The next morning Nastasya tells the narrator that official visitors have searched Stepan Trofimovich's lodgings. Blum, acting in connection with the governor's investigations, has taken his books and papers, including foreign editions of Herzen and copies of Stepan's own political poem. Stepan is simultaneously terrified and proud to imagine himself once again the object of political persecution. His confused account of the search makes the procedure difficult to establish, and the narrator doubts the scale of the threatened consequences.

Stepan fears arrest, public humiliation, and possible punishment; he is particularly anxious that Varvara Petrovna will learn of his submission during the search and use it against him. He vacillates between tears, heroic declarations, and appeals to the narrator. Eventually he resolves to confront Governor von Lembke directly and demand an explanation. The narrator accompanies him, partly because he has a separate pretext for visiting the governor's household about the approaching gala. Their journey leads into the disturbance involving the Shpigulin workers.

Roughly seventy workers from the Shpigulin factory assemble peacefully outside the governor's house to protest being cheated after their employment ended. The narrator differentiates their documented grievances from rumors that they have organized a political revolt. Governor von Lembke, increasingly unstable under public pressure, orders them to kneel and threatens punishment. Some are beaten, but the narrator directly rejects reports that the entire crowd was flogged. Stepan Trofimovich, passing with the narrator, protests the treatment of the workers and clashes briefly with a police official before entering the governor's house.

Stepan asks von Lembke why officials searched his home, but the governor grows confused and agitated. Yuliya Mikhaylovna arrives with her social entourage and attempts to restore order. In the salon, disputes about politics and the upcoming literary gala increase the humiliation of both Stepan and the governor, whose erratic public remarks reveal his deteriorating judgment.

When Stavrogin joins the gathering, Liza directly challenges him about the indecent letters Captain Lebyadkin has sent her while claiming to be Stavrogin's relative and the brother of his wife. Stavrogin calmly confirms, in public and without qualification, that he married Marya Lebyadkina almost five years earlier. He promises to put an end to Lebyadkin's harassment and departs. Varvara Petrovna is horrified; Liza leaves with Mavriky, and the revelation spreads through town.

Despite the previous day's unrest, the governor's charity gala opens with a literary program. Poor organization and the competing expectations of its fashionable and less respectable audiences quickly cause embarrassment. Captain Lebyadkin unexpectedly appears on the platform, while Liputin reads a deliberately offensive poem, which the narrator regards as an attempt to create disorder. The writer Karmazinov then gives a lengthy reading from his farewell piece, 'Merci'. His vanity and the audience's mounting impatience turn the performance into a public humiliation.

Stepan Trofimovich takes the platform and initially speaks uncertainly, but becomes defiant when he challenges the newer generation's contempt for art. He declares the achievements of Shakespeare and Raphael more valuable than utilitarian social programs. A seminary student confronts him with the fact that Stepan once consigned Fedka to military service to discharge a gambling debt, questioning his moral right to exalt beauty. The furious exchanges divide the crowd. A visiting former professor then launches an incendiary speech about Russia's social and political condition, further exciting an already unruly audience. Officials try to remove him as the literary program collapses into confusion.

Following the failed literary program, Stepan Trofimovich withdraws and writes to Darya, declaring an intention to leave the town. Pyotr, meanwhile, persuades the embarrassed Yuliya Mikhaylovna to continue with the scheduled ball, exploiting her desire to salvage the gala. The narrator reports that Liza left the earlier event in a waiting carriage bound for Stavrogin's estate, despite her understanding with Mavriky Nikolayevich.

The evening ball attracts an uneasy mixture of respectable guests and disruptive latecomers. A badly conceived literary quadrille intensifies public ridicule, while Governor von Lembke becomes increasingly disoriented. News of a major fire across the river in Zarechye empties the hall. The narrator later distinguishes facts about the arson from collective suspicion: Fedka and a small number of Shpigulin workers are implicated, not the factory workforce as a whole. Von Lembke arrives at the fire scene and behaves erratically, but when he tries to help an elderly woman retrieve her bedding, a falling board strikes him and leaves him unconscious.

At dawn people discover that a small, isolated house rented for Captain Lebyadkin and Marya caught fire independently of the larger blaze. Inside are the murdered captain, Marya Timofeyevna, and their elderly servant. The discovery provokes rumors about Stavrogin, who paid for the lodging and whose concealed marriage has become public. The narrator does not present those suspicions as legal proof that Stavrogin arranged their deaths.

At Skvoreshniki the morning after the gala, Liza tells Stavrogin that the night they spent together has ended her illusion that their relationship could bring happiness. Their exchanges alternate between resentment, tenderness, exhaustion, and refusal. She intends to leave, while Stavrogin resists her departure without offering her a secure future.

Pyotr Verkhovensky arrives with news that Captain Lebyadkin and his sister Marya have been murdered. He asserts that robbery explains the deaths and insists that Stavrogin bears no responsibility, yet his shifting explanations and the earlier discussions of Fedka make his assurances suspect. Liza is appalled. Pyotr reveals that Mavriky Nikolayevich has waited outside the estate overnight. Liza chooses to leave Stavrogin and seek Mavriky, who receives her despite her admission that she has wronged him. Insisting on seeing the place where the Lebyadkins were killed, she proceeds toward the burned district with him.

On the road they meet Stepan Trofimovich, who is setting off on a wandering journey away from the town; Liza crosses him and asks him to pray for her. At the murder site, hostile onlookers spread allegations that Stavrogin benefited from his wife's death. Some people recognize Liza and accuse her as well. A man strikes her, and in the ensuing scuffle she falls and is struck again, while Mavriky desperately tries to defend her. She is carried away alive but gravely injured. The narrator does not claim that the entire crowd participated in the assault.

After the fire and the murders, Pyotr Verkhovensky attempts to preserve his influence, spreading confidential remarks about Yuliya Mikhaylovna and trying to learn where Stavrogin has gone. His political associates gather at Erkel's lodging, frightened by the exposure of their activities. They challenge Pyotr's authority and the disorder caused by the gala and fire. Pyotr falsely claims to have evidence that Shatov is about to denounce them. He proposes luring Shatov to the place where a clandestine printing press is hidden and murdering him, with Kirillov expected to leave a suicide note accepting blame. The narrator makes clear that Pyotr has no actual evidence of denunciation, despite his conviction that Shatov will inform.

Pyotr and Liputin visit Kirillov to confirm the use of the proposed suicide confession. Fedka the Convict is there, and an angry dispute makes clear that Fedka expects payment for his earlier violence and denies having acted on Stavrogin's instructions. He strikes Pyotr repeatedly and leaves him unconscious. Kirillov revives Pyotr, who then briefly threatens Kirillov with a revolver before leaving. Liputin considers fleeing abroad under a false passport. Yet he finds himself unable to break away from the group's plan and dreads the murder set for the following night.

Shatov is deeply affected by the murder of Marya Timofeyevna and the attack on Liza. He briefly considers speaking out about the conspirators but has little evidence. That evening his estranged wife, Marya Ignatyevna, unexpectedly returns after three years apart. She is exhausted, destitute, and pregnant. Although she does not come asking for reconciliation, Shatov still loves her and tries to care for her. Erkel meanwhile calls with a message designed to draw Shatov to the secret printing press, telling him that Pyotr Verkhovensky has fled. Shatov hopes that relinquishing the press will end his involvement with the group.

When Marya goes into labor, Shatov scrambles for food, supplies, and a midwife, Arina Prokhorovna Virginskaya. He asks Kirillov for assistance, and Kirillov helps without knowing the plot to murder Shatov. After a difficult night Marya gives birth to a boy. Shatov welcomes the baby as his son, although he is not presented as the child's biological father; the midwife observes that the baby is legally a Shatov. Marya gradually responds to Shatov's affection, and they speak of building a life together. Their brief reconciliation is interrupted when Erkel returns. Despite Marya's distress at his departure, Shatov kisses her and the child, promises to be back by nine, and goes with Erkel toward the isolated place in Stavrogin's park where the printing press is buried.

Virginsky, shaken by the plan to murder Shatov, tries to persuade his fellow conspirators that Shatov's renewed family life makes denunciation unlikely. The group nevertheless assembles at a secluded grotto in Stavrogin's park, near a pond. Shigalyov denounces the killing as a political diversion harmful to the social cause and leaves before it takes place. When Erkel brings Shatov to the hidden printing press, Tolkachenko, Erkel, and Liputin overpower him. Pyotr Verkhovensky shoots Shatov in the forehead. Virginsky has rushed forward but does not help restrain him; Lyamshin joins only after the shot. The men attach stones to Shatov's body and sink it in the pond. Virginsky belatedly protests, and Lyamshin breaks down in fear.

Pyotr prepares to leave town but first visits Kirillov, intending to exploit the latter's decision to die. Kirillov has his own philosophical reasons for suicide and has not been told the full details of Shatov's murder. Threatening him with a revolver, Pyotr dictates a false statement in which Kirillov claims to have killed Shatov. Kirillov writes the confession and takes the weapon into another room. When Pyotr follows him, Kirillov attacks him in the darkness, biting his finger, and Pyotr strikes him with the revolver. After Pyotr runs out, a shot is heard: Kirillov has killed himself. Pyotr checks the scene and departs by train before dawn, with the devoted Erkel seeing him off.

Stepan Trofimovich wanders away from town after his public humiliation at the gala. Although he imagines a courageous break with his former life, he is frightened and disoriented. After meeting Liza on the road, he obtains a ride with peasants and stops at a travelers' hut. There he encounters Sofya Matveyevna, a modest woman who sells copies of the Gospels. He joins her journey and speaks excitedly of working alongside her, but becomes increasingly feverish and weak. Sofya stays and cares for him as his health declines.

During his illness Stepan reflects on the vanity and dishonesty of his former life, saying that even when he told the truth he did so for his own sake. He asks Sofya to read the Gospel account of the demons cast into swine, interpreting the image in relation to Russia's destructive intellectual and political movements. Varvara Petrovna arrives with Darya and takes charge of his care, revealing that their attachment persists despite their quarrel. As Stepan's condition worsens, he agrees to see a priest, confesses, and receives communion. He expresses renewed concern with love, God, and immortality, although the narrator leaves room for uncertainty about the nature of his conversion. Stepan dies three days later, after losing consciousness. Varvara has his body taken to Skvoreshniki for burial and brings Sofya back under her protection.

Shatov's newly delivered wife, Marya Ignatyevna, wakes to find him absent. After discovering the aftermath of Kirillov's suicide, she takes her newborn into the cold streets and tells strangers that her husband has been killed. She does not discover Shatov's body herself. The shaken town learns of Kirillov's purported confession, which does not establish the true circumstances. Marya collapses into unconsciousness and dies several days later; the infant, having become ill from exposure, dies before her.

The conspiracy quickly begins to unravel when Lyamshin, overcome with fear, submits himself to the authorities and makes a broad confession. His explanations mingle known acts, claims about Pyotr's larger revolutionary design, conjecture, and attempts to shield Stavrogin. Virginsky and Erkel are arrested, and Liputin is later detained in Petersburg. The narrator reports rumors of mitigated sentences and releases, but the investigation and judicial outcomes are not concluded. Pyotr Verkhovensky has left the town.

Stavrogin writes to Darya Pavlovna from outside town, inviting her to join him at a house in the Swiss canton of Uri while warning that accepting would be a sacrifice. He acknowledges that he bears guilt in his conscience for Marya Lebyadkina's death and guilt toward Liza, but the letter does not supply judicial proof of his participation in the murders. He describes his inability to sustain either benevolent or destructive commitments and insists that he will not shoot himself. Darya nevertheless resolves to go, and Varvara says she will accompany her. Before they depart, they learn that Stavrogin has returned to Skvoreshniki. Searching the house, they discover him hanged in an attic, with a note stating that no one is to blame. The prepared cord and other details suggest premeditation; after the autopsy, the doctors reject an explanation of insanity.