Lebyadkin and Marya Timofeevna are murdered by Fedka, Fedka himself is killed mysteriously outside of town, Lizaveta is beaten to death by a mob who blame her for the Lebyadkins' deaths, Shatov is murdered by the fivesome, Kirillov shoots himself and takes the fall for Shatov's murder, Stepan Trofimovich dies of an illness after striking out on his own, Marya Ignateevna and her newborn child die after hunting for Shatov in the cold, and Stavrogin hangs himself. Anyone Can Die: About half the main cast has been wiped out by the end of the book, most of them in the last few chapters.(See Ho Yay on the YMMV tab for details.) Given that he's also the novel's Big Bad, these traits would probably qualify him as at least a Sissy Villain, if not an outright Depraved Homosexual. He's friendly with and trusted by many of the town's women but never shows any attraction towards any of them, is slightly effeminate in appearance (he has "thin, rather long blond hair and a wispy, barely evident moustache and beard"), is noted for his manners, good dress, and chattiness, and, most importantly, presents an anguished Love Confession to Stavrogin which is hard to read as anything but romantic. Ambiguously Gay: Verkhovensky definitely seems to be coded this way, at least according to the stereotypes of the day.All Love Is Unrequited: Though it plays out in different ways depending on the situation, just about every romantic pairing in the book has this dynamic to some degree.He outright says, the morning after, that even if he isn't legally guilty of the murders, he considers himself morally guilty. does nothing, until his wife and brother-in-law die at Fedka's hand. Realizing this, Stavrogin leaps into action and. Afterwards, Stavrogin realizes why Fedka was asking for the money-in a very indirect way, Fedka was offering to kill Stavrogin's wife and brother-in-law in exchange for cash. Accomplice by Inaction: "Fedka the convict" bugs Nikolai Stavrogin for some money, and Stavrogin eventually complies.A chapter excised from original publication for its controversial content has since appeared in later editions as an Appendix, titled Stavrogin's Confession which has also been published separately. The novel was originally published in English and French under the title of The Possessed by which it was known for the majority of the 20th Century, leading to adaptations for the stage by Albert Camus under Les possédés (later adapted for film by Andrezj Wajda). However, Stavrogin is himself highly schismatic and divided, reeling from secret trauma and is reluctant to take the role Verkhovensky tasks for him.ĭrawing inspiration from the trial of Sergei Nechaev and the actions of several nihilist terrorists, Dostoevsky initially intended the book as a political pamphlet but as he wrote the book, he gradually departed from his original idea and devoted himself to exploring his complex cast of characters. Set in a small provincial town, Demons concerns a group of revolutionaries led by Pyotr Verkhovensky who plan to usher a revolution of some sort but explode as a series of personal connections between them weakens discipline, driving Verkhovensky to seek aid from Nikolai Stavrogin, a dissolute liberal nobleman and purported Prodigal Hero who he sees as the charismatic leader who could bind the cause and heal disputes. It was first published as a serial in The Russian Messenger in 1871–2. Demons ( Бесы, also translated under the titles The Devils and The Possessed) is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
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