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Part 2, Chapter 7, Section 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Demons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics and Self-Interest
Ideology and Extremism
Morality and Nihilism
Herd Mentality
Atheism vs. Belief in God
Summary
Analysis
Pyotr considers returning to the party to restore order but decides that it will be pointless. Instead, he runs after Aleksey and Nikolay. The three go to Aleksey’s house. At Aleksey’s house, Pyotr shows Aleksey and Nikolay the anonymous letter that Andrey received. Pyotr says that Lebyadkin must have written the letter, and he asks Nikolay for money to pay off Lebyadkin so he won’t bring the Society’s plans to the governor. Pyotr says the money will help “take care” of Marya (implying that he would have Marya killed). Nikolay says that he has no intention of paying any money and doesn’t want anything to happen to Marya.
Pyotr continues to show the extent to which he tries to manipulate others to keep them under his control. In this case, he tries to elicit payment from Nikolay to hire Fedka to murder Marya. If Nikolay agreed, Pyotr would have evidence of Nikolay committing a crime, which Pyotr could use to blackmail Nikolay and exert even more control over Nikolay. In response, though, Nikolay makes it clear that he cares about Marya and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her.
Themes
Nikolay says that Pyotr should have Shatov killed. He already established at the party that Shatov could be an informer. If the group of five killed Shatov, Nikolay reasons, then they would be bound as accomplices in a crime. Nikolay says that Fedka approached him asking for money to kill Marya as well. He suggests that Pyotr is trying to catch Nikolay committing a crime and then use that evidence to blackmail Nikolay and keep him under his (Pyotr’s) control. Aleksey reveals that Fedka is in the apartment and has been listening to the conversation the whole time.
While Nikolay recognizes that Pyotr is trying to entrap him by coaxing him into committing a crime, he also proposes that Pyotr do the same thing to the group of five. If that group kills Shatov, the members will all be accomplices in a crime, and Pyotr will be able to blackmail them to compel their continued allegiance to the cause. That provides an example of Nikolay’s lack of morality, as he recognizes the immorality of the plan but in the end, he isn’t concerned with how wrong it is—he just wants to save himself.
Themes
Nikolay leaves. Pyotr follows him and begins spouting different ideas so fervently and haphazardly that Nikolay suspects he is drunk. At first, Pyotr says that he supports Shigalyov’s ideas of despotism and enslavement of nine-tenths of the population. Then he says he doesn’t support that idea because it’s not feasible. Eventually, Pyotr says that he is not a socialist but a scoundrel. He then reveals his plan to Nikolay. He intends to use the rhetoric of socialism and the mechanism of revolution to dismantle the established political system. Once that system is destroyed, Pyotr aims to install another system of his own design. In other words, he is interested in politics for his self-interest. He says that he wants to create a mythology around a charismatic leader who will step in as a new ruler. He wants Nikolay to play the part of that ruler. Nikolay walks away without responding.
Pyotr reveals his true motivations for embracing and advocating for revolution. He is not devoted to socialist ideas or to helping people in need find freedom and justice. Instead, he is strictly motivated by his own desires. He wants to amass and hoard power for himself and is essentially exploiting the socialist movement in order to try and achieve those goals. Pyotr also reveals that he has been fixated on Nikolay at least in part because he views Nikolay as the charismatic leader who could step in and be the face of the movement that Pyotr envisions. Whether Nikolay will play along, however, remains to be seen.
Themes
