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Part 3, Chapter 3, Section 3
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 goes to Gaganov’s house, where a group is gathered. There, Pyotr addresses the group and says that Yuliya arranged for Nikolay to run off with Liza, and to do so, she had actually deceived Pyotr, who had been in love with Liza. Pyotr also maintains that the murders of Marya, Lebyadkin, and their servant were an accident. Although some people are skeptical of Pyotr, in general, the group is in his favor and believes what he says. Someone announces that Nikolay left earlier that day on a train bound for Petersburg. Pyotr is alarmed.
Pyotr continues to show his capacity for manipulating people. He is frequently able to get people to do what he wants them to and get them to side with him. Pyotr’s alarm at Nikolay’s departure seems to stem from his concern that Nikolay could alert authorities about Pyotr’s actions or do something else that could put the revolutionary faction’s objectives in question.
Themes
Meanwhile, the “group of five” of the Society, including Liputin, Shigalyov, and Lyamshin, meets at the edge of town. Pyotr is late to the meeting, and the five discuss ousting him as a leader and forming their own group. They believe that Pyotr has been acting in his own interests rather than in the interests of the common good by contributing to the fires and the murders of Marya and Lebyadkin. When Pyotr arrives, the group of five brings its concerns to him.
The group of five within the faction of revolutionaries seems to be beginning to see through Pyotr’s facade. They suspect him of acting only in his own self-interest, a suspicion that Pyotr previously confirmed when he spoke to Nikolay. The group of five also identifies Pyotr as the mastermind behind the fire and murders.
Themes
The group of five says that the fires and murders will increase police attention, which could lead authorities to discover their revolutionary faction. Pyotr says that Fedka acted alone in murdering Lebyadkin and Marya and only wanted Lebyadkin’s money. He then shows the group the anonymous letter Lebyadkin wrote to Andrey, threatening to expose them. He says that, quite coincidentally, Fedka actually acted to protect them by murdering Lebyadkin. He then asks the group of five why they contributed to the arson. The group is taken aback.
Pyotr again denies involvement in the murders of Marya, Lebyadkin, and the servant and attempts to turn the tables on the group of five by accusing them of being involved in the arson. That shows another tactic in Pyotr’s efforts to manipulate others: if someone accuses you of something, accuse them of doing the same. In Pyotr’s mind, that approach works because unless those making accusations have concrete evidence to back up their beliefs, the playing field is leveled, and it becomes a matter of one person’s word against another’s.
Themes
Pyotr then says that someone is threatening to expose them. Liputin says it must be Nikolay, but Pyotr says that it’s Shatov. Pyotr then details a plan. They will arrange to have Shatov killed. After that, they will make use of Aleksey and his plans to kill himself. Aleksey will kill himself after Shatov has been murdered, and Pyotr will ensure that Aleksey writes a suicide note in which he confesses to the murder. Some people doubt that such an elaborate plan will be successful. Ultimately, though, everyone agrees to go through with it.
Previously, Nikolay suggested that Pyotr use Shatov’s defection from the group—and his refusal to answer Pyotr’s purity test for revolutionaries—as grounds to justify his murder. In Pyotr’s plan, by murdering Shatov, the group of five would become complicit in a murder, and Pyotr could then use that information to blackmail the people in the group to make sure they stay loyal to him.
Themes
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