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Part 3, Chapter 4, 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
Liputin and Pyotr go to Aleksey’s house. There, Pyotr confirms that Aleksey will take his own life the next day and that he’ll sign whatever Pyotr asks him to. Pyotr says that they have already undertaken certain actions that rely on this plan, so Aleksey can’t back out of it. Aleksey says they had no right to do that, but he says he will nonetheless go through with the plan. Pyotr says that he is supposed to meet Fedka in a half hour, and Aleksey says that Fedka is already waiting for him in the kitchen. He says that Fedka thinks that Pyotr is a scoundrel and doesn’t plan to wait for the money and passport Pyotr promised him.
Fedka initially brought up the passport that Pyotr promised him when he (Fedka) attempted to get Nikolay to give him money to kill Marya. Pyotr seems to have put Fedka up to that initial plan to try and catch Nikolay committing a crime, thereby gaining evidence he could use to blackmail Nikolay and keep him under his control. The fact that Fedka is still talking about, and still waiting for, the promised passport suggests that Pyotr may still be pulling the strings behind Fedka’s actions.
Themes
Pyotr talks to Fedka. Fedka says that Pyotr’s plan didn’t work, and Pyotr fooled him. Fedka didn’t get any money from Lebyadkin, and he hasn’t gotten money or a passport from Pyotr either, as Pyotr promised. He says that Nikolay had nothing to do with the murders and that Pyotr pushed him to go through with it. Pyotr tells Fedka that he’ll get his money if he goes to Petersburg. Fedka says he’s lying, and Pyotr threatens to turn Fedka in to the police. Pyotr pulls out his revolver. Fedka leaps up and strikes Pyotr in the face before fleeing. Liputin and Aleksey rush in. Pyotr waves his revolver and tells Aleksey that if he gets cold feet regarding the plan to take his own life, then he (Pyotr) will track him down and kill him. He also says that Fedka has had his last drink of vodka.
This passage confirms that Pyotr directed Fedka to kill Lebyadkin in exchange for any money that Lebyadkin had and for a passport. That shows that Pyotr has been lying when he denied any involvement in the murders of Lebyadkin and Marya. Instead, it seems like Pyotr told Fedka to murder them in hopes that he could implicate Nikolay in the crimes and then use that to blackmail Nikolay and keep him involved in the revolutionary faction. Ultimately, Pyotr still seems to hope that Nikolay will become the movement’s leader.
Themes
