Dostoevsky’s Demons. Discussion questions:

 

Class 1

Part 1 chapters 1-5 pp. 7-206.

 

1. Who is Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovenskii? Why does the novel start with the outline of his life’s most important dates and events?

 

2. What do we know about the novel’s narrator, the Chronicler? How long does the Chronicler know Stepan Trofimovich?

 

3. Who are Stepan Trofimovich’s pupils?

 

4. Most of the characters of the novel Demons arrive to the provincial town where the drama is staged from a variety of places. Who are the new (and not exactly new) arrivals? What brings them to this provincial and by no means outstanding town? What brings them all together in the drawing room of Varvara Petrovna?

 

5. Everyone is surprised to see Nikolai Vsevolodovich at the gathering. Apparently, he arrived much earlier than expected. Why did he arrive?

 

6. What questions are raised in Varvara Petrovna’s drawing room? What answers are offered?

 

7. Is Maria Lebiadkina’s meeting with Varvara Petrovna a coincidence?

 

8. How do Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovenskii and his son Petrusha, or Petr Stepanovich Verkhovenskii relate to each other? What are their differences and similarities?

 

Class 2

 

Part 2, Chapters 1-5 pp. 209-342

 

1. What do we know about Petr Verkhovenskii? What is the reason for his visit to his father’s town? What kind of reputation does he have? Why is he so well received at the governor’s? What qualities assured his position of a much-favored young man?

 

2. What is Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovenskii’s opinion about his son’s ideals, aspirations and ambitions?

 

3. Why does Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovenskii exclaim that Russians “ought to be exterminated for the good of mankind, like harmful parasites”? (Part II, Ch. 1:2, p. 210) What is his argument?

 

4. What does Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovenskii mean when he is talking about “the end”? (… in this world things usually end with nothing, but here there will be an end, most certainly, most certainly!) (Part II, Ch. 1:2, p. 217)

 

5. What do Nikolai Stavrogin and Ivan Shatov think about Petr Verkhovenskii?

 

6. What kind of man is Nikolai Stavrogin? What do we learn about his convictions and teachings? How is he viewed by Petr Verkhovenskii, Shatov, Kirillov, Lebiadkin?

 

7.When Nikolai Stavrogin visits Marya Timofeevna (Lebiadkina), she is upset and concerned. What is she concerned about?

 

8. Marya Timofeevna refuses to go with Nikolai Stavrogin to Switzerland. Moreover, she accuses him of being an impostor, not her Prince.  Why is she resentful? Why is she afraid of him?

 

9. How did Andrei Antonovich von Lembke become a governor? Was he well suited for such a high post? What does he think about his post, his duties and responsibilities?

 

10. What are Yulia Mikhailovna’s ambitions?

 

Class 3

 

Part 2, chapters 6-8, 343-423

 

1. What ideas/ideals (if any at all) does von Lembke share with Petr Stepanovich?

 

2. When Nikolai Stavrogin tells Darya Pavlovna (Dasha) that he is afraid of ruining her, she says “nothing you do can ever ruin me.” (Part 2, Ch. 3: IV, 292) What does she mean?

 

3. How do noble young people, including Lise and Nikolai Stavrogin, entertain themselves? What do they seek as they visit a blessed man and prophet Semyon Yakovlevich? Why do people come to see Semyon Yakovlevich? Why is he considered a holy man?

 

4. Dostoevsky’s characters continuously ask crucial questions about happiness. What makes one happy? Can a man know himself what makes him/her happy? Or will he readily submit his/her will to anyone who would affirm, “I know what you want”? How would we categorize the characters found in Demons if we look at them from the perspective of this perennial quest?

 

5. What is Petr Verkhovenskii’s plan? Why does he need Stavrogin?

 

6. Who are ‘ours’? How does Petr Verkhovenskii describe them to Stavrogin? What do the words and actions of “ours” tell us about their minds, aspirations, convictions and outlooks? Where do these people come from? Are the ‘ours’ typical revolutionaries?

 

7. At Virginskii’s gathering Shigalev describes his own utopian theory of “Paradise on Earth.” What are its foundational concepts? What values does he promote? What difficulties does he experience as the mastermind of the brave new world? What is Shigalev’s concept of ‘equality’? What does Petr Verkhovenskii appreciate in Shigalev’s theory?

 

Class 4

 

The banned chapter At Tikhon’s found in the Appendix 681-714

1. Who is Tikhon? What kind of reputation does he have at the monastery? Why does Stavrogin visit him? What is Stavrogin’s opinion about Tikhon?

 

2. What is Tikhon’s opinion about atheism/atheists? What are the key points of Stavrogin’s and Tikhon’s conversation which preceded the confession?

 

3. How does Stavrogin present his story about Matresha? What feelings does he want to evoke in his reader? How does the Chronicler introduce this story to the reader? What are Tikhon’s first remarks about it?

 

4. How does Stavrogin refer in his story to Matresha? How does he explain his motive(s)? Why does he describe the deed as well as the preceding and following events in such a great detail?

 

5. What does Stavrogin’s dream about the Golden Age, based on the imagery from Claude Lorrain’s painting “Acis and Galatea,” tell us about him? (Acis and Galatea, detail)

 

6. Stavrogin mentions several other crimes, including murders, yet only Matresha’s image haunts him. Why?

 

7. How does Tikhon interpret Stavrogin’s story? Why does he refuse to see it as a confession? What are his recommendations to Stavrogin?


Class 5

Part 3, chapters 1-8, 461-678

 

1. What was the cause and purpose of Julia Mikhailovna von Lembke’s fete? Who were its participants? What caused its failure? What were the consequences?

 

2. Who were the presenters? How were they received by the audience? What part did Stepan Trofimovich play in the fete? How did his speech fit in the overall atmosphere? What does he condemn? What does he extol?

 

3. There are several authors/writers in Dostoevsky’s novel Demons. Among them are the chronicler of the novel’s events Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovenskii, renowned writer Karmazinov, Nikolai Stavrogin and governor Lembke as well as Shigalev, Kirillov, Liamshin, Lebiadkin and Petr Verkhovenskii. What kind of works do they produce? How do they relate to their audiences? What are their motifs and inspirations? How important or unimportant are these writers and their works in the fictional world of Demons?

 

4. Why does Lisa leave Nikolai Stavrogin?

 

5. One of the foremost critics of Dostoevsky’s Demons, Liudmila Saraskina, called it novel-warning. Do you believe that this novel is still relevant today?

 

Characters’ names:

 

Varvara Petrovna Stavrogina

Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stavrogin

Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovenskii

Petr Stepanovich Verkhovenskii

Chronicler: Anton Lavrent’evich G-v

Ivan Shatov (Shatushka)

Dar’ia Shatova (Dasha)

Maria Timofeevna Lebiadkina

(Ignat) Lebiadkin

Lizaveta Nikolaevna (Liza) Tushina

Semyon Yakovlevich

Tikhon

Andrei Antonovich von Lembke

Iulia Mikhailovna von Lembke

Karmazinov

Shigalev

Kirillov


 

 

 

 
© 2024 by Svitlana Kobets. All right reserved.