The prehistory of Fyodor Dostoevsky's sixth novel is a crime that occurred in November 1869 in Moscow, followed by a lawsuit, which caused a great resonance in society. Members of the revolutionary circle of Nechaev killed a student Ivanov. The reason was Ivanov's desire to break with the secret society. In the press many documents of a loud process were published, including the Catechism of a Revolutionary, in which any evil and crime was justified if it was committed for the benefit of the revolution.
Based on the materials of this case Dostoevsky had the idea of a new novel. In 1871 - 1872 the "Demons" were published in the magazine "Russky Vestnik". The society took the new novel coolly, and some critics did declare the work "slander" and "delirium." Over time the situation has changed little. Most supporters of the Russian revolutionary movement perceived “Demons” as an evil caricature of their ideas. Such a reputation prevented the wide popularity of the work. Unlike in Russia Western culture appreciated the social and moral depth of the novel. There became clear the prophecy of Dostoevsky's ideas, his desire to show the world the danger of radical revolutionary and atheistic ideas. The writer expressed the depth of alienation to his characters in the title and epigraph taken from the poem of the same name by Pushkin. Who is the main "demon" in the work?
In the image of Peter Verkhovensky, there is an obvious analogy with Nechayev, and in his utterances - the spirit of the "Catechism of the Revolutionary." But this man is deeper and more versatile than the fugitive leader of the revolutionary circle. Peter is the most consistent of all "fighters for liberation." There is an impression that there is no such villainy and meanness, to which he will not go. Everything holy and sublime is not simply rejected by Verkhovensky, the younger, but ridiculed by him and vulgarized. For such a person there are no higher values, including human life. Peter cold-bloodedly plans the murder of Shatov, abandons his comrades-in-arms, cynically uses Kirillov's intention to shoot himself to cover his tracks. He is even in small things ungodly and disgusting. The essence of this person is to belittle everything and everyone to justify and bulge out your own petty and dirty "Me".
What is the purpose of Peter? He himself admits that the revolutionary idea is only a means. The main thing is power. Verkhovensky seeks to control people, their minds and souls, but he understands that he is too small for the "ruler of thoughts" and therefore he relies on Nikolai Stavrogin.
This character occupies a central place in the novel. Nicholai is a handsome young man, all women are in love with him, and men admire him. But inside Stavrogin is empty. Nikolai does not seek for himself any benefit, he has no purpose. Freedom and denial of everything - that's his destructive power. In Stavrogin everyone sees something of his own, because Nikolai willingly or unwittingly gives Verkhovensky, Shatov and Kirillov their basic ideas. But to Nicholai none of them is interesting.
Stavrogin knows that his power is unlimited, but does not see its application, and does not want to seek. This emptiness draws in itself surrounding, breaking their destinies, taking away lives. One by one perish, involved in the terrible attraction of this black funnel, brother and sister of Lebyadkin, Shatov, Kirillov, Dasha.
The essence of Stavrogin is clearly manifested at the end of the work in his dying letter. A rapist, murderer, perjurer, corrupter of the twelve-year-old Matryoshi does not distinguish between good and evil. He owns only a sense of pride and contempt for people. Therefore, it seems logical and suicide of Stavrogin is that inner funnel of blackness absorbs the very shell.
In the novel Nikolai is also a teacher of Kirillov with the idea of the man-god and the inspiration of Shatov with his faith in Orthodoxy. Stavrogin at the same time inspires two people with exactly the opposite postulates.
Kirillov has a very complex character. He loves life in all its manifestations, even is grateful to the spider that crawls on the wall. But Kirillov hates the world built on lies. The grim loneliness of this extraordinary person, the duality of his inner world, in which faith and unbelief are struggling, lead him to a paradoxical idea - God is dead, and a person can prove that he is free of faith in God only by committing suicide.
In the delirious ideas of Kirillov it is difficult to find common sense. But Shatov is quite logical, although it is also contradictory. The ardent adherent of atheism and socialism suddenly becomes a zealous supporter of the idea of God's chosen by Russian people. But Shatov does not believe in God, but only wants to believe. He hates everyone who does not share his new convictions.
Indicative in the novel is the image of Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky - Peter's father, as well as educator of Shatov and Stavrogin. This is a typical representative of the liberal idealist of the 1840s. He is characterized by admiration for the beautiful, talented and noble combined with contempt for religion, fatherland and Russian culture. Self-interest, weak character, selfishness and falsity of the Verkhovensky senior leads to the fact that students do not believe in the sincerity of the high, but abstract and sterile ideals that he preaches. The blurring of the values of Stepan Trofimovich makes him a conductor of chaos in the souls of his students.
But it is to this character that Dostoevsky gives the right to reveal the essence of the epigraph of the work, to show the way of salvation for Russia. The Gospel parable of the exiled demons in the epilogue shows Dostoevsky's conviction that the heroes of his novel will be thrown out of the public and political life of the country.
The novel “Demons” is a formidable warning, in which the writer foresees a social catastrophe and the emergence of a whole galaxy of revolutionaries like Nechaev. They are able to go to "freedom, equality and universal happiness" through corpses. This warning is relevant at all times.
