The Theme in the Work
Almost no one in Demons lies with a false fact. The book's lie takes other forms: the size given to a conspiracy, the disguise one claims to wear, the order in which a story is told, the certainty of a denunciation no one has seen, the diagnosis that makes an insult acceptable. Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky is the master of the craft and practices it openly: he gives each person the version they need, and Nicolas describes him in public as someone for whom truth is worth more than success, except when success is worth more than truth. But he is not the only one. Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky lies because he believes what he says, and the town lies out of collective convenience. The moments when the truth appears always cost whoever speaks it, and rarely profit whoever hears it.
In Part One, Chapter II, the chronicler describes the face of Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stavrogin through excess: everything about him is too perfect, and the town fills in what would lie behind it.
волосы его были что-то уж очень черны, светлые глаза его что-то уж очень спокойны и ясны, цвет лица что-то уж очень нежен и бел, румянец что-то уж слишком ярок и чист, зубы как жемчужины, губы как коралловые, — казалось бы, писаный красавец, а в то же время как будто и отвратителен. Говорили, что лицо его напоминает маску, his hair was too black, his light eyes too calm and clear, his complexion too delicate and white, his flush too bright and pure, teeth like pearls, lips like coral: he looked like a handsome man in a painting and, at the same time, somehow repulsive. People said his face resembled a mask.
In Part One, Chapter V, Pyotr tells Varvara Petrovna Stavrogina the story of the Lebyadkins before her son returns, and Nicolas, when he comes back, describes the narrator with a coldness the narrator cannot dispute.
Петр Степанович — всеобщий примиритель; это его роль, болезнь, конек [...] в качестве реалиста он не может солгать и что истина ему дороже успеха… разумеется, кроме тех особенных случаев, когда успех дороже истины, Pyotr Stepanovich is the universal conciliator; that is his role, his illness, his hobbyhorse [...] as a realist he cannot lie, and truth is dearer to him than success... except, of course, in those special cases when success is dearer than truth.
In Part Two, Chapter I, Pyotr tells Stavrogin about the tactic of the disguise, and the frankness of the confession is itself part of the method.
Самое бы лучшее совсем без роли, свое собственное лицо, не так ли? Ничего нет хитрее, как собственное лицо, потому что никто не поверит, the best thing would be to have no role at all, one's own face, wouldn't it? Nothing is more cunning than one's own face, because no one will believe it.
In Part Two, Chapter II, Marya Timofeyevna Lebyadkina denies that Stavrogin is the man she married and, by a crooked road, says a truth about him.
Как увидала я твое низкое лицо, когда упала, а ты меня подхватил, — точно червь ко мне в сердце заполз: не он, думаю, не он! Не постыдился бы сокол мой меня никогда пред светской барышней, when I saw your base face as I fell and you caught me, it was as if a worm had crept into my heart: not him, I thought, not him! My falcon would never have been ashamed of me before a society young lady!
In Part Two, Chapter IV, Pyotr corners the governor with the logic of the governor's own liberalism.
Ведь вы же умный человек и, конечно, сами не веруете, а слишком хорошо понимаете, что вера вам нужна, чтобы народ абрютировать. Правда честнее лжи, after all, you are an intelligent man and, of course, you do not believe yourself, but you understand very well that you need faith to brutalize the people. Truth is more honest than lies.
In Part Two, Chapter VIII, when he loses his composure, Pyotr tells Stavrogin what moves him.
Я вас с заграницы выдумал; выдумал, на вас же глядя. Если бы не глядел я на вас из угла, не пришло бы мне ничего в голову!.., I invented you abroad; I invented you by looking at you. If I had not looked at you from a corner, nothing would ever have occurred to me!..
In Part Two, Chapter X, before the whole drawing room, Stavrogin answers Lizaveta Nikolaevna Tushina's question with a truth that costs him his position.
Да, я имею несчастие состоять родственником этого человека. Я муж его сестры, урожденной Лебядкиной, вот уже скоро пять лет, yes, I have the misfortune of being a relative of that man. I am the husband of his sister, born Lebyadkina, and it has been almost five years.
In Part Three, Chapter IV, Pyotr leads the quintet to kill Shatov over a denunciation he invented himself, with the certainty of a man who believes his own invention.
Он всё налгал, что говорил нашим о доносе: никогда он не видал этого доноса и не слыхал о нем, но был уверен в нем как дважды два, he lied about everything he told our people about the denunciation: he had never seen that denunciation nor heard of it, but he was as sure of it as of twice two.
Joseph Frank, citing Bakunin's letter of 1870 as a documentary source, describes the logic of the method that the book enacts without knowing it.
to found a serious and indestructible organization, one must take Machiavelli's tactics as the basis and fully adopt the Jesuit system: violence as the body, falsehood as the soul.
In Part Three, Chapter VII, Stepan, fallen at the feet of Sofya Matveyevna, says what the book has attributed to him since the first page.
Главное в том, что я сам себе верю, когда лгу. Всего труднее в жизни жить и не лгать… и… и собственной лжи не верить, да, да, вот это именно, the main thing is that I myself believe in myself when I lie. The hardest thing in life is to live without lying... and... and not to believe one's own lie, yes, yes, that is exactly it.
In "With Tikhon", Tikhon reads Stavrogin's confession and sees in it what he does not see himself.
Вы как будто нарочно грубее хотите представить себя, чем бы желало сердце ваше, it is as if you wished, on purpose, to present yourself as cruder than your heart would like.
The book treats lies and truth by size and by cost. Pyotr lies by size: seven figures for the governor, a worldwide network for the quintet, a hidden prince for Stavrogin. Stepan and the town lie for comfort: an illness, an exile that never happened. The truth, when it appears, is an exposure: Marya Timofeyevna says "not him," Lizaveta Nikolaevna asks the question aloud, Stavrogin answers with the date, Stepan confesses on his knees. In none of these cases is the truth received, because whoever hears it has already organized their life around the lie, and the price falls on whoever spoke. The sharpest contrast lies in Stavrogin's written confession, in which Tikhon sees the style of a challenge and not only a repentance.
Who Embodies It
Pyotr lies as a profession, and only tells the truth when he loses control, as in Part Two, Chapter VIII. Stepan lies out of belief, and says so in Part Three, Chapter VII without the confession undoing it. The town lies out of convenience: Nicolas's madness is the alibi it needs. Marya Timofeyevna and Liza are the ones who say the truth aloud, one without noticing, the other with her eyes shut, like someone throwing herself off a roof. Stavrogin is the only one who tries to tell the whole truth, in writing, in the document he takes to Tikhon, and it is Tikhon who points out its style to him.
Where It Appears
- Part One, Chapter I: The chronicler says Stepan Trofimovich was never exiled or under surveillance, and that he believed for twenty years that each governor arrived with a special concern about him.
- Part One, Chapter II: The town explains Nicolas's bite of the governor as an illness, and three doctors push the fever back three days, though some still think he had been mocking everyone.
- Part One, Chapter V: Pyotr tells Varvara Petrovna a version of the Lebyadkin story that flatters her, the captain confirms it point by point, and Nicolas says Pyotr is a realist, except when success is worth more than truth.
- Part Two, Chapter I: Pyotr tells Stavrogin that the best thing would be to have no role at all, one's own face, because no one believes it.
- Part Two, Chapter II: Marya Timofeyevna calls Stavrogin an impostor, saying the real one would never have been ashamed of her before a society young lady.
- Part Two, Chapter IV: Pyotr tells the governor that he does not believe on his own, and that truth is more honest than lies.
- Part Two, Chapter VI: Pyotr tells the governor that the conspiracy fits into three and a half men, seven at most, while Virginsky's quintet believes it belongs to a worldwide network.
- Part Two, Chapter VIII: Pyotr confesses to Stavrogin that he invented him abroad, looking at him, and that without this nothing would have come into his head.
- Part Two, Chapter X: Stavrogin answers Liza's question before everyone and says he has been the husband of Captain Lebyadkin's sister for almost five years.
- Part Three, Chapter IV: Pyotr tells the quintet that there is a denunciation by Shatov, although he has never seen it, and is as sure of it as of twice two.
- Part Three, Chapter VII: Stepan Trofimovich confesses to Sofya Matveyevna that he has lied his whole life and that the main thing is to believe in oneself when one lies.
- With Tikhon: Tikhon tells Stavrogin that he seems to want to present himself, on purpose, as cruder than his heart would wish, and that the style of the confession is already a challenge.
Where the Readings Diverge
The truth of the book can be read in two ways. In one reading, it is exposure: what everyone knew and no one said comes to light, and the cost falls on the one who says it, as with Marya Timofeyevna, Lizaveta Nikolaevna, Stepan. In this reading, lying is the normal state of the town, and truth the exception that breaks it. In the other, truth is more of a gesture, and Tikhon shows it: Stavrogin's confession has the tone of someone showing off, and the frankness he means to publish would be a kind of mask, that of a man who makes himself cruder than he is so as not to be taken for ridiculous.
The chapter of Part Two, Chapter X, and the chapter with Tikhon, which take place on the same morning, set the two readings side by side. In the drawing room, Stavrogin tells a dry truth, with a date, to a question he could have sidestepped, and leaves with his head high. In the monastery, he hands over a text of total truth, and Tikhon tells him that the form betrays him. The two scenes have the same man and the same day, and the results are opposite: the short truth costs him his position, the long one stays on the bishop's table. The text does not choose, and lets the reader see that the difficult thing is not to tell the truth, but to tell it without challenging the listener.