Despite the apparent grandiosity of the idea, Kirillov is a reclusive, deeply humble, almost selfless person who has become obsessed with making himself a sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. As a younger man Shatov had idolized Stavrogin, but having seen through him and guessed the secret of his marriage, he seeks to tear down the idol in a withering critique. Then come the out-and-out crooks; well, they can be nice folk, very profitable on occasion, but they take up a lot of time, require constant surveillance.

In Demons the Russian man has lost his true national identity (inextricably linked, for Dostoevsky, with the Orthodox Christian faith) and tries to fill the void with ideas derived from Western modes of thought—Catholicism, atheism, scientism, socialism, idealism, etc. Inspired by the true story of a political murder that horrified Russians in 1869, Fyodor Dostoevsky conceived of Demons as a “novel-pamphlet” in which he would say everything about the plague of materialist ideology that he saw infecting his native land. The motives are of no interest to Pyotr Stepanovich, but he recognizes the sincerity of Kirillov's intention and incorporates it into his plans as a means of deflecting attention from the conspiracy. She tries to ignore this however, and Pyotr Stepanovich is able to further ingratiate himself by subtly presenting her son's inexplicable behaviour in a favourable light.However, his aversion to Pyotr Stepanovich and the news of Shatov's death arouse a reluctance to comply, and for some time they parley, both with guns in hand. To Gaganov's intense anger, Stavrogin appears to deliberately miss, as if to trivialize the duel and insult his opponent, although he says it is because he doesn't want to kill anyone any more.

The Governor, Andrey Antonovich, is deeply troubled by Pyotr Stepanovich's success with his wife and casual disregard for his authority, but is painfully incapable of doing anything about it.But since the future social form is necessary precisely now, when we are all finally going to act, so as to stop any further thinking about it, I am suggesting my own system of word organization. He launches into an incoherent monologue, alternately passionately persuasive and grovelingly submissive, desperately pleading with Stavrogin to join his cause. He tells Sofya Matveyevna a somewhat embellished version of his life story and pleads with her not to leave him.

Pyotr Stepanovich's associates Lyamshin and Liputin take advantage of their role as stewards to alter proceedings in a provocative way, and allow a lot of low types in without paying. These are drowned or will be drowned, and the healed man, from whom the devils have departed, sits at the feet of Jesus. Unable to cope with the strange events and mounting pressures, he begins to show signs of acute mental disturbance.The character I identified with the most is the character most like Dostoevsky himself, the pitiful Shatov, who is also modelled on the unfortunate Ivanov. His first book, Poor Folk, did very well but on 23rd April 1849 he was arrested for subversion and sentenced to death.