Page "Demons (novel)" Paragraph 11

Every character in the novel is fascinated by the charismatic Stavrogin, especially the younger Verkhovensky, who envisions him as the figurehead of the revolution he attempts to spark, though Stavrogin shows little interest in these schemes.

In an originally censored section ( included as the chapter " At Tikhon's " in modern editions ), he confesses he has seduced and driven to suicide a girl of only 11 years.

In addition, he pays a fugitive criminal to kill his wife and brother in law.

The extent to which he fully understands what he has done at the time when he hands over the payment for the murders is unclear, but he quickly realizes what will happen and does nothing.

He refuses to repent openly for either his destruction of the young girl he raped and drove to suicide or the murder of his mentally and physically disabled wife, but the guilt ultimately overwhelms him.

At the very end of the novel, he commits suicide, collapsing in the face of the guilt he had seemed so successfully to bury previously.