Lebyadkin Character Analysis in Demons

Lebyadkin is Marya’s brother. He is frequently drunk and often beats his sister. He relies on money that Nikolay sends to support Marya. He frequently writes poems and also writes a letter to Andrey, the governor, informing on the revolutionary faction. Fedka kills Lebyadkin at the same time that he kills Marya.

Lebyadkin Quotes in Demons

The Demons quotes below are all either spoken by Lebyadkin or refer to Lebyadkin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

‘Nikolay Vsevolodovich, Nikolay Vsevolodovich, this cannot be, perhaps you’ll give it some more thought, you won’t want to lay hands on… What will people say, what will the world say?’

‘Oh, I’m hardly afraid of your world. After all, I did marry your sister then, when I felt like it, after a drunken dinner, on a bet for wine, and now I’m going to proclaim it for all to hear — why not, if it amuses me now?’

Related Characters: Lebyadkin (speaker), Nikolay (speaker), Marya, Shatov, Varvara

Page Number and Citation: 296-297

Explanation and Analysis:

‘Oh, Nikolay Vsevolodovich,’ he exclaimed, ‘what troubled me most of all was that this was completely against all civil laws, and primarily those of the fatherland! Suddenly they would print that people should go out with pitchforks, and remember that he who went out poor in the morning could return home rich in the evening. Just think of it, sir! I was shaking in my boots, but I was distributing them. Or suddenly there would be five or six lines addressed to all of Russia, for no good reason: “Lock the churches as soon as you can, destroy God, violate marriages, destroy the rights of inheritance, take up knives”, that’s all, and the Devil knows what else. That was the piece of paper, with the five lines, that I was almost caught with, but the officers of the regiment gave me a good beating and then, God bless them, let me go.’

Related Characters: Lebyadkin (speaker), Nikolay, Varvara, Pyotr

Page Number and Citation: 298-299

Explanation and Analysis:

‘Lizaveta Nikolayevna, really and truly, you can grind me in a mortar, but he’s innocent; on the contrary, he’s been crushed and is raving, as you can see. He’s not guilty of anything, of anything, even in thought! It’s all the doing of robbers who will certainly be found in a week and punished by flogging. It’s all the fault of Fedka the Convict and the Shpigulin workers; the whole town is chattering about it, and that’s why I am too.’

‘Is that so? Is that so?’ Liza was waiting, all atremble, for the final verdict.

‘I didn’t kill them and I was against it, but I knew they would be killed, and I didn’t stop the killers. Step away from me, Liza,’ Stavrogin said, and he went into the drawing room.

Liza covered her face with her hands and went out of the house.

Related Characters: Pyotr (speaker), Nikolay (speaker), Liza (speaker), Lebyadkin, Fedka, Marya

Page Number and Citation: 589

Explanation and Analysis:

‘[…] Yesterday on the bridge one little demon offered to kill Lebyadkin and Marya Timofeyevna to solve the problem of my lawful marriage and leave no traces of it behind. He asked for three silver roubles as an advance, but let it clearly be known that the whole procedure would cost no less than fifteen hundred. There’s a calculating demon for you! A bookkeeper! Ha, ha!’

[…]

‘[…] It was just Fedka the Convict, a robber who’s escaped from hard labour. But that’s not the point. What do you think I did? I gave him all the money in my wallet, and he’s now utterly convinced that I gave him an advance!’ […]

‘You ran across him at night and he made you an offer like that? Can you really not see that they’ve completely entangled you in their net!’

‘Oh, let them!’

Related Characters: Nikolay (speaker), Darya (speaker), Pyotr, Marya, Lebyadkin, Fedka

Related Symbols: Demons, Demons

Page Number and Citation: 325

Explanation and Analysis:

What’s he doing there?’

‘He’s putting out the fire, Your Excellency.’

‘That’s impossible. The fire is in people’s minds, and not on the roofs of houses. Pull him down and leave everything!’

Related Characters: Andrey (speaker), Pyotr, Lebyadkin, Marya

Page Number and Citation: 571

Explanation and Analysis:

A curious fact had come to light: on the very outskirts of the quarter, on a piece of empty ground, beyond the vegetable gardens, no less than fifty paces from the other buildings, stood a small wooden house that had just been built, and this isolated house had caught fire almost before all the others, at the very beginning of the conflagration. […] As it turned out, the house had caught fire on its own and independently, and therefore suspiciously. But the main thing was that it had not actually burned down, and inside it, towards dawn, surprising things were discovered […] there were tenants in the house — a captain who was well known in the town, his sister and an aged servant of theirs; and these tenants — the captain, his sister and the servant — all three of them had had their throats cut during the night, and had evidently been robbed.

Related Characters: Pyotr, Fedka, Marya, Lebyadkin, Nikolay

Page Number and Citation: 572

Explanation and Analysis:

Suddenly someone shouted: ‘It’s Stavrogin’s woman!’ Then: ‘It’s not enough for them to commit murder, they have to come and look!’ Suddenly I saw someone’s hand raised above her head from behind, and then it came down; Liza fell. Mavriky Nikolayevich let out a dreadful cry and rushed to help her, hitting with all his strength a man who was trying to block his way. But at that very instant the tradesman grabbed him from behind with both hands. For some time it was impossible to make anything out in the scuffle that ensued. Liza seemed to get up, but fell again from another blow.

[…]

As an eyewitness, albeit a distant one, I had to give evidence at the inquest: I stated that everything had happened quite accidentally, the work of people who, though perhaps incited, were scarcely aware of what they were doing as they were drunk and disorderly. I hold this opinion even now.

Related Characters: Anton (speaker), Mavriky, Nikolay, Lebyadkin, Fedka, Marya, Liza

Page Number and Citation: 597-598

Explanation and Analysis:

Lebyadkin Character Timeline in Demons

The timeline below shows where the character Lebyadkin appears in Demons. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...is Virginsky. He is extremely quiet. He once had a run-in with a man named Lebyadkin. Virginsky’s wife told him that she was leaving him, and she took up with Lebyadkin.... (full context)

...Shatov lives in the attic while he lives in a shed on the property and Lebyadkin lives downstairs from Shatov. Liputin and Aleksey prepare to leave, and Anton continues to wonder... (full context)

...says that Aleksey has been sullen today because he recently got into a fight with Lebyadkin. Lebyadkin beats his sister, Marya, who experiences seizures. When she has those seizures, Lebyadkin uses... (full context)

...involved in gossip. Liputin then implies that the man who has been sending payments to Lebyadkin for dishonoring Lebyadkin’s sister could be none other than Nikolay. He says that Nikolay entrusted... (full context)

...lives. Aleksey moved to that shed from the main house to avoid being party to Lebyadkin’s beatings of his sister. In the shed, Anton asks if it’s true that Aleksey is... (full context)

As Anton is leaving, he runs into Liputin, who is with Lebyadkin. Lebyadkin, who seems drunk, loudly recites poetry and grabs hold of Anton. Anton wrenches himself... (full context)

Liza tells Anton to read the letter aloud. It’s a poem and letter from Lebyadkin in which he professes his love for her. Liza says she knew the man was... (full context)

...says she wants to see that woman. Anton asks who she means, and Liza says Lebyadkin’s sister, Marya. Anton feels like being entrusted with a secret by Liza is sacred. He... (full context)

Anton and Shatov go to see Lebyadkin’s sister, Marya. Marya sits alone in one of the two dark, dingy rooms where she... (full context)

Anton and Shatov slip upstairs to Shatov’s apartment. Not long after, Lebyadkin climbs the stairs and loudly knocks on the door. Shatov doesn’t open the door, and... (full context)

...the room. Marya says that Darya seems much more refined than the image her brother, Lebyadkin, painted of her. Varvara asks Darya if she knows what Marya means, and Darya explains... (full context)

...and intends to protect her from any malicious rumors. A servant enters and says that Lebyadkin is waiting downstairs and would like to be introduced. Mavriky says that Lebyadkin has no... (full context)

Varvara offers Lebyadkin a seat. He sits down and thanks Varvara for looking after his sister, Marya. He... (full context)

Lebyadkin then begins to recite a fable he wrote about the plight of a cockroach. Varvara... (full context)

...without the other person present. Pyotr then begins to explain how Nikolay became involved with Lebyadkin and Marya. (full context)

Nikolay first met Marya and Lebyadkin five years ago in Petersburg. At that point, Nikolay was dejected and found little purpose... (full context)

...home. When he left, he made arrangements to provide Marya with a 300-rouble annual allowance. Lebyadkin has now used that allowance, Pyotr says, to make up rumors about Nikolay. (full context)

...Nikolay left Petersburg four years ago, Marya was living in a convent. After Nikolay left, Lebyadkin tracked her down and took her out of the convent. Now, Lebyadkin doesn’t feed Marya... (full context)

Lebyadkin also treats the money Nikolay gives as a gift to Marya as something that is... (full context)

...speculate that Nikolay and Liza had an affair in Switzerland and that Nikolay “dishonored” Liza. Lebyadkin and Marya leave town the day after the events at Varvara’s house. Anton and Stepan... (full context)

...the start of the next week. Anton goes to see Liputin, who tells him that Lebyadkin and Marya are across the river in the suburb of Gorshechnaya. Liputin also says that... (full context)

...by Pyotr’s voluble nature. Pyotr also tells Nikolay that he has arranged a place for Lebyadkin and Marya to stay and gives the address to Nikolay. Pyotr says that “our people”... (full context)

...like that. Nikolay makes his way through the streets. He arrives at the house where Lebyadkin and Marya once lived. Shatov opens a window in the attic and asks who’s there.... (full context)

...Nikolay and help him out if he ever gets in a tough spot and mentions Lebyadkin. He says that Pyotr sent him and promised him a passport that would enable him... (full context)

Nikolay continues to walk alone in the rain. Eventually, he arrives at the house where Lebyadkin is staying. Lebyadkin invites him inside and says he’s been waiting for him. He also... (full context)

...days. At that point, it will no longer be necessary to send a subsidy to Lebyadkin. Lebyadkin can’t believe it. He says that his sister is a “half-wit” and asks if... (full context)

Nikolay then asks Lebyadkin if he has informed “about anything.” Lebyadkin confesses that he told Liputin privileged information. Lebyadkin... (full context)

...started fighting, and Fedka killed him. Fedka says that he once saw money spilling from Lebyadkin’s pockets when he was drunk. He learned that the money came from Nikolay, and now... (full context)

Nikolay says that yesterday, Fedka approached him and offered to kill Lebyadkin and Marya and leave no trace. He asked for a three rouble advance but made... (full context)

...house, Pyotr shows Aleksey and Nikolay the anonymous letter that Andrey received. Pyotr says that Lebyadkin must have written the letter, and he asks Nikolay for money to pay off Lebyadkin... (full context)

...As the group prepares to leave, Liza approaches Nikolay. She says that a man named Lebyadkin, who claims to be Nikolay’s relation, has been pestering her with letters and claims to... (full context)

...and Andrey much longer than expected to arrive and begin the proceedings. After they arrive, Lebyadkin drunkenly wanders onstage, eliciting cries and mocking cheers. Liputin ushers him offstage and returns. (full context)

...intended as a joke. He begins to read the poem, and some people shout that Lebyadkin wrote it. People in the audience laugh, but by the end of the poem, they... (full context)

...building manages to put it out before the fire spreads, thus preserving the building. Inside, Lebyadkin, Marya, and a servant are dead. Their throats have been cut, and Marya’s body has... (full context)

Pyotr tells Nikolay that Lebyadkin, Marya, and a servant have been killed. He says that because of the confluence of... (full context)

...servant would notice. Liza and Mavriky leave Stepan and go to the house where Marya, Lebyadkin, and the servant were murdered. (full context)

...who had been in love with Liza. Pyotr also maintains that the murders of Marya, Lebyadkin, and their servant were an accident. Although some people are skeptical of Pyotr, in general,... (full context)

...of the common good by contributing to the fires and the murders of Marya and Lebyadkin. When Pyotr arrives, the group of five brings its concerns to him. (full context)

...lead authorities to discover their revolutionary faction. Pyotr says that Fedka acted alone in murdering Lebyadkin and Marya and only wanted Lebyadkin’s money. He then shows the group the anonymous letter... (full context)

...that Pyotr’s plan didn’t work, and Pyotr fooled him. Fedka didn’t get any money from Lebyadkin, and he hasn’t gotten money or a passport from Pyotr either, as Pyotr promised. He... (full context)

...is a factory worker who helped Fedka with the arson and with murdering Marya and Lebyadkin. The factory worker reportedly suspected Fedka of stealing money from Lebyadkin and taking it for... (full context)

...Nikolay. He blames Pyotr for Shatov’s murder, the arson, and the murder of Marya and Lebyadkin. Virginsky is arrested the same day that Lyamshin confesses. Virginsky also confesses to everything. Erkel... (full context)

Demons

Lebyadkin Character Analysis

Lebyadkin Quotes in Demons

Part 2, Chapter 2, Section 2 Quotes

Part 2, Chapter 3, Section 2 Quotes

Part 2, Chapter 3, Section 4 Quotes

Part 3, Chapter 2, Section 4 Quotes

Part 3, Chapter 3, Section 3 Quotes

Lebyadkin Character Timeline in Demons