The Possessed, Part 2, Chapter 5 summary

What happens

1. The circle meddles with an abused wife and harasses newlyweds; Yulia Mihailovna forgives the riders after initially condemning them.
2. Lyamshin plants obscene photographs among a Gospel seller’s books, but his musical performance saves his place in Yulia Mihailovna’s circle.
3. An icon suffers theft and desecration; Lizaveta Nikolaevna responds to mocking spectators by kneeling and donating her diamond earrings.
4. Two days afterward, Lizaveta invites the narrator on an excursion that stops to inspect a young suicide and ridicule his fate.
5. At Semyon Yakovlevitch’s lodge, visitors watch his unpredictable gifts and commands; he dismisses a widow and directs attention toward a kneeling landowner.
6. Semyon Yakovlevitch dismisses a disobedient visitor and directs gifts of money and tea to others.

In this chapter

What to notice

The narrator states the impulse linking the crowd’s scandals with the excursion’s behavior at the hotel. Other people’s pain becomes an opportunity for pleasure rather than sympathy.

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