Makar Devkin

Makar Devkin is a peasant convict condemned to hard labor for an attempted murder and robbery that he attributes to demonic possession, yet he risks his own life to help a fellow villager by secretly revealing a prisoner's identity swap to Nekhludoff. His crime and his subsequent act of self-sacrifice illustrate the novel's central paradox: a man whom the law brands a dangerous criminal proves capable of a moral courage that the legal system itself cannot produce.

Identity and Crime

Makar Devkin is a man of the most ordinary peasant type, about thirty years old, of medium size. He was condemned to hard labor for an attempt to murder and rob a traveler. In the account he gave to Nekhludoff, he insisted that the crime was not his doing but his devil's. He explained that a traveler came to his father's house and hired his sledge to drive to a village thirty miles away for two roubles. Makar's father told him to drive the stranger. While they drank tea together, the stranger mentioned that he was going to be married and had five hundred roubles, which he had earned in Moscow, with him. Hearing this, Makar went out into the yard and put an axe into the sledge under the straw. "And I did not myself know why I was taking the axe," he said. "'Take the axe,' says HE, and I took it." They drove along until they were near the village, with only about four miles to go. At a cross-road uphill, Makar got out and walked behind the sledge. "HE whispers to me, 'What are you thinking about? When you get to the top of the hill you will meet people along the highway, and then there will be the village. He will carry the money away. If you mean to do it, now's the time.'" Makar stooped over the sledge as if to arrange the straw, and the axe seemed to jump into his hand of itself. The man turned around, and Makar lifted the axe to strike him down, but the traveler was quick, jumped out, and took hold of his hands. The man bound Makar's arms with his girdle, threw him into the sledge, and took him straight to the police station. Makar did not even struggle, but gave in at once. At his trial, the commune gave him a good character, saying that he was a good man and that nothing wrong had been noticed about him. The masters for whom he worked also spoke well of him. But he had no money to engage a lawyer, and so he was condemned to four years' hard labor.

Key Actions and Objectives

Despite his own desperate situation, Makar Devkin performs an act of extraordinary risk and moral courage. While Nekhludoff was passing through the bachelors' room in the prison, Makar, stepping quickly with his bare feet and holding up his chains, came close up to Nekhludoff, enveloping him in the strong, acid smell of perspiration, and said in a mysterious whisper: "Help the lad, sir; he's got into an awful mess. Been drinking. To-day he's given his name as Karmanoff at the inspection. Take his part, sir. We dare not, or they'll kill us." He then looked uneasily round and turned away. The criminal Karmanoff had persuaded a young fellow who resembled him in appearance and was sentenced to exile to change names with him and go to the mines instead of him, while Karmanoff only went to exile. Nekhludoff knew this; some convict had told him about this exchange the week before. Makar, knowing that he was risking his life thereby—for if found out he should certainly be throttled—told Nekhludoff the prisoner's secret. Nekhludoff was surprised by his action.

Relationships and Conflict

Makar's relationship with the other prisoners is defined by the brutal code of the criminal world. He dares not speak openly about the identity swap because "we dare not, or they'll kill us." Yet he chooses to break this code of silence to save a fellow villager. His own crime, which he attributes to an external demonic force, stands in stark contrast to this voluntary, conscious act of sacrifice. The conflict is not between Makar and the law, but between the law's condemnation of him as a dangerous criminal and his own capacity for selfless, dangerous action on behalf of another.

Change and Ending

Makar Devkin does not undergo a personal transformation within the novel; his arc is defined by the revelation of his moral character through a single, decisive action. He remains a convict condemned for a crime he claims was not his own, yet he performs an act of heroism that the legal system could never compel. His story ends not with his own fate resolved, but with his plea to Nekhludoff to intervene in the identity swap, an act that places his own life in jeopardy for the sake of another.

Narrative Role and Evaluation

Makar Devkin serves as a powerful counter-example to the novel's critique of the criminal justice system. He is a man whom the law has branded a criminal, yet he demonstrates a moral clarity and self-sacrifice that shames the officials who judge and punish him. His story, told in his own words as a possession by a demon, also illustrates the novel's theme of the "animal man" versus the "spiritual man." Makar's crime is the work of the animal self, but his intervention for the fellow villager is the work of the spiritual self. He is a living refutation of the idea that criminals are a separate, dangerous class of beings, and his brief appearance in the narrative provides one of the most striking examples of the innate human goodness that the novel insists exists even in the most degraded of men.