Chapter 1, By Way of an Introduction and Chapter 2, Prince Harry, Marriage Proposal Summary

Chapter one tells the story of Stepan Verkhovensky, a scholar and ex-professor who now lives with a rich, widow named Varvara Stavrogin in a provincial Russian town. Mrs. Stavrogin originally hired Verkhovensky to tutor her son, Nicholas Stavrogin. Mrs. Stavrogin and Mr. Verkhovensky have a complicated but platonic relationship. Despite her help, the Moscow and St. Petersburg intellectuals do not respect Verkhovensky. This, accompanied with his general laziness, leads to intemperate drinking and gambling.

Despite his flaws, Mr. Verkhovensky is still the most educated and literate man in his small Russian village. He is deathly afraid of being thought of as subversive by the government, though he likes to pose in his own circle as a freethinker and progressive.

Our narrator...