Stavrogin's quest has taken him not only on a physical trip into far off lands but also a metaphysical venture into the unknown. Stavrogin's quest has begun when he was a young boy spending time with his very influential mentor - Stepan Verhovensky. It was Stepan Verhovensky who instilled the vision for the ultimate horizons within Stavrogin. Little did he know that Stavrogin will not only try to reach the ultimate horizon but go beyond it and try to become god.

Throughout the novel we follow Stavrogin and his search for God. His search starts out on the Devil's side, when he spreads metaphysical disorder within the calm town of Skvoreshniki. He is compared to a "beast" and a "serpent" which coils itself around its pray getting ready to devour it. After a couple "shocking" events, there was a "general outburst of hatred with which everyone fell upon 'the ruffian and society bully'"(p 60). Stavrogin's journey also takes him into the underworld of debauchery and low society where he is said to be a part of "orgiastic parties" and "murder". He does not know where to look for God, and tries to look everywhere he can, even in such lowly places as that.

After failing to find God in society's periphery, Stavrogin goes on a journey which takes him to Jerusalem, Egypt, Mt. Athos, and finally Iceland - his bitter end. He goes to Egypt as it is the center of strange mysteries and home to many eccentric sects. After leaving Egypt empty handed he ventures to Jerusalem as it seemed for him as the most obvious place to find Him. In Jerusalem he is blessed with a similar fate and finally decides to venture to the "coldest" place on Earth - the North Pole. This final trip ends similarly to all of the others, but differs in the fact that it takes everything out of Stavrogin and leaves him and empty shell of a human.

His end was predetermined by the sole fact that what he was looking for could not be found the way he wanted to find it. He wanted to see God as either a person or an object; he wanted proof for His existence. Stavrogin had no faith and wanted to base his beliefs on reason alone. By this quest he wanted to see how far he could test God; he wanted God to finally "come down off his cloud" and to strike him down for his evil doings - the fact that he would be struck down would not matter, but the fact that God has came down and showed Himself was exactly what he wanted. Shatov tells Stavrogin, "you never walk at the edge of the abyss, but precipitate yourself over it boldly, head downwards" (p 261). He not only tests God but valiantly spits in His face waiting for a response. Everything that he does must be taken to an extreme.

Stavrogin's failed attempt at finding God ends in that he becomes his own god. He serves as an idol not only to himself but to all the people around him. They all worship him in their separate ways; they kill and lie in his name. After all this, Dostoevsky still gave Stavrogin a chance to be saved, and his savior was Dasha. He doesn't take the opportunity and his only way out is suicide.

Bibliography
The Devils, Fyodor Dostoevsky (Penguin Classics 1971); Translation by David Magarshack.