The Idiot: What's Inside

The Idiot
Study Guide by Course Hero
sometimes uses the present tense.

What's Inside
ABOUT THE TITLE
The protagonist of The Idiot, Prince Myshkin, sometimes refers
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 to himself as an idiot when he recalls his early life, before he
was treated for debilitating epilepsy. Others also refer to
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 Myshkin as an idiot when they hear about his epilepsy, and
sometimes they call him an idiot because they don't
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3
understand his worldview. Prince Myshkin is also called a "holy
h Characters .................................................................................................. 4 fool" (yurodivy) by Myshkin's evil double, Rogozhin. In Russian
Orthodoxy the expression "fool for God" or "fool in Christ"
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 9 occasionally refers to a person with limited understanding and
intelligence. More often, though, it describes a deeply spiritual
c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 15
person who pretends to be insane to reveal and speak truths
about society and holiness. The prince is a holy fool as well as
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 40
an epileptic, but he returns to an even more primitive condition
l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 43 of idiocy at the end of the novel, after he fails to save either of
the two women he loves. It may be that the prince's divine
m Themes ...................................................................................................... 44 standard of compassion is incompatible with the material
world, and thus he returns to silence.
j Book Basics
d In Context
AUTHOR
Fyodor Dostoevsky
YEARS PUBLISHED Indeterminacy in The Idiot:

1868–69
Polyphony and the Unreliable
GENRE
Philosophy, Religion Narrator
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR
Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin
The Idiot is told by a third-person omniscient narrator, although
(1895–1975), in his Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics (1929,
the narrator occasionally breaks in to address the reader in the
revised and edited with current title 1963), refers to
first person, using the pronoun we.
Dostoevsky's novels as polyphonic because they explore a
TENSE variety of opposing ideas and points of view without much
For the most part, The Idiot is written in the past tense, mediation from the narrator. According to Bakhtin, Dostoevsky
although when the narrator breaks in to address the reader, he used this method of composition because he believed truth
The Idiot Study Guide In Context 2
about oneself could emerge only in the absence of external Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder distinguished by
interference. seizures that typically last for between one and two minutes.
These seizures occur when signals between nerve cells in the
Dostoevsky varies the type of polyphony he uses in his novels: brain are absent or overloaded. The seizures may include
in The Idiot oftentimes there is no narrative mediation between convulsions, unconsciousness, odd movement or behaviors, or
the reader and the novel's characters, all speaking in their own emotional disturbances. Epilepsy historically has been linked to
voices. At other times the narrator breaks in and admits he is the divine or demonic in many cultures, and recent clinical
repeating rumors and that the rumors are conflicting. Toward studies show a strong connection between religious
the end of the novel, the narrator indicates that there is no way experiences and epileptic seizures, particularly in people with
to know the real truth about what happened. Thus, the temporal lobe epilepsy (seizures that involve one or both
uncertainty created by polyphony is compounded by an temporal lobes; patient is awake and aware during seizures).
unreliable narrator. The temporal lobes run along the sides of the brain and are
connected to the limbic system, which handles sound, smell,
As noted by literary critic Alexander Spektor, the incoherent
some vision, memory, and emotion. When people have a
narrative and unreliable narrator create interpretive anxiety in
seizure in the temporal lobe, their normal emotions are
the reader, hindering their ability to make an ethical judgment
heightened because many nerve cells fire together. In the
about Prince Myshkin's actions and motivations. Spektor also
scientific literature, so-called religious symptoms before an
notes, following Bakhtin, that the polyphonic voices in The Idiot
epileptic fit, also called auras, were reported by 3.9% of
compete in trying to impose a narrative order on the world,
epilepsy patients. Ecstatic religious experience may be
while idiocy becomes the "destabilizing force, a refusal and/or
predominantly localized to the temporal regions of the brain, in
inability to secure meaning." This idiocy is tied to Myshkin's
the right hemisphere, according to clinical experts. Sometimes
disintegrating consciousness at the end of the novel.
these experiences involve feeling a presence, which people
Interpretation of the novel is made difficult, "not so much by
associate with a vision of God. Since Myshkin is a Christ-figure,
the polyphony of its voices" but because of an "insistence that
Dostoevsky fashions him as an epileptic prone to visions. He is
any kind of finished interpretation is morally inadequate." The
either an idiot or saint, depending on which aspect of the
unreliable narrator is a key factor in creating instability and
author's polyphonic view is being supported or defended.
forcing the reader to split into the narrator's easily persuaded
imagined reader and an actual reader who sees through the
narrator's tricks. After acknowledging the existence of good
and evil in themselves, actual readers arrive at compassion for Dostoevsky's Reactionary
the characters.
Politics
Epilepsy and Mysticism In the late 19th century Russia lagged behind Western
European countries in developing technology and industry,
largely because it was still an agrarian country operating under
Dostoevsky's epileptic fits were preceded by a mental
an antiquated class system. The Russian aristocracy headed
experience of spiritual ecstasy, which he describes in this
by the czar, a supreme ruler, still held the majority of power,
novel. In those moments the world makes perfect sense and
and while the middle class grew, most of the population were
fear disappears. The narrator describes Prince Myshkin's
peasants—and most of the peasants were recently freed serfs,
precursor to an epileptic fit in Part 2, Chapter 5: "The sense of
unfree laborers attached to the land. Still, Russian industry
life, of self-awareness, increased nearly tenfold in these
experienced some growth, especially in large population areas.
moments, which flashed by like lightning." He experiences
Modernization increased European influence and brought
luminosity, freedom from anxiety and doubt, as well as deep
European science and technology to Russia. In the second half
tranquility. Dostoevsky said of his epilepsy that such moments
of the 19th century, capitalism (economic system characterized
of "illumination" just before a fit were "worth a whole life," and
by private enterprise) and socialism (economic system
the narrator of the novel concurs. Myshkin himself exclaims,
characterized by government enterprise) in Russia became
"Yes, for this moment one could give one's whole life!"
competing ideologies among the educated classes, and both
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The Idiot Study Guide Author Biography 3
ideologies were disliked by Slavophiles (those who favored daughter off to the corrupt aristocrat Totsky, who spent years
Russian culture over European influences) such as grooming a girl—Nastasya Filippovna—and using her for his
Dostoevsky. sexual gratification, beginning when she was 16. Similarly,
Ganya, the man chosen to take Nastasya off Totsky's hands,
As a young man the author briefly became involved in a plans to marry her to get his hands on 75,000 rubles, which
socialist circle, for which he was severely punished with a stint Totsky has given to Nastasya as a kind of perverse dowry.
in Siberia from approximately 1850 to 1854. The result of this Throughout the novel many people around Prince Myshkin are
chastisement was a conscious re-conversion to Russian corrupted by money in one way or another and lose sight of
Orthodoxy and hatred for anything that smacked of socialism. traditional Russian values, usually with disastrous results.
The chastised Dostoevsky became a Slavophile, or someone
who considered Western Europe, along with Catholicism,
a Author Biography
morally bankrupt. The Slavophiles rejected both capitalism and
European-style democracy, putting their faith instead in the
Russian Orthodox Church and the way of life of the common
people. Prince Myshkin is a Slavophile, and he condemns
Catholicism in Part 4, Chapter 7, as an unchristian faith that Early Life
preaches a distorted Christ. Myshkin dislikes the Catholic
Church because it has a history of wielding temporal power. Fyodor Dostoevsky (also spelled Dostoyevsky) was born on
November 11, 1821. His social class and the hardships he
suffered distinguish him from his two great contemporaries:
Dostoevsky's Critique of Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) and Ivan Turgenev (1818–83). Unlike
these two aristocrats, Dostoevsky was born into the middle
Materialism class.
Capitalism came to Russia with the development of industry, Dostoevsky's father was a physician who first worked in the
and it put a new emphasis on private competition and the military and then took charge of a hospital for the poor. He and
accumulation of wealth among the growing middle classes. his family had a house on the same campus as the hospital, so
Industrialization had the effect of transforming traditional the young Dostoevsky was exposed to sickness and poverty
social and class relationships and shifting power to the newly from an early age. He had several siblings but was closest to
moneyed. In addition, trends in science, particularly the theory his brother Mikhail (1820–64), who was a year older. His father
of evolution, as set forth in British naturalist Charles Darwin's was a bad-tempered disciplinarian. Both parents were
(1809–82) On the Origin of Species (1859), attacked humanity's religious, but his mother's teachings of a joyful and pious
relationship with God and demoted men and women to Christianity likely played a role in Dostoevsky's depictions of
nature's creatures. Science objectified people by making them Christlike characters such as the Elder Zosima and the novice
one more subject of study under the scientist's microscope. Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov (1879–80) and Prince
And capitalism objectified people as they become one more Myshkin in The Idiot (1868–69). Dostoevsky's portrayal of
commodity to buy and sell. mystics and mystical states in these two books was influenced
by his own spiritual experiences, brought on by epilepsy. No
Dostoevsky wrote The Idiot while he was living abroad, and one knows exactly when the writer suffered his first seizure,
during those four years, from 1867 to 1871, as translator but he was plagued by epilepsy all his adult life and would
Richard Pevear notes, he "brooded most intensely on the fate typically experience an "aura" before having a seizure. This
of Russia." In the novel the author critiques the effect of the prefiguration warned him the fit was coming but also filled him
new materialism on Russian society. One of Dostoevsky's key with feelings of spiritual rapture and oneness with all creation.
topics is how the pursuit of money and power corrupts people.
For example, General Epanchin, the son of a common foot
soldier, gains money and status, becomes an investor in a
corporation, and will stop at nothing to enhance his social
position. Thus, he is contemplating marrying his eldest

The Idiot Study Guide Characters 4
the author's second big novel, was deemed a failure by the

Becoming a Writer critics of his day as well as some modern pundits but
understood by more perceptive readers as a flawed
Both Dostoevsky and his brother Mikhail pursued artistic and masterpiece, and a precursor to his magnum opus, The
literary endeavors from an early age, but their father insisted Brothers Karamazov (1879–80), his last and greatest novel. In
they pursue careers in the military. Dostoevsky completed The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov, as well as in many of
engineering school and received a military commission but his other works, Dostoevsky gives full voice to opposing
resigned at age 23 to become a full-time writer. He political and moral viewpoints and wrestles, along with his
experienced early literary success, first with a translation of characters, with faith and doubt.
French author Honoré de Balzac's (1799–1850) novel Eugénie
Grandet (1833), and then with his own novel, Poor Folk (1846).
His writing career was cut short when he was arrested in 1849
for subversive political activity against the czarist government.
Death and Legacy
It is doubtful Dostoevsky advocated violent revolution, but he
Dostoevsky died at age 60 on February 9, 1881, leaving behind
and other radicals were caught up in a government dragnet.
a rich legacy of short works of fiction, timeless novels, and
The czar's punishment was draconian: Dostoevsky and some
nonfiction compiled in Diary of a Writer. His experiences of
others were sentenced to death. While he was facing the firing
imprisonment, chronic epilepsy, addiction, and poverty gave
squad, Dostoevsky got an official reprieve. The near-death
him a singular window into the lives of the poor, the outcasts,
experience profoundly affected him and his writing, as did the
and the criminals of society. Along with Tolstoy, Dostoevsky is
deep religious conversion he experienced while in jail. The
considered to be one of Russia's greatest writers. While
fullest telling of surviving the firing squad appears in The Idiot,
Tolstoy masterfully depicts discernible states of
a novel about the meaning of mortality. Dostoevsky was
consciousness, Dostoevsky brilliantly renders the workings of
incarcerated for four years and did hard labor in Siberia,
the unconscious mind and shines a light on the darkest corners
followed by four years of forced military service and continued
of human motivation and behavior.
exile. Only after 10 years' punishment was he allowed to return
to his life in St. Petersburg in 1859, where he threw himself into
writing and publishing.
h Characters
Publishing Life
Prince Myshkin
The author founded two literary journals in which he and
others published articles and short works of fiction. Most of his After being orphaned as a child, Prince Myshkin is adopted by
writing revealed a commitment to a Russian society based on a kind benefactor who sends him to Switzerland to cure his
fair social principles and Christian spiritual values. Initial epilepsy. He is called an "idiot" because of this disease, which
success was followed by tragedy and adversity. The sometimes debilitates him, and because his compassion leads
government shut down the journals, which was a terrible him to take actions that are incomprehensible and seemingly
financial blow to Dostoevsky. His brother and his first wife died, idiotic to others. In his late 20s when the novel begins, his love
and Dostoevsky became addicted to gambling. It was during and compassion draw people to him, while at the same time
this terrible time that Dostoevsky began writing Notes from they often ridicule him. In the end his attempt to save a lost
Underground (1864), which introduced a new type of fictional woman—Nastasya Filippovna—ends up destroying her as well
character: the underground man or man of ressentiment. as him and his rival Rogozhin.
Constrained by law and morality, the man of ressentiment
cannot fully act out his envy and hatred and thus turns some of
his destructive impulses on himself. Notes from Underground
was soon followed by the publication of Crime and Punishment
(1866), the first of Dostoevsky's large masterpieces. The Idiot,

Rogozhin Ippolit
Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin, in his late 20s, is driven by a Ippolit is a nihilist who has not completely given up the idea of
dark sensuality, and after falling in love with Nastasya an afterlife. At one point he reads a long manifesto to a circle
Filippovna, he will stop at nothing to have her, even though he of acquaintances at Prince Myshkin's impromptu birthday
knows she hates him. He brings her 100,000 rubles, which she party, in which he expresses his anguish about dying young
throws in the fire, and then spends the rest of the novel trying and attempts to appear heroic. He is spiteful and bitter
to marry her, finally killing her when she accepts him in deepest because he feels as if nobody loves him.
despair.
Ganya
Nastasya Filippovna
Ganya, in his late 20s, lives with his parents and sister and
The beautiful and deep-souled Nastasya is violated at an early brother in a large apartment in which the family takes in
age by her lustful guardian Totsky; she lacerates herself for boarders. The family also depends on Ganya's income. After he
giving in to him. Feeling dirty, especially after Totsky tries to agrees to marry Nastasya and she turns him down, Ganya
"sell" her to Ganya on her 25th birthday, she runs off with quits his job as General Epanchin's secretary and lives off his
Rogozhin, even though she loves Prince Myshkin. She spends brother-in-law Ptitsyn. He then tries to ingratiate himself with
the novel running between these two men, neither of whom Aglaya, another rich woman, but he has never loved either of
she can accept for different reasons, and ends up being knifed them.
by Rogozhin.
Aglaya
Aglaya Ivanovna Epanchin is the spoiled and eccentric
youngest daughter (age 20) of the Epanchins. She falls in love
with Prince Myshkin but cannot get over her jealousy of
Nastasya Filippovna, whom the prince loves only out of pity.
She cannot accept the prince's inhuman standard of
compassion, which demands that he choose Nastasya over
herself after she forces his hand. On the rebound Aglaya
marries a fake Polish count over the objections of her family
and ends up converting to Catholicism and becoming
estranged from her family.
Lebedev
Lebedev, about 40, sucks up to the rich and the powerful and
also inserts himself into everybody's business. He has a large
family and has recently become a widower. To supplement his
income he becomes a moneylender. He plays several nasty
tricks on Prince Myshkin, who easily forgives him.

Character Map
Rogozhin
Coarse and passionate
merchant's son
Ganya Nastasya Filippovna

Materialistic, vain, Beautiful and resentful
mediocre social climber Psychological "fatal woman"
doubles
Rival
Woman
needing rescue
Prince Myshkin
Christlike, compassionate,
Friend innocent newcomer
Evgeny Pavlovich Romantic Aglaya

Thoughtful, well- love interest Beautiful, haughty, and
meaning ex-officer childlike young woman
Misunderstood
consumptive Landlord and
unreliable friend
Ippolit Lebedev
Immature and self- Roguish, clownlike,
centered pessimist meddlesome widower
Main Character
Other Major Character
Minor Character

Full Character List Alexandra Ivanovna Epanchin is the

eldest sister in the Epanchin family
and a musician. Early in the novel
Alexandra
Totsky is being considered as a
Character Description
possible suitor and future husband
for her.
Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin is
the protagonist and central figure of
Princess Belokonsky, also called "old
Prince Myshkin the novel, whose Christlike
Belokonsky," is the center of the
compassion turns out to be
Princess social scene and Mrs. Epanchin's
incompatible with the real world.
Belokonsky friend and patroness. She befriends
Prince Myshkin when he visits
Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin is Moscow.
the antagonist or villain of the novel.
Rogozhin He is Prince Myshkin's double, an
Antip Burdovsky demands money
atheist driven by his strong passions
from Prince Myshkin because he is
to pursue a hopeless love.
Burdovsky convinced by Chebarov that the
prince's mentor, Pavlishchev, was his
Nastasya Filippovna Barashkov, also true father. This is not the case.
called Nastya, is the "fatal woman"
Nastasya
of the novel, pursued by Prince
Filippovna Mrs. Burdovsky is the sister of the
Myshkin and Rogozhin as well as by
woman Pavlishchev was in love with,
other men.
Mrs. Burdovsky who died before they could marry.
This is why Pavlishchev looks after
Aglaya Ivanovna Epanchin is the Mrs. Burdovsky and her son.
spoiled and eccentric youngest
daughter of the Epanchins. She falls
Aglaya Chebarov is the crooked lawyer who
in love with Prince Myshkin but
tries to convince Burdovsky that
forces him to make a choice that will
Chebarov Pavlishchev was his real father, and
forever keep them apart.
thus that he deserves part of the
prince's inheritance.
Lukyan Timofeevich (or Timofeich)
Lebedev is a double-dealing
Darya Alexeevna was a friend of
trickster who throws up roadblocks
Lebedev Totsky's and is now a friend to
for other characters at inopportune Darya Alexeevna
Nastasya Filippovna, who sometimes
times and provides comic relief in
stays at her house.
this somber novel.
Vladimir Doktorenko is Lebedev's

Ippolit Terentyev is a dying
nephew and one of the rowdy young
consumptive (person suffering from
men who comes to demand that
Ippolit tuberculosis) and the son of Mrs.
Doktorenko Prince Myshkin give part of his
Terentyev (the mistress of General
inheritance to Burdovsky. The
Ivolgin).
narrator implies Doktorenko is a
socialist and a nihilist.
Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin, also
called Ganya, Ganechka, and Ganka,
General Ivan Fyodorovich Epanchin,
Ganya is a social-climbing petty bureaucrat also called the general, is the
who consents to marry Nastasya General husband of Mrs. Epanchin. He rose
Filippovna for money. Epanchin from a low birth, as the son of a
common soldier, to wealth and
Adelaida Ivanovna Epanchin is the prominence in the army.
middle sister in the Epanchin family.
Adelaida She is a painter. She becomes
engaged to Prince Shch. and
eventually marries him.

Elizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchin, Marfa Borisovna Terentyev, also

also Lizaveta Prokofyevna, is the called the captain's widow, is the
wife of General Epanchin and a mother of Ippolit and the mistress of
distant relation of Prince Myshkin. Marfa General Ivolgin. She has been
Mrs. Epanchin She is similar to him in having a carrying on a long-term affair with
compassionate heart and an honest the general, with whom she has a
and open demeanor; she is not love-hate relationship.
afraid to look foolish in the service of
speaking the truth.
Nina Alexandrovna Ivolgin is the
long-suffering wife of General Ivolgin
Nina
Evgeny Pavlovich Radomsky is a who forgives him everything and
Alexandrovna
former officer and suitor of Aglaya. even tries to help the family of his
Evgeny Pavlovich He is rumored to be very rich, but mistress.
some of his inheritance is
squandered by his uncle.
Nikolai Andreevich Pavlishchev is
Prince Myshkin's guardian who
Evgeny Pavlovich's uncle commits brought him up after his parents
Evgeny Pavlishchev
suicide after embezzling government died and sent him to Switzerland for
Pavlovich's uncle
funds. a cure for his epilepsy. He is dead
two years when the story opens.
Ferdyshchenko is a boarder at the
Ivolgin house and a man of Ivan Petrovich Ptitsyn, also called
Ferdyshchenko questionable character. He is one of Vanka, is a moneylender who boards
Ptitsyn
the group that tries to extort money with the Ivolgins and ends up
from Prince Myshkin. marrying Varya.
General Ardalion Alexandrovich The Polish count marries Aglaya at

Polish count
Ivolgin, also called the general, is a the very end of the novel.
drunk and a fabulist who keeps a
General Ivolgin mistress and burdens his family with
his constant drunkenness and debt. Professor Schneider, also called
His clownish antics create humorous Doctor Schneider, has a clinic in
Professor
scenes in the novel. Switzerland, and he helps Prince
Schneider
Myshkin get his epilepsy under
control.
Lieutenant Keller, retired from the
army, is a dissolute character with a
Keller bit of a conscience. He befriends the Prince Shch. is Adelaida's suitor; he
Prince Shch.
prince and is ready to stand up for ends up marrying her.
him.
Afanasy Ivanovich Totsky is a
Nikolai Ardalionovich Ivolgin, usually despicable landowner and capitalist
called Kolya, is the youngest child of who grooms a pre-teenage
the Ivolgins. He leads a somewhat Nastasya Filippovna to be his
independent life apart from his Totsky mistress and then begins having
Kolya family and serves as a go-between, sexual relations with her when she is
often taking messages from one 16. When the novel begins, he is
person to another. When the novel trying to pass her on to Ganya with a
opens he is 13, but six months later settlement of 75,000 rubles.
the narrator says he is 15.
Varvara Ardalionovna Ivolgin, also
called Varya and Varka, is Ganya's
sister. She is not afraid to stand up
Varya to her brother. She is also practical,
marrying Ptitsyn for the sake of her
family (they all come to live with
him).

The Idiot Study Guide Plot Summary 9
Epanchin, among others, Nastasya says she will not marry

Vera Lukyanovna Lebedev is
Vera Ganya. Shortly after Rogozhin bursts in with a crowd of
Lebedev's daughter.
drunken friends and produces 100,000 rubles for Nastasya.
The prince now proposes marriage to Nastasya, saying he has
fallen in love with her, will respect her and take care of her, and
k Plot Summary is not the pauper he appears to be, since he has recently
inherited money. But she refuses him as well and throws
Rogozhin's 100,000 rubles in the fire. Before the money burns,
Nastasya retrieves the money and thrusts it on Ganya, and
Part 1 then runs off with Rogozhin.
Two men in their 20s, Prince Myshkin and Rogozhin, meet in a

third-class train carriage and strike up a conversation. The
mild-mannered Myshkin is headed for Petersburg to introduce
Part 2
himself to the Epanchins, since Mrs. Epanchin is a distant
Ganya ends up returning Nastasya's money and quits his job,
relation. An overwrought Rogozhin has recently inherited a lot
so his sister Varya marries a well-to-do moneylender Ptitsyn,
of money from his father and is intent on winning the woman of
who can take care of the family. They include Varya's parents
his dreams, Nastasya Filippovna, currently the mistress of the
General Ivolgin, a drunk and a storyteller, and his long-suffering
landowner.
wife, Nina Alexandrovna, as well as her younger brother Kolya.
Prince Myshkin easily gains entrance into the Epanchin
In Moscow Nastasya runs away from Rogozhin and stays with
household because of his innocent and open manner, which
Myshkin, who treats her like a sister. The prince remains in
charms everyone. He first meets General Epanchin and his
Moscow for six months, and during that time he writes a short
assistant Ganya, from whom he will rent a room. The prince
letter to Aglaya, which indicates he cares for her.
overhears the two men talking and learns Ganya is thinking
about marrying Nastasya Filippovna, who will receive 75,000 The prince follows Nastasya and Rogozhin back to Petersburg.
rubles from Totsky. Totsky wishes to marry respectably and is Nastasya is staying with her friend, Darya Alexeevna. Myshkin
being considered as a husband for Alexandra, the eldest visits Rogozhin at his house in an attempt to make Rogozhin
daughter of the general, but first he must get rid of Nastasya. view him as a friend who has no intention of interfering in his
Totsky reared her from childhood and groomed her as his alliance with Nastasya, although he thinks it will be disastrous
mistress, beginning sexual relations with her when she was 16. for both of them. Rogozhin later follows Myshkin back to his
hotel and almost stabs him, but Myshkin falls down in an
The prince has lunch with Mrs. Epanchin and her daughters,
epileptic fit before he lands the knife.
Alexandra, Adelaida, and Aglaya. Myshkin tells them he was
orphaned and reared by his father's friend Pavlishchev, who The prince recovers in Pavlovsk, where he is renting rooms
then sent him to Professor Schneider in Switzerland. from Lebedev, a meddler and a comic figure in the novel. All of
Pavlishchev had hoped the professor could cure Myshkin of his Petersburg's well-to-do citizens go to Pavlovsk, so the
frequent attacks of epilepsy, which made him almost "an idiot." Epanchins visit Myshkin, and they get reacquainted. While he is
He is much better now, and new circumstances have sent him recovering, Myshkin also meets Ippolit, the son of General
back to Russia. Ivolgin's mistress Marfa. Ippolit is a young, consumptive nihilist
whom he eventually invites stay with him, since Ippolit is dying.
Myshkin and Ganya return to Ganya's house, and soon after
Nastasya calls upon the family, acting with great rudeness Aglaya and the prince develop a friendship with romantic
while pretending to invite them to her birthday party. A nasty overtones. Nastasya begins writing to Aglaya, pushing a liaison
scene ensues, and after she leaves, Ganya admits he is with Myshkin. She says she will marry Rogozhin only if Myshkin
marrying her for her money. Myshkin now feels compelled to marries Aglaya. Nastasya also discourages a liaison with
go to the party himself and warn Nastasya. Aglaya's current suitor Evgeny Pavlovich by smearing his
reputation.
At the party, attended by Ganya, Totsky, and General

The seizure is mild, and the next evening Aglaya insists he

Part 3 come with her to call on Nastasya. Aglaya berates Nastasya
about her letters and her interference in Aglaya's relationship
Aglaya does seem to love the prince, although she acts with the prince. She also criticizes Nastasya for not becoming
erratically and impulsively, while he is unambiguously smitten. a chambermaid rather than living on Totsky's money. Nastasya
On his birthday he gets a note from Aglaya to meet him the retaliates against this attack by threatening to order Myshkin
next morning. That night Myshkin's friends throw him an to marry her, as he had originally promised. When Nastasya
impromptu birthday party. Most everyone gets drunk, and faints, Myshkin does not go after Aglaya, who has stormed out.
Ippolit reads a long manifesto in which he tries to show he is Aglaya feels humiliated, and the relationship is ruptured.
brave about dying. At the same time, he is attempting to arouse
his listeners' love and sympathy, but he does not succeed. He A few weeks later Nastasya is preparing to marry the prince,
unsuccessfully tries to kill himself and is put to bed. who has shouldered the burden of taking care of her, even
though he loves Aglaya and wants to be with her. But on her
When the prince meets Aglaya the next day, she berates him wedding day Nastasya sees Rogozhin in the crowd and runs
for proposing to Nastasya (earlier on) and running after her. off with him for the last time. The next day Myshkin looks for
Myshkin tries to teach Aglaya to pity Nastasya, which is the them in Petersburg and runs into Rogozhin, who takes him
emotion he now feels for her. Aglaya gives him Nastasya's back to his house and shows him the corpse of Nastasya,
letters, which reveal she herself is in love with the prince, whom he has murdered with a knife. The prince stays with a
although the prince claims Nastasya feels not love, but fevered Rogozhin through the night until the authorities break
something else. Meanwhile, the Epanchin parents are in and arrest him.
concerned about a possible alliance between Aglaya and
Myshkin, whom they think is an unfit suitor. Rogozhin is sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in Siberia.
Ippolit dies two weeks after Nastasya. Prince Myshkin is
returned to Professor Schneider's clinic in Switzerland, and
Evgeny Pavlovich moves to Europe and visits him periodically.
Part 4 The prince has returned to a state of catatonia, and the doctor
has no hope of a cure.
Ippolit has moved in with the Ivolgins and is spreading gossip,
even telling Nina Alexandrovna that he stole money from
Lebedev. General Ivolgin is in a state because Ippolit is
tormenting him and has called him a liar because he makes up
stories. The Ivolgin family is concerned with the general's
erratic behavior, which has gone beyond his normal antics.
Myshkin learns the general has surreptitiously returned
Lebedev's wallet with the money, but Lebedev continues to
torment him, pretending he has not seen the wallet that has
mysteriously been returned to his room. The prince convinces
Lebedev to relent, but too late, because the general ends up
having a stroke and eventually dies.
Myshkin and Aglaya continue spending time together, and he

confesses his love and proposes. Thus, the Epanchin parents
resign themselves to the situation and decide to have a party
to introduce the prince to society. The party begins well, but
then Myshkin gets worked up after someone says his guardian
had converted to Catholicism before he died. The prince
speaks passionately against Catholicism and lectures on the
Russian Christ, and then ends up falling down in an epileptic fit.

Plot Diagram
Climax
11
10
12
9
Falling Action
Rising Action 8
13
7
6 14
5
15
4
Resolution
3
2
1
Introduction
9. After reading his manifesto, Ippolit tries to kill himself.

Introduction
10. Prince Myshkin confesses to Aglaya that he loves her.
1. Rogozhin befriends Prince Myshkin on a train to Petersburg.
Climax
Rising Action 11. Aglaya confronts Nastasya Filippovna and humiliates her.
2. Prince Myshkin meets General Epanchin and his family.
3. Myshkin tells Nastasya Filippovna not to marry Ganya.

Falling Action
4. Prince Myshkin proposes to Nastasya Filippovna.
12. Nastasya Filippovna faints, and Aglaya storms out.
5. Nastasya Filippovna runs away with Rogozhin.
13. Nastasya Filippovna leaves Prince Myshkin at the altar.
6. Prince Myshkin goes to Moscow to claim his inheritance.
14. Rogozhin knifes Nastasya Filippovna after rescuing her.
7. Prince Myshkin returns to Petersburg and Pavlovsk.
8. Rogozhin almost stabs Prince Myshkin before he has a fit.

Resolution
15. A catatonic Prince Myshkin returns to Switzerland.

Timeline of Events
November 1867
Prince Myshkin meets Rogozhin, who tells the prince of

his passion for Nastasya Filippovna.
Morning of same day
Prince Myshkin visits General Epanchin, hoping to meet

his wife Mrs. Epanchin, a distant relation.
Lunchtime, same day
Prince Myshkin sees a portrait of Nastasya and meets

Mrs. Epanchin and her daughters.
Night of same day
Prince Myshkin goes to Nastasya Filippovna's birthday

party to warn her not to marry Ganya.
Later that night
Prince Myshkin proposes to Nastasya Filippovna after

Rogozhin arrives with 100,000 rubles.
End of the party
Nastasya Filippovna throws the money into the fire and

runs away with Rogozhin.
Few months later
Prince Myshkin briefly shelters Nastasya Filippovna in

Moscow after she runs away from Rogozhin.
June 1868
Prince Myshkin arrives back in Petersburg, following

Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin.
Afternoon of same day
Prince Myshkin visits Rogozhin, who shows him a copy of

the dead Christ painted by Holbein.
Evening of same day

Rogozhin almost stabs Prince Myshkin at his hotel, right

before the prince has an epileptic fit.
Several days later
Ippolit, who is dying of consumption, reads his

acquaintances a nihilistic manifesto.
Several days later
Prince Myshkin confesses his love to Aglaya.
Few days later
The Epanchins introduce Prince Myshkin to society, and

he has an epileptic fit at this party.
Next day
Aglaya, envious of Nastasya Filippovna, insults her in

front of Prince Myshkin.
Same day
Nastasya Filippovna threatens to demand that Prince

Myshkin marry her as he promised.
Same day
Prince Myshkin cannot leave a fainting Nastasya

Filippovna, and Aglaya storms out.
Beginning of July
Nastasya Filippovna runs away with Rogozhin instead of

marrying Prince Myshkin on her wedding day.
Next day
Myshkin finds Rogozhin in Petersburg; Rogozhin shows

him the murdered body of Nastasya Filippovna.
Night and next morning
Prince Myshkin stays with Rogozhin until the police

come and then falls into a catatonic state.
Months later
Prince Myshkin is returned to the Swiss clinic by Evgeny

Pavlovich, who visits him.

The Idiot Study Guide Chapter Summaries 15
soldier, he has several properties and interests in joint-stock

c Chapter Summaries companies and is quite rich. His three grown
daughters—Alexandra (in full: Alexandra Ivanovna Epanchin),
Adelaida (in full: Adelaida Ivanovna Epanchin), and Aglaya (in
Part 1, Chapters 1–2 full: Aglaya Ivanovna Epanchin)—are lovely, educated, and
talented, but Aglaya, the youngest, is a special beauty and
prized by her sisters. None of the sisters are in a hurry to
marry.
Summary
When Prince Myshkin arrives at the Epanchin house, his
shabby appearance makes the valet reluctant to announce him
Chapter 1 without approval from the secretary. Nonetheless, the prince
wins the valet over by treating him with perfect equality.
Two men in their 20s of very different temperaments and Myshkin learns that the secretary, Ganya (in full: Gavrila
appearance meet in a third-class carriage heading to Ardalionovich Ivolgin), has easy access to the general and his
Petersburg and strike up a conversation. The mild-mannered family. Myshkin and the valet talk about capital punishment,
blonde man, Prince Myshkin (in full: Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin), and the prince describes an execution he saw in France.
immediately relates that he has been in a Swiss sanatorium Myshkin speaks at length about the cruelty of capital
(institution for therapy, treatment, or rehabilitation) for his punishment, especially the mental cruelty that occurs before
"falling sickness" (epilepsy) and is now returned home because the event. "To be killed by legal sentence is immeasurably
his guardian Pavlishchev (in full: Nikolai Andreevich more terrible than to be killed by robbers," Myshkin says. When
Pavlishchev) died two years previously, and his doctor Ganya returns, he agrees to announce the prince.
Professor Schneider can no longer keep him at his own
expense. Prince Myshkin has only a small bundle and nowhere
to go. Analysis
A third man, about 40, inserts himself into the conversation and The first two chapters of the novel introduce almost all the
appears to know everyone in Petersburg, including General main characters, either directly or indirectly. Prince Myshkin,
Epanchin (in full: Ivan Fyodorovich Epanchin), whom Myshkin the hero of the story, is a Christlike figure, and
plans to visit, since the general's wife is his distant relation. The Rogozhin—lacking control and a coherent code of ethics—can
other young man, black-haired and swarthy, introduces himself easily turn to criminal activity if his passions are enflamed.
as Rogozhin (in full: Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin), and the Together they are Dostoevsky doubles, or a pair of characters
older busybody, Lebedev (in full: Lukyan Timofeevich Lebedev), who are similar or opposite, but whose destinies are
immediately recognizes Rogozhin as the son of a recently intertwined. In this case Myshkin and Rogozhin are opposites,
deceased merchant who left 2.5 million in capital. Lebedev also like a photograph and its negative. They will become rivals in a
knows about Rogozhin's interest in Nastasya Filippovna (in full: battle over Nastasya Filippovna, perhaps the most fully realized
Nastasya Filippovna Barashkov), the mistress of an older man of another "type" found in Dostoevsky's novels, the "fatal
named Totsky (in full: Afanasy Ivanovich Totsky), a landowner woman" (femme fatale), or an irresistibly attractive and
and capitalist and friend of General Epanchin. Rogozhin tells seductive female who destroys any man who becomes
how he was instantaneously bewitched by Nastasya Filippovna involved with her. In this novel Nastasya is much more
and stole money from his father to buy her an expensive gift. sympathetically portrayed than other similar Dostoevsky
Now that he is rich, he intends to pursue her. He takes a liking heroines, but she will be the instrument for both Myshkin's and
to the prince and invites him to stay with him in Petersburg. Rogozhin's destructions.
These chapters introduce the first important theme in the

Chapter 2 novel: human terror in the face of both immediate death and its
existential threat. The prince tells Rogozhin about the
Despite the fact that General Epanchin is the son of a common execution he witnessed and then tells the valet the same story,

which he will repeat to the Epanchin women in Part 1, Chapter and she gives him her portrait. Ganya, Epanchin, and Totsky,
5, along with the story of a man sentenced to be executed and Nastasya's guardian and erstwhile lover, will visit her this
then reprieved. As noted by critic and novelist A.S. Byatt, The evening, and the general hopes she will consent to marrying
Idiot is a meditation on both the imminence and immanence of Ganya. When the prince sees the portrait, he remarks on
death. The tragedy of human life is the sure knowledge of Nastasya's beauty and tells of his meeting with Rogozhin. The
death (imminence), which is always present and must be general is alarmed to learn a rich man intends to pursue
managed (immanence). Prince Myshkin, the embodiment of Nastasya, although Ganya seems ambivalent.
compassion, sees capital punishment as the worst kind of
torture because it forces a person to face without mediation Epanchin next leaves to ask his wife about whether she wants
their certain extinction, along with all their aborted to receive the prince. While he is gone Ganya and the prince
opportunities and missed possibilities. talk about the portrait. Myshkin remarks that Nastasya has
suffered. When Ganya asks if the prince would marry her, he
Myshkin is an outsider, recently back from Europe (the says he is unwell and can't marry. Ganya then asks if Rogozhin
Russians felt themselves to be different from other Europeans) would marry Nastasya, and the prince says, "He'd marry her,
and ready to embrace his homeland. The prince is as innocent and a week later he might well put a knife in her." Just then
as a child, holding nothing back, which disarms other people Myshkin is called to have lunch.
and allows them to take him into their confidence. The reader
also immediately sees that Myshkin is stepping into a world in
which money plays an outsized role. Rogozhin believes he now Chapter 4
has the means to win Nastasya, the mistress of a wealthy man,
because he has money. Since Totsky and General Epanchin are good friends and
business partners, Totsky is being considered as a possible
husband for the eldest Epanchin daughter, Alexandra. Totsky,
Part 1, Chapters 3–4 a middle-aged man of wealth and social standing, wishes to
marry respectably, but first he must get rid of Nastasya
Filippovna. From a noble but impoverished family, Nastasya is
orphaned and sent to live with Totsky's steward. When she is
Summary 12, Totsky notices her beauty and intelligence, and he moves
her to another location with a governess and fine tutors. When
she is 16, he takes her for his lover, visiting her in the country in
Chapter 3 the summers. When Nastasya is 20, she hears Totsky is
attempting to make a respectable match, and she comes to
Prince Myshkin wishes to make the acquaintance of good
Petersburg to prevent his marriage out of spite.
people he may be related to, since he's been out of Russia for
several years. He also has a piece of business he needs some While she has no legal remedy against Totsky, he fears her
advice about. The prince's openness and innocence win over willingness to go to extremes without thought to the
General Epanchin. Myshkin was orphaned as a child, and his consequences. Totsky settles her in luxurious comfort in
father's friend Pavlishchev reared him and then sent him to Petersburg, hoping to mollify her. Thus have they remained at
Professor Schneider in Switzerland after his frequent attacks an impasse for five years, until Totsky and Epanchin learn
of epilepsy made him almost "an idiot." He is much better now, Ganya is in love with Nastasya. Totsky finally sees an opening,
and new circumstances have sent Myshkin back to Russia. The so he gives her 75,000 rubles for her future, which she
general thinks he will get Myshkin a government post and asks accepts as "recompense for her maimed life." There are
him to demonstrate his handwriting. While Myshkin is rumors Ganya now wants to marry Nastasya for her money,
practicing his script, he overhears the conversation between and that his love is turning to hatred as a result of the meddling
the general and Ganya. of the older men. Additional rumor has it General Epanchin has
been captivated by Nastasya and bought her a string of pearls
Ganya, another young man in his 20s, has just come from
for her birthday for an enormous sum.
Nastasya Filippovna's after wishing her a happy 25th birthday,

Both Totsky and General Epanchin are crass materialists who

Analysis believe that anybody can be bought for the right amount of
cash. These two men have taken it upon themselves to
In Part 1, Chapter 4 a second important theme is introduced:
interfere in a budding relationship between Ganya and
the corrupting effect of capitalism on society. Capitalism has
Nastasya, which has now been turned into a financial
made its way into Russia by the last half of the 19th century,
transaction because of their meddling. Ganya is a lowly
and in Dostoevsky's view the materialism spawned by
assistant to the general and has a large family to support, and
capitalism was destroying traditional religious and moral
it is his dream to move into the middle class. Thus, Nastasya
values. General Epanchin begins life as the son of a foot
has become the price of the ticket with her 75,000 rubles from
soldier but works his way up the military career ladder and
Totsky.
becomes rich by buying property as well as stock in
corporations. He has become a friend and business associate Unlike the men who are bartering her, Nastasya has not been
of the corrupt Totsky, who is also rich and, now in late middle seduced by materialism, even if she has succumbed to
age, looking for a respectable wife. He lured Nastasya Totsky's ravishment. Nastasya fights back against Totsky by
Filippovna into an illicit sexual relationship when she was a making herself visible in Petersburg as his sexual protégé
teenager, but he doesn't want to marry her because she has (although she is no longer sleeping with him)—thus
been tainted by her relationship with him. It is likely that she discouraging any respectable family from considering him as a
would not accept him anyway. possible bridegroom. Throughout the novel Nastasya fights
back against men's attempts to commodify her, although her
While by current standards Totsky is nothing more than a
strategies are often self-destructive.
pedophile, he would not have been considered a criminal in
19th century Russia, since Nastasya at 16 had reached the
threshold of womanhood by the standards of her day.
Nonetheless, Totsky is clearly a man of low morals who has
Part 1, Chapters 5–6
taken advantage of an innocent child, grooming her from age
12 to be his mistress, not only hijacking her sexual autonomy
but also ruining the possibility that she would be able to make a Summary
respectable marriage for herself. For women of the middle and
upper classes in the 19th century, virginity was essential if they
wished to be treated well by a prospective husband and his Chapter 5
family.
General Epanchin leads his wife to believe her relative is a poor
Despite his bad character, Totsky is considered spousal idiot who needs feeding, since he wishes to draw her attention
material by General Epanchin, who wishes to make a match for away from his birthday gift for Nastasya Filippovna. When Mrs.
his eldest daughter Alexandra. Totsky is attractive to the Epanchin (in full: Elizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchin) and her
general because he has wealth and social standing and daughters meet Prince Myshkin, they are pleasantly surprised
because such a match will further solidify their business to find him both coherent and charming. He tells them in detail
partnership. Epanchin easily puts financial considerations about his epilepsy and how, after a series of fits, he seemed to
above paternal responsibility, never thinking about whether the live in a semiconscious state until he came back to himself in
decadent and immoral Totsky is the kind of man he ought to be Switzerland, when he heard the "braying of an ass in the town
pushing toward his daughter. Furthermore, Epanchin follows market."
Totsky in treating the fallen Nastasya as nothing but a
commodity. He himself is attracted to her and is planning to In his Swiss village his health improves, and he learns how to
give her an expensive string of pearls for her birthday, a clear be happy. "It seemed to me that in prison, too, you could find
signal that he is soliciting her for her favors. At the same time an immense life," he observes. He next recounts the story of a
he is scheming on Totsky's behalf to convince Ganya to marry young man sentenced to death by firing squad and then
Nastasya so that Totsky will be free to marry his eldest reprieved at the last moment. The man remembered with great
daughter. clarity the 20 minutes before the reprieve. He thought that if he

were allowed to live, he would "turn each minute into a whole or acclaim. At the same time the saint provides people with
age" and waste nothing. But in fact, he is unable to keep this spiritual guidance. Myshkin, is the "positively beautiful man"
promise to himself. Dostoevsky wished to portray, a living icon of compassion, and
an idiot or holy fool for Christ following Russian Orthodoxy.
Myshkin also tells the women about the execution he Like Christ, he teaches by parable and example, but he is
witnessed. "I looked at his face and understood everything," unconscious of his status as a holy fool in his perfect
Myshkin says, as he imagines aloud the hours before the innocence. Myshkin tells the Epanchin women three parables
condemned man's death until the final moments. He repeats that teach the transformative power of compassion. In the first
the speculation that a man's head may know "for a second that story a condemned man reprieved at the last minute (an
it has been cut off." experience the author lived through) can't keep his promise to
himself to live fully in every moment. It is easy for the listener to
commiserate with his all-to-human inability to constantly
Chapter 6 remember his mortality and live through that stark knowledge.
In his second story the prince teaches the cruelty of state-
Next, Prince Myshkin tells the story of Marie, a poor
sanctioned murder, and in the third story he demonstrates how
consumptive girl seduced and abandoned by a traveling
children who have not yet been corrupted by society can easily
salesman and then ridiculed by the town. Myshkin goes against
learn kindness.
the town and develops a friendly relationship with this young
woman, and he teaches the village children not to torment her
but to be kind. The prince admits that "my comrades have
always been children." Last, he says Professor Schneider sent Part 1, Chapters 7–8
him back to Russia and again alludes to his need to consult
with someone on some matter. Finally, he reads the women's
faces, noting that Mrs. Epanchin is "a perfect child, in Summary
everything," despite her age.
Chapter 7
Analysis
Mrs. Epanchin opines that she and the prince are exactly alike.
The derogatory word "idiot" is used, by Myshkin as well as by When pressed to say something about Aglaya's face, Prince
others, to refer to the prince over 40 times in the novel. Of Myshkin says she is beautiful like Nastasya Filippovna and
course, Prince Myshkin is also the idiot of the novel's title. In reveals that Nastasya presented Ganya with her portrait. The
Part 1, Chapter 5 Myshkin explains how his epilepsy—a disease women want to see it and send Myshkin to get it. Ganya gets
that brings on spiritual visions in some people—turned him into angry when Myshkin comes for the portrait, calling him an idiot,
an idiot. In using this term he means he became insensible and but asking him to slip a note to Aglaya. In transit and alone with
unaware of his surroundings. He remembers returning to the portrait, the prince kisses it. After he brings it to Mrs.
normal consciousness in Switzerland, when he hears an ass Epanchin, she calls for Ganya and asks him if he's getting
braying, an incident that the Epanchin sisters play for comic married, to which he replies "No." When the women leave,
effect. But more seriously, this awakening upon hearing an ass Ganya accuses the prince of blabbing his business.
references the humility of Christ, who entered Jerusalem riding
a donkey. Myshkin is meant to be seen as a Christ figure, Aglaya returns so Myshkin can write in her album, and while he
possessing Jesus's insight and compassion, without Jesus's is occupied, Ganya whispers in her ear, "One word from
divinity. you—and I'm saved." She creates a pretext for leaving the
room with Myshkin and shows him Ganya's note—much longer
In the first chapter Rogozhin calls Myshkin a "holy fool," a but with the same message. If he broke off his engagement to
description also connected with Myshkin's idiocy. In the Nastasya by himself, Aglaya would "probably become his
Russian Orthodox Church holy foolishness is a radical form of friend," she says, but because "his soul is dirty ... [he] asks for a
asceticism, in which a saint pretends to be mad to avoid praise guarantee." She sends Myshkin back to Ganya with the note,

who becomes further enraged because "the idiot" has been His father may have been from the aristocratic class, but this
taken into the women's confidence on such short notice. He hardly matters because he has fallen so far from his original
continues to berate Myshkin, who finally makes a stand and social status—becoming a useless drunk and a burden on his
refuses to go home with him. Ganya, embarrassed, recalls family. As noted by literary critic Roger Anderson, Ganya is
himself and apologizes, and they set off. "emblematic of the emerging capitalist who eagerly exchanges
money for an existential identity" and "is symptomatic of the
new Russia that Dostoevsky feared."
Chapter 8
Ganya is not concerned, as his mother and sister are, that
Ganya's household consists of his mother Nina (in full: Nina marrying a kept woman will be a blot on the family honor. He is
Alexandrovna Ivolgin), his sister Varya (in full: Varvara ready to do whatever is necessary to acquire wealth, including
Ardalionovna Ivolgin), his father General Ivolgin (in full: General double dealing with two women. Ganya hopes Nastasya will
Ardalion Alexandrovich Ivolgin), his 13-year-old brother Kolya accept him so he can get his hands on her 75,000 rubles. On
(in full: Nikolai Ardalionovich Ivolgin), and a boarder named the other, he is flirting with Aglaya, who is sure to have a
Ferdyshchenko. Prince Myshkin meets General Ivolgin, an sumptuous dowry, but he won't give up his first prospect
inveterate drinker and liar who claims to have been a good without a sign from Aglaya: for him it is all about the money.
friend of the prince's father. He gets on the topic of Ganya's Not surprisingly, Aglaya sees through Ganya ("his soul is dirty")
impending marriage and vows that "an ambiguous woman" will and rejects him.
not cross his threshold. Ganya's mother tells her son she is
resigned to the marriage, but his sister says she will leave if he
brings such a bride home. Just then, Nastasya Filippovna Part 1, Chapters 9–10
shows up and is announced by the prince, who happens to see
her ringing the broken doorbell.
Summary
Analysis
Prince Myshkin's ability to read faces and his seeming gift to
Chapter 9
predict the future at times—for example, in Part 1, Chapter 3 he
After a flustered Ganya introduces Nastasya Filippovna to his
tells Ganya that Rogozhin might marry Nastasya Filippovna and
mother and sister, she begins rudely quizzing them about their
then stick a knife in her a week later—are grounded not in a
shabby apartment and its tenants. Ganya also introduces the
supernatural ability but rather in a deep well of compassion
prince, whom Nastasya had first taken for a servant. Soon
and empathy. This allows him to clearly see people's character
General Ivolgin comes in and introduces himself, and Nastasya
and motives. Since he has no agenda and very little desire to
playfully berates him, calling him "papa" and asking why he
get something from the other, he can see the other clearly. At
hasn't been to see her. Nastasya allows Ivolgin to tell a wild
the same time, because he doesn't judge others, they feel free
and amusing story about throwing an annoying dog out a train
with him and are more likely to show parts of themselves they
window but then tells him she's read the same story in the
normally keep hidden. Mrs. Epanchin recognizes that she is like
newspaper some days previously. Ganya looks at Nastasya
the prince, and he has called her a "perfect child." Both of them
with hatred and tries to remove his father from the room, but
have largely escaped the corruption that comes with growing
just then a noisy crowd of people come into the front hall.
into adulthood, and they forgo the masks people wear to hide
themselves. Mrs. Epanchin is the second most compassionate
character in the book, although she too quickly loses her Chapter 10
temper and is more impatient with people than he.
Prince Myshkin recognizes the voices of Rogozhin and
In these two chapters the reader learns more about Ganya, an
Lebedev, who barge in, accompanied by several drunken men.
educated, impoverished man who worships money and is
Although surprised to see Nastasya Filippovna, Rogozhin still
attempting to claw his way into the prosperous middle class.

threatens to buy them all. He asks her if she's planning to words bring her back to her true self ("You can't be the way
marry Ganya, and she answers "No." Rogozhin begins offering you pretended to be just now. It's not possible!"), which is why
Ganya money, egged on by Nastasya, while Ganya tells him to she apologizes to Ganya's mother.
get out. Rogozhin promises to produce 100,000 rubles to the
purpose. Varya calls Nastasya shameless. Ganya grabs Varya's
hand in anger and won't let go, so she spits in his face. He Part 1, Chapters 11–12
swings at his sister with all his strength, but the blow is
stopped by the prince, who says, "Oh, how ashamed you'll be
of what you've done!" He also tells Nastasya she is pretending
Summary
to be shameless, and she admits he's right, kissing Nina
Alexandrovna's hand and leaving quickly.
Chapter 11
Analysis Kolya, who is impressed with Prince Myshkin's behavior, visits
him in his room, soon followed by Varya, who thanks him.
In Dostoevsky's polyphonic novels characters with widely
Ganya next joins them and apologizes to the prince. After
divergent voices and points of view often confront one another
Varya leaves, Ganya says Nastasya Filippovna is sure to marry
in melodramatic and violent scenes. The first of such scenes in
him. He congratulates himself for being honest about taking
The Idiot takes place in these two chapters, in which Nastasya
another man's mistress for money. The prince admits he
Filippovna barges in on the Ivolgins, followed by Rogozhin and
thought Ganya a villain but now sees he is an ordinary man,
his drunken crew. Nastasya feels humiliated by Totsky's
"only very weak, and not the least bit original." Ganya dislikes
attempt to "sell" her to Ganya. As is typical in Dostoevsky's
his assessment and confides his intention to become rich using
novels, and especially prominent in this one, people learn what
Nastasya's money, which will make him original. Nastasya is
is going on behind their backs through third parties who keep
virtuous and has not had relations with Totsky in a long time,
the rumor mill spinning. Nastasya is well aware that the Ivolgins
Ganya says, although he pegs her as a woman who loves to be
do not consider her worthy to enter their family and that Ganya
dominated. After Ganya leaves, Kolya returns with a note from
already feels hatred toward her. This is the reason she goes to
his father asking to see the prince.
his house to humiliate him and his family. They live in a shabby
apartment and must take in tenants, which is a sore point for
Ganya, so she rubs salt in that wound. The entire family is Chapter 12
ashamed of their drunken father who tells one tall tale after
another. Naturally, Nastasya winds him up to repeat an Kolya takes Prince Myshkin to a café not far away. The
anecdote he read in the newspaper as if it were his own drunken Ivolgin wants money, and the prince gives him the little
experience. Then she calls him a liar. he has. Myshkin asks the general to take him to Nastasya
Filippovna's house, but Ivolgin leads Myshkin on a wild-goose
As is the case in these melodramatic scenes, there is much
chase until they end up at the house of his mistress Marfa (in
comedy, and General Ivolgin is both pathetic and comic. But
full: Marfa Borisovna Terentyev), a widow. Kolya is already
things soon turn ugly when Rogozhin enters the picture. His
there, since he is friends with the family, especially Ippolit (in
idea is not so much to buy Nastasya as to buy off Ganya so
full: Ippolit Terentyev), the eldest son who is very ill. Marfa
that he removes himself from the picture. Nastasya eggs
berates the general for stealing and pawning her things and
Rogozhin on in a parody of what Totsky, General Epanchin,
leaving her children impoverished, but the general falls asleep.
and Ganya are trying to do more discreetly, which is to treat
Kolya agrees to take the prince to Nastasya's house. On the
her like a commodity that can be had for a price. She is also
way Kolya attempts to defend his father, saying he's the victim
using Rogozhin to further humiliate Ganya. An enraged Ganya
of drink and disorder. He also tells Myshkin his mother and
strikes out against his sister without reservation, which reveals
sister have been giving Marfa's family money.
his depth of depravity. Nastasya has succeeded in showing him
to be man with no morals. The only person who sees Nastasya
for who she is—a wronged woman lashing out—is Myshkin. His

Analysis Summary
Many critics, including Dostoevsky himself, have noted the
structural difficulties presented by the novel. As an example, Chapter 13
the narrator says Kolya is 13 in Part 1, Chapter 8, but six
months later, the narrator says he is 15 (Part 2, Chapter 1). Prince Myshkin is worried about how he will be received, but he
Dostoevsky acknowledged that both the turmoil of his life and is determined to tell Nastasya Filippovna not to marry Ganya
the difficulty of his material and method prevented him from because he doesn't love her. At Nastasya's party are some of
fulfilling his artistic endeavor as fully as he wished. Regardless, her odd acquaintances and hangers-on, including Ptitsyn (in
the book remains a stalwart example not only of Russian full: Ivan Petrovich Ptitsyn), a rich moneylender who is courting
literature but of world literature as well. Varya; the Ivolgins' boarder Ferdyshchenko, a buffoon; and a
female friend, Darya Alexeevna. Also in attendance are Totsky,
As time passes Kolya spends more and more of his life away General Epanchin, and Ganya. Ganya tells the older men what
from his family. He is a child who is attempting to survive in a happened at his house earlier in the day, and Ptitsyn confirms
dysfunctional family, and he looks around for role models to that he has been busy trying to help Rogozhin amass the
understand how to become a man. His father is a drunk, a liar, promised 100,000 rubles, since he doesn't have the cash
and a cheat, leeching off his own family as well as his readily available. Nastasya is pleased when the prince shows
mistress's family, to the point where Nina Alexandrovna and up. Ferdyshchenko proposes a nasty little party game, in which
Varya secretly must give them money from time to time. Kolya the men will tell, without lying, the worst deed they have ever
befriends Prince Myshkin because is a man of good character, done.
something in short supply in his own household.
Ganya's bad character as well as his inability to read other

Chapter 14
people's thoughts and emotions continue to be evident in
these chapters. The prince says he's not a villain, only because Ferdyshchenko tells a story of how he stole, for no particular
his compassion cannot allow him to reduce any individual to a reason, a three-ruble note at a house party, with the result that
"black hat" or a "white hat." When Myshkin looks at people he a servant is blamed for the theft and summarily dismissed.
sees their suffering, illustrated in shades of gray. Ganya is Thinking his story amusing, he is surprised by the negative
weak, as Myshkin says, because he allows his pursuit of money response of the company. General Epanchin next tells a story
to overshadow all other considerations, and he is unoriginal of berating a landlady, learning later she was dying while he
because he is just another greedy materialist. He freely admits was insulting her. (She simply said nothing, and he found out
he is marrying for money and believes he should be later she had died.) In an act of remorse he supports two sick
congratulated for being honest about it, since another man old women at the almshouse. Next up is Totsky, who recounts
might pretend to take a cast-off mistress out of true feeling. beating out a friend in procuring rare red camellias for a
Since it is doubtful Ganya could love any woman (his only love married woman. Totsky delivers a bouquet of these flowers in
is money), he can imagine only a false suitor for Nastasya the name of the husband, effectively cutting off any chance for
Filippovna. In addition, Ganya completely misreads Nastasya, his friend to win points with the married lady. He describes his
thinking she will marry him to become respectable. He does action as a prank, but the devastated friend, who is in love,
not understand that Nastasya is in no way driven by what other ends up volunteering for active duty in the Crimea, where he is
people may think about her; rather, she is tormented by what killed. Nastasya is disgusted by this story, and she suddenly
she thinks about herself. turns to Prince Myshkin and asks him whether she should
marry Ganya, promising to do what he says. The prince says
"No." Nastasya next releases Totsky from his promise of
Part 1, Chapters 13–14 75,000 rubles and otherwise sets him free, and she returns the
expensive pearls to General Epanchin. She announces that she
plans to vacate the apartment. It is now 11:30 p.m., and the
doorbell rings loudly.

wrong, since he has educated Nastasya and has always

Analysis provided for her physical comforts. Because of this story,
Nastasya is inspired to do something drastic.
Nastasya Filippovna wishes to use the parlor game proposed
by Ferdyshchenko as a crucible in which to test the men. They
are aware of her motive and, thus, those who agree to play
seek to tell a true story of some misdeed while at the same
time putting themselves in the best light. Ferdyshchenko, a
buffoon, doesn't understand the nature of the game, which is
why he tells the unvarnished truth about himself. He is Summary
surprised by Nastasya's outrage, not understanding that she is
a person with strong moral principles despite the life she has
been forced to lead. Chapter 15
General Epanchin is secretly lusting for Nastasya, which is A dozen men have barged in, all somewhat drunk. They are led
both hidden and revealed by his expensive birthday gift. A by Rogozhin, with Lebedev at his heels. When Rogozhin sees
shrewd gameplayer, he reveals that he inadvertently berated Nastasya Filippovna, he is awestruck and says nothing for
his landlady while she was dying, so he is not truly responsible several seconds. Then he places a large packet of money on
for a moral wrong. He proves himself to be a moral man the table, tidily wrapped in a stack of paper and tied with
because he still feels guilty about what he did. Moreover, he twine—100,000 rubles. Nastasya rants about fleeing from men
atones for his mistake by supporting a few old ladies at the for the past five years, but in the end she is Rogozhin's type of
poorhouse. woman. She berates both Ganya for continuing to pursue her
after Rogozhin's first stunt and General Epanchin for his
Totsky attempts to follow General Epanchin's lead by telling a
inappropriate gift on the eve of her engagement. She accuses
charming story in which he inadvertently had a hand in his
Ganya of being willing to do anything for money. Nastasya says
friend's dying of heartbreak. This tale of a prank with
she has acted with pretensions for five years out of spite;
unintended consequences enrages Nastasya for many
rather, she belongs in the street. She asks if anyone present
reasons. First, the married woman in Totsky's story, like all this
will take her without anything, if she abandons even her last
lady's fashionable friends, wants camellias because of a
rag, and the prince says that he will. Myshkin declares his love
popular play that is all the rage. The Lady of the Camellias, by
in passionate words and reveals he has inherited a fortune. He
French author Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824–95), is the story of
takes out a letter from a lawyer, which is the business he has
a courtesan who wears white or red camellias, depending on
alluded to previously and is the reason he's back in Russia.
whether she is available to her lovers. The courtesan in the
play is based on the real-life French courtesan Marie
Duplessis, who began her career at age 16, the same age Chapter 16
Nastasya became Totsky's mistress.
Ptitsyn looks at the letter and declares Prince Myshkin has
Second, the play is a tragic love story about how a
come into a large fortune, through a series of deaths that have
disreputable woman dies young after being forced to abandon
left him as the only surviving heir. Everyone now realizes the
the man she truly loves. Totsky may not be consciously
prince has proposed, and Nastasya Filippovna names herself a
mocking Nastasya, as one critic has suggested, but
princess. Rogozhin is devastated and demands that Myshkin
nonetheless, there is a lie inherent in the parallel between
give her up. Myshkin asks Nastasya to forgive Rogozhin, who
Nastasya and the courtesan: neither Totsky nor Ganya loves
loves her. The prince promises he will never reproach her for
her, and she had not become Totsky's mistress by choice.
being with Totsky under duress. He will be honored if she
Third, the men participating in the parlor game have promised
consents to be his wife, and he will take care of her. Nastasya
to tell their worst deed, and surely one of Totsky's worst deeds
recalls that as a teenager in the country, she had dreamed of a
must be the deliberate grooming of a 12-year-old girl in his
prince, kind and good, who would rescue her from her
care, over a period of four years, for the purpose of turning her
dishonored state and tell her she was not guilty. However, she
into his mistress. But Totsky believes he has done nothing

won't be like Totsky and ruin a baby. Rather, she'll go off with punish him. Therefore, she uses her anger to punish herself by
Rogozhin, who now becomes deliriously happy. pretending to be what these crude men—Totsky, General
Epanchin, Ganya, and Rogozhin—see when they look at her.
Nastasya announces to the company she will throw the packet
of money into the fireplace, and if Ganya retrieves it quickly Only Myshkin sees her for who she really is, and she
without any gloves, burning his fingers just a little, he can keep immediately falls in love with him during this scene. He is the
it. Nastasya stirs up the fire and throws the packet in, much to prince she has dreamed of, the one who would save her and
everyone's horror. But Ganya does not take the bait as remind her she was a good person. Her prince has arrived—her
everyone remains mesmerized, watching the packet burn. fantasy standing before her in the flesh—but she refuses to
Ganya turns to leave, but he faints instead, and Nastasya take advantage of his innocence. She has too much self-hatred
snatches the money out of the fire with a pair of tongs. to believe she deserves to be loved by a good man, and she
Because the packet is so well wrapped, the money remains will not reprise what Totsky has done to her—take advantage
intact. Nastasya puts the money beside Ganya and then leaves of someone incapable of giving unequivocal consent. Yet
with Rogozhin and his crew. Myshkin also runs out and catches Nastasya will have the last word among these materialists: in
a cab to follow Rogozhin's troikas (vehicles pulled by horses). the most dramatic scene in the novel, she throws 100,000
rubles in the fire and watches them all squirm. Rogozhin is not
worried about the money, however, reveling in her mad act and
Analysis happily claiming her as his prize.
Prince Myshkin feels compelled to prevent Nastasya

Filippovna's marriage to Ganya because he wishes to protect Part 2, Chapters 1–2
her from a man who will clearly mistreat her. The prince has
been smitten by Nastasya from the moment he saw her
portrait, but whether he is truly in love with her or only loves
the sorrow he discerns in her eyes—which he wishes to
Summary
alleviate—is an open question. She herself calls the prince a
benefactor who would take her "out of the kindness of his
heart."
Chapter 1
A few days after the birthday party Prince Myshkin leaves for
Nastasya blames herself for consenting to be Totsky's
Moscow to retrieve his inheritance and is away from
mistress: since he did not forcibly rape her, she holds herself
Petersburg for six months. The narrator lists a number of
responsible for their liaison. She irrationally does not take into
competing rumors circulating about what happened after that
consideration that she was an orphan from a young age and a
fateful day. In fact, Ganya is ill for a time, resigns his position in
child of 12 when Totsky took special charge of her. The
General Epanchin's company, stops supporting his family, and
narrator indicates that by age 20 she has stopped having
returns Nastasya Filippovna's money. Meanwhile, Varya
sexual relations with Totsky—after she comes to Petersburg to
marries Ptitsyn, who takes care of the Ivolgin family, except for
berate him and make it difficult for him to marry—even if
the general, who is in debtors' prison. Varya becomes friendly
Totsky continues to pretend she is his mistress. In Petersburg
with the Epanchin sisters. Later, Kolya strikes up an
she lives a chaste and quiet life, which now seems to be no
acquaintance with the Epanchins on his own and becomes a
more than a pretention to her. Rather, she names herself as a
favorite of Mrs. Epanchin.
woman of the street who belongs with Rogozhin. At least he
loves her, but he is a crude sensualist whose love obsession is
Mrs. Epanchin's friend, old Princess Belokonsky, has been
primarily physical. He has brought money to buy off her other
receiving Myshkin in Moscow. Myshkin's fortune is somewhat
suitors: very well, she will choose the man who repels her, in
entangled, and he gives money to disreputable people who
order to hurt herself for spite. Nastasya's psychological
claim to be creditors, so he has lost some of his money.
response to being abused by Totsky is ressentiment turned
Nastasya is in Moscow but runs away from Rogozhin a few
inward against herself, or self-laceration. She is furious about
times after promising to marry him and then disappears for a
what Totsky has done to her, but she has no real power to

while, along with Myshkin. a number of stories that are clearly untrue, satisfies readers'
curiosity: first by filling them in on what has been going on in
Back in Petersburg, Totsky's pursuit of the eldest Epanchin Petersburg in the Epanchin and Ivolgin households and then by
sister Alexandra fizzles out on its own, while Prince Shch., a providing some reliable tidbits about Myshkin's adventures in
respectable suitor, begins pursuing Adelaida, and Evgeny Moscow.
Pavlovich (in full: Evgeny Pavlovich Radomsky), an imperial
aide-de-camp, courts Aglaya. In this period Aglaya gets a short What remains unclear, however, is whether Nastasya ran from
letter from Prince Myshkin in which he says he had the urge to Rogozhin to Myshkin. The next chapter in the story confirms
remind her of himself. He says he needs the Epanchins, but that she did, but the narrator doesn't say how long Nastasya
especially Aglaya, and hopes she is happy. She happens to put and the prince were together or how they parted. Suddenly,
the prince's letter in Don Quixote de La Mancha and "laughs Myshkin shows up in Petersburg, apparently after he gets a
terribly" when she notices what she has done. letter from Lebedev telling him that Nastasya has returned to
town. At this point it is unclear why Lebedev has written to the
prince, what role he has been playing behind the scenes, and
Chapter 2 why the prince is pursuing Nastasya. Myshkin tells Lebedev to
"leave off serving two masters" and asks him, "Did you manage
In June the Epanchins move to their dacha (summer home) to sell her to him like the other time, or not? Tell me the truth."
outside the city, in Pavlovsk, and a few days later Prince Based on his remarks, it appears that Lebedev played a role at
Myshkin returns to Petersburg. The first thing he does is visit some point in helping Rogozhin track down Nastasya, perhaps
Lebedev, who lives alone with his four children since his wife while she was staying with Myshkin.
recently died in childbirth. Also staying with Lebedev is an
insolent nephew, about 20, who refuses to leave until his uncle Lebedev is now estranged from Rogozhin, he tells the prince,
loans him money. Myshkin has come in response to Lebedev's and he has provided Nastasya with a place to stay. Another
letter about Nastasya Filippovna. The prince is aware that mystery is why Myshkin inexplicably sends Aglaya a
Rogozhin is back in town and wants to know if Lebedev has communication, which looks suspiciously like a love letter: he
brought her and Rogozhin together again after she abandoned says, "I need you, I need you very much." The reader learns
him at the altar in Moscow. Lebedev says Nastasya asked him later in the novel that he sent this letter while Nastasya was
to save her, and thus he has arranged for her to stay with his staying with him, but the narrator never explains why he
sister-in-law in Petersburg. Lebedev has recently bought his reached out to Aglaya at that particular time—perhaps
own dacha in Pavlovsk and invites the prince to rent part of it, because he realized that Aglaya was the one he loved and not
to which he readily agrees. Nastasya. Aglaya files his letter in her copy of Don Quixote
(1605) by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) and
then laughs at what she's done, clearly associating him with
Analysis the idealistic knight of the famous comic novel who leaves
home to save the defenseless people of the world. Myshkin
As noted by literary critic Alexander Spektor, the unreliable has some mission in coming back to Petersburg, although the
narrator in The Idiot creates interpretive anxiety about the narrator does not comment on what it might be. It appears that
actions and motivations of the primary characters. By he might still be on a mission to save Nastasya.
withholding information, the narrator makes it impossible for
the reader to reach a definitive moral interpretation of the
story. Beginning in Part 2, the narrator begins to show signs of Part 2, Chapters 3–4
unreliability when he says rumors are flying about what
happened after Nastasya Filippovna ran off with Rogozhin, and
what part Prince Myshkin may have played in what seems to
be a love triangle of sorts. The narrator claims: "Of the prince's
Summary
adventures in Moscow and generally in the course of his
absence from Petersburg, we can supply very little
information." Nonetheless, the crafty narrator, after spitting out

prince leaves, Rogozhin embraces him and says, "take her,

Chapter 3
then, if it's fate!"
Prince Myshkin leaves Lebedev to visit Rogozhin's house, a
three-story building. Rogozhin's own apartment, where he lives
with his mother and brother, is large and gloomy and clogged Analysis
with old furniture. Myshkin reiterates that Nastasya Filippovna
Rogozhin's house is an emblem of his disordered mind and, as
ran away from Rogozhin twice in Moscow—the first time
noted by critic Roger Anderson, "a place filled by motifs of
running to the prince—but she ran away from him too. Myshkin
primitive retention and greed ... a symbol of an underlying urge
asks when the wedding will take place now that they are in
to accumulate without discrimination." Rogozhin is as much a
Petersburg, and Rogozhin retorts it doesn't depend on him. A
materialist as Totsky or General Epanchin, but his greed
union will destroy both of them, Myshkin says, but he has no
manifests as his need to possess Nastasya Filippovna. Prince
intention of hindering it. Myshkin avows that he loves Nastasya
Myshkin tells Rogozhin that he has no intention of interfering in
out of pity, but Rogozhin says he himself has no such pity.
his pursuit of Nastasya, but if this is the case, then why has
Nastasya hates him, laughs at him, and disgraced him by
Myshkin come to Petersburg at all? Rogozhin's fierce envy of
having a liaison with another man while they were in Moscow.
the prince is palpable. It doesn't matter that Myshkin's love for
In Moscow, after a particularly brutal tongue-lashing, Rogozhin
Nastasya is based in pity; what Rogozhin cannot bear is that
admits he beat Nastasya black and blue but then stayed on his
Nastasya loves the prince. Rogozhin hates not only the prince
knees in her room and refused to eat while he begged
but also Nastasya, for humiliating him—but mostly for rejecting
forgiveness. Eventually she promised to marry him again,
him.
although not right away. Rogozhin insists Nastasya is in love
with the prince but is afraid to ruin him. "This is all jealousy ... all
Rogozhin is Myshkin's double, a negative image of him:
illness," Myshkin says, as he absentmindedly picks up a small
Rogozhin is an atheist and a devil, and Myshkin is a devout
knife on the table. Rogozhin quickly snatches it away from him.
Christian and a Christ figure; both are the same age and love
The prince asks whether it is a garden knife, recently
the same woman, but Rogozhin loves Nastasya only as flesh,
purchased, and Rogozhin becomes uncomfortable with his
while Myshkin loves her only as spirit. These two spiritual
questions.
brothers are like Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam in the
Hebrew Bible's book of Genesis. Their relationship is
symbolized by the exchange of crosses initiated by Rogozhin,
Chapter 4
who clearly means to kill his kin if he gets the chance. Myshkin
senses what is coming, which is why he asks about the knife. In
As the two men walk back through the rooms, Myshkin notices
confronting the dead Christ, these "twin brothers" alternatively
a painting, six feet wide and ten inches high, which portrays
find a reinforcement of faith and a confirmation of atheism.
Jesus just taken down from his cross. Myshkin says it's a fine
copy of Hans Holbein's painting and then remarks that "a man
The painting, titled The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, by
could even lose his faith from that painting!" Rogozhin agrees,
Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497–1543), a copy of which
saying, "Lose it he does," which upsets the prince, who was
hangs in Rogozhin's house, is a central motif of the novel. This
joking. Rogozhin asks Myshkin if he believes in God, noting that
stunning work of art is horrific in its rendering of the corpse of
many people in Russia have become atheists. He responds
the dead savior, reflecting neither Jesus Christ's divinity nor his
with four parables and then says religious feeling cannot be
coming resurrection. Quite simply, the painting is a true
squared with reasoning, people's actions, or atheism. He says,
depiction of a corpse that once contained a human life. A
"There's something else here that's not that, and it will eternally
central theme in the novel is that the knowledge of death to
be not that," and it is more easily observed in the Russian
some degree poisons the happiness of any conscious being,
heart. Rogozhin asks to exchange his gold cross for the
and that the experience of other people's deaths as well as of
prince's tin cross, which he bought out of kindness from a
one's own dying constitutes the tragedy of human existence.
drunk. Nonetheless, during the exchange Myshkin notices
There is absolutely no solution to this problem in Dostoevsky's
there is still a spite on Rogozhin's face. He then brings Myshkin
worldview, other than choosing to have unshakeable faith in
to his aged mother and asks her to bless him. Before the
God and the resurrection of Christ. Yet Dostoevsky did not

have unshakeable faith and notes in a personal letter that enough, he did in this case, since he lived near the Epanchins
doubt tormented him his entire life and lived alongside his faith. when the sisters were young children, and they remember
The skeptical side of Dostoevsky's nature is voiced in this interacting with the family.
novel by Rogozhin and Ippolit, another of Myshkin's doubles,
who is introduced in Part 2, Chapter 9. Kolya embarrasses Aglaya by bringing up a conversation
among the sisters, in which Aglaya referred to "the poor
knight." Prince Shch., also visiting with the Epanchins, explains
Part 2, Chapters 5–6 that the knight is the subject of a Russian poem, and the family
was thinking about whose face might be used if Adelaida were
to draw the knight. No longer embarrassed, Aglaya explains
that the "poor knight" of the poem is a serious rather than
Summary comic Don Quixote, who devotes himself ascetically to the
"pure beauty" of his chosen object, regardless of her behavior.
The prince himself is very embarrassed by the turn the
Chapter 5 conversation has taken.
After leaving Rogozhin, Prince Myshkin fails to find the

Epanchins at home and also misses Kolya at the hotel. He finds
Analysis
himself in an odd state of mind, feeling as if reality were not
quite real. At one point he returns to a shop he remembers
According to some critics, The Idiot is the most
passing when he noticed that Rogozhin was following him, in
autobiographical of Dostoevsky's novels. For example, like
order to reassure himself that the shop actually exists. This
Dostoevsky, Prince Myshkin is away from home for a long time.
mood seems much like the ones that used to precede his
The author spent 10 years in Siberia and four years in Western
epileptic fits: right before a fit he would experience "the sense
Europe while he was writing this particular book. He bases
of life, of self-awareness, increased nearly ten-fold." He feels
Nastasya Filippovna (as well as subsequent fatal women), on
that "all his doubts, all his worries were as if ... resolved in a sort
Polina Prokofyevna Suslova, with whom he had an affair while
of sublime tranquility." Another part of his mind knows these
he was married to his first wife. Dostoevsky provides a detailed
feelings are simply his illness, but he finally thinks they do
description of his ordeal before the firing squad in this novel,
reflect "prayerful merging with the highest synthesis of life."
and he vividly describes what an aura feels like before an
Myshkin now goes to the house where Nastasya Filippovna
epileptic fit. It is no coincidence that the religious Myshkin, with
has been staying and finds she has moved to Darya
his prophet-like qualities, is an epileptic.
Alexeevna's summer place. The prince once again sees
Rogozhin following him. When he gets back to his hotel, Dostoevsky, who suffered from epilepsy himself, sometimes
Rogozhin is there already, and when they look into each other's experienced before a fit moments of spiritual
eyes, Rogozhin raises a knife to stab Myshkin, who falls down illumination—"unbounded joy and rapture, ecstatic devotion
in an epileptic fit. The hotel servants find him, put him to bed, and completest life." He even said he would not exchange
and call a doctor. Kolya returns and takes the prince in a spiritual apprehensions that preceded his fits for all the other
carriage to Lebedev's summer house. joys of life. Thus, Myshkin's epilepsy is still another indication
that he is a "holy fool." The narrator notes that the prince, in a
previous conversation with Rogozhin in Moscow, said that in
Chapter 6 these moments he was able to understand the phrase that
"time shall be no more." He thinks about this, and how he and
Prince Myshkin settles in at Lebedev's dacha (summer home)
Rogozhin had become friends in Moscow; now they have
and recovers quickly. Mrs. Epanchin, whose dacha is only
become brothers, exchanging crosses. On the one hand, it is a
steps away from Lebedev's, visits with her three daughters
piece of situational irony for Myshkin to think Rogozhin is his
while Kolya is also visiting with his entire family. General Ivolgin,
brother right before Rogozhin stabs him. But on the other
as he does whenever he meets a new young person, claims to
hand, he is in a higher state of consciousness in which time, as
have carried Aglaya in his arms when she was a baby. Oddly
well as contradictions, ceases to exist. And the prince is also

experiencing suspicious thoughts about Rogozhin. In some

Chapter 8
part of his mind he understands that Rogozhin is his enemy.
Right before his fit, Myshkin is wondering why Rogozhin has Prince Myshkin is not surprised to see them and says he's
not noticed that Nastasya is insane and is sure that when he entrusted their business to Ganya a month ago. The young
does, compassion will fill his heart. In a heightened spiritual men are in a belligerent mood, and Mrs. Epanchin suddenly
state he feels guilty about "this base foreboding" he has about pulls out an editorial from a humorous weekly and demands
his "friend." Fortunately, Myshkin's fit saves him from the knife. Kolya read it. The editorial is a character assassination,
portraying the prince as an idiot and bloodsucker—someone
Myshkin's illness reopens the doors of friendship with the
who wants to cheat Pavlishchev's rightful heir, his illegitimate
Epanchin family, who come to see him while he is recovering in
son, out of his inheritance. The article also makes fun of
Lebedev's dacha. Kolya brings out that Aglaya identifies the
Myshkin for chasing after Nastasya Filippovna. Now these men
prince as the poor knight of the Pushkin poem, but as
have come to demand a settlement. The man who put
Dostoevsky biographer Joseph Frank (1918–2003) points out,
Burdovsky up to demanding money from the prince is a
she misunderstands the prince, as well as the type of
crooked lawyer named Chebarov. The prince is prepared to
Christianity he embodies. For Myshkin, Nastasya is not the
give Burdovsky 10,000 rubles, but first he asks Ganya to tell
symbol of a chosen ideal, but rather a madwoman for whom he
everyone what he has found out.
is willing to suffer demeaning social consequences if he can
only save her from herself.
Analysis
Part 2, Chapters 7–8 As critic and biographer Joseph Frank points out, Aglaya's
misconceptions of the prince reflect her own character, which
is a combination of passionate idealism and extreme
Summary arrogance. She is attracted by the prince's purity and altruism,
but she wants other people to admire him for his spiritual gifts,
and she gets angry with him because he is too meek and
Chapter 7 allows people to walk all over him (from her point of view). She
is angry at him for idealizing Nastasya Filippovna (even though
Aglaya recites the poem about the poor knight for the Myshkin has no illusions about who she is or what drives her)
assembled company, combining sincere and "beautiful feeling while at the same time admiring him for his devotion to an ideal.
with ... spiteful mockery." This contradiction astonishes Prince Aglaya may already be a little in love with the prince, so
Myshkin. Aglaya changes the initials in the poem—representing perhaps she is also jealous because he has been chasing
the object of the knight's veneration—to "N.F.B.," meaning around another woman.
Nastasya Filippovna Barashkov.
Prince Myshkin's humility and compassionate love are evident
Now four young people arrive to see Prince Myshkin: in his measured response to the young nihilists who have
Lebedev's nephew Doktorenko, who had been demanding broken in, demanding a portion of his inheritance for
money from his uncle; Burdovsky, who calls himself the son of Burdovsky, his mentor's supposed illegitimate son. The prince
Pavlishchev (Myshkin's dead guardian); a retired lieutenant and knows this man is not Pavlishchev's son, yet he is willing to give
boxer, Keller; and Ippolit, Kolya's friend and the son of the him money anyway because he needs it, and he assumes the
widow Marfa, with whom General Ivolgin has had an affair. young man has been entirely misled by the crooked lawyer
Everyone seems to know who these young men are, and Mrs. Chebarov.
Epanchin calls them nihilists.

strongest should win. Ippolit has lost interest in a political

Part 2, Chapters 9–10 conversation and has turned to personal melodrama, telling
everyone he is not yet 18 but is already a dead man.
Summary As Mrs. Epanchin's party is leaving, a carriage pulls up, and a

woman yells to Evgeny, claiming she has persuaded Rogozhin
to buy up his promissory notes. Evgeny is mortified and claims
Chapter 9 he has no idea what she means.
Ganya addresses Keller, the author of the article, chiding him

for playing fast and loose with the facts. Ganya has proof Analysis
Pavlishchev was out of the country during the time Burdovsky
was conceived and born to his legal parents. Further, this These two chapters, in which four rowdy young men are
rumor of "illegitimacy" is based on Pavlishchev's kind treatment unmasked and then scolded, is a serious interlude in which the
of Mrs. Burdovsky, which is based in his love for her sister, a author critiques the Russian nihilists, as well as a comic scene
house serf who died before he could marry her. Pavlishchev in which Mrs. Epanchin is shown to have a compassionate
took responsibility for Burdovsky's mother from the time she heart. Translator and critic Richard Pevear explains that the
was 10, gave her a dowry, and even supported the young Antip term nihilism first showed up in German philosophy to mean
after Mr. Burdovsky died. annihilation—for example, Buddhism was considered a nihilistic
philosophy because its goal is to annihilate the ego self. Later
Young Mr. Burdovsky, a man of principle, refuses to take the French defined nihilism as the rejection of religious or
money from Prince Myshkin and insists on returning the 250 moral principles, and in 1860s Russia nihilism was associated
rubles he sent already. Doktorenko berates Myshkin for with the young socialists who wanted to destroy the existing
offering Burdovsky financial help in a way that forces him to social order.
refuse it. When Ganya opens the envelope of money, there are
only 100 rubles inside, the rest supposedly spent on Burdovsky in this scenario is not a real nihilist, since he does
Chebarov's expenses. Doktorenko now claims they will all pay not wish to take money from Prince Myshkin once he realizes
Myshkin back, ruble by ruble, and he continues to shout and he has been misled. He lives by a set of moral values, unlike
berate the prince. Everyone is disgusted by Doktorenko's Lebedev's nephew Doktorenko, who believes it is unnecessary
antics, and Mrs. Epanchin gives a thorough tongue-lashing to to follow society's rules and moral standards, yet hypocritically
the nihilists, showering a good deal of her wrath on Ippolit, sick expects Myshkin to fork over money to Burdovsky, the
and dying of consumption. She also berates the prince, for supposed rightful heir of Pavlishchev. When he learns this is
forgiving the nihilists and apologizing for making them not true, Doktorenko offers no apology for his behavior.
uncomfortable. She accuses Ippolit of corrupting Kolya but Instead, he pretends that the crew will return the missing
then feels remorse when he begins coughing; she tells him to portion of the 250 rubles Myshkin sent Burdovsky, and which
sit down and take it easy. they stole, supposedly for the crooked lawyer's "expenses."
Evgeny Pavlovich, who is courting Aglaya, makes fun of these

young men, comparing them to the murderer who killed six
Chapter 10
people because it was natural for him to do so, according to
While Ippolit accepts a cup of tea from Lebedev's daughter his defense attorney. Mrs. Epanchin gives the young men a
Vera (in full: Vera Lukyanovna Lebedev), the rascal proudly dressing down for demanding money, not asking for it, without
admits to helping Keller write the hateful editorial against showing any gratitude, yet expecting the prince to give them
Prince Myshkin. Mrs. Epanchin has turned motherly toward money out of a feeling of loyalty and gratitude toward
Ippolit, who has overtaxed himself. Ippolit continues to hold Pavlishchev who raised him from childhood. She calls Ippolit a
forth, and Mrs. Epanchin keeps telling him to go to bed. Evgeny "stinker" because he has been schooling Kolya in nihilism and
Pavlovich, who is courting Aglaya, accuses Ippolit and his atheism. Yet when Ippolit begins coughing and she sees how
comrades of promoting the right of force: those who are sick he is, she immediately relents and acts kindly toward him.

Finally, Lebedev adds an additional comic note, bragging about has been in touch with Aglaya—and blames Varya for intriguing
correcting the first half of the hateful newspaper article but on her brother's behalf. In addition, Aglaya is in touch with
disavowing the second "illiterate" half, which he did not look at. Nastasya Filippovna, which upsets the prince immensely.
Despite the indignation of the Epanchin party, the prince Finally, Mrs. Epanchin gets angry at Myshkin for teasing her
forgives them all, including Ippolit, who says he hates him about being ashamed of her feelings, and when she bars him
"more than anything or anything in the world." Before parting, from her house, he lets slip he's been barred already by Aglaya,
Mrs. Epanchin says, "Thank you, Prince, eccentric friend of our who sent him a note. Mrs. Epanchin's response is to drag him
house, for the pleasant evening ... Your heart must surely be back to her house so Aglaya can "sharpen her teeth" on him.
glad of your success in hitching us to your foolery."
Analysis
As the relationship between Aglaya and Prince Myshkin is
developing, he becomes aware that Nastasya Filippovna is
meddling in some way. The prince thinks she is mad, but he is
Summary still afraid of the damage she might do in her madness. At this
point Myshkin has no conscious awareness that either Aglaya
is attracted to him or he to her. He considers himself to be a
Chapter 11 sick man, not somebody who is marriageable. While he did
propose to Nastasya Filippovna early in the novel, he did so
The next day Adelaida and Prince Shch. stop by and ask Prince
only for the purpose of saving her, but Aglaya doesn't need
Myshkin about the woman who shouted at Evgeny Pavlovich,
saving, and she already has a suitor: Evgeny Pavlovich. Still, he
and Myshkin admits it was Nastasya Filippovna. Shch. says it's
cannot deny that Nastasya seems to have some dark purpose
impossible that Evgeny gave promissory notes to a
in targeting Evgeny. Not surprisingly, Lebedev is involved in this
moneylender, since he has a fortune. Nastasya must have
new intrigue, but he also implies that Aglaya is involved.
some reason for wanting to discredit Evgeny, he says. After his
company leaves, Myshkin suspects the "madwoman" has some
Mrs. Epanchin is very concerned about what Aglaya is up to,
"terrible goal." When Ganya arrives, he tells the prince
and she quizzes the prince on the meaning of his letter
Nastasya has been in Pavlovsk for four days and is attracting
because, although she admires him and perhaps loves him, he
attention, and he speculates Evgeny may owe some money.
is too odd to marry her daughter, and she is against such a
Toward nightfall Keller visits the prince and borrows some
match. She is relieved to find out he is not intriguing with
money from him. When Lebedev gets home, the prince asks
Aglaya, who has been speaking to Ganya behind her mother's
him if he had anything to do with the carriage incident, and he
back. This is why Mrs. Epanchin bars Varya from the house:
says cryptically by "sending a timely message to a certain
she suspects she has been working to soften up Aglaya on her
person." Late at night Kolya arrives and tells Myshkin that
brother's behalf. Meanwhile, Aglaya is being courted by Evgeny
Aglaya has argued with her family about Ganya, although he
Pavlovich, although no one knows that she has already turned
doesn't know why, and Mrs. Epanchin has discreetly barred
down a marriage proposal from him.
Varya from her house.
What remains unclear is why Mrs. Epanchin would drag the
prince back to her house for Aglaya to "sharpen her teeth on" if
Chapter 12 she does not want Myshkin as a son-in-law. The closing scene
of the chapter is comic, as Mrs. Epanchin thinks aloud and then
The Epanchins have been staying away from Prince Myshkin,
accuses the prince of eavesdropping: Aglaya really wanted the
but now Mrs. Epanchin visits him and asks him why he sent
prince to visit, which is why she told him not to come. But
Aglaya a letter a few months back. Myshkin answers he wrote
because he is an "idiot," he took her at her word. Mrs. Epanchin
as a friend, as a brother to a sister. She next quizzes him about
tells Myshkin that Aglaya needs a "buffoon" like him.
"the poor knight," wondering aloud if Aglaya is interested in
him, and she vows he will never marry her. She tells him Ganya

state of shock, Evgeny says nothing, but his indignant friend

Part 3, Chapters 1–2 says Nastasya ought to be whipped. In response she snatches
another man's riding crop and hits the friend hard across the
face. He rushes to strike her, but Myshkin seizes his arms and
Summary stops him.
Chapter 1 Analysis
Although the Epanchin family is respected and respectable, A critique of nihilism continues in these two chapters,
they are also eccentric. Mrs. Epanchin fears her own beginning with Evgeny Pavlovich's criticism of liberalism. After
eccentricity, as well her daughters', might be hindering their spending 10 years in Siberia as a result of his own radical
marital prospects. She is most worried about Aglaya, activity, Dostoevsky became a reactionary who lumped liberals,
capricious and uncontrollable. socialists, and atheists together, as enemies of the Christian
community and the Russian Orthodox religion. Thus, Evgeny's
Mrs. Epanchin is mulling over these thoughts during a position on liberals is similar to the author's. Evgeny calls the
gathering at her house, in which the conversation turns to Russian liberal a "non-Russian liberal," who attacks the "very
politics. Evgeny Pavlovich is attacking Russian liberalism, which essence" of Russia and "hates and beats his own mother."
he says is an attack on Russia itself. Prince Myshkin agrees (Russians often refer to Russia as "Mother Russia.")
with him, saying some of these liberals have no conscience.
Evgeny challenges the prince, however, for not recognizing An important backdrop to the political ideas in the novel is the
that Ippolit and the rest who came to the dacha have the same shocking case of the tutor who murdered six people, first
"perversion of ideas and moral convictions." Kolya lets out that mentioned by Evgeny in Part 2, Chapter 10. Dostoevsky had
the prince has invited Ippolit to move to the dacha so he can read about this case in the newspapers from home (he wrote
see the trees and that the boy is grateful. Evgeny begins The Idiot while he was abroad), in which a teenage tutor from a
making fun of Ippolit, and the prince says it doesn't matter if he noble family killed his 11-year-old student along with five
can't forgive him. When Evgeny says he forgives him, the members of the boy's household. Evgeny again brings up the
prince responds that he ought to also accept Ippolit's defense attorney, who said that since the boy was destitute, it
forgiveness. had "naturally [occurred] to him to kill those six people." The
lawyer likely thought that his perverse notion was "the most
liberal, the most humane and progressive thing that could
Chapter 2 possibly be said in our time," Evgeny says. And since Myshkin
readily agrees with Evgeny, he again scolds the prince for not
Prince Myshkin apologizes for what he has said. He has a hard
taking Ippolit and his friends to task, since they have similar
time expressing lofty thoughts, which he ought to keep quiet
ideas.
about. These words enrage Aglaya. "No one here is worth your
little finger, or your intelligence, or your heart," she says. Kolya But the prince is operating on a level higher than politics, which
begins teasing her about "the poor knight," and she blurts out is why he meekly chastises Evgeny: not only should Evgeny
she would not marry such a ridiculous man as the prince, to forgive Ippolit, but he should also accept Ippolit's forgiveness.
which he answers he never asked her and had no thought to Myshkin means that since Ippolit is dying, he needs to forgive
do so. Aglaya becomes very merry and asks him to escort her the people who can still enjoy life. In accepting Ippolit's
to the vauxhall (public gardens) with the rest of the young forgiveness Evgeny would acknowledge the sorrow of the
people. boy—not even a man yet—as he faces his premature death.
This depth of compassion is something beyond the
While they are chit-chatting and waiting for the music to begin,
understanding of either Evgeny or Prince Shch., which is why
Nastasya Filippovna appears with her entourage and confronts
Myshkin asks for forgiveness of them. He knows they don't
Evgeny Pavlovich, ruthlessly informing him that his uncle shot
understand, and he is sorry he has made them feel
himself that morning after embezzling government funds. In a
uncomfortable.

Part 3, Chapters 3–4 Analysis

After Prince Myshkin puts himself in danger by protecting
Nastasya Filippovna, Aglaya reveals something of her feelings
Summary by attempting to school the prince in the fine points of handling
a firearm in the event of a duel. The assignation she sets up
the next morning is another clue about Aglaya's feelings, as
Chapter 3 well as Rogozhin's observation, after listening to him speak
about women, that Myshkin has fallen in love with Aglaya. But
After this incident Aglaya finds Prince Myshkin on the terrace.
the prince is still keeping the idea of a love between himself
She attempts to give him pointers about preparing and firing a
and Aglaya at bay, at least on a conscious level. Nonetheless,
gun, sure the offended officer, whom Nastasya Filippovna
he feels elated and wishes Rogozhin to join him in celebrating
struck, will challenge him to a duel. After she leaves, General
his birthday, seemingly unconcerned that Rogozhin has just
Epanchin tells Myshkin it's true Evgeny Pavlovich's uncle
expressed his hatred toward him. Rogozhin's antipathy is
embezzled money. Moreover, Aglaya turned down Evgeny's
understandable, given that Nastasya continues to torture him
marriage proposal over a month ago. According to Aglaya,
by making him a messenger to the prince, whom she clearly
Nastasya Filippovna wants her to marry the prince, which is
loves. Nonetheless, she is determined to marry him off to
probably the reason Nastasya is making trouble for Evgeny.
Aglaya so that he will no longer be a temptation for her,
When Myshkin leaves, he reads the note Aglaya slipped into his although Rogozhin doesn't entirely understand that that is her
hand when they said good night. It says to meet her in the park motive.
the next morning. The prince kisses the note. Now wandering
The undermining of Russian values by nihilism continues as a
around the park in the dark, Myshkin runs into Rogozhin, who
thread in Part 3, Chapter 4, when Lebedev tells a story of the
delivers the message that Nastasya wants to see him.
12th-century serial killer who retained some morality, unlike the
Rogozhin also says he is not sorry for raising a knife against
criminals of Lebedev's day, who are atheists and nihilists.
the prince, so Myshkin's forgiveness, conveyed in a letter, is
Lebedev is a comic figure but also a philosopher, and
misplaced. He observes the prince is in love with Aglaya, but
Dostoevsky often puts astute psychological observations in his
Nastasya is still in love with him. Nastasya says she'll marry
mouth. For example, in Part 3, Chapter 4, he opines that man
Rogozhin only if the prince marries Aglaya, to which the prince
has an equally strong drive toward self-preservation and self-
miserably answers that she's mad. Myshkin suddenly
destruction, an observation that would be elaborated on by
remembers it's his birthday and asks Rogozhin to come back
Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) in the
with him and celebrate.
next century.
Chapter 4
When the two men return to Prince Myshkin's dacha, they find
a whole crowd of the prince's acquaintances drinking his
champagne and celebrating his birthday, of which they have Summary
gotten wind from Keller. As usual, the talk turns to philosophy,
and Lebedev opines that "the law of self-destruction and the
law of self-preservation are equally strong in mankind." He then
Chapter 5
tells a story about a 12th-century serial killer who ate his
victims during a time of famine but then confessed to the Ippolit, who has fallen asleep on the sofa, wakes up and
clergy, despite the terrible torture he would face. This is announces to the company that Prince Myshkin is in love. He is
because the people of that era had beliefs that bound them very drunk and promises Myshkin, who has brought him to live
together, and the man had remorse, unlike today's criminals. in the dacha (summer house), that he will die soon, but in the
meantime he wants to read everyone a manifesto, titled "My

Necessary Explanation." A nihilist Ippolit knows who believes believe he is brave, and he would like them to love him. He also
dying amounts to nothing told him in no uncertain terms he had writes the manifesto to make sense of his own thoughts and
not over a month to live. Ippolit confesses he has bad dreams, feelings in the face of the terrible pressure and terror he must
specifically about a monstrous reptile (but small in size) that feel because of impending death.
resembles a scorpion. Next, he says he wants to live and is
clinging to life. He feels resentful toward people who have so Since Ippolit is a materialist, he inevitably must end up in
much life left to live and yet squander their time. He laments despair. In the story of how he helped the impoverished man
that a person can never fully express their thoughts and must and his family, Ippolit shows how he did a good deed for its
die with the fullness of their ideas trapped in their skulls. repercussions. This is one way in which people attempt to
overcome their mortality—by leaving good works behind them.
As literary critic Roger Anderson notes, the monstrous
Chapter 6 scorpion of Ippolit's dream symbolizes the blind, relentless
force of nature, which eventually destroys everything in its
Ippolit tells a long story about how he was able, by chance, to maw. To face the death of his material body without hope of
help a man whose family was in dire poverty. The lesson of the metaphysical reprieve makes Ippolit feel as if he is "squashed
story is that one individual action has innumerable like a fly."
consequences that remain hidden. Next, he reveals that he has
had some business with Rogozhin and has been to his house, The Holbein painting of the dead Christ is described in detail in
where he saw the copy of Holbein's painting of Christ (the Part 3, Chapter 6, and for Ippolit the lifeless body is
same one mentioned in Part 2, Chapter 4). While most confirmation that man is nothing more than his material
representations of Jesus after his crucifixion reflect "a shade existence. Ippolit wonders how Jesus's followers could have
of extraordinary beauty in his face," this one is fully "the corpse believed in his resurrection after looking at Christ's human
of a man who had endured infinite suffering." The picture corpse. The subtext here considers how any human being,
reflects nature alone, the body of a dead man after he has looking into the abyss of the body's corruption after death, can
been tormented. Ippolit wonders how his followers could, after possibly believe in their own resurrection, or rather, the
seeing such a corpse, believe that Jesus would be resurrected. continuation of their existence on an immaterial plane. The
In the picture nature is like "some huge machine of the most corpse is "a vision of man's terminal objectification in nature,"
modern construction." This machine looks to him like it has says Roger Anderson. Science can accurately describe the
"senselessly seized, crushed, and swallowed up, blankly and process of decay after death, and on the material level "prove
unfeelingly, a great and priceless being." The painting ... humanity's eventual disappearance into an oblivion."
expresses "the dark, insolent, and senselessly eternal power to
Ippolit's powerfully dark and hopeless vision is the flipside of
which everything is subjected."
Dostoevsky's ardent faith, one of the polyphonic voices in The
Ippolit also claims Rogozhin came to his room in the middle of Idiot that cannot be ignored. Ippolit either dreams of Rogozhin
the night, sat down, and looked at him without speaking, and as the devil or encounters him in some way in his room.
Ippolit did the same for spite. This went on for some 20 Rogozhin represents the result of materialism taken to its
minutes, and it crossed Ippolit's mind that he was seeing an outer limit of despair, and for this reason Ippolit can no longer
apparition. After being humiliated by this vision, Ippolit resolves remain in a life shaped into such an offensive form.
"it is impossible to remain in a life that assumes such strange,
offensive forms."
Analysis
Summary
Ippolit would perhaps like to be a true nihilist and believe that
life is meaningless, but he can't help but write a manifesto in an
attempt to make some impression on the people around him
and imbue his dying with some meaning. He wants people to

Chapter 7 Analysis
Ippolit says he has a pistol and has decided to die in Pavlovsk, Ippolit's argument that he has a right to kill himself is a
at sunrise, in the park. He claims he has the right to end his powerful statement against the archetypal God who speaks in
"sentence" on his own terms. He claims to believe in eternal the Hebrew Bible to the everyman, Job, about why bad things
life, but he sees no reason to humble himself before happen to good people. God tells his servant Job that it is not
annihilation. Surely "someone there" will not be offended "that I for a man to question God, but rather for man to remember
don't want to wait for two weeks." Since the ways of that his knowledge is finite. Therefore, he should accept with
providence are unknowable, he believes he shouldn't have to submission what God chooses to heap upon him. Ippolit claims
answer for something he has not been allowed to understand. to be a believer. But perhaps he is simply mocking the whole
Furthermore, if it had been in his power not to be born, he idea of imagining a God who has a hand in the creation and
would have passed on "existence on such derisive conditions." maintenance of heaven and earth. Ippolit is the precursor of
He declaims: "I still have the power to die, though I'm giving Ivan Karamazov, another Dostoevsky character and would-be
back what's already numbered." nihilist. Ivan, who appears in Dostoevsky's final novel, The
Brothers Karamazov (1879–80), tells his religious brother: "It's
The company seems to be partly scandalized and partly
not that I don't accept God, Alyosha, I just most respectfully
repulsed by Ippolit's manifesto, and some of those assembled
return him the ticket." Similarly, Ippolit wishes to return the
even make fun of him. Lebedev demands he hand over his
ticket. Why should he endure his maimed life longer than
pistol, and the boy gives him the key to his gun case. But Ippolit
necessary and bow humbly to his annihilation? In fact, not only
has the gun in his pocket, and he runs out and shoots himself
does he have a right to kill himself, but he also has the right to
in the temple. However, he forgot to put a cap in the weapon,
say that existence is no great gift from God, given that
so it doesn't fire. He lapses into hysteria, and they put him to
creatures are born mortal and suffer all their lives before they
bed. After this drama Prince Myshkin walks around the park
die.
and then falls asleep on the green bench where he is supposed
to meet Aglaya. He dreams Nastasya Filippovna has committed The people at Myshkin's party are repulsed by Ippolit because
a terrible crime until Aglaya wakes him up. he is forcing them to confront their own mortality as well as
insisting that they feel some sorrow for his immediate
predicament. For an ordinary person it is difficult to show
Chapter 8 compassion for someone who already feels sorry for
themselves, and this is the situation Ippolit has put himself in.
Prince Myshkin tells Aglaya of Ippolit's antics the previous
Certainly, his acquaintances would have felt sorry for him if he
night and observes that Ippolit wanted everyone to say they
had killed himself, but he botches his suicide attempt.
loved him and that he should not kill himself. Aglaya accuses
him of having "no tenderness, only truth." In Aglaya's meeting with Prince Myshkin it becomes evident
that she is in love with him and feels terribly envious of
She wants him to help her run away; she is tired of being
Nastasya Filippovna. Aglaya is egotistical and immature—still a
"bottled up." She berates Myshkin for proposing to Nastasya
child—and unable to understand the kind of love Myshkin feels
Filippovna and running after her. He tries to explain that
for Nastasya—pure pity, or sorrow for the pain of another.
Nastasya lacerates herself out of self-hatred. He loved her at
Previously she has tried to make sense of his relationship with
first but then only pitied her. Aglaya reveals to Myshkin she has
Nastasya by equating Myshkin with the poor knight who
been getting letters from Nastasya, imploring her to marry the
pursues a hopeless ideal, but this is not an accurate
prince, and says Nastasya is in love with him. Aglaya asks him if
representation of his motives. As much as he tries to help
he came back for Nastasya's sake, and he admits he did. This
Aglaya feel compassion for the unhinged Nastasya, he
puts her into a rage, and she demands he return Nastasya's
ultimately fails. The prince's dream that Nastasya has done
letters and tell her never to write again. She also says she's
something terrible is a premonition of how she will bring about
eloping with Ganya. Just then, Mrs. Epanchin arrives.
her own death by running away with Rogozhin one last time.

many unanswered questions in the novel is why Myshkin

Part 3, Chapters 9–10 continues to contend that Nastasya is mad. The reader can
only surmise that Myshkin's assessment is based on
Nastasya's masochism, self-hatred, and erratic behavior. But
Summary the standards for sanity in a typical Dostoevsky novel are not
high, and characters often act in bizarre or unusual ways
without being labeled as "crazy."
Chapter 9
In an article discussing the archetype of "the fatal woman,"
Mrs. Epanchin takes Prince Myshkin back to her dacha critic Diana Cusmerenco says Nastasya's destructive force is
because she wants an explanation. He tells her Aglaya unleashed after Totsky tells what he thinks is a harmless
requested the meeting, although he doesn't reveal what they anecdote at her birthday party (Part 1, Chapter 14). That night
spoke about, and Mrs. Epanchin lets him go. Nastasya begins a "savage rebellion" against the man who has
ruined her life. In Cusmerenco's reading Nastasya replaces
The prince speaks with Vera when he gets back to his dacha. Totsky with Rogozhin, a worthy opponent for her rage, since
She begs him not to send Ippolit away, which he has no he is also an oppressor. Myshkin's unselfish love weakens her
intention of doing. When Lebedev comes in, he tells Myshkin self-destructiveness and even has the possibility to heal her,
that someone at the party the previous night stole his wallet but not before she has defeated her demon. She only wants to
containing 400 rubles. He pretends to suspect Ferdyshchenko torment those who have tormented her, and she turns away
but in fact believes General Ivolgin took the money, finally from Myshkin because she senses he is tormented by her, and
admitting his true suspicions. The prince promises to help sort she does not want to hurt him the way Totsky hurt her.
out the theft if Lebedev keeps quiet about it. Perhaps in loving the prince, she is loving her younger,
innocent self. At one point (Part 3, Chapter 8) Aglaya says
Nastasya is in love with Myshkin, but he says, "No, there's
Chapter 10 something else here, but not love!" Perhaps Nastasya falls
down on her knees and demands to know if Myshkin is happy
Prince Myshkin reluctantly reads Nastasya Filippovna's letters
because she has sacrificed herself for his sake (made way for
to Aglaya, which resemble dreams, in which one thing
Aglaya). Or perhaps he is a stand-in for her younger self, whom
transforms into another. Nastasya says Aglaya is Myshkin's
she wishes to keep whole.
light, and they are one. She says Rogozhin loves her
(Nastasya) so much that he can't help but hate her. After
reading these letters, the prince begins walking around the
park, where he is accosted by Nastasya. She gets on her
knees and kisses his hands, although he tries to stop her. She
wants to know if he is happy, but he tells her to calm herself.
Rogozhin is nearby, and he puts her in a carriage. He tells Summary
Myshkin she's been waiting for him because she wanted to see
him one last time. The prince says she's insane, and Rogozhin
says maybe she isn't. He is also leaving and again asks if the Chapter 1
prince is happy. When he says no, Rogozhin doesn't believe
him. Ganya still has the hope he might win back Aglaya, and his
sister Varya had discreetly been doing her part to reunite the
couple. But now she tells her brother that Prince Myshkin and
Analysis Aglaya are engaged. Ganya is unhappy about this and blames
his disgraceful family for his inability to kindle Aglaya's interest.
Prince Myshkin says on numerous occasions that Nastasya is Most recently, the theft of the 400 rubles by General Ivolgin
insane, and he is continually baffled because neither Rogozhin, has become common knowledge. But Varya says Ganya
Aglaya, nor anyone else sees her as mentally ill. One of the doesn't understand Aglaya at all. He is too conventional for

Aglaya and has "a mean little soul." humility necessary to know where he stands with people.
Although Varya is more practical than her brother (she was
Ganya tells Varya how Ippolit is now living with the Ivolgins and astute enough to marry a prosperous money lender), both
spreading gossip, even telling Nina Alexandrovna that he stole siblings overestimate their value to other people as well as
the money to give to his mother, Nina's husband's former their own good qualities, although Ganya has a better
mistress. Just then, a number of people burst in: Ptitsyn, understanding of his mediocrity than does his sister. Both
General Ivolgin, Nina Alexandrovna, Kolya, and Ippolit. siblings are like their father in that they have no shame about
chasing after money and even manipulating other people to get
it.
Chapter 2
General Ivolgin is in a state because Ippolit is tormenting him
and has called him a liar who makes up stories. Since no one Part 4, Chapters 3–4
will defend the general, he storms out of the house. Ganya and
Ippolit now begin fighting, and Ganya yells at him for spreading
stories about the theft, which was little more than a drunken Summary
incident. He calls Ippolit trash and brings up his failed suicide.
Ippolit says he will leave the house and tells Ganya he hates
him because he is "the personification ... of the most impudent, Chapter 3
the most self-satisfied, the most vulgar and vile ordinariness."
After he leaves Ganya shows his sister a note, in which Aglaya The Ivolgin family is concerned with General Ivolgin's erratic
asks him to meet her at the green bench in the morning and to behavior, which has gone beyond his normal antics. Lebedev
bring Varya along. has been avoiding the prince, but now they have a
conversation, and Myshkin learns the missing wallet has
reappeared with the money, first under a chair and then in
Analysis Lebedev's frock coat, although for three days he has been
pretending not to see the missing wallet, since he wants to
Despite her previous disagreements with her brother Ganya, torment the general. He intends to let up and "find" the wallet
Varya makes it her mission to do what she can to get her on the following day. The prince is beside himself, saying the
mercenary brother and Aglaya together, which is why she general is asking for forgiveness and relying on Lebedev's
invests so much time in her friendship with the Epanchin delicacy, while Lebedev continues to humiliate him. Lebedev
sisters. But Mrs. Epanchin realized what she was up to and promises to relent.
discreetly barred her from the house in Part 2, Chapter 12.
Therefore, the information Varya gives to her brother about the
engagement is largely supposition. Nonetheless, Varya Chapter 4
understands something about Aglaya's personality: her
General Ivolgin announces he has broken off his friendship
romantic and idealistic nature is drawn to the prince. Ganya
with Lebedev because Lebedev told him a ridiculous lie about
doesn't have an iota of romance, virtue, or whimsy in his
getting shot during Napoleon's occupation of Moscow in 1812,
personality, so it is no wonder Aglaya is not interested in him.
losing his leg, and then burying it. Meanwhile Lebedev clearly
But Ganya, rather than take responsibility for his "mean little
has both legs and would have been too young to take part in
soul," rationalizes that Aglaya's rejection of him is a response
the war, so he is making fun of the Ivolgin. The general now
to the bad qualities possessed by his family.
launches into his own absurd story about himself as a child
When Ganya shows his sister the letter from Aglaya, which during the French occupation of Moscow and claims to have
asks for a meeting, they are both foolishly optimistic, thinking served as a page to Napoleon. As the story becomes more and
he still has some chance as a suitor, despite so much evidence more ridiculous, the prince gets increasingly uncomfortable,
to the contrary. Ippolit is right to say Ganya is quite ordinary although he pretends to go along. Later the general is
and self-satisfied, and he does not have the self-awareness or embarrassed by his performance and blames the prince,

saying he can't accept humiliating "tokens of compassion." and after she gets angry at him for beating her at cards, she
Thus, he breaks with the prince. Shortly after—in fact on the sends him a hedgehog as a reconciliation gift. Later, she
day he storms out of the house after fighting with Ganya—he confronts him so that he admits he loves her, and he proposes.
has a major stroke. Her parents conclude that Aglaya is in love with the prince as
well, despite her contrary and erratic behavior. She is
continually quarreling with him and making fun of him.
Analysis
On his part the prince is simply happy to see her every day.
Lebedev's malice and cruelty are on display in his refusal to let When Myshkin runs into Ippolit in the park, he complains about
his friend off the hook about the theft. General Ivolgin returns the Ivolgins and then turns to the subject of his impending
the money, but Lebedev cannot forgive him too easily and death. He asks Myshkin, "How will it be best for me to die?"
prefers to make him sweat. Lebedev is a comic figure, but he's The prince answers, "Pass us by and forgive us our happiness!"
also a malicious trickster who likes to create chaos wherever
he goes. In some ways he is more like an archetype than a
character, a demonic force who toys with people's
Chapter 6
weaknesses and sensitivities. It is inevitable that the general is
The Epanchin parents plan a party to introduce Prince Myshkin
heading for a fall. His whole life is a lie, from beginning to end.
to society. Princess Belokonsky will be there, and since the
He cannot open his mouth without making up a story, and
approval of this socialite counts for a lot in their circle, they
Lebedev mocks him by telling him a ridiculous tale of how he
hope she will act favorably toward the prince so he can be
lost a leg during French emperor Napoleon I's (1769–1821)
received as Aglaya's fiancé. Aglaya jokingly tells Myshkin to
invasion of Russia.
break her mother's precious Chinese vase but then warns him
Not to be outdone by Lebedev, the general makes up his own to keep his conversation light.
fantastical tale of how, when he was a child, he served as
The next morning Lebedev tells Myshkin he has intercepted a
Napoleon's page. When he tells this story to Prince Myshkin,
note Aglaya sent to Ganya (referred to in Part 4, Chapter 2).
who is constitutionally incapable of telling a lie, he has a hard
The prince is horrified and asks Kolya to deliver the sealed
time hiding his incredulity. The reader is now approaching the
message. When Lebedev hears about General Ivolgin's stroke,
novel's dénouement, and here is the first instance of how
he rushes over to the house and tells Nina Alexandrovna it is all
Myshkin's extravagant compassion does more harm than good.
his fault.
The general knows he is being humored out of pity, and thus
he cuts himself off from Myshkin. Additionally, he can no longer That evening at the Epanchins' party, things begin well, and the
hide from his own absurdity and the knowledge that his life has innocent prince is impressed by the charming and elegant
been, for such a long time, a series of lies. As a result, he has a society people. But the narrator says, "The majority of the
stroke and eventually dies. guests, despite their imposing appearance, were ... rather
empty people."

Analysis
Summary The tragic aspect of The Idiot is most apparent in Part 4,
Chapter 5, in which Prince Myshkin is happier than he has ever
been in his life. Aglaya has forced him to confess his love, and
Chapter 5 now he knows she loves him too. Her parents have resigned
themselves to their union, and he, not one to live in the future,
As it turns out, Prince Myshkin and Aglaya are not engaged, is simply happy to see Aglaya every day. Despite his great
although everyone anticipates that Aglaya's fate is soon to be happiness the prince remains in touch with his deep well of
decided. She and the prince continue to spend time together, compassion. When Ippolit asks him the best way to die, he

advises him to forgive his fellow beings for their happiness. world and how it inspires happiness. Finally, he falls down in an
Myshkin does not feel guilty to be alive and happy and likely epileptic fit.
facing a long future. Rather, he feels sorrow for Ippolit, who
must die soon. Myshkin understands that a dying man might
feel envious and resentful of those with good prospects, which Chapter 8
is why he asks Ippolit for forgiveness. Ultimately, all must face
the march toward death, sooner or later, and Myshkin's Prince Myshkin's seizure is mild, and he is mostly back to
compassion is based in the knowledge that he and Ippolit are normal the next day. The Epanchins visit, and later Ippolit, who
not different but simply living at different points in time, vis-à- tells the prince Aglaya has met with the Ivolgin siblings and
vis death. dismissed them for good. Ippolit also tells him Aglaya has
called Nastasya Filippovna back to town and arranged a
The prince is apprehensive about meeting society people, meeting. That evening Aglaya stops at the prince's dacha
especially because he has heard negative things about them. (summer house) so he can escort her to this meeting at Darya
But in his innocence he takes these polished and urbane Alexeevna's dacha.
people at face value, not realizing they are like actors, running
their lines in the same play they have performed many times. Aglaya berates Nastasya for writing letters and interfering in
The narrator says: "It would never have occurred to [Myshkin] her relationship with the prince. She also criticizes Nastasya
that all this simple-heartedness and nobility, sharp wit and lofty for not dropping Totsky sooner. Instead of going off with
dignity might only be a splendid artistic contrivance." Inevitably, Rogozhin, she should have become a chambermaid or taken
the prince's purity of heart must unmask them and lead to an up some other kind of work. Nastasya retorts that Aglaya has
embarrassing scene. come only because she wants to find out whom Myshkin loves
more. Nastasya threatens to re-order Myshkin to marry her, as
he had originally promised. The prince now looks at Aglaya,
Part 4, Chapters 7–8 and he reproaches her by saying, while pointing to Nastasya,
"It's not possible! She's ... so unhappy!" Aglaya rushes out of
the room, and Myshkin starts to follow her, but then Nastasya
faints. Thus, he picks her up and puts her on the armchair.
Summary When she comes around, Nastasya throws Rogozhin out, and
Myshkin comforts her through her hysterics, petting her
cheeks.
Chapter 7
At one point the conversation touches on the prince's guardian
Analysis
and mentor, Pavlishchev, whom one of the guests says
embraced Catholicism shortly before he died. This greatly In Book 4, Chapter 7 Prince Myshkin reflects Dostoevsky's own
upsets Prince Myshkin, and he launches into an attack on views about the Catholic Church versus the Orthodox
Catholicism as an "unchristian faith ... worse than atheism churches. Myshkin attacks the Catholic Church because of its
itself." In his view Catholicism distorts Christ because the history of involvement with politics and its active involvement in
Catholic Church is based on secular state power and is a temporal affairs. For hundreds of years the Catholic Church
continuation of the Western Roman empire. Socialism is a was the major power structure in Western Europe, and even
product of Catholicism, he says, since socialists attempt to kings had to submit to the authority of the pope. The schism
replace the lost moral force of religion and aims to save between the Eastern and Western church occurred in 1054,
people, not through Christ, but through violence. The world can and in Myshkin's view Western Christianity distorts the true
be saved only through the Russian Christ. People try to calm face of Christ. The Russian Christ to which Myshkin refers is a
Myshkin down, but he begins gesticulating and ends up figure of beauty and humility and infinite forgiveness. Jesus
breaking the Chinese vase. The prince takes the kindness of humbled himself by taking human form and willingly submitting
the guests, who are only being socially polite, for ideal Russian to torture and dishonor to redeem man. This vision of Christ is
Christianity. He finishes by speaking about the beauty of the the only one that can save Russia, in Myshkin's view, and he

himself is an embodiment of the Russian Christ. The prince Aglaya's friends and relatives. It is said that Ganya has tried to
also willingly humbles himself before others and takes it as his renew his courtship of Aglaya but without success. Ippolit says
mission to alleviate the suffering of fellow humans with his the prince has lost his mind, and Evgeny Pavlovich confirms
practice of compassion. Aglaya has been ill.
The fact that Myshkin has made a spectacle of himself before Evgeny meets with the prince and tells him he understands his
the society people is not a deal-breaker for Aglaya. But she is initial infatuation with Nastasya, but he cannot understand how
at the end of her rope with regard to Nastasya Filippovna, Myshkin could disgrace and humiliate Aglaya for the sake of
which is why she takes the prince along to confront her. Aglaya compassion. He should have left Nastasya and run after
wants the prince to make an unambiguous choice—of herself Aglaya, but the prince argues she certainly would have died.
over Nastasya. Because Nastasya has been tormenting her Myshkin doesn't understand why his impending marriage
with letters, Aglaya also wishes to get some revenge, which is should prevent him from seeing Aglaya. He thinks she'll
why she rubs metaphorical salt in Nastasya's wounds—faulting understand, but Evgeny tells him she loves like a woman, not
her for not leaving Totsky and for taking his money rather than like a spirit.
hire herself out as a washerwoman. Clearly, Aglaya has little
empathy, otherwise she would never have made such
statements. Chapter 10
But now Nastasya plays the wild card in retaliation, threatening It is said that the Epanchin parents were partly responsible for
to hold onto the prince. By fainting she forces Myshkin to make Evgeny Pavlovich's visit to the prince, perhaps to talk him out
a choice. He cannot abandon Nastasya in her desperate state, of the madness of marrying a madwoman. The prince is
so he has no choice but to humiliate Aglaya, the woman he is in convinced Nastasya Filippovna is mad, but he plans to go
love with. Some critics have pointed out that it is doubtful through with the wedding anyway. Around this time the Ivolgins
whether Myshkin is even capable of sexual love, but clearly, at are burying the general, who has died of a second stroke. Five
this crucial junction he chooses agape over eros. Eros is days before the wedding Nastasya falls into hysterics because
personal, sexual, devoted to one person to the exclusion of she thinks Rogozhin is hiding in the garden and is planning to
others, while agape is charity, or the kind of love that God has put a knife in her, but Myshkin arrives to console her. The night
for human beings and they for God. Agape is unconditional love before the wedding Nastasya again has hysterics, hesitating to
that is not dependent on time or circumstance. ruin the prince, but he calms her down. On the day of the
wedding Nastasya dressed in splendid finery, comes out of
Darya Alexeevna's house and spots Rogozhin in the assembled
Part 4, Chapters 9–10 crowd. She rushes to him, demanding he take her away.
Summary Analysis
In Part 4, Chapter 9 the narrator utterly fails the reader, asking:
"How recount that of which we have neither a clear
Chapter 9 understanding nor a personal opinion?" Dostoevsky's
notebooks show that he deliberately wished to present Prince
The narrator, who has actively broken into the story from time
Myshkin as an enigma, and literary critic Robert Feuer Miller
to time, now addresses the reader, admitting to a limited
calls the narrative stance in The Idiot a combination of "enigma
knowledge of what happens next.
and explanation," which creates an aura of mystery. Literary
Two weeks following this incident rumors circulate that Prince critic Alexander Spektor explains that in withholding
Myshkin has jilted Aglaya and run off with Nastasya Filippovna, information, the narrator makes it impossible for the reader to
intending to marry her. The wedding will be a public reach a definitive moral interpretation of the story. Since the
celebration. Meanwhile, the prince has tried on several reader does not have access to Myshkin's consciousness at
occasions to see Aglaya but has been refused admittance by this point in the story, they can only guess about his motives,

given the facts that have accumulated so far. Rogozhin's house after talking to the caretaker. Rogozhin
suffers from brain fever but recovers and gives evidence
It appears that Myshkin has made the decision to keep his against himself at trial and is sentenced to 15 years of hard
promise to Nastasya to marry her, but whether she has labor in Siberia. Ippolit dies two weeks after Nastasya
demanded this or whether he has insisted is not known. Based Filippovna. Evgeny Pavlovich is instrumental in returning
on what Evgeny says and what the reader knows about the Myshkin to Professor Schneider's clinic in Switzerland and
prince so far, he is marrying her out of pity, possibly to prevent visits his sick friend every few months. Schneider does not
her from marrying Rogozhin. He is marrying her despite the have much hope for the recovery of the catatonic prince.
fact that he told Aglaya in Part 3, Chapter 8, that he knows "for Evgeny, who is living in Europe, keeps Kolya informed about
certain that she'll perish with me." At the same time Myshkin the prince, as well as Vera, with whom he develops an intimate
keeps attempting to see Aglaya, somehow thinking what he correspondence. Aglaya marries a fake Polish count against
has done has not changed relations between them. the wishes of her parents and becomes estranged from her
family. Mrs. Epanchin visits the prince with Adelaida and Prince
While Myshkin is afraid Nastasya will perish if she marries him,
Shch. and Alexandra. She weeps when she sees the sick
she is still afraid she will ruin him, while she also fears that
prince, telling Evgeny that Russians abroad are a fantasy, but
Rogozhin will somehow break in on her and kill her with a knife.
at least she's had a good Russian cry over the poor prince.
While the motives of the participants in this triangle are not
fully known to the reader, what is clear is that these
relationships can only end tragically.
Analysis
While Dostoevsky's novels are known to be dark and brooding,
Part 4, Chapters 11–12 The Idiot is perhaps his darkest and most tragic novel, with no
window on transcendence. Critic and translator Richard
Pevear says this novel, which was supposed to be "filled with
Summary light ... ends in deeper darkness than any of Dostoevsky's other
works." One of the central themes of the novel is the
incompatibility of eros (sexual love) and agape (unconditional
Chapter 11 love). Myshkin does not accept that Aglaya's need for an
exclusive love necessarily excludes his ability to continue
The next day Prince Myshkin goes to Petersburg and shows up loving Nastasya. At the same time Nastasya's feelings for
at Rogozhin's house, but the servants tell him the couple is not Myshkin cannot be satisfied by his pity. Connected with this
there. Myshkin has booked the same hotel where he stayed conundrum is the central symbol of this work, the dead Christ
previously, and when he goes out walking Rogozhin finds him who is all too human. Myshkin is a Christlike figure who has
and takes him back to his house. When they get there, Christ's humility and compassion but not his divinity. The novel
Rogozhin shows him the body of Nastasya Filippovna, whom raises the question of whether such a figure can be a savior,
he has stabbed to death. He has covered her with an oilcloth and the answer seems to be a resounding "No." Myshkin saves
and then a sheet and put out uncorked bottles of liquid to no one in the novel and is perhaps responsible in part for the
mask the smell of the corpse. Myshkin sits up all night with death of Nastasya and the destruction of Aglaya, not to
Rogozhin, patting his head and stroking his cheeks as he mention his own descent into idiocy and silence. There is
fitfully dozes. When the police break in, Rogozhin is delirious something inhuman in his compassion, which Aglaya points to
and unconscious, and Myshkin himself has reverted to the in Part 3, Chapter 8, when she says he has "no tenderness,
state he was in before he went to Switzerland. only truth."
Literary critic Alexander Spektor points out that any

Chapter 12 (Conclusion) character's attempt in the novel to impose meaning through
discourse always ends in violence, and this is true for Prince
People worried about Prince Myshkin and Nastasya Filippovna Myshkin as well. The prince ruins both women in his life
had called the authorities, which is why the police break into because of an untenable Christian vision and idea of justice

The Idiot Study Guide Quotes 40
that cannot possibly operate successfully in the material world. finite and returned to business as usual. Alexandra stands for
Further, his participation in the novel is an oxymoron because, "everyman" as she expresses the intuitive knowledge that
although he is ethically pure, any voice at all in Dostoevsky's people live as if they have infinite time, but she does not think
moral universe is "an emblem and a product of the fall." further about why this might be the case.
Perhaps the final message of the novel, then, is that a perfectly
beautiful human being in a fallen world has no ability to make
things significantly better. Rather, only through a belief in the "How could she give you her
redemptive power of the Russian Christ can a path open
toward transcendence. consent and even present you
with her portrait, when you don't
g Quotes love her?"
— Nina Alexandrovna, Part 1, Chapter 8

"To be killed by legal sentence is
immeasurably more terrible than to Ganya's mother has promised to stop ranting at him about a
possible marriage to Nastasya Filippovna, which the family
be killed by robbers." opposes. But she cannot help wondering how Nastasya can
agree to marry Ganya if he doesn't love her. In this moment she
— Prince Myshkin, Part 1, Chapter 2 is perhaps thinking about Nastasya's welfare and wondering if
she is aware of Ganya's true feelings. Ganya becomes
annoyed by his mother's questioning and adds, as an
One subtheme in the novel is the evil of capital punishment.
afterthought, that he may not be deceiving Nastasya.
Prince Myshkin has seen an execution, and he argues in this
passage, when he is speaking to Rogozhin on the train, as well
as later, when he speaks to the Epanchin women, that capital
punishment is unbearably cruel because the condemned "There's a queen for you! ... Who
person suffers a mental eternity during the days, hours, and among you rogues would pull such
minutes preceding their certain, irrevocable death. This is
different from any other dangerous situation, where there is a stunt, eh?"
always the hope that one may survive.
— Rogozhin, Part 1, Chapter 16
"It's impossible to live really Rogozhin makes this statement after he barges into Nastasya
'keeping a reckoning.' There's Filippovna's house on her birthday and throws down 100,000
to "buy out" her other suitors. She throws the money in the fire
always some reason why it's and then tells Ganya to go get it, since he is a mercenary who
wants to marry her for her money. (Her former lover, Totsky,
impossible."
has settled 75,000 rubles on Nastasya.) Rogozhin doesn't care
about money, only wanting possession of Nastasya. He is
— Alexandra, Part 1, Chapter 5
delighted by her queenly disdain for his rubles.
Alexandra makes this statement after Prince Myshkin tells the

story of a condemned man reprieved at the last minute. While "At that painting! A man could
he awaited execution, the prisoner thought that if he were
allowed to live, he would not waste a single minute of time. But even lose his faith from that
of course when the reprieve came, he forgot that his life was

The narrator is describing how Prince Myshkin feels right

painting!"
before an epileptic fit. According to the medical terminology of
the day, "idiocy" was ascribed to those who suffered from
— Prince Myshkin, Part 2, Chapter 4
epilepsy. Dostoevsky equates the quality to spiritual
transcendence, and aligns Myshkin's ill health, his seizures, and
The prince is referring to Rogozhin's fictional copy of a real his sense of transcendence, with his love for the unlovable. All
painting, by German painter Hans Holbein the Younger (c. are incomprehensible to normal, healthy people. And all set him
1497–1543), titled The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb. apart from the world, giving him a spiritual aura to which no
The painting is a realistic and horrific rendition of a corpse in one else can aspire.
its tomb, even more horrific because it depicts Jesus, the God-
man. There is no hint of divinity nor resurrection in the stark
image of human life at its end. Myshkin is only half joking when "It's now considered a man's right
he says the painting can make a person doubt their faith in the
resurrection in the face of such certain death. This painting is a
... not to stop at any obstacle, even
central symbol in the novel, which literary critic and novelist if he has to do in eight persons to
A.S. Byatt says is primarily concerned with the "the imminence
and immanence of death." that end."
— Lebedev, Part 2, Chapter 7

"You want to exchange crosses?
Very well, Parfyon, if so, I'm glad; One of the background motifs in the novel is the multiple
murders of a family, a real event, in which an atheistic tutor kills
we'll be brothers!" his student and the student's family. Lebedev is a trickster and
clown figure in the novel as well as a philosopher. Here he is
— Prince Myshkin, Part 2, Chapter 4 pointing out that nihilists are not restrained by any kind of
morality in achieving their purposes. Lebedev makes this
statement right before Prince Myshkin meets some nihilistic
Russian men exchanged crosses as a symbol of spiritual
young men who expect him to give up some of his inheritance.
brotherhood. Here Myshkin agrees to exchange crosses with
Parfyon Rogozhin, which is a piece of situational irony, given
the fact that in a few hours Rogozhin will attempt to stab the
prince, whom he considers to be his rival for Nastasya
"Prince, you'll escort me. Can he,
Filippovna's love. The exchange of crosses is also symbolic of maman? A suitor who has rejected
the men's relationship to each other as doubles—one Christlike
and the other demonic. Their fates are tied together, and both me?"
are destroyed by the same woman.
— Aglaya, Part 3, Chapter 2
"The sense of life, of self- After Prince Myshkin apologizes to Evgeny Pavlovich for
awareness, increased nearly speaking too freely about his "lofty ideas," Aglaya gets angry
and tells him "no one here is worth your little finger." Kolya then
tenfold in these moments, which teases her about her feelings for the prince, and she says she
would never marry him. The prince responds innocently that he
flashed by like lightning."
hasn't asked her. He feels he is not worthy of her and is trying
to protect her, but his words are awkward. In response Aglaya
— Narrator, Part 2, Chapter 5
laughs and asks him to escort her to the park. She is delighted
by his innocence and clearly in love with him.

Rogozhin, whom she could kill because she fears him, but she
"If anyone had told him ... he had
rightly predicts he will kill her first. Thus she goes to her death
fallen in love ... he would have willingly when she runs away from Prince Myshkin and into the
arms of Rogozhin (after she leaves Myshkin at the altar on
rejected the idea with
their wedding day).
astonishment."
— Narrator, Part 3, Chapter 3 "The old man's a thief and a

drunkard ... I'm a pauper, my
After an incident in the park, in which Prince Myshkin steps in
to protect Nastasya Filippovna from the wrath of an officer,
sister's husband is a
Aglaya hands him a note, which says to meet her the next usurer—Aglaya has something to
morning on the park bench. Although consciously the prince
believes he is unfit for marriage and unworthy of Aglaya, he
covet!"
has still fallen in love with her, as evidenced by the fact that all
he can think about is seeing her again in the morning and — Ganya, Part 4, Chapter 1
sitting beside her.
Ganya makes this statement while he and his sister Varya are
discussing his failure to win Aglaya's heart. Varya thinks Aglaya
"Isn't it possible simply to eat me, and Prince Myshkin are formally engaged and tells her brother
this news. Instead of realizing that his own bad character might
without demanding that I praise
be why he never had a chance with Aglaya, he blames his
that which has eaten me?" family's bad qualities for her rejection of him.
— Ippolit, Part 3, Chapter 7

"This wretched princeling is a sick
Ippolit writes this statement in a long manifesto he reads at idiot ... to whom can he be shown,
Myshkin's birthday celebration. Ippolit wants to show his
courage in the face of death and also express his ideas about
where can he be tucked in?"
religion. Although a nihilist, he claims not to be an atheist. Yet
he does not have much regard for a creator who requires — Mrs. Epanchin, Part 4, Chapter 5
annihilation. Annihilation may be necessary, but he refuses to
praise the one who will soon devour his life.
Mrs. Epanchin is a comic character in the novel; she is
compassionate and childlike like Prince Myshkin, but with a
fiery temper. She makes this statement after she realizes that
"I could kill him out of fear ... But he her daughter Aglaya is in love with the prince and, somehow,
she will have to introduce him into society. She wonders what
will kill me first ... he laughed just
her friend Princess Belokonsky, who is prominent in society,
now and says I'm raving." will say about him. At the same time, she treats him as
something to be hidden away.
— Nastasya Filippovna, Part 3, Chapter 10
Nastasya writes this statement in one of the letters she has

"Pass us by and forgive us our
sent to Aglaya. She notes that she has no secrets from happiness!"

The Idiot Study Guide Symbols 43
— Prince Myshkin, Part 4, Chapter 5 green face of a dead man tilted toward the viewer, his
blackened feet close to the wall of the space in which he is
enclosed. The painting is a realistic and horrific image of a
Prince Myshkin makes this statement to Ippolit, who has
corpse, rendered more horrific because the corpse is the body
alternatively scorned him and sought his approval. Myshkin's
of Jesus, the God-man. Most religious depictions of the dead
statement is an answer to Ippolit's question about the best way
Christ indicate his coming resurrection, but no such hints exist
for him to die. In so saying, the prince expresses his
in Holbein's stark image of human life at its end. Prince
compassion for his friend's predicament and his understanding
Myshkin is only half joking when he says the painting can make
that he envies those still in the midst of life, and for whom life
a person doubt their faith in the resurrection. The most
still feels eternal. The best thing Ippolit can do is to harbor no
complete description of the painting appears in Ippolit's
hatred or anger against those who are not dying yet.
manifesto, "A Necessary Explanation," in which he wonders:
"how could they believe, looking at such a corpse, that this
sufferer would resurrect?" But the question behind this
l Symbols question, and the driving pulse of the novel, is how anyone can
have faith in a metaphysical or nonmaterial existence beyond
the grave when faced with the corporeal reality of a dead body.
Like all Dostoevsky's novels, The Idiot oscillates between faith
Ippolit's Dream Monster and doubt, although doubt appears to predominate.
According to literary critic Roger Anderson, the monster of

Ippolit's dream, a scorpion-like creature that ends up poisoning
Epilepsy
his dog, symbolizes the "abstract, unstoppable force behind
nature, a principle whose workings control each life while it
cannot be affected in return." Ippolit is tormented by this Epilepsy in the novel is a marker for Prince Myshkin's idiocy but
recurring dream of the scorpion and says, "I was terribly afraid also for his status as a holy fool. Myshkin's epilepsy symbolizes
[of it,] but I was most tormented by who could have sent it to his Christlike figure and the embodiment of compassion. The
my room, what did they want to do to me?" Thus, the dream narrator says Prince Myshkin's precursor to an epileptic fit
monster is weighted with existential questions. Facing his gives him heightened self-awareness, in which his mind is lit by
impending death from consumption (tuberculosis), a disease "an extraordinary light" and all his worries, doubts, and fears
from which people died before the invention of antibiotics, disappear in the knowledge that all will be well. Dostoevsky
Ippolit is at the mercy of nature. The unstoppable force in this said of his own epilepsy that such moments of "illumination"
case is bacteria, but all people are at the mercy of nature and just before a fit were "worth a whole life," and Myshkin thinks,
natural causes, which eventually lead to every creature's "Yes, for this moment one could give one's whole life!"
extinction. The relentlessness of death is a mysterious Myshkin's epilepsy makes him both an idiot and a saint. When
conundrum that cannot be interrogated. he comes back to Russia, he is a Christlike figure with a gift for
reading people and immediately understanding their suffering.
The reader can surmise that his spiritual gifts are connected
with the auras that precede his epileptic fits. Myshkin attempts
Holbein's Portrait of Christ to alleviate people's suffering with compassion. When his
compassion fails utterly at the end of the novel, he lapses back
into a semi-conscious state, originally caused by his epileptic
disease.
The central metaphor and symbol of this novel is The Body of
the Dead Christ in the Tomb by German painter Hans Holbein
the Younger (c. 1497–1543). The painting's unusual dimensions,
about 1 foot by 7 feet, in the shape of a coffin, show the grey-

The Idiot Study Guide Themes 44
Aglaya romantically, which necessarily leads to the rupture of

m Themes their relationship. Aglaya is so badly hurt by her liaison with
Myshkin that she marries a sham Polish count on the rebound
and becomes estranged from her family and ensnared in a bad
Incompatibility of Eros and marriage. Nastasya also loves the prince but understands he
can neither return her sexual love nor contain her existential
Agape and Limits of rage. This is why she keeps returning to Rogozhin.
The novel also demonstrates the limits and even the failure of
Compassion human compassion. People often reject the compassion of
others because their ego needs a different kind of love.
Furthermore, genuine compassion often acts as a mirror of
The two types of love most evident in the novel are eros and self, which can be unbearable for people in certain situations.
agape. Eros is sexual, often consuming love, which This is the case with General Ivolgin. He cannot bear Myshkin's
necessitates an exclusivity of two people that separates them pity, which clearly shows him he has been living a sham life.
from the rest of the world. Agape is the dispassionate, Shortly after the general's rejection of Myshkin after he tells
unconditional love—the love that God has for his creatures and him the Napoleon story, Ivolgin has a stroke.
that they feel for God. Agape also manifests as compassion
Myshkin's compassion for Rogozhin cannot save him because
and pity, in which one person shares the suffering of another
he is consumed by sensuality and beyond the reach of any
or feels sorrow for the misfortune of another. Compassion is
remedy that may be available through friendship. Rogozhin
not empathy: it is feeling for, rather than feeling with. A central
rejects the prince's forgiveness, telling him he is not sorry he
theme in the novel is the incompatibility of eros and agape and
tried to stab him. He accepts Myshkin's advice only after he
the limits of compassion.
has committed murder and quenched his desire to finally
Early on in the novel Prince Myshkin tells Rogozhin that he possess the woman of his obsession—by extinguishing her life.
cannot marry because he is ill, and he indicates he has no Myshkin's pity for Nastasya cannot erase the trauma she has
experience with women. But as the novel progresses, Myshkin suffered because of the way she was used by Totsky. Her
forgets what he said and presents himself as a potential need for revenge on her tormenter overshadows her desire for
husband, first to Nastasya, and later to Aglaya. He blurs the rehabilitation, which is why she remains involved with
difference between eros and agape, and while he appears to Rogozhin. Her hatred of Totsky is transferred to Rogozhin, and
feel sexual love for Aglaya, it seems doubtful he could she torments him even as she torments herself and ultimately
consummate a sexual relationship with her or any other succumbs to Rogozhin's murderous rage.
woman. While sexual love can be destructive, as evidenced in
Totsky's ravishment of Nastasya and Rogozhin's obsessive
desire to possess her, eros is also a creative force in the world
and the engine that drives procreation. People often make
Problem of Death
great sacrifices when they love a sexual partner. Even if a
universe of two has its limits, a sexual relationship can also be
an instrument for human development and maturity and Novelist and literary critic A.S. Byatt says "the true subject of
ultimately teach lovers to better serve the world. The Idiot is the imminence and immanence of death,"
represented by Holbein's portrait of the dead Christ, his body
While both eros and agape are important in human relations,
"damaged and destroyed, with no hint of a possible future
mixing them up or trying to replace one with the other leads to
resurrection." The novel's form is shaped by "Dostoevsky's
chaos, disruption, and destruction. The prince's inability to
deepest preoccupations ... doubt and fear that is the intense
understand that the two women who love him will not be
religious emotion in this novel." Like all of Dostoevsky's novels,
satisfied with agape when they need eros leads to their
faith and doubt are the two poles between which all the action
destruction as well as his own. At the end of the novel Myshkin
takes place, but in The Idiot the fear and horror of death, which
thinks he can serve Nastasya with agape and continue to love

The Idiot Study Guide Themes 45
may not be followed by metaphysical epiphany, takes center though he doesn't love her, so that he can move up the
stage. Thus, the cruelty of capital punishment is an important socioeconomic ladder. As noted by literary critic Roger
subtheme. Myshkin provides vivid details of a beheading in Anderson, Ganya exchanges his spiritual identity for a
France as well as a detailed story of someone reprieved from monetary identity. Meanwhile, Rogozhin uses his new
execution by firing squad. These deaths are unbearably cruel inheritance to offer Ganya 100,000 rubles to stop pursuing
because they force a person to fully experience for a length of Nastasya, but his actions amount to winning Nastasya as the
time their impending extinction. Similarly, Ippolit, the dying highest bidder.
consumptive, must cope with the sentence of a short life to
which he cannot assign any meaning that gives him Prince Myshkin's new inheritance is diminished when a parade
satisfaction or comfort. of people with false claims ask him for money. Burdovsky,
egged on by his friends and a crooked lawyer, tries to claim
Always lurking in the background of this novel is the corporeal part of the prince's inheritance by falsely stating he is the
body and its mortality and the horror of contemplating one's illegitimate son of the prince's guardian and mentor. Other
own death and decay. The only solution to this problem is to minor characters also abandon their moral values to get their
take refuge in the Russian Christ, a humble and compassionate hands on some money. For example, General Ivolgin pawns his
Jesus—a course recommended by Prince Myshkin. But the mistress's possessions to get money and impoverishes her
resurrection of Jesus and its meaning for humanity, along with children and then steals 400 rubles from Lebedev. Ptitsyn,
the possibility of transcending the corporeal form, seems to be Varya's husband, makes a living as a money lender, as does
absent in The Idiot. Lebedev. Lending money at interest, long considered by
European Christians to be a disreputable profession, became
even more common with the rise of capitalism. The ability to
make money with money cannot help but encourage greed and
Corruption of Society by corruption, a phenomenon which Dostoevsky clearly saw and
which he portrays in the novel.
Capitalism
Money plays an important role is this novel, and most of the

human transactions that take place are inextricably linked with
buying and selling. In Dostoevsky's view the technological and
scientific advances in Western Europe that gave rise to
industrialism and new ways of defining humanity also
destroyed traditional values. As a Slavophile (one who wants to
preserve Russian culture from European influence),
Dostoevsky believed that the corrupting effects of capitalism
on Russian culture were as bad as those of socialism.
The novel depicts General Epanchin and Totsky as landowners

and joint-stock holders, getting richer through the interests
they hold in corporations. Totsky is a thoroughly corrupt man
who uses his money to turn an innocent child into a prostitute.
General Epanchin is willing to marry off his own daughter to
this corrupt man because it will benefit him financially by
strengthening their business partnership and bringing Totsky's
money into the Epanchin family.
Totsky thinks he can buy off Nastasya Filippovna with 75,000

rubles, and Ganya is willing to marry her for her money, even
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sometimes uses the present tense.

YEARS PUBLISHED Indeterminacy in The Idiot:

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the author's second big novel, was deemed a failure by the

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Ganya Nastasya Filippovna

Evgeny Pavlovich Romantic Aglaya

Other Major Character

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Full Character List Alexandra Ivanovna Epanchin is the

Vladimir Doktorenko is Lebedev's

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Elizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchin, Marfa Borisovna Terentyev, also

General Ardalion Alexandrovich The Polish count marries Aglaya at

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Epanchin, among others, Nastasya says she will not marry

Two men in their 20s, Prince Myshkin and Rogozhin, meet in a

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The seizure is mild, and the next evening Aglaya insists he

Myshkin and Aglaya continue spending time together, and he

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9. After reading his manifesto, Ippolit tries to kill himself.

1. Rogozhin befriends Prince Myshkin on a train to Petersburg.

2. Prince Myshkin meets General Epanchin and his family.

3. Myshkin tells Nastasya Filippovna not to marry Ganya.

8. Rogozhin almost stabs Prince Myshkin before he has a fit.

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15. A catatonic Prince Myshkin returns to Switzerland.

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Prince Myshkin meets Rogozhin, who tells the prince of

Morning of same day

Prince Myshkin visits General Epanchin, hoping to meet

Lunchtime, same day

Prince Myshkin sees a portrait of Nastasya and meets

Night of same day

Prince Myshkin goes to Nastasya Filippovna's birthday

Later that night

Prince Myshkin proposes to Nastasya Filippovna after

End of the party

Nastasya Filippovna throws the money into the fire and

Few months later

Prince Myshkin briefly shelters Nastasya Filippovna in

Prince Myshkin arrives back in Petersburg, following

Afternoon of same day

Prince Myshkin visits Rogozhin, who shows him a copy of

Evening of same day

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Rogozhin almost stabs Prince Myshkin at his hotel, right

Several days later

Ippolit, who is dying of consumption, reads his

Several days later

Prince Myshkin confesses his love to Aglaya.

Few days later

The Epanchins introduce Prince Myshkin to society, and

Aglaya, envious of Nastasya Filippovna, insults her in