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Title: The Idiot
Series:
(The Russians)
Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Translator:
Richard Pevear
Rating:
2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages:
888
Words: 241K
Publish: 1868
I shouldn’t have read this at this time. I’d have done better to
just skip “The Russians” on this rotation. But that’s what
happens when you’re under stress, decision making skills go right
out the window.
I was miserable, reading about a miserable situation that ended up as
horribly miserable as you could think of.
My
2006 Review adequately sums up what this novel is about. I have
nothing more to say.
★★☆☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Part 1
Prince Myshkin, a young man in his
mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of
nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold
November morning. He is returning to Russia having spent the past
four years in a Swiss clinic for treatment of a severe epileptic
condition. On the journey, Myshkin meets a young man of the merchant
class, Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin, and is struck by his passionate
intensity, particularly in relation to a woman—the dazzling society
beauty Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova—with whom he is obsessed.
Rogozhin has just inherited a very large fortune due to the death of
his father, and he intends to use it to pursue the object of his
desire. Joining in their conversation is a civil servant named
Lebedyev—a man with a profound knowledge of social trivia and
gossip. Realizing who Rogozhin is, Lebedyev firmly attaches himself
to him.
The purpose of Myshkin's trip is to
make the acquaintance of his distant relative Lizaveta Prokofyevna,
and to make inquiries about a matter of business. Lizaveta
Prokofyevna is married to General Epanchin, a wealthy and respected
man in his mid-fifties. When the Prince calls on them he meets Gavril
Ardalionovich Ivolgin (Ganya), the General's assistant. The General
and his business partner, the aristocrat Totsky, are seeking to
arrange a marriage between Ganya and Nastasya Filippovna. Totsky had
been the orphaned Nastasya Filippovna's childhood guardian, but he
had taken advantage of his position to groom her for his own sexual
gratification. As a grown woman, Nastasya Filippovna has developed an
incisive and merciless insight into their relationship. Totsky,
thinking the marriage might settle her and free him to pursue his
desire for marriage with General Epanchin's eldest daughter, has
promised 75,000 rubles. Nastasya Filippovna, suspicious of Ganya and
aware that his family does not approve of her, has reserved her
decision, but has promised to announce it that evening at her
birthday soirée. Ganya and the General openly discuss the subject in
front of Myshkin. Ganya shows him a photograph of her, and he is
particularly struck by the dark beauty of her face.
Myshkin makes the acquaintance of
Lizaveta Prokofyevna and her three daughters—Alexandra, Adelaida
and Aglaya. They are all very curious about him and not shy about
expressing their opinion, particularly Aglaya. He readily engages
with them and speaks with remarkable candor on a wide variety of
subjects—his illness, his impressions of Switzerland, art,
philosophy, love, death, the brevity of life, capital punishment, and
donkeys. In response to their request that he speak of the time he
was in love, he tells a long anecdote from his time in Switzerland
about a downtrodden woman—Marie—whom he befriended, along with a
group of children, when she was unjustly ostracized and morally
condemned. The Prince ends by describing what he divines about each
of their characters from studying their faces and surprises them by
saying that Aglaya is almost as beautiful as Nastasya Filippovna.
The prince rents a room in the Ivolgin
apartment, occupied by Ganya's family and another lodger called
Ferdyschenko. There is much angst within Ganya's family about the
proposed marriage, which is regarded, particularly by his mother and
sister (Varya), as shameful. Just as a quarrel on the subject is
reaching a peak of tension, Nastasya Filippovna herself arrives to
pay a visit to her potential new family. Shocked and embarrassed,
Ganya succeeds in introducing her, but when she bursts into a
prolonged fit of laughter at the look on his face, his expression
transforms into one of murderous hatred. The Prince intervenes to
calm him down, and Ganya's rage is diverted toward him in a violent
gesture. The tension is not eased by the entrance of Ganya's father,
General Ivolgin, a drunkard with a tendency to tell elaborate lies.
Nastasya Filippovna flirtatiously encourages the General and then
mocks him. Ganya's humiliation is compounded by the arrival of
Rogozhin, accompanied by a rowdy crowd of drunks and rogues, Lebedyev
among them. Rogozhin openly starts bidding for Nastasya Filippovna,
ending with an offer of a hundred thousand rubles. With the scene
assuming increasingly scandalous proportions, Varya angrily demands
that someone remove the "shameless woman". Ganya seizes his
sister's arm, and she responds, to Nastasya Filippovna's delight, by
spitting in his face. He is about to strike her when the Prince again
intervenes, and Ganya slaps him violently in the face. Everyone is
deeply shocked, including Nastasya Filippovna, and she struggles to
maintain her mocking aloofness as the others seek to comfort the
Prince. Myshkin admonishes her and tells her it is not who she really
is. She apologizes to Ganya's mother and leaves, telling Ganya to be
sure to come to her birthday party that evening. Rogozhin and his
retinue go off to raise the 100,000 rubles.
Among the guests at the party are
Totsky, General Epanchin, Ganya, his friend Ptitsyn (Varya's fiancé),
and Ferdyshchenko, who, with Nastasya Filippovna's approval, plays
the role of cynical buffoon. With the help of Ganya's younger brother
Kolya, the Prince arrives, uninvited. To enliven the party,
Ferdyshchenko suggests a game where everyone must recount the story
of the worst thing they have ever done. Others are shocked at the
proposal, but Nastasya Filippovna is enthusiastic. When it comes to
Totsky's turn he tells a long but innocuous anecdote from the distant
past. Disgusted, Nastasya Filippovna turns to Myshkin and demands his
advice on whether or not to marry Ganya. Myshkin advises her not to,
and Nastasya Filippovna, to the dismay of Totsky, General Epanchin
and Ganya, firmly announces that she is following this advice. At
this point, Rogozhin and his followers arrive with the promised
100,000 rubles. Nastasya Filipovna is preparing to leave with him,
exploiting the scandalous scene to humiliate Totsky, when Myshkin
himself offers to marry her. He speaks gently and sincerely, and in
response to incredulous queries about what they will live on,
produces a document indicating that he will soon be receiving a large
inheritance. Though surprised and deeply touched, Nastasya Filipovna,
after throwing the 100,000 rubles in the fire and telling Ganya they
are his if he wants to get them out, chooses to leave with Rogozhin.
Myshkin follows them.
Part 2
For the next six months, Nastasya
Filippovna remains unsettled and is torn between Myshkin and
Rogozhin. Myshkin is tormented by her suffering, and Rogozhin is
tormented by her love for Myshkin and her disdain for his own claims
on her. Returning to Petersburg, the Prince visits Rogozhin's house.
Myshkin becomes increasingly horrified at Rogozhin's attitude to her.
Rogozhin confesses to beating her in a jealous rage and raises the
possibility of cutting her throat. Despite the tension between them,
they part as friends, with Rogozhin even making a gesture of
concession. But the Prince remains troubled and for the next few
hours he wanders the streets, immersed in intense contemplation. He
suspects that Rogozhin is watching him and returns to his hotel where
Rogozhin—who has been hiding in the stairway—attacks him with a
knife. At the same moment, the Prince is struck down by a violent
epileptic seizure, and Rogozhin flees in a panic.
Recovering, Myshkin joins Lebedyev
(from whom he is renting a dacha) in the summer resort town Pavlovsk.
He knows that Nastasya Filippovna is in Pavlovsk and that Lebedyev is
aware of her movements and plans. The Epanchins, who are also in
Pavlovsk, visit the Prince. They are joined by their friend Yevgeny
Pavlovich Radomsky, a handsome and wealthy military officer with a
particular interest in Aglaya. Aglaya, however, is more interested in
the Prince, and to Myshkin's embarrassment and everyone else's
amusement, she recites Pushkin's poem "The Poor Knight" in
a reference to his noble efforts to save Nastasya Filippovna.
The Epanchins' visit is rudely
interrupted by the arrival of Burdovsky, a young man who claims to be
the illegitimate son of Myshkin's late benefactor, Pavlishchev. The
inarticulate Burdovsky is supported by a group of insolent young men.
These include the consumptive seventeen-year-old Ippolit Terentyev,
the nihilist Doktorenko, and Keller, an ex-officer who, with the help
of Lebedyev, has written an article vilifying the Prince and
Pavlishchev. They demand money from Myshkin as a "just"
reimbursement for Pavlishchev's support, but their arrogant bravado
is severely dented when Gavril Ardalionovich, who has been
researching the matter on Myshkin's behalf, proves conclusively that
the claim is false and that Burdovsky has been deceived. The Prince
tries to reconcile with the young men and offers financial support
anyway. Disgusted, Lizaveta Prokofyevna loses all control and
furiously attacks both parties. Ippolit laughs, and Lizaveta
Prokofyevna seizes him by the arm, causing him to break into a
prolonged fit of coughing. But he suddenly becomes calm, informs them
all that he is near death, and politely requests that he be permitted
to talk to them for a while. He awkwardly attempts to express his
need for their love, eventually bringing both himself and Lizaveta
Prokofyevna to the point of tears. But as the Prince and Lizaveta
Prokofyevna discuss what to do with the invalid, another
transformation occurs and Ippolit, after unleashing a torrent of
abuse at the Prince, leaves with the other young men. The Epanchins
also leave, both Lizaveta Prokofyevna and Aglaya deeply indignant
with the Prince. Only Yevgeny Pavlovich remains in good spirits, and
he smiles charmingly as he says good-bye. At that moment, a
magnificent carriage pulls up at the dacha, and the ringing voice of
Nastasya Filippovna calls out to Yevgeny Pavlovich. In a familiar
tone, she tells him not to worry about all the IOUs as Rogozhin has
bought them up. The carriage departs, leaving everyone, particularly
Yevgeny Pavlovich and the Prince, in a state of shock. Yevgeny
Pavlovich claims to know nothing about the debts, and Nastasya
Filippovna's motives become a subject of anxious speculation.
Part 3
Reconciling with Lizaveta Prokofyevna,
the Prince visits the Epanchins at their dacha. He is beginning to
fall in love with Aglaya, and she likewise appears to be fascinated
by him, though she often mocks or angrily reproaches him for his
naiveté and excessive humility. Myshkin joins Lizaveta Prokofyevna,
her daughters and Yevgeny Pavlovich for a walk to the park to hear
the music. While listening to the high-spirited conversation and
watching Aglaya in a kind of daze, he notices Rogozhin and Nastasya
Filippovna in the crowd. Nastasya Filippovna again addresses herself
to Yevgeny Pavlovich, and in the same jolly tone as before loudly
informs him that his uncle—a wealthy and respected old man from
whom he is expecting a large inheritance—has shot himself and that
a huge sum of government money is missing. Yevgeny Pavlovich stares
at her in shock as Lizaveta Prokofyevna makes a hurried exit with her
daughters. Nastasya Filippovna hears an officer friend of Yevgeny
Pavlovich suggest that a whip is needed for women like her, and she
responds by grabbing a riding-whip from a bystander and striking the
officer across the face with it. He tries to attack her but Myshkin
restrains him, for which he is violently pushed. Rogozhin, after
making a mocking comment to the officer, leads Nastasya Filippovna
away. The officer recovers his composure, addresses himself to
Myshkin, politely confirms his name, and leaves.
Myshkin follows the Epanchins back to
their dacha, where eventually Aglaya finds him alone on the verandah.
To his surprise, she begins to talk to him very earnestly about duels
and how to load a pistol. They are interrupted by General Epanchin
who wants Myshkin to walk with him. Aglaya slips a note into
Myshkin's hand as they leave. The General is greatly agitated by the
effect Nastasya Filippovna's behavior is having on his family,
particularly since her information about Yevgeny Pavlovich's uncle
has turned out to be completely correct. When the General leaves,
Myshkin reads Aglaya's note, which is an urgent request to meet her
secretly the following morning. His reflections are interrupted by
Keller who has come to offer to be his second at the duel that will
inevitably follow from the incident that morning, but Myshkin merely
laughs heartily and invites Keller to visit him to drink champagne.
Keller departs and Rogozhin appears. He informs the Prince that
Nastasya Filippovna wants to see him and that she has been in
correspondence with Aglaya. She is convinced that the Prince is in
love with Aglaya, and is seeking to bring them together. Myshkin is
perturbed by the information, but he remains in an inexplicably happy
frame of mind and speaks with forgiveness and brotherly affection to
Rogozhin. Remembering it will be his birthday tomorrow, he persuades
Rogozhin to join him for some wine.
They find that a large party has
assembled at his home and that the champagne is already flowing.
Present are Lebedyev, his daughter Vera, Ippolit, Burdovsky, Kolya,
General Ivolgin, Ganya, Ptitsyn, Ferdyshchenko, Keller, and, to
Myshkin's surprise, Yevgeny Pavlovich, who has come to ask for his
friendship and advice. The guests greet the Prince warmly and compete
for his attention. Stimulated by Lebedyev's eloquence, everyone
engages for some time in intelligent and inebriated disputation on
lofty subjects, but the good-humoured atmosphere begins to dissipate
when Ippolit suddenly produces a large envelope and announces that it
contains an essay he has written which he now intends to read to
them. The essay is a painfully detailed description of the events and
thoughts leading him to what he calls his 'final conviction': that
suicide is the only possible way to affirm his will in the face of
nature's invincible laws, and that consequently he will be shooting
himself at sunrise. The reading drags on for over an hour and by its
end the sun has risen. Most of his audience, however, are bored and
resentful, apparently not at all concerned that he is about to shoot
himself. Only Vera, Kolya, Burdovsky, and Keller seek to restrain
him. He distracts them by pretending to abandon the plan, then
suddenly pulls out a small pistol, puts it to his temple and pulls
the trigger. There is a click but no shot: Ippolit faints but is not
killed. It turns out that he had taken out the cap earlier and
forgotten to put it back in. Ippolit is devastated and tries
desperately to convince everyone that it was an accident. Eventually
he falls asleep and the party disperses.
The Prince wanders for some time in the
park before falling asleep at the green seat appointed by Aglaya as
their meeting place. Her laughter wakes him from an unhappy dream
about Nastasya Filippovna. They talk for a long time about the
letters Aglaya has received, in which Nastasya Filippovna writes that
she herself is in love with Aglaya and passionately beseeches her to
marry Myshkin. Aglaya interprets this as evidence that Nastasya
Filippovna is in love with him herself, and demands that Myshkin
explain his feelings toward her. Myshkin replies that Nastasya
Filippovna is insane, that he only feels profound compassion and is
not in love with her, but admits that he has come to Pavlovsk for her
sake. Aglaya becomes angry, demands that he throw the letters back in
her face, and storms off. Myshkin reads the letters with dread, and
later that day Nastasya Filippovna herself appears to him, asking
desperately if he is happy, and telling him she is going away and
will not write any more letters. Rogozhin escorts her.
Part 4
It is clear to Lizaveta Prokofyevna and
General Epanchin that their daughter is in love with the Prince, but
Aglaya denies this and angrily dismisses talk of marriage. She
continues to mock and reproach him, often in front of others, and
lets slip that, as far as she is concerned, the problem of Nastasya
Filippovna is yet to be resolved. Myshkin himself merely experiences
an uncomplicated joy in her presence and is mortified when she
appears to be angry with him. Lizaveta Prokofyevna feels it is time
to introduce the Prince to their aristocratic circle and a dinner
party is arranged for this purpose, to be attended by a number of
eminent persons. Aglaya, who does not share her parents' respect for
these people and is afraid that Myshkin's eccentricity will not meet
with their approval, tries to tell him how to behave, but ends by
sarcastically telling him to be as eccentric as he likes, and to be
sure to wave his arms about when he is pontificating on some
high-minded subject and break her mother's priceless Chinese vase.
Feeling her anxiety, Myshkin too becomes extremely anxious, but he
tells her that it is nothing compared to the joy he feels in her
company. He tries to approach the subject of Nastasya Filippovna
again, but she silences him and hurriedly leaves.
For a while the dinner party proceeds
smoothly. Inexperienced in the ways of the aristocracy, Myshkin is
deeply impressed by the elegance and good humour of the company,
unsuspicious of its superficiality. It turns out that one of those
present—Ivan Petrovich—is a relative of his beloved benefactor
Pavlishchev, and the Prince becomes extraordinarily enthusiastic. But
when Ivan Petrovich mentions that Pavlishchev ended by giving up
everything and going over to the Roman Catholic Church, Myshkin
is horrified. He launches unexpectedly into an anti-Catholic tirade,
claiming that it preaches the Antichrist and in its quest
for political supremacy has given birth to Atheism. Everyone present
is shocked and several attempts are made to stop or divert him, but
he only becomes more animated. At the height of his fervor he begins
waving his arms about and knocks over the priceless Chinese vase,
smashing it to pieces. As Myshkin emerges from his profound
astonishment, the general horror turns to amusement and concern for
his health. But it is only temporary, and he soon begins another
spontaneous discourse, this time on the subject of the aristocracy in
Russia, once again becoming oblivious to all attempts to quell his
ardour. The speech is only brought to an end by the onset of an
epileptic seizure: Aglaya, deeply distressed, catches him in her arms
as he falls. He is taken home, having left a decidedly negative
impression on the guests.
The next day Ippolit visits the Prince
to inform him that he and others (such as Lebedyev and Ganya) have
been intriguing against him, and have been unsettling Aglaya with
talk of Nastasya Filippovna. Ippolit has arranged, at Aglaya's
request and with Rogozhin's help, a meeting between the two women.
That evening Aglaya, having left her home in secret, calls for the
Prince. They proceed in silence to the appointed meeting place, where
both Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin are already present. It soon
becomes apparent that Aglaya has not come there to discuss anything,
but to chastise and humiliate Nastasya Filippovna, and a bitter
exchange of accusations and insults ensues. Nastasya Filippovna
orders Rogozhin to leave and hysterically demands of Myshkin that he
stay with her. Myshkin, once again torn by her suffering, is unable
to deny her and reproaches Aglaya for her attack. Aglaya looks at him
with pain and hatred, and runs off. He goes after her but Nastasya
Filippovna stops him desperately and then faints. Myshkin stays with
her.
In accordance with Nastasya
Filippovna's wish, she and the Prince become engaged. Public opinion
is highly critical of Myshkin's actions toward Aglaya, and the
Epanchins break off all relations with him. He tries to explain to
Yevgeny Pavlovich that Nastasya Filippovna is a broken soul, that he
must stay with her or she will probably die, and that Aglaya will
understand if he is only allowed to talk to her. Yevgeny Pavlovich
refuses to facilitate any contact between them and suspects that
Myshkin himself is mad.
On the day of the wedding, a
beautifully attired Nastasya Filippovna is met by Keller and
Burdovsky, who are to escort her to the church where Myshkin is
waiting. A large crowd has gathered, among whom is Rogozhin. Seeing
him, Nastasya Filippovna rushes to him and tells him hysterically to
take her away, which Rogozhin loses no time in doing. The Prince,
though shaken, is not particularly surprised at this development. For
the remainder of the day he calmly fulfills his social obligations to
guests and members of the public. The following morning he takes the
first train to Petersburg and goes to Rogozhin's house, but he is
told by servants that there is no one there. After several hours of
fruitless searching, he returns to the hotel he was staying at when
he last encountered Rogozhin in Petersburg. Rogozhin appears and asks
him to come back to the house. They enter the house in secret and
Rogozhin leads him to the dead body of Nastasya Filippovna: he has
stabbed her through the heart. The two men keep vigil over the body,
which Rogozhin has laid out in his study.
Rogozhin is sentenced to fifteen years
hard labor in Siberia. Myshkin goes mad and, through the efforts of
Yevgeny Pavlovich, returns to the sanatorium in Switzerland. The
Epanchins go abroad and Aglaya elopes with a wealthy, exiled Polish
count who later is discovered to be neither wealthy, nor a count, nor
an exile—at least, not a political exile—and who, along with a
Roman Catholic priest, has turned her against her family.
