Who wrote the story is an idiot. Legendary Christian books: Fyodor Dostoevsky “The Idiot”

“For a long time I have been tormented by one thought that is too difficult. This idea is to portray a positively beautiful person. In my opinion, nothing can be more difficult than this...”, wrote Dostoevsky to A. Maikov. The type of such a character was embodied in Prince Myshkin - the main character of the novel "The Idiot", the greatest work of world literature and - generally accepted - Dostoevsky's most mysterious novel. Who is he, Prince Myshkin? A person who imagines himself to be Christ, intending to heal the souls of people with his boundless kindness? Or an idiot who does not realize that such a mission is impossible in our world? The prince’s tangled relationships with those around him, a difficult internal split, painful and different love for two women close to his heart, strengthened by vivid passions, painful experiences and unusually complex characters of both heroines, become the main driving force of the plot and lead it to a fatal tragic ending...

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Artem Olegovich

"Idiot" - plot

Part one

26-year-old Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin returns from a sanatorium in Switzerland, where he spent several years. The prince has not completely recovered from mental illness, but appears before the reader as a sincere and innocent person, although decently versed in relationships between people. He goes to Russia to visit his only remaining relatives - the Epanchin family. On the train, he meets the young merchant Parfyon Rogozhin and the retired official Lebedev, to whom he ingenuously tells his story. In response, he learns the details of the life of Rogozhin, who is in love with the former kept woman of the wealthy nobleman Afanasy Ivanovich Totsky, Nastasya Filippovna. In the Epanchins’ house it turns out that Nastasya Filippovna is also known in this house. There is a plan to marry her off to General Epanchin’s protégé, Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin, an ambitious but mediocre man. Prince Myshkin meets all the main characters of the story in the first part of the novel. These are the Epanchins' daughters Alexandra, Adelaide and Aglaya, on whom he makes a favorable impression, remaining the object of their slightly mocking attention. Next, there is General Lizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchina, who is in constant agitation due to the fact that her husband is in some communication with Nastasya Filippovna, who has a reputation for being fallen. Then, this is Ganya Ivolgin, who suffers greatly because of his upcoming role as Nastasya Filippovna’s husband, and cannot decide to develop his still very weak relationship with Aglaya. Prince Myshkin quite simply tells the general’s wife and the Epanchin sisters about what he learned about Nastasya Filippovna from Rogozhin, and also amazes the audience with his story about the death penalty he observed abroad. General Epanchin offers the prince, for lack of a place to stay, to rent a room in Ivolgin’s house. There the prince meets Ganya’s family, and also meets Nastasya Filippovna for the first time, who unexpectedly arrives at this house. After an ugly scene with Ivolgin’s alcoholic father, retired general Ardalion Aleksandrovich, of whom his son is endlessly ashamed, Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin come to the Ivolgins’ house for Nastasya Filippovna. He arrives with a noisy company that has gathered around him completely by chance, as around any person who knows how to waste money. As a result of the scandalous explanation, Rogozhin swears to Nastasya Filippovna that in the evening he will offer her one hundred thousand rubles in cash.

This evening, Myshkin, sensing something bad, really wants to get to Nastasya Filippovna’s house, and at first hopes for the elder Ivolgin, who promises to take Myshkin to this house, but, in fact, does not know at all where she lives. The desperate prince does not know what to do, but he is unexpectedly helped by Ganya Ivolgin's younger teenage brother, Kolya, who shows him the way to Nastasya Filippovna's house. That evening is her name day, there are few invited guests. Allegedly, today everything should be decided and Nastasya Filippovna should agree to marry Ganya Ivolgin. The prince's unexpected appearance leaves everyone in amazement. One of the guests, Ferdyshchenko, a positively type of petty scoundrel, offers to play a strange game for entertainment - everyone talks about their lowest deed. The following are the stories of Ferdyshchenko and Totsky himself. In the form of such a story, Nastasya Filippovna refuses to marry Gana. Rogozhin suddenly bursts into the room with a company that brought the promised hundred thousand. He trades Nastasya Filippovna, offering her money in exchange for agreeing to become “his.”

The prince gives cause for amazement by seriously inviting Nastasya Filippovna to marry him, while she, in despair, plays with this proposal and almost agrees. It immediately turns out that the prince receives a large inheritance. Nastasya Filippovna invites Gana Ivolgin to take one hundred thousand and throws them into the fire of the fireplace. “But only without gloves, with bare hands. If you pull it out, it’s yours, all one hundred thousand is yours! And I will admire your soul as you climb into the fire for my money.”

Lebedev, Ferdyshchenko and the like are confused and beg Nastasya Filippovna to let them snatch this wad of money from the fire, but she is adamant and invites Ivolgin to do it. Ivolgin restrains himself and does not rush for money. Loses consciousness. Nastasya Filippovna takes out almost all the money with tongs, puts it on Ivolgin and leaves with Rogozhin. This ends the first part of the novel.

Part two

In the second part, the prince appears before us after six months, and now he does not seem at all like a completely naive person, while maintaining all his simplicity in communication. All these six months he has been living in Moscow. During this time, he managed to receive his inheritance, which is rumored to be almost colossal. It is also rumored that in Moscow the prince enters into close communication with Nastasya Filippovna, but she soon leaves him. At this time, Kolya Ivolgin, who began to be in a relationship with the Epanchin sisters and even with the general’s wife herself, gives Aglaya a note from the prince, in which he asks her in confused terms to remember him.

Meanwhile, summer is already coming, and the Epanchins go to their dacha in Pavlovsk. Soon after this, Myshkin arrives in St. Petersburg and pays a visit to Lebedev, from whom he, among other things, learns about Pavlovsk and rents his dacha in the same place. Next, the prince goes to visit Rogozhin, with whom he has a difficult conversation, ending with fraternization and the exchange of crosses. At the same time, it becomes obvious that Rogozhin is on the verge when he is ready to kill the prince or Nastasya Filippovna, and even bought a knife thinking about this. Also in Rogozhin’s house, Myshkin notices a copy of Hans Holbein the Younger’s painting “Dead Christ”, which becomes one of the most important artistic images in the novel, often remembered later.

Returning from Rogozhin and being in a darkened consciousness, and seemingly anticipating the time of an epileptic seizure, the prince notices that “eyes” are watching him - and this, apparently, is Rogozhin. The image of Rogozhin’s watching “eyes” becomes one of the leitmotifs of the narrative. Myshkin, having reached the hotel where he was staying, runs into Rogozhin, who seems to be raising a knife over him, but at that second the prince has an epileptic seizure and this stops the crime.

Myshkin moves to Pavlovsk, where General Epanchina, having heard that he is unwell, immediately pays him a visit along with her daughters and Prince Shch., Adelaide’s fiancé. Also present in the house and participating in the subsequent important scene are the Lebedevs and the Ivolgins. Later they are joined by General Epanchin and Evgeny Pavlovich Radomsky, Aglaya's intended fiancé, who came up later. At this time, Kolya reminds of a certain joke about the “poor knight,” and the misunderstanding Lizaveta Prokofyevna forces Aglaya to read Pushkin’s famous poem, which she does with great feeling, replacing, among other things, the initials written by the knight in the poem with Nastasya Filippovna’s initials.

Myshkin reveals himself in this entire scene as an amazingly kind and gentle person, which evokes a partly sarcastic assessment from the Epanchins. At the end of the scene, all attention is drawn to the consumptive Hippolyte, whose speech addressed to all those present is full of unexpected moral paradoxes.

That same evening, leaving Myshkin, Epanchina and Evgeny Pavlovich Radomsky meet Nastasya Filippovna passing in a carriage. As she walks, she shouts to Radomsky about some bills, thereby compromising him in front of the Epanchins and his future bride.

On the third day, General Epanchina pays an unexpected visit to the prince, although she was angry with him all this time. During their conversation, it turns out that Aglaya somehow entered into communication with Nastasya Filippovna through the mediation of Ganya Ivolgin and his sister, who is close to the Epanchins. The prince also lets slip that he received a note from Aglaya, in which she asks him not to show himself to her in the future. The surprised Lizaveta Prokofyevna, realizing that the feelings that Aglaya has for the prince play a role here, immediately orders him and her to visit them “intentionally.” This ends the second part of the novel.

Part three

At the beginning of the third part, the anxieties of Lizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchina are described, who complains (to herself) about the prince that it is his fault that everything in their life has “gone upside down!” She learns that her daughter Aglaya has entered into correspondence with Nastasya Filippovna.

At a meeting with the Epanchins, the prince talks about himself, about his illness, about how “you can’t help but laugh at me.” Aglaya interjects: “Everything here, everyone is not worth your little finger, nor your mind, nor your heart! You are more honest than everyone, nobler than everyone, better than everyone, kinder than everyone, smarter than everyone!” Everyone is shocked. Aglaya continues: “I will never marry you! Know that never, ever! Know this! The prince justifies himself that he did not even think about it: “I never wanted, and it was never in my mind, I will never want, you will see for yourself; rest assured!” he says. In response, Aglaya begins to laugh uncontrollably. At the end everyone laughs.

Later, Myshkin, Evgeny Pavlovich and the Epanchin family meet Nastasya Filippovna at the station. She loudly and defiantly informs Yevgeny Pavlovich that his uncle, Kapiton Alekseich Radomsky, shot himself because of embezzlement of government money. Lieutenant Molovtsov, a great friend of Yevgeny Pavlovich, who was right there, loudly calls her a creature. She hits him in the face with her cane. The officer rushes at her, but Myshkin intervenes. Rogozhin arrived in time and takes Nastasya Filippovna away.

Aglaya writes a note to Myshkin, in which she arranges a meeting on a park bench. Myshkin is excited. He can't believe that he can be loved. “He would consider the possibility of love for him, “for a person like him,” to be a monstrous thing.”

Then it’s the prince’s birthday. Here he utters his famous phrase “Beauty will save the world!”

Part four

At the beginning of this part, Dostoevsky writes about ordinary people. Ganya serves as an example. In the Ivolgins' house the news is now known that Aglaya is marrying the prince, and therefore the Epanchins have good company in the evening to get to know the prince. Ganya and Varya are talking about the theft of money, for which it turns out their father is to blame. Varya says about Aglaya that she “will turn her back on her first suitor, but would gladly run to some student to die of hunger in the attic.”

Ganya then argues with his father, General Ivolgin, to the point that he shouts “a curse on this house” and leaves. Disputes continue, but now with Hippolytus, who, in anticipation of his own death, no longer knows any measures. He is called a "gossip and a brat." After this, Ganya and Varvara Ardalionovna receive a letter from Aglaya, in which she asks them both to come to the green bench known to Varya. This step is incomprehensible to the brother and sister, because this is after the engagement to the prince.

After a heated showdown between Lebedev and the general, the next morning, General Ivolgin visits the prince and announces to him that he wishes to “respect himself.” When he leaves, Lebedev comes to the prince and tells him that no one stole his money, which seems, of course, quite suspicious. This matter, although resolved, still worries the prince.

The next scene is again a meeting between the prince and the general, during which the latter tells from the time of Napoleon in Moscow that he then served the great leader even as a page-chamber. The whole story, of course, is again dubious. After leaving the prince with Kolya, talking with him about his family and himself and reading many quotes from Russian literature, he suffers apoplexy.

Then Dostoevsky gives in to reflections about the entire life situation in Pavlovsk, which are inappropriate to convey. The only important moment can be when Aglaya gives the prince a hedgehog as “a sign of her deepest respect.” This expression of hers, however, is also found in the conversation about the “poor knight.” When he is with the Epanchins, Aglaya immediately wants to know his opinion about the hedgehog, which makes the prince somewhat embarrassed. The answer does not satisfy Aglaya and for no apparent reason she asks him: “Are you marrying me or not?” and “Are you asking for my hand or not?” The prince convinces her that he is asking and that he loves her very much. She also asks him a question about his financial status, which others consider completely inappropriate. Then she bursts out laughing and runs away, her sisters and parents following her. In her room she cries and completely makes peace with her family and says that she doesn’t love the prince at all and that she will “die laughing” when she sees him again.

She asks him for forgiveness and makes him happy, to the point that he does not even listen to her words: “Forgive me for insisting on absurdity, which, of course, cannot have the slightest consequences...” The whole evening the prince was cheerful and a lot and spoke animatedly, although he had a plan not to say too much, because, as he said just now to Prince Shch., “he needs to restrain himself and remain silent, because he has no right to humiliate a thought by expressing it himself.”

In the park, the prince then meets Hippolytus, who, as usual, mocks the prince in a sarcastic and mocking tone and calls him “a naive child.”

Preparing for the evening meeting, for the “high society circle,” Aglaya warns the prince about some inappropriate prank, and the prince notices that all the Epanchins are afraid for him, although Aglaya herself really wants to hide it, and they think that he may “ will be cut off" in society. The prince concludes that it is better if he does not come. But he immediately changes his mind again when Aglaya makes it clear that everything has been arranged separately for him. Moreover, she does not allow him to talk about anything, such as the fact that “beauty will save the world.” To this the prince replies that “now he will certainly break the vase.” At night he fantasizes and imagines himself having a seizure in such a society.

Lebedev appears on stage and admits “intoxicatedly” that he had recently reported to Lizaveta Prokofyevna about the contents of Aglaya Ivanovna’s letters. And now he assures the prince that he is “all yours” again.

An evening in high society begins with pleasant conversations and nothing should be expected. But suddenly the prince flares up too much and starts talking. Adelaide’s expression the next morning better explains the prince’s mental state: “He was choking on his beautiful heart.” The prince exaggerates in everything, curses Catholicism as a non-Christian faith, gets more and more excited and finally breaks the vase, as he himself prophesied. The last fact amazes him the most and after everyone forgives him for the incident, he feels great and continues to talk animatedly. Without even noticing, he gets up during a speech and suddenly, just as according to prophecy, he has a seizure.

When “old woman Belokonskaya” (as Lizaveta Prokofyevna calls her) leaves, she expresses herself this way about the prince: “Well, he’s both good and bad, and if you want to know my opinion, then he’s more bad. You see for yourself what a sick person he is!” Aglaya then announces that she “never considered him her fiancé.”

The Epanchins still inquire about the prince’s health. Through Vera Lebedeva, Aglaya orders the prince not to leave the courtyard, the reason for which is of course incomprehensible to the prince. Ippolit comes to Prince and announces to him that he spoke with Aglaya today in order to agree on a meeting with Nastasya Fillipovna, which should take place on the same day at Daria Alekseevna's. Consequently, the prince realizes, Aglaya wanted him to stay at home so that she could come for him. And so it turns out that the main characters of the novel meet.

Aglaya reveals to Nastasya Fillipovna her opinion of her, that she is proud “to the point of madness, as evidenced by your letters to me.” Moreover, she says that she fell in love with the prince for his noble innocence and boundless gullibility. Having asked Nastasya Fillipovna by what right does she interfere in his feelings for her and constantly declares to both her and the prince himself that she loves him, and having received an unsatisfactory answer that she declared “neither to him nor to you”, she angrily replies that she thinks that she wanted to do a great feat, persuading her to “go for him,” but in fact with the sole purpose of satisfying her pride. And Nastasya Fillipovna objects that she only came to this house because she was afraid of her and wanted to make sure who the prince loved more. Inviting her to take it, she demands that she step away “this very minute.” And suddenly Nastasya Fillipovna, like a madwoman, orders the prince to decide whether he will go with her or with Aglaya. The prince does not understand anything and turns to Aglaya, pointing at Nastasya Fillipovna: “Is this possible! After all, she’s... crazy!” After this, Aglaya can no longer stand it and runs away, the prince following her, but on the threshold Nastasya Fillipovna wraps her arms around him and faints. He stays with her - this is a fatal decision.

Preparations begin for the wedding of the prince and Nastasya Fillipovna. The Epachins leave Pavlovsk and a doctor arrives to examine Ippolit, as well as the prince. Evgeny Pavlovich comes to the prince with the intention of “analyzing” everything that happened and the prince’s motives for other actions and feelings. The result is a subtle and very excellent analysis: he convinces the prince that it was indecent to refuse Aglaya, who behaved much more nobly and appropriately, although Nastasya Fillipovna was worthy of compassion, but there was too much sympathy, because Aglaya needed support. The prince is now completely convinced that he is guilty. Evgeniy Pavlovich also adds that perhaps he didn’t even love any of them, that he only loved them as an “abstract spirit.”

General Ivolgin dies from a second apoplexy and the prince shows his sympathy. Lebedev begins to intrigue against the prince and admits this on the very day of the wedding. At this time, Hippolyte often sends for the prince, which entertains him a lot. He even tells him that Rogozhin will now kill Aglaya because he took Nastasya Fillipovna from him.

The latter one day becomes overly worried, imagining that Rogozhin is hiding her in the garden and wants to “stab her to death.” The bride's mood is constantly changing, sometimes she is happy, sometimes she is desperate.

Just before the wedding, when the prince is waiting in the church, she sees Rogozhin and shouts “Save me!” and leaves with him. Keller considers the prince’s reaction to this to be “unparalleled philosophy”: “... in her condition... this is completely in the order of things.”

The prince leaves Pavlovsk, hires a room in St. Petersburg and looks for Rogozhin. When he knocks at his own house, the maid tells him that he is not at home. And the janitor, on the contrary, replies that he is at home, but, having listened to the prince’s objection, based on the maid’s statement, he believes that “maybe he went out.” Then, however, they announce to him that the sir slept at home at night, but went to Pavlovsk. All this seems more and more unpleasant and suspicious to the prince. Returning to the hotel, Rogozhin suddenly touches him on the elbow in the crowd and tells him to follow him to his home. Nastasya Fillipovna is at his house. They quietly go up to the apartment together, because the janitor does not know that he has returned.

Nastasya Fillipovna lies on the bed and sleeps in a “completely motionless sleep.” Rogozhin killed her with a knife and covered her with a sheet. The prince begins to tremble and lies down with Rogozhin. They talk for a long time about everything, including how Rogozhin planned everything so that no one would know that Nastasya Fillipovna was spending the night with him.

Suddenly Rogozhin begins to shout, forgetting that he should speak in a whisper, and suddenly becomes silent. The prince examines him for a long time and even strokes him. When they are looking for them, Rogozhin is found “completely unconscious and in a fever,” and the prince no longer understands anything and does not recognize anyone - he is an “idiot,” as he was then in Switzerland.

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky(1821–1881) - prose writer, critic, publicist.

About the book

Time of writing: 1867–1869

Content

A young man, Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin, returns to St. Petersburg from Switzerland, where he was treated for a serious nervous illness.

After several years of almost reclusive life, he finds himself at the epicenter of St. Petersburg society. The prince feels sorry for these people, sees that they are dying, tries to save them, but despite all his efforts, he cannot change anything.

Ultimately, Myshkin is driven to the point of losing his mind by the very people he tried most to help.

History of creation

The novel “The Idiot” was written abroad, where Dostoevsky went to improve his health and write a novel to pay off his creditors.

Work on the novel was difficult, health did not improve, and in 1868 the Dostoevskys’ three-month-old daughter died in Geneva.

While in Germany and Switzerland, Dostoevsky comprehends the moral and socio-political changes in Russia in the 60s of the 19th century: circles of commoners, revolutionary ideas, nihilistic mentalities. All this will be reflected on the pages of the novel.

Boboli Garden in Florence, where the writer loved to walk during his stay in Italy

The idea of ​​the work

Dostoevsky believed that there is only one positively beautiful person in the world - this is Christ. The writer tried to endow the main character of the novel - Prince Myshkin - with similar features.

According to Dostoevsky, Don Quixote is closest to the ideal of Christ in literature. The image of Prince Myshkin echoes the hero of the novel by Cervantes. Like Cervantes, Dostoevsky poses the question: what will happen to a person endowed with the qualities of a saint if he finds himself in modern society, how will his relationships develop with others and what influence will he have on them, and they on him?

Don Quixote. Drawing by D. A. Harker

Title

The historical meaning of the word “idiot” is a person living within himself, far from society.

The novel plays on various shades of the meaning of this word to emphasize the complexity of the hero's image. Myshkin is considered strange, he is either recognized as absurd and funny, or they believe that he can “read through” another person. He, honest and truthful, does not fit into generally accepted norms of behavior. Only at the very end of the novel is another meaning actualized - “mentally ill”, “clouded by reason”.

The childishness of Myshkin’s appearance and behavior, his naivety and defenselessness are emphasized. “A perfect child”, “child” - this is what those around him call him, and the prince agrees with this. Myshkin says: “What kind of children we are, Kolya! and... and... how good it is that we are children! The gospel call sounds quite clearly in this: "be like children"(Mt. 18 :3).

Another shade of the meaning of the word “idiot” is holy fool. In the religious tradition, the blessed are conductors of Divine wisdom for ordinary people.

The meaning of the work

The novel repeats both the true gospel story and the story of Don Quixote. The world again does not accept the “positively beautiful person.” Lev Myshkin is endowed with Christian love and goodness and brings their light to his neighbors. However, the main obstacles on this path are the lack of faith and lack of spirituality of modern society.

The people whom the prince is trying to help destroy themselves before his eyes. By rejecting it, society rejects the opportunity to be saved. From a plot point of view, the novel is extremely tragic.

Film adaptations and theatrical productions

Many film and theater directors and composers turned to the plot of the novel “The Idiot”. Dramatic performances began as early as 1887. One of the most significant theatrical productions of Dostoevsky's versions of the novel was the 1957 play staged by Georgy Tovstonogov at the Bolshoi Drama Theater in St. Petersburg. Innokenty Smoktunovsky played the role of Prince Myshkin.

"Idiot". Directed by Pyotr Cherdynin (1910)

The first film adaptation of the novel dates back to 1910, the period of silent films. The author of this short film was Peter Chardynin. An outstanding film version of the first part of the novel was Ivan Pyryev’s feature film “The Idiot” (1958), where the role of Myshkin was played by Yuri Yakovlev.

“Idiot”, dir. Akira Kurosawa (1951)

One of the best foreign adaptations of the novel is the Japanese black and white drama “The Idiot” (1951) directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Evgeny Mironov as Prince Myshkin in the film adaptation of the novel “The Idiot” (dir. Vladimir Bortko, Russia, 2003)

The most detailed and closest to the original film version of the novel is Vladimir Bortko’s serial film “The Idiot” (2002), the role of Myshkin was played by Yevgeny Mironov.

Interesting facts about the novel

1. The Idiot" is the second novel of the so-called "great pentateuch of Dostoevsky." It also includes the novels Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, The Possessed and The Brothers Karamazov.

Volumes of one of the first editions of the collected works of F. M. Dostoevsky

2. The idea of ​​the novel was strongly influenced by Dostoevsky’s impression of Hans Holbein the Younger’s painting “Dead Christ in the Tomb.” The canvas depicts the body of the dead Savior after being taken down from the Cross in an extremely naturalistic manner. Nothing divine is visible in the image of such a Christ, and according to legend, Holbein actually painted this picture from a drowned man. Arriving in Switzerland, Dostoevsky wanted to see this picture. The writer was so horrified that he told his wife: “You can lose your faith from such a picture.” The tragic plot of the novel, where most of the characters live without faith, largely stems from reflections on this picture. It is no coincidence that it is in the gloomy house of Parfen Rogozhin, who will later commit the terrible sin of murder, that a copy of the painting “Dead Christ” hangs.

3. In the novel “The Idiot” you can find the well-known phrase “the world will be saved by beauty.” In the text, it is pronounced in a sad, ironic and almost mocking tone by two heroes - Aglaya Epanchin and the terminally ill Ippolit Terentyev. Dostoevsky himself never believed that the world would be saved by some abstract beauty. In his diaries, the formula for salvation sounds like this: “the world will become the beauty of Christ.” With his novel “The Idiot,” Dostoevsky proves that beauty has not only an inspiring, but also a destructive power. The tragic fate of Nastasya Filippovna, a woman of extraordinary beauty, illustrates the idea that beauty can cause unbearable suffering and destroy.

4. Dostoevsky considered the terrible scene in the Rogozhin house in the final part of “The Idiot” to be the most important in the novel, as well as a scene “of such power that has not been repeated in literature.”

Quotes:

There is nothing more offensive to a person of our time and tribe than to tell him that he is not original, weak in character, without special talents and an ordinary person.

Compassion is the most important and, perhaps, the only law of existence for all humanity.

There is so much power, so much passion in the modern generation, and they don’t believe in anything!

Description

A novel in which Dostoevsky’s creative principles are fully embodied, and his amazing mastery of plot reaches true flourishing. The bright and almost painfully talented story of the unfortunate Prince Myshkin, the frantic Parfen Rogozhin and the desperate Nastasya Filippovna, filmed and staged many times, still fascinates the reader...

According to the publication: “Idiot. A novel in four parts by Fyodor Dostoevsky. St. Petersburg. 1874”, with corrections according to the magazine “Russian Bulletin” of 1868, preserving the spelling of the publication. Edited by B. Tomashevsky and K. Halabaev.

26-year-old Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin (an idiot) returns from a sanatorium in Switzerland, where he spent several years being treated for epilepsy. The prince has not completely recovered from mental illness, but appears before the reader as a sincere and innocent person, although decently versed in relationships between people. He goes to Russia to visit his only remaining relatives - the Epanchin family. On the train, he meets the young merchant Parfyon Rogozhin and the retired official Lebedev, to whom he ingenuously tells his story. In response, he learns the details of the life of Rogozhin, who is in love with the former kept woman of the wealthy nobleman Afanasy Ivanovich Totsky, Nastasya Filippovna. In the Epanchins’ house it turns out that Nastasya Filippovna is also known in this house. There is a plan to marry her off to General Epanchin’s protégé, Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin, an ambitious but mediocre man. Prince Myshkin meets all the main characters of the story in the first part of the novel. These are the Epanchins' daughters Alexandra, Adelaide and Aglaya, on whom he makes a favorable impression, remaining the object of their slightly mocking attention. Next, there is General Lizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchina, who is in constant agitation due to the fact that her husband is in some communication with Nastasya Filippovna, who has a reputation for being fallen. Then, this is Ganya Ivolgin, who suffers greatly because of his upcoming role as Nastasya Filippovna’s husband, although he is ready to do anything for money, and cannot decide to develop his still very weak relationship with Aglaya. Prince Myshkin quite simply tells the general's wife and the Epanchin sisters about what he learned about Nastasya Filippovna from Rogozhin, and also amazes the audience with his narration about the memories and feelings of his acquaintance, who was sentenced to death, but was pardoned at the last moment. General Epanchin offers the prince, for lack of a place to stay, to rent a room in Ivolgin’s house. There the prince meets Ganya’s family, and also meets Nastasya Filippovna for the first time, who unexpectedly arrives at this house. After an ugly scene with Ivolgin’s alcoholic father, retired general Ardalion Aleksandrovich, of whom his son is endlessly ashamed, Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin come to the Ivolgins’ house for Nastasya Filippovna. He arrives with a noisy company that has gathered around him completely by chance, as around any person who knows how to waste money. As a result of the scandalous explanation, Rogozhin swears to Nastasya Filippovna that by the evening he will offer her one hundred thousand rubles in cash...

Plot

This novel is an attempt to draw an ideal person, unspoiled by civilization.

Part one

The plot centers on the story of a young man, Prince Myshkin, a representative of an impoverished noble family. After a long stay in Switzerland, where he is being treated by Dr. Schneider, he returns to Russia. The prince recovered from mental illness, but appears before the reader as a sincere and innocent person, although decently versed in relationships between people. He goes to Russia to visit his only remaining relatives - the Epanchin family. On the train, he meets the young merchant Rogozhin and the retired official Lebedev, to whom he ingenuously tells his story. In response, he learns the details of the life of Rogozhin, who is in love with the former kept woman of the wealthy nobleman Totsky, Nastasya Filippovna. In the Epanchins’ house it turns out that Nastasya Filippovna is also known in this house. There is a plan to marry her off to General Epanchin’s protégé, Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin, an ambitious but mediocre man.

Prince Myshkin meets all the main characters of the story in the first part of the novel. These are the Epanchins' daughters, Alexander, Adelaide and Aglaya, on whom he makes a favorable impression, remaining the object of their slightly mocking attention. Next, this is General Epanchina, who is in constant excitement due to the fact that her husband is in some communication with Nastasya Filippovna, who has the reputation of a fallen woman. Then, this is Ganya Ivolgin, who suffers greatly because of his upcoming role as Nastasya Filippovna’s husband, and cannot decide to develop his still very weak relationship with Aglaya. Prince Myshkin quite simply tells the general's wife and the Epanchin sisters about what he learned about Nastasya Filippovna from Rogozhin, and also amazes the audience with his story about the death penalty he observed abroad. General Epanchin offers the prince, for lack of a place to stay, to rent a room in Ivolgin’s house. There the prince meets Nastasya Filippovna, who unexpectedly arrives at this house. After an ugly scene with Ivolgin’s alcoholic father, of whom he is endlessly ashamed, Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin come to the Ivolgins’ house for Nastasya Filippovna. He arrives with a noisy company that has gathered around him completely by chance, as around any person who knows how to waste money. As a result of the scandalous explanation, Rogozhin swears to Nastasya Filippovna that in the evening he will offer her one hundred thousand rubles in cash.

This evening, Myshkin, sensing something bad, really wants to get to Nastasya Filippovna’s house, and at first hopes for the elder Ivolgin, who promises to take Myshkin to this house, but, in fact, does not know at all where she lives. The desperate prince does not know what to do, but he is unexpectedly helped by Ganya Ivolgin's younger teenage brother, Kolya, who shows him the way to Nastasya Filippovna's house. That evening is her name day, there are few invited guests. Allegedly, today everything should be decided and Nastasya Filippovna should agree to marry Ganya Ivolgin. The prince's unexpected appearance leaves everyone in amazement. One of the guests, Ferdyshchenko, a positively type of petty scoundrel, offers to play a strange game for entertainment - everyone talks about their lowest deed. The following are the stories of Ferdyshchenko and Totsky himself. In the form of such a story, Nastasya Filippovna refuses to marry Gana. Rogozhin suddenly bursts into the room with a company that brought the promised hundred thousand. He trades Nastasya Filippovna, offering her money in exchange for agreeing to become “his.”

The prince gives cause for amazement by seriously inviting Nastasya Filippovna to marry him, while she, in despair, plays with this proposal and almost agrees. Nastasya Filippovna invites Gana Ivolgin to take one hundred thousand, and throws them into the fireplace fire, so that he can snatch them completely intact. Lebedev, Ferdyshchenko and the like are confused, and beg Nastasya Filippovna to let them snatch this wad of money from the fire, but she is adamant, and offers to do it to Ivolgin. Ivolgin restrains himself and does not rush for the money. Nastasya Filippovna takes out almost all the money with tongs, gives it to Ivolgin, and leaves with Rogozhin. This ends the first part of the novel.

Part two

In the second part, the prince appears before us after six months, and now he does not seem at all like a completely naive person, while maintaining all his simplicity in communication. All these six months he has been living in Moscow. During this time, he managed to receive some inheritance, which is rumored to be almost colossal. It is also rumored that in Moscow the prince enters into close communication with Nastasya Filippovna, but she soon leaves him. At this time, Kolya Ivolgin, who has become on friendly terms with the Epanchin sisters, and even with the general’s wife herself, gives Aglaya a note from the prince, in which he asks her in confused terms to remember him.

Meanwhile, summer is already coming, and the Epanchins go to their dacha in Pavlovsk. Soon after this, Myshkin arrives in St. Petersburg and pays a visit to Lebedev, from whom he, by the way, learns about Pavlovsk and rents his dacha in the same place. Next, the prince goes to visit Rogozhin, with whom he has a difficult conversation, ending in fraternization and the exchange of crosses. At the same time, it becomes obvious that Rogozhin is on the verge when he is ready to kill the prince or Nastasya Filippovna, and even bought a knife thinking about this. Also in Rogozhin’s house, Myshkin notices a copy of Holbein’s painting “The Dead Christ,” which becomes one of the most important artistic images in the novel, often remembered later.

Returning from Rogozhin and being in a darkened consciousness, and seemingly anticipating the time of an epileptic seizure, the prince notices that “eyes” are watching him - and this, apparently, is Rogozhin. The image of Rogozhin’s watching “eyes” becomes one of the leitmotifs of the narrative. Myshkin, having reached the hotel where he was staying, runs into Rogozhin, who seems to be raising a knife over him, but at that second the prince has an epileptic seizure, and this stops the crime.

Myshkin moves to Pavlovsk, where General Epanchina, having heard that he is unwell, immediately pays him a visit along with her daughters and Prince Shch., Adelaide’s fiancé. Also present in the house and participating in the subsequent important scene are the Lebedevs and the Ivolgins. Later they are joined by General Epanchin and Evgeny Pavlovich Radomsky, Aglaya's intended fiancé, who came up later. At this time, Kolya reminds of a certain joke about the “poor knight,” and the misunderstanding Lizaveta Prokofyevna forces Aglaya to read Pushkin’s famous poem, which she does with great feeling, replacing, by the way, the initials written by the knight in the poem with Nastasya Filippovna’s initials.

At the end of the scene, all attention is drawn to the consumptive Hippolyte, whose speech addressed to all those present is full of unexpected moral paradoxes. And later, when everyone is already leaving the prince, a carriage suddenly appears at the gates of Myshkin’s dacha, from which Nastasya Filippovna’s voice shouts something about bills, addressing Yevgeny Pavlovich, which greatly compromises him.

On the third day, General Epanchina pays an unexpected visit to the prince, although she was angry with him all this time. During their conversation, it turns out that Aglaya somehow entered into communication with Nastasya Filippovna, through the mediation of Ganya Ivolgin and his sister, who is close to the Epanchins. The prince also lets slip that he received a note from Aglaya, in which she asks him not to show himself to her in the future. The surprised Lizaveta Prokofyevna, realizing that the feelings that Aglaya has for the prince play a role here, immediately orders him and her to visit them “intentionally.” This ends the second part of the novel.

Characters

Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin- A Russian nobleman who lived in Switzerland for 4 years and returns to St. Petersburg at the beginning of Part I. Blonde-haired with blue eyes, Prince Myshkin behaves in an extremely naive, benevolent and impractical manner. These traits lead others to call him an "idiot"

Nastasya Fillipovna Barashkova- An amazingly beautiful girl from a noble family. She plays a central role in the novel as the heroine and object of love of both Prince Myshkin and Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin.

Parfen Semyonovich Rogozhin- A dark-eyed, dark-haired twenty-seven-year-old man from a family of merchants. Having fallen passionately in love with Nastasya Fillipovna and having received a large inheritance, he tries to attract her with 100 thousand rubles.

Aglaya Ivanovna Epanchina- The youngest and most beautiful of the Epanchin girls. Prince Myshkin falls in love with her.

Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin- Ambitious middle class official. He is in love with Aglaya Ivanovna, but is still ready to marry Nastasya Filippovna for the promised dowry of 75,000 rubles.

Lizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchina- A distant relative of Prince Myshkin, to whom the prince first of all turns for help. Mother of three beautiful Epanchins.

Ivan Fedorovich Epanchin- Rich and respected in St. Petersburg society, General Epanchin gives Nastasia Filippovna a pearl necklace at the beginning of the novel

Film adaptations

Links

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• Idiospermum australis
• Idiot (TV series 2003)

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