1. In what ways is Prince Myshkin Christlike? In what ways unlike Christ? 2. What role does Fate play in this novel? 3. How does Myshkin’s story of Marie illumine the prince’s character and prepare us for his reaction to Nastasya? 4. Account for the initial attitudes of the Epanchins […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsFyodor Dostoevsky Biography
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in 1821, the second of seven children, and lived until 1881. The family was of the nobility, but far from wealthy. His father, an army doctor attached to the staff of a public hospital, was a stern and righteous man while his mother was the […]
Read more Fyodor Dostoevsky BiographyCharacter Analysis Parfyon Rogozhin
In this novel, Rogozhin’s presence is very much like that of a dark angel of death. He lives in a grave-like, gloomy house that is filled with tiny rooms and winding corridors. He slinks about, watching Myshkin’s activities, sure that the fair-haired, blue-eyed prince is deviously trying to win Nastasya’s […]
Read more Character Analysis Parfyon RogozhinCharacter Analysis Nastasya Filippovna Barashkov
It is regrettable that Dostoevsky did not more often include Nastasya in The Idiot’s middle sections. Without a doubt, she is the novel’s most dramatic and most complex character; it is she who steers the course of this novel and the fate of Prince Myshkin and Rogozhin. Structurally, perhaps, Dostoevsky […]
Read more Character Analysis Nastasya Filippovna BarashkovCharacter Analysis Prince Lyov Myshkin
Dostoevsky was almost successful in creating the “perfectly good man” in The idiot. Myshkin is indeed “perfectly good,” but the question of whether or not he is truly a man is at the core of the book’s tragedy. Myshkin’s behavior and his attitudes are as close to being ideal as […]
Read more Character Analysis Prince Lyov MyshkinSummary and Analysis Part IV: Chapters 11-12
Summary In Petersburg, Myshkin goes to Rogozhin’s house but is not admitted. He is told that Rogozhin is not at home, and his questions are not answered. Concerning Nastasya Filippovna, he can learn nothing. Rogozhin’s windows are closed, yet Myshkin seems to catch a glimpse of a corner of a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapters 11-12Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapter 10
Summary General Ivolgin dies from a second stroke, and during his Orthodox service, Myshkin feels Rogozhin’s eyes upon him once more; he is sure that Rogozhin is preying on him. Lebedyev tries to discourage Myshkin from being married in Pavlovsk, but Myshkin is firm, even after he hears that the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapter 10Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapter 9
Summary The next incident, Dostoevsky tells us, was something so strange and so incredible that gossip spread like wildfire, even to the adjoining districts. He recounts for us several of the different versions of what happened. The truth, our author says, is very difficult to ascertain. He can say only […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapter 9Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapter 8
Summary The morning after his epileptic seizure, Myshkin wakes with a sense of foreboding; he is absolutely certain that something is going to happen to him today. He has little time to brood, however, for he is visited, first of all, by Vera Lebedyev, then by Lebedyev himself and by […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapter 8Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapter 7
Summary Myshkin’s long emotional monologue to the party-goers begins without design. He begins speaking, in fact, quite by chance. General Epanchin notices Myshkin’s silence and tries to bring him into the conversation. The result is disastrous. The general speaks of the prince’s being left a ward of Pavlishtchev, and one […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part IV: Chapter 7