The Idiot

(NO_ITEM_DATA:Dostoyevsky1868)

Prince Myshkin returns to St. Petersburg after getting sent to
Switerzland to be treated for epilepsy and idiocy. Or something like
that. I'm trying to remember this, been a while since reading The
Idiot. Myshkin has been away from Russia for a long time and is
unfamilar with what going on with all the cool kids. He arrives on a
train wearing a coat that is too thin for the winter. The guy sharing
the cabin with him, Rogozhin, immediately pegs him as a foreigner.

Myshkin returns to St. Petersburg with no real plan. He knows he has
some distant relatives and wants to visit them on arrical to say
hi. Throughout the story, many of the other characters are shocked by
his naïveté. His distant family expects him to ask them for assistance
or money. But he genuienly wanted to just say hi. However, these
relatives take an interest in him and what they view as his pecurilar
nature. So they actually do offer some assistance.

Myshkin's distant cousin Lizavéta Prokófyevna and her husband, Geenral
Iván Fyódorovich Epanchín are trying to position themselves in
St. Petersburg high society. They are relavitively wealthy and have
some level of reputation. Their three daughters at the beginning of
the story are all still single and are hotly pursued.

I forget the different entanglements. One of the main conflicts
through the story is the attempt by the Epanchín's to marry off their
daughters. However, the daughters have an unspoken agreement to make
sure the Agláya, the youngest, is married before the other two will
allow themselves to be wed… I think, or was it the eldest
daughter…

Well whichever daughter is to be wed, there is a husband… no I think
the eldest daughter was to be married first. A friend of the father,
General Epanchín is a wealthy business associate and the choosen
suitor. There's a catch. He was formerly the mentor and
guardian… and overtime, the sexual abuser… of Natasya
Fillippovna. Natasya vows to torment… looking up his name… Afanásy
Ivánovich Tótsky- for what he did. This includes, but not limited to,
preventing and/or scandalizing his future marriage.

The Epanchíns attempt to mitigate this issue by arranging Natasya's
marriage. How this was supposed to prevent her from tormenting Tótsky
and his wife to be seemed a bit convoluted, but that was the plan.

Lots of shenanigins happen. Natasya is self-destructive and impulsive
at times. She readily puts her own reputation and social image at risk
with bizzare behavior. Or at least bizzare to the other
characters. She walks out on her arranged marriage and burns a pile of
money promised to her would-be husband. She promises to wed Rogózhin
who is passionate about her eccentricities. However, Rogózhin is not
truly in love with her, just her bizzre behavior. She knows this and
knows he will only encourage her to be more self-destructive and goes
with him anyways. Then calls off that wedding at the last second too.

Prince Myshkin however truly falls in love with her and is pained by
her self-destructive tendencies. He sees her as a tragic character who
has suffered greatly. She is only acting the way she does to smite
everyone else and the world that not only allowed her abuse, but still
upholds and respects her abuser. She looks down on Rogózhin because he
doesn't fully understand this. I think he may have had some idea, but
he seemed to mostly be in love with the lulz. To be fair, there were
much lulz.

Myshkin was advised by many to stay away from Nastasya because of her
eccentricities and standing in society. But Myshkin did not
care. Besides Nastasya, Myshkin is probably the only character in the
book that has no interest in his societal standing. He is the only one
without an alterior motive, to some degree. Maybe Kólya too but Kólya
is young and doesn't participate in a lot of that stuff yet. Kólya
also looks up to Myshkin so maybe he wouldn't after being influenced
by Myshkin.

But Nastasya is different than Myshkin. She rejects society for its
corruption because of first hand experience of its cruelty at a young
age. By virtue of his isolation in Switerzland, his mental
condition (which may or not be more than just epilepsy), and desire to
just be genuinely good, Myshkin is simply outside of society. Because
of how society treated Nastasya, she rejects society. Because of who he
is, society rejects Myshkin.

Myshkin is often called an idiot throughout the story. Even by
characters that ostensibly like and care for him. This epithet is
often used when people are frustrated with his lack of social graces
or apparent inability to tell when other's are taking advantage of
him. Myshkin is often viewed as being a literal idiot with no capacity
to understand. There are a few times when other characters realize
that Myshkin does see and understand more than anyone gives him credit
for.

And he does see people's alterior motives and attempts to get ahead in
society. He only appears to be unaware due to his lack of desire to
protect himself at the expense of others. He at times allows himself
to be taken advantage of knowingly because he wants to help people,
even those who try to defame him. And of course, if defending himself
requires him to be as Machiavellian as everyone else, he chooses to do
nothing.

Nastasya sees this in Myshkin and loves him for it. But in her
self-hatred, does not want to subject him to the likes of her. Though
she was wronged by the world and despises them for how they treat her,
she also to some degree believes she deserves it. Or at least believes
that she has been corrupted and is irredeemable. The one person who
truly cares for her, she pushes away because she believes he's too
good for the likes of her. The first time she runs off with Rogózhin,
after Myshkin proposes to her, she says she can't marry him because
she would be his ruin.

more to write… would like to read again… but so many other
books…

want to put together thoughts about parallels to other
characters. Dmitri in Brothers Karamazov to Rogózhin. Gánya to Ivan
(Brothers Karamazov) to Raskoinikov (Crime and Punishment). The
Lizavetas… although this comparison is probably more of a
stretch (especially Lizaveta in Crime and Punishment) need think about
more. Myshkin to Alyosha (Brothers Karamazov) to Sonya (Crime and
Punishment). Sonya is also a good contrast to Nastasya.