Summary of "The Idiot" by Dostoevsky
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| Nastasya Filippovna and Myshkin. Film "The Idiot", 2003. |
Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. This article presents a summary of the novel "The Idiot", a retelling of the plot, a summary of the main events of the novel.
Summary of "The Idiot" by Dostoevsky
Petersburg. 1860s November 27th. The protagonist of the novel, 26-year-old Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin, comes to Russia from Switzerland, where he has been treating a mental disorder for a long time. Due to a long illness, the prince looks more like a child: he is an innocent, trusting, kind, sincere person, at the same time smart and insightful.
Arriving in St. Petersburg, Myshkin comes to his distant relative, General Yepanchina, whom he has never seen. The prince meets the general's wife herself, as well as her husband, General Yepanchin, and their three daughters - Alexandra (25 years old), Adelaide (23 years old) and Aglaya (20 years old). Beauty Aglaya is very liked by Myshkin.
Here Myshkin meets Ganya Ivolgin (27 years old), assistant to General Yepanchin. On the same day, Myshkin settles in the apartment of the Ivolgin family, he rents a room from them.
On the same day, Nastasya Filippovna comes to the Ivolgins. Everyone knows that today is her 25th birthday. Nastasya is a girl with a difficult fate. She was left an orphan early, and at the age of 16 she was seduced by her trustee Totsky. At the same time, Totsky did not marry her, thereby destroying her reputation. Now in the eyes of society, she is a "fallen woman", as she had a relationship before marriage.
Totsky hopes to make Nastasya marry someone so that she will stop persecuting and taking revenge on him. To do this, he allocates to her a large sum of 75 thousand rubles as a dowry. Tired of poverty, Ganya Ivolgin hopes to marry Nastasya in order to get this money, although he hates her at the same time. In addition, the Gani family, that is, the Ivolgin family, hates this "fallen woman." Nastasya knows about it.
Myshkin draws attention to the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna, she seems to him a special girl. That same evening, he goes to her birthday party to dissuade her from marrying the vile Ganya.
In the evening, guests gather at Nastasya's. Today she has to announce whether she will marry Ganya or not. Myshkin directly advises her not to marry the cunning Ganya. Nastasya decides to listen to his opinion, because he is the first person she believed.
At this time, the rich merchant Rogozhin, madly in love with her, comes to Nastasya, who has been seeking her for a long time. He brings her 100 thousand rubles so that she does not marry Ganya, but chooses him. Immediately, Myshkin declares to Nastasya that he is ready to marry her, although she considers herself a fallen woman. In addition, it turns out that Myshkin can receive an inheritance of 1 million rubles. Nastasya declares that now she will be a rich princess, Myshkin's wife. But at the same time, she says that she does not want to "destroy the baby" (Myshkin) with her bad reputation.
As a result, that evening Nastasya leaves with Rogozhin and his friends. Then she and Rogozhin leave for Moscow and probably somewhere else. In Moscow, she is going to marry Rogozhin, but she leaves him and runs away to Myshkin, and then returns to Rogozhin. Soon the escape is repeated. All this torments Rogozhin. He is offended by the neglect of Nastasya, he is terribly jealous.
By the summer Nastasya once again runs away from Rogozhin to St. Petersburg, postponing the wedding.
Meanwhile, Myshkin also returns to St. Petersburg in search of Nastasya by the summer. He settles in a dacha in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg, with his friend, the drunkard and intriguer Lebedev. The Yepanchin family, the Ivolgin family, and Nastasya Filippovna also moved here to Pavlovsk for the summer.
Living in Pavlovsk, Myshkin spends a lot of time with the Yepanchins. He himself does not notice that he is in love with Aglaya Yepanchina. She is also in love with Myshkin, but hides her feelings under the guise of contempt and ridicule. In the end, the Yepanchins even recognize the "idiot" Myshkin as Aglaya's fiancé. At the same time, Aglaya continues to laugh at Myshkin, she is ashamed of his naivety and the fact that he is an "idiot".
Nastasya Filippovna knows that Myshkin loves Aglaya. Nastasya herself loves Myshkin, but considers herself unworthy of him. She is ready to marry Rogozhin, but first she vowed to marry Myshkin and Aglaya. Meanwhile, Rogozhin is terribly jealous of Nastasya, his pride is suffering. Nastasya suspects that one day he will kill her out of jealousy.
Nastasya decides to bring Aglaya and Myshkin together, although they do not need her help. She writes letters to Aglaya. These letters irritate Aglaya. Myshkin sees that Aglaya is jealous of Nastasya. He explains to Aglaya that she has nothing to worry about, since he does not love Nastasya, but only pities her, because she is deeply unhappy.
Tormented by jealousy, Aglaya asks Nastasya to meet in person. Aglaya also brings Myshkin to the meeting. She tells Nastasya that she loves Myshkin. At the same time, Aglaya attacks Nastasya, tells her cruel things and demands that she no longer write to her. These attacks upset Nastasya. She declares that Myshkin, on her orders, can immediately leave Aglaya. Seeing that Myshkin hesitates and feels too sorry for Nastasya, Aglaya runs away in despair. Nastasya faints, Myshkin stays with her, and does not run after his bride Aglaya.
All this hurts Aglaya, and she breaks off relations with the prince. They don't see each other anymore. After that, the Yepanchin family and other acquaintances turn away from Myshkin.
Meanwhile, Myshkin and Nastasya are preparing for the wedding. Nastasya, in spite of everyone, wants a magnificent wedding, although in her heart she does not believe that she has the right to happiness. She blames herself for ruining Myshkin's life. As a result, right before the wedding, she runs away with Rogozhin to St. Petersburg.
The next day, Myshkin arrives in St. Petersburg to see Rogozhin. Rogozhin behaves strangely. He leads Myshkin into a dark room and shows him the body of the murdered Nastasya. On the same day, Myshkin, apparently, goes crazy.
Rogozhin is sent to hard labor in Siberia for 15 years for the murder. Friends send Myshkin to Switzerland for treatment at his clinic. Aglaya marries some Polish count, who turns out to be a rogue. Because of him, Aglaya quarrels with the whole family.
End of the novel.
That was a summary of "The Idiot" by Dostoevsky.
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