Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin
The
hero, protagonist, and title character of The Idiot, Myshkin is a descendant of
an old noble line and a distant relative of Madame Yepanchin. He is a
fair-haired, blue-eyed epileptic in his late twenties who comes to Russia after four
years in a sanitarium in Switzerland. From the onset, Myshkin appears to be an
outsider in Russian society: he dresses like a foreigner and acts as if unaware
of the societal norms of the Russian aristocracy. Indeed, he is different from
the other Russian aristocrats in several regards.
First,
Myshkin does not follow societal conventions and is not afraid of its
sanctions, which mainly come in the form of ridicule. In Part I, he goes to
Nastassya Filippovna’s even though he has not been invited. He thinks to
himself that the worst that could happen would be that the guests would laugh
at him and then escort him out. For some of the other characters in the novel, such
as Ganya, such shame would be absolutely terrible; for Myshkin, however, it is no
big deal. He is not afraid of being laughed at; in fact, when others laugh at
him, he joins in with them. When Myshkin first visits the Yepanchins, the girls
indirectly call him an ass and then laugh, but he laughs with them.
Furthermore,
Myshkin is very open and frank. He tells new acquaintances his personal history—including
the bit about living in a sanitarium for several years-right away. He does not
believe in societal small talk, instead preferring to immediately jump into a
discussion of the issues that are his prime concern. For instance, when Myshkin
visits the Yepanchins for the first time, he immediately talks of public
executions and the story of Marie. At the "engagement" dinner party
at the Yepanchins, he fervently discusses grand subjects such as religion and
the future of aristocracy. However, Myshkin is highly naïve, and he is
therefore fooled by members of the high society. He takes their affected
friendship for genuine and sincere feelings. Perhaps his innocence is the reason
for his special affinity for children. The adult world, however, is too
superficial and conventional for him.
Myshkin
does not take offense at anyone, no matter how horrific the character's actions
toward him are. After Ganya's slap, Myshkin does not hit back or challenge Ganya to
a duel—a common recourse for action at the time. Instead, Myshkin tells Ganya
that he should be ashamed of himself and leaves the room. In response to
Burdovsky's lie that he is Pavlishchev's son, not only is Myshkin not angry,
but he is also still willing to help Burdovsky financially. Even after Keller
writes a slanderous and insulting article about Myshkin, the prince still makes
Keller the best man at his wedding. Lebedev constantly lies to Myshkin and even
tries to commit him to an insane asylum; when Lebedev admits this, Myshkin
merely laughs in response. Aglaya constantly mocks and insults the prince, but
this only saddens him. When Aglaya expresses any wish for reconciliation,
Myshkin is ecstatic with joy. In short, Prince Myshkin does not bear grudges
against anyone, even Rogozhin, who almost kills him. In light of Myshkin's seemingly
impossible naïveté, virtually all the characters in the novel call him an
"idiot."
Prince
Myshkin is perhaps the ultimate Christian ideal of humble selflessness and
giving. He attempts to help everyone he meets and always holds the needs of
others above his own. In the end, he is ready to marry Nastassya Filippovna
because he feels it is necessary to save her, even though he is in love with
Aglaya instead. Myshkin's compassion toward others knows no boundaries. He is
too good for a world corrupted by money, lust, and individual vanity. As a
result, he unwittingly adds to the destruction and is destroyed himself.
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