Prince Myshkin

Significance of the character to the novel

As a polyphonic novel each character in The Idiot has a unique voice and perspective in relation to the action and the other actors. As such every scene is a dramatic convergence of multiple independent voices and perspectives rather than simply being a monological recounting of the event by a narrator. Dostoevsky makes Prince Myshkin a character whose voice is capable of "actively and confidently interfering in the interior dialogue of the other person." He is thus significant not merely to the plot, but to the very consciousness of the individual characters. His insight, compassion, sincerity, candour, disinclination to judge and lack of normal social egoism awaken a responsive consciousness in most of the people with whom he engages, and serve to disrupt the habitual flow of their self-centred thoughts and actions.

Nastasya Filippovna

It is in the character of Nastasya Filippovna that the capacity of the Prince to affect an other's interior dialogue is most marked. Viewed by both society and her self as a 'fallen woman' because of years of sexual exploitation by Totsky, Nastasya Filippovna often embraces the sharp-tongued, destructive persona of a cynical courtesan. Myshkin understands that this persona grows out of an internalisation of the abuse she suffered and the unjust moral condemnation consequent upon it, and from their first meeting lets her know that it is not who she really is, and that she is guilty of nothing. In the scene at the Ivolgins' apartment, Nastasya Filippovna mocks Ganya's family (who she knows disapprove of her) and intentionally provokes a scandalous scene, but "Myshkin's voice, intersecting with her internal dialogue in another direction, forces her to abruptly change that tone". She kisses the hand of Ganya's mother and acknowledges the truth of Myshkin's reproach. In the subsequent scandal scene at Nastasya Filippovna's apartment, Myshkin again directly addresses her true, innocent self, prompting her once more to abandon the self-destructive course of the 'fallen woman'. Although it is only temporary, and Nastasya Filippovna persistently reasserts the negative voice of her guilt in her words and actions, Myshkin remains in her consciousness as the voice of her innocence. Near the end of the novel, when Aglaya Ivanovna (with whom the Prince is in love) has become Nastasya Filippovna's accuser, Myshkin again defends her, telling Aglaya that the accusations are unjust. According to the narrator, Nastasya Filippovna "—though she sometimes behaved with such cynicism and impudence—was really far more modest, soft, and trustful than might have been believed... Myshkin understood this."

Rogozhin

After meeting Myshkin on the train to Petersburg in the opening scene of the book, Rogozhin labels him a yurodivy (holy fool). In the Eastern Orthodox tradition the yurodivy was usually a greatly respected figure. According to Frank, "though the gentlemanly and educated Prince bears no external resemblance to these eccentric figures, he does possess their traditional gift of spiritual insight." Rogozhin, sensing the Prince's unique qualities, immediately makes him his confidant and tells him the story of his obsession with Nastasya Filippovna. Later in the novel when, out of jealousy, Rogozhin has developed a hatred for him, Myshkin continues to treat Rogozhin as his friend and brother and, as with Nastasya Filippovna, is able to temporarily draw him out of his darkness and into a space of light and hope. But like Nastasya Filippovna, the negative voice of his obsession always reasserts itself in Myshkin's absence, and provokes him to violence.

Aglaya Ivanovna

Aglaya Ivanovna's noble and passionate nature leads her to idealise the Prince, turning him into a Don Quixote-like figure, particularly in relation to his attempts to 'save' Nastasya Filippovna. Although the Prince is fascinated by Aglaya and falls in love with her, at no time is he influenced by this idealisation or by any of her other misguided opinions. Aglaya's illusions and the Prince's real motivations are juxtaposed in a number of scenes or consecutive scenes. For example, in a scene from Part II Aglaya reads aloud Pushkin's poem "The Poor Knight", unambiguously indicating to the assembled company that she is identifying the Prince with the poem's subject, a noble Knight who goes off to fight heroically in the Crusades. When this scene is interrupted by the arrival of the group of Nihilists who are seeking to slander the Prince and exploit his wealth, Aglaya is ecstatic that he will have the opportunity to "defend himself triumphantly". Instead the Prince humbly tries to make peace with the young men and calmly absorbs their insults and provocations, even sympathising with them and offering assistance. In the dinner party scene at the Epanchins' house in Part IV of the novel, Myshkin delivers a passionate denunciation of Catholicism, describing it as an unchristian religion because it has been dominated by the desire for political supremacy. He is thus denouncing "the very confusion of the temporal and the spiritual that, on the personal level, Aglaya wishes him to incarnate."

As with the other characters, Myshkin's persistently gentle and insightful voice is able at various times to affect Aglaya's interior dialogue in a way that enables her to find her true voice, but she too is unable to sustain the change it produces.