Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Idiot, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Innocence v. Foolishness
Money, Greed, and Corruption
Social Hierarchy, Authority, and Rebellion
Absurdity and Nihilism
Passion, Violence, and Christianity
Summary
Analysis
A week after Myshkin and Nastasya’s meeting in the park, Varya returns home from a visit with friends, feeling thoughtful and troubled. The narrator then embarks on a long reflection on the “ordinary” people who constitute most of the human population, yet who are underrepresented in works of literature. The narrator asks how ordinary people should be depicted in literature, and suggests that it is the task of the novelist to find and represent the quirks that exist even in the most normal individuals. The characters in The Idiot who are ordinary include Varya, Ptitsyn, and Ganya.
This strange, metaliterary reflection on ordinary people betrays Dostoevsky’s preoccupation with representing the truth of human nature. The Idiot is not just meant to be an entertaining story, but a reflection on the actual qualities of humankind. Yet, as the narrator points out here, accurately reflecting normal people can be difficult for novelists, and is a rare feat.
Themes
The narrator goes on to argue that some people deludedly believe they are special, whereas others are “much cleverer.” The less intelligent people are naïve, but happier than the latter category. One of the best representations of this kind of person is Lieutenant Pirogov, a character in Nikolai Gogol’s story “Nevsky Prospekt.” Ganya is in the “much cleverer” category, but desperately wants to be special. Sometimes, people who know they aren’t special but want to be end up doing extreme things in order to be more original. Ganya has got close to doing such a thing many times, but in each case he has backed down at the last minute. He is horrified by his family’s fallen fortunes. Sometimes he resolves to be cruel, but it never lasts.
The peculiar tragedy of Ganya lies in the fact that he seems to know what it would take to be the kind of man he wants to be, but can’t bring himself to do it. Put simply, he is a coward: each time he resolves to do something bold, he stops himself. In a sense, the narrator implies that knowing you are ordinary but wanting to be special is the worst possible position to be in, because it affords neither the bliss of ignorance nor the satisfaction of embracing an unexceptional life.
Themes
Ganya is financially supported by Ptitsyn and lives in his house. Ganya despises Ptitsyn and this arrangement. He resentfully calls Ptitsyn a Jew because of his success in finance. Varya, meanwhile, is a sensible, ordinary person, and doesn’t mind not being special. Her decision to marry Ptitsyn was pragmatic and wise. Sometimes Ptitsyn gently suggests to Ganya that he should get a job, while Varya ingratiates herself to the Epanchins in order to help her brother.
Here the narrator indicates that accepting one’s status as ordinary makes for an easier life, however they don’t indicate that there is anything particularly noble about it. Indeed, Varya’s life is defined neither by the absolute selflessness of Myshkin nor absolute selfishness of Rogozhin or Ippolit, but instead by pragmatic decisions and small sacrifices.
Themes
That morning in Pavlovsk, Varya comes home from the visit with her friends and hears Ganya shouting inside their house. Coming in, she asks him if he’s angry for the same reason as usual. Ganya curses their parents and promises that he will throw “him” (Ippolit) out of the house. When he begins to calm down, Varya tells him that it’s official: Myshkin and Aglaya are engaged, and Adelaida’s wedding has once again been pushed back, so that the two weddings can happen together. That night, the Epanchins will host “old Belokonsky” and publicly announce the engagement. Ganya asks if General and Mrs. Epanchin are happy; Varya says that the general is, but Mrs. Epanchin is worried.
Aglaya and Myshkin’s engagement both is and isn’t an unexpected plot twist. It is obvious that the two had feelings for each other and had developed a special relationship, not to mention the close connection Myshkin has to Aglaya’s family. At the same time, though, the possibility of Myshkin successfully marrying someone still seems slim. Although he is extremely loving, he is an unusually non-romantic person, and it is difficult to imagine him placing Aglaya above all others as marriage demands.
Themes
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Varya says that Aglaya laughs at Myshkin all day in order to conceal her true feelings. She then lets slip that the day before, General Ivolgin drunkenly went to the Epanchins’ dacha and, when he learned General Epanchin wasn’t there, spoke to Mrs. Epanchin. He asked her for a job and complained about Varya, Ganya, and Ptitsyn. Varya is not sure if the Epanchin daughters know about this incident. She suggests that if Ganya had been able to endure his misfortunes with a bit more courage, he may have been able to win Aglaya’s heart after all. She then says that she’s worried about the impact of General Ivolgin’s actions yesterday on their mother, and goes to see her.
All of Varya’s work trying to get the Epanchins to like her in order to reopen the possibility of Ganya marrying Aglaya has instantly been undone by Ivolgin’s behavior. In this sense, this passage highlights the impossibly difficult nature of being an “ordinary” person trying to keep everything together in a world overrun by scandal and bad behavior.
Themes
Before Varya leaves the room, Ganya suggests it was Ippolit who told Nina about General Ivolgin’s visit to the Epanchins’. Ganya believes Ippolit considers him his “personal enemy.” He goes on to suggest that Ippolit may in fact be conducting a whole scheme to bring down their family while living in their house. He again declares that he is going to throw Ippolit out, though Varya tells him not to. At that moment, General Ivolgin enters, looking “purple” and “shaken” with anger, alongside Nina, Kolya, and Ippolit.
Perhaps Ippolit is indeed choosing to bring down the Ivolgins as the final sinful act he mentioned during his “Necessary Explanation.” On the other hand, Ganya may be inflating the extent to which Ippolit hates him and consider him his “personal enemy.” Ippolit seems to hate everyone, and it is arguably Ganya’s self-centeredness that makes him believe he is singled out.
Themes
