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
Rogozhin walks Myshkin through the house to leave, and on the way stops in a room full of paintings. One of them is a copy of a painting by Hans Holbein. Rogozhin asks if Myshkin believes in God, and Myshkin comments that the Holbein painting could make a person lose his faith, and Rogozhin replies that this is exactly what has happened. Myshkin grows upset, and bids Rogozhin farewell. Before he goes, Myshkin replies to Rogozhin’s question about faith by telling four anecdotes about the power and contradictions of religious belief. One of the stories involves Myshkin buying a cross from a soldier, and Rogozhin asks if Myshkin will give him that cross, saying that Rogozhin will gives his in return.
It is curious that Myshkin seems more upset by his encounter with the Holbein painting than he was to hear about Rogozhin’s violent treatment of Nastasya. It’s possible that before hearing about Rogozhin’s atheism, he did not imagine he would actually be capable of killing Nastasya. Now that Rogozhin has admitted that he has lost his religious faith, Myshkin sees him in a different light.
Themes
Myshkin agrees to swap crosses, saying that this will make them “brothers.” Rogozhin then takes him inside to a room where his mother is sitting by a fire, dressed all in black. Rogozhin introduces Myshkin as his brother and asks his mother to bless him. Without saying anything, the old woman crosses Myshkin. They leave, and Rogozhin explains that because his mother no longer understands what people say, she must have wanted to bless Myshkin of her own accord. Myshkin then goes to leave and asks to embrace Rogozhin before he does. Rogozhin suddenly becomes angry and cries out: “She’s yours! I give her up to you!” He then disappears inside, slamming the door behind him.
Once again, Myshkin has provoked intensely contradictory and conflicted feelings in another character. One minute he is calling Myshkin his “brother” and introducing him to his mother, the next he has an almost violent outburst of jealousy over Nastasya. Perhaps Rogozhin’s inclination to “give” Nastasya to Myshkin comes from a genuine place of love, and the belief that Myshkin would be a far better husband for Nastasya than Rogozhin himself would.
Themes
