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
At Myshkin’s request, Ganya takes over the negotiations. He begins by pointing out that Burdovsky has lied about his own date of birth in Keller’s article. He then gives additional evidence that irrefutably disproves Burdovsky’s claim to be Pavlishchev’s son. Burdovsky immediately claims he was “deceived” long before he event met Chebarov, and immediately says he no longer wants any money from Myshkin. He tries to leave, but Ganya insists he stay to hear about a few more important matters. He notes that Burdovsky’s mother never had a sexual relationship with Pavlishchev. Rather, Pavlishchev knew her as a child and helped support her financially, because she was the younger sister of a woman Pavlishchev loved and hoped to marry, but who died unexpectedly.
Unlike Myshkin, Ganya is not afraid to expose the young nihilists as vindictive frauds. It turns out that Ganya already has all the information about how the nihilists falsified their claims, and that Myshkin thus likely knew all along, too. Any other person in Myshkin’s position would undoubtedly have wanted to publicly humiliate the people who he knew had constructed an elaborate scheme to slander and rob him. However, because Myshkin is so good, he had no such desire.
Themes
Ganya also found that Burdovsky’s father (who he claimed was his stepfather) drank away the money he gained from Burdovsky’s mother’s dowry, leaving the family “destitute.” As Ganya speaks, Doktorenko and Ippolit grow still more furious, demanding that he stop reciting this “novel.” Yet Ganya continues, concluding with the information that while Chebarov did hope to make money out of this situation, he is not a thief or a crook. Meanwhile, Burdovsky is a “pure man” who will perhaps help Myshkin in setting up the school. Burdovsky yells that he doesn’t want the money and throws back the 250 roubles Myshkin initially gave him (which was listed incorrectly in the article as 50).
It is quite obvious from what Ganya has said that Burdovsky is decidedly not a “pure man” whose involvement in the whole affair was some kind of accident. However, as we saw earlier, it is more effective to pursue this line of argument than to portray Burdovsky as a perpetrator who knew what he was doing all along. By refusing to take an aggressive line of argument, Myshkin and Ganya make themselves irreproachable.
Themes
Myshkin, now quite distraught, says he is to blame for everything. At this point the Epanchin women speak up, claiming the dacha has come to resemble a “madhouse.” Ganya points out that there are only 100 roubles in the packet Burdovsky gave back. Doktorenko at first insists that it’s “all the same,” but after Ganya disagrees, he says that the other 150 were used to pay Chebarov’s travel expenses. Mrs. Epanchin interrupts and begins shouting at everyone. Several people try to calm her, and Prince Shch. kindly suggests they go home, but she continues to yell, accusing everyone of various misdeeds. She accuses the young men of being atheists who have been “eaten up by vanity and pride.” She then points to Ippolit and accuses him of corrupting Kolya.
Mrs. Epanchin’s outburst is typical of her melodramatic nature and tendency to exaggerate her problems, particularly when they involve any kind of public scandal. However, Myshkin is overreacting, too, albeit for different reasons. While the whole affair has actually been resolved with minimal issues—most importantly, Myshkin has cleared his name—he still panics over the fact that he has caused embarrassment, even though clearly he is not actually the one at fault.
Themes
On seeing that Ippolit is grinning at her, Mrs. Epanchin runs up to him and grabs him by the arm, at which point he is overcome by a coughing fit. He tells her that he’ll be dead within two weeks. Mrs. Epanchin tells him to lie down, but he says as soon as he does that he will be dead. She then gets him a chair. Ippolit tells Mrs. Epanchin that he’d heard from Kolya that she was an “eccentric woman,” and had thus hoped to meet her. Prompted by Ippolit, Myshkin invites everyone to stay for tea, and the scene unexpectedly becomes quite friendly and pleasant.
There is an interesting connection between the way in which both Myshkin and Ippolit’s illnesses have the effect of disarming someone being aggressive to them, hearkening back to Myshkin’s epileptic seizure in Part 2, Chapter 5. While Mrs. Epanchin’s grabbing of Ippolit’s arm is of course an extremely mild act compared to Rogozhin’s attempt to stab Myshkin, both scenes are connected through their presentation of illness as an unlikely form of self-defense.
Themes
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