Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
The Idiot - Online Term Paper

The Idiot


Of the many characters we see in Dostoyevsky's novels, few of the principal characters are female. However, in one of his more famous novels, , we find perhaps one of the strongest female characters of most nineteenth-century literature, if not of Europe, then at least of Russia. Nastasya Filippovna, a proud, yet exploited woman, is by far one of Dostoyevsky's most intriguing characters. She has an instantaneous and dramatic affect on the characters surrounding her. Nastasya Filippovna has been systematically destroyed by her surroundings. She finds she is unable to survive in the society of her time. Valued by men only for her beauty or her possessions, feared by jealous women, ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

of Nastasya Filippovna is her beauty. Her great beauty overwhelms even the Prince, who at first we may believe is not inclined to notice sensuality of women. Looking at her picture he calls her "astonishingly pretty"; he notes her "exquisite simplicity," her "dark, deep eyes" (31). Even from her youth Nastasya Filippovna's beauty has caused her to become the object of men's sexual desires. There are three men who are particularly dominant in Nastasya Filippovna's life prior to the arrival of the Prince: Afansy Ivanovich Totsky, Gavrila Ardalionovich (Ganya), and Parfion Semyyonovich Rogozhin.
Totsky is the first of the three men to become enchanted with Nastasya Filippovna. Living on Totsky's land with a German family, the orphaned Nastasya Filippovna developed into a "delightful little girl of about twelve, a clever little thing, winsome and spirited"(42). Apparently she was also already showing "promise of extraordinary beauty; in this regard Afansy Ivanovich was an ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login

to speak to Nastasya Filippovna in her own terms, this change would indeed be sudden. His condescension and objectification of Nastasya Filippovna is apparent in his treatment and his expectations of her emotional, intellectual, and mental capacities. He found in front of his a "new" woman. A woman who:
… knew and comprehended a great deal, so much in fact, that it was a
matter of profound astonishment whence such knowledge could
have proceeded and how could she have worked out such precise
formulations for herself (44).

It is his "new" and resentful woman with whom Totsky must deal now. Totsky finds himself face to face with a young woman who he thought he had ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.


CITE THIS PAGE:

The Idiot. (2007, June 21). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Idiot/66795
"The Idiot." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 21 Jun. 2007. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Idiot/66795>
"The Idiot." Essayworld.com. June 21, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Idiot/66795.
"The Idiot." Essayworld.com. June 21, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Idiot/66795.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 6/21/2007 09:47:38 AM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 3214
Pages: 12

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» The Work Of Poet And Philosoher...
» The Work Of Poet And Philosoher...
» Wherefore The Maintenance Of L
» The Quest Of A Hemingway Hero
» The Rainman
» Christopher Columbus - American...
» Four Contrasting Viewpoints In ...
» The Infinity Mirror
» The Infinity Mirror
» Some People Are Really Stupid!
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved