LIST OF CHARACTERS

Major Characters

Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin

The twenty-six year old, fair, pale youth with medium height, is honest, kind and generous. After undergoing treatment for a mental illness, he returns to St. Petersburg to renew contact with his people. A simpleton, he seems to be a misfit in the hypocritical Russian society.

Parfyon Semyonovitch Rogozin

Almost the same age as Myshkin, he is just the opposite of the Prince in appearance, nature and behavior. He is rash and impulsive. He loves Nastasya passionately and buys her for 100,000 rubles. Once a friend of the Prince, he turns into his foe after he becomes aware of NastasyaÂ’s love for Myshkin.

Nastasya Filippovna Barashkov

An extremely beautiful woman, she is vain and arrogant. Totsky brings her up and has an affair with her but later rejects her. Nastasya falls in love with the Prince but runs away with Rogozin because she does not want to spoil the life of the Prince. A victim of circumstances, she has a pathetic life and death.

The youngest and prettiest daughter of General Yepanchin and Lizaveta Prokofyevna, she is intelligent but emotional. She is wooed by Ganya and Radomsky and admired by Myshkin. She loves Prince Myshkin but fails to express her love for him.

Lizaveta Prokofyevna

Wife of General Yepanchin and mother of Alexandra, Adelaida and Aglaya, she is kind and generous but highly excitable. She, like the Prince, belongs to the noble family of Myshkins. She takes a liking to the Prince and remains his friend till the end.

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