The Idiot [Tantor] characters

Also known as Prince Myshkin

Appears from the start

An impoverished young prince returning to Russia after years of treatment for epilepsy in Switzerland. Open, compassionate, and almost incapable of social calculation, he is often taken for a fool because he speaks without the defensive pride expected in Petersburg society. He hopes to reconnect with a distant relation in the Yepanchin family.

Also known as Rogozhin

Appears from the start

A passionate young merchant's son whom Myshkin meets on the train to Petersburg. Newly enriched by his father's death, he is returning after an absence and speaks with consuming intensity about Nastasya Filippovna, for whom he is ready to spend a fortune. He responds to Myshkin's frankness with an immediate, unstable warmth.

Appears from the start

A talkative civil servant encountered on the train by Myshkin and Rogozhin. He has a talent for collecting family histories, scandals, and financial details, and attaches himself readily to people who may become useful. His comic intrusiveness coexists with sharp observation and a precarious domestic life.

First appears in chapter 2

A prosperous general and businessman married to Myshkin's distant relative Lizaveta Prokofyevna. He receives the poorly dressed prince cautiously but recognizes both his intelligence and possible family claim. His household and business dealings connect Myshkin to Ganya and Nastasya Filippovna.

Also known as Ganya

First appears in chapter 2

General Yepanchin's ambitious young secretary, from a respectable but financially strained family. He is considering marriage to Nastasya Filippovna in exchange for a large settlement, although desire, shame, and fear of public humiliation make him deeply divided about the arrangement.

Also known as Nastasya Filippovna

First appears in chapter 3

A striking young woman raised and educated under the control of the wealthy Totsky after being orphaned on one of his estates. Petersburg society treats her as both scandalous and marriageable. Conscious of the exploitation behind her position, she alternates between proud defiance and a damaging belief that she deserves contempt.

First appears in chapter 5

General Yepanchin's outspoken wife and a distant member of the same princely family as Myshkin. Impulsive, suspicious of social maneuvering, and devoted to her three daughters, she is intrigued by the prince's simplicity and repeatedly draws him into the family's intimate affairs.

Also known as Aglaya

First appears in chapter 5

The youngest Yepanchin daughter, beautiful, intelligent, and restless beneath the expectations attached to an eligible society marriage. Her family regards her as the most striking and strong-willed of the three sisters.

First appears in chapter 7

Ganya's younger sister, practical and direct in a household strained by debt and her father's unreliability. She opposes a marriage that would bring money at the cost of family humiliation and is prepared to challenge her brother when ambition overrides affection.

Also known as General Ivolgin

First appears in chapter 7

Ganya's father, a retired general whose family lives with the consequences of his drinking and grandiose inventions. He tells elaborate stories of distinguished connections and past heroism, making it difficult to separate his genuine memories and need for respect from habitual falsehood.

Also known as Kolya

First appears in chapter 7

Ganya's adolescent brother, lively, independent-minded, and less burdened by social ambition than the adults around him. He quickly befriends Myshkin and moves easily between households, often carrying news or providing companionship when older characters withdraw into pride.

First appears in chapter 20

A consumptive young man connected to Kolya and to the circle around Lebedev. Intellectually combative and painfully aware that he is dying, he resents pity and wants his final months to demonstrate complete independence. His arguments with Myshkin turn mortality into a public and personal challenge.

Also known as Yevgeny Pavlovich

First appears in chapter 28

A polished young man from the Yepanchins' social circle, wealthy, well connected, and regarded as a suitable possible husband for Aglaya. His ease and conventional social competence contrast with Myshkin's anxious sincerity.