Family Anxieties and Political Arguments — The Idiot

The Epanchins are not quite like other houses. Other people keep on the rails. They run off at the slightest obstacle. Mrs Epanchin blames her unfortunate character, the wart she imagines on her forehead. Her daughters are growing into Nihilists. Aglaya once took the scissors to her hair. Alexandra is a wet hen who dreamed of nine hens. Adelaida at least is settled. Then the prince showed his face again, and the house went as mad as March hares. An anonymous letter says Aglaya is in communication with Nastasia. It mentions the poor knight. She would die of shame if she showed it to the girl. She sits him down at the round table anyway. Aglaya was told to make fun of him. She stares and does not move.

Evgenie holds the verandah. A Russian liberal is not a Russian liberal. He hates and strikes his own mother. Literature is not national except Lomonosoff, Pushkin, and Gogol. Socialists are only old liberals from the landed houses. Prince S. takes it as a joke. Alexandra's cheeks go red. The prince's first words since he entered are that he is listening with extreme gratification. A cold sweat stands on his forehead. Evgenie is surprised into a graver face, then asks a last question out of pure curiosity. A lawyer told a court that a youth who murdered six people had thought of it naturally, given his poverty. Special case or general rule. The sisters laugh. The prince says it is not a special case. The distortion is far more the rule than the exception. He has visited a convict prison. The worst men still know they are criminals. The youths in Evgenie's story think they had a right, and even that they did a good deed. Evgenie looks at him without mockery. How did you see nothing distorted in the claim on your own fortune. Mrs Epanchin cuts in. That same claimant sent a letter today, renouncing the claim and asking pardon. They do not often get that sort of letter.

Colia says Hippolyte has come down to stay. The prince starts up. Mrs Epanchin boils over again. Did you go on your knees and beg the wretch to come. Colia saw the opposite. Hippolyte kissed the prince's hand twice. Evgenie remembers the blank wall and the funeral invitation. He will never support life here without it. He does so long to die eloquently. The prince does not take his eyes from the carpet. It is more a case of his forgiving you. He wished to bless you all before he died. Aglaya has left her corner. Prince S. says you will not easily find heaven on earth. Mrs Epanchin rises, angry. Let us go and hear the band.