The Final Confrontation — The Idiot

An hour after the wedding collapse Myshkin reaches Petersburg and rings Rogojin's door; servants lie that Parfen is out while the porter contradicts them. He searches Nastasia's old lodgings, meets curious pity from landladies who know yesterday was his wedding day, and chases dead ends while imagining Rogojin's face behind a lifted blind. At last Rogojin touches his shoulder on the street and leads him home by a parallel route, admitting Nastasia is there behind a curtain. In the dark alcove Myshkin finds her motionless under a sheet, wedding silk and diamonds scattered; Rogojin confesses he stabbed her hours ago with the same knife he once raised in Moscow. They sit through the night beside the body, whispering about footsteps, locking doors, and playing cards she once used with Rogojin; the prince strokes Rogojin's hair as madness and grief merge. Dawn brings police and fever: Rogojin unconscious, Myshkin unresponsive to questions, and Schneider's old verdict returning as idiot. The chapter delivers the novel's mortal consequence for obsessive possession and shows compassion surviving even beside murder, without being able to prevent it.