Who She Is
Aglaya Ivanovna Epanchina is the youngest daughter of General Ivan Fyodorovich Epanchin and of Yelizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchina, twenty years old at the start of the book, the beauty of the house, for whom her sisters, it is said, would make sacrifices (ch. II of Part One); for her mother she is at once torment and idol (ch. I of Part Three). She is the woman whom Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin cannot judge by her face on the first day, and the only one who argues with him as with a worthy adversary. The novel has her go through every way of treating him: mockery, public defense, refusal before the proposal, the proposal made by herself, and flight; and in the last chapter she marries a false Polish count who takes her away from the family (ch. XII of Part Four). What she wants, she says on the green bench, is not to be treated as a silly girl or married off at every turn, and to be good for something (ch. VIII of Part Three).
Trajectory
In ch. V of Part One, in the general's wife's little parlor, she is the only one who attacks the prince and, in doing so, the only one who takes him seriously:
Коли говорите, что были счастливы, стало быть, жили не меньше, а больше; зачем же вы кривите и извиняетесь?, If you say that you were happy, then you lived not less but more; why, then, do you hedge and apologize?
Then she accuses him of quietism, of drawing the same lesson from an execution and from a little finger. In ch. VII of Part One, when it comes to her face, the prince postpones his judgment:
вы чрезвычайная красавица, Аглая Ивановна. Вы так хороши, что на вас боишься смотреть. [...] Красоту трудно судить; я еще не приготовился. Красота — загадка., you are an extraordinary beauty, Aglaya Ivanovna. You are so lovely that one is afraid to look at you. [...] Beauty is hard to judge; I am not yet prepared. Beauty is an enigma.
In the same chapter she receives through the prince the note in which Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin asks for a word from her so that he can break with Nastasya Filippovna without losing the dowry if the word does not come, and she answers in the album, dictating to the prince with Ganya at his side:
Я в торги не вступаю, I do not engage in haggling.
She returns the note through the prince, after making him read it. In ch. I of Part Two, at Easter, Kolya hands her the note from Moscow in which the prince asks only whether she is happy; she blushes, throws it in a drawer, and the next day keeps it inside a thick book:
Это был «Дон-Кихот Ламанчский». Аглая ужасно расхохоталась — неизвестно чему, It was Don Quixote of La Mancha. Aglaya burst into a terrible fit of laughter, no one knows at what.
этому «бедному рыцарю» уже всё равно стало: кто бы ни была и что бы ни сделала его дама. Довольно того, что он ее выбрал и поверил ее «чистой красоте», а затем уже преклонился пред нею навеки; в том-то и заслуга, что если б она потом хоть воровкой была, то он все-таки должен был ей верить, For this "poor knight" it no longer mattered who his lady was or what she had done. It was enough that he had chosen her and believed in her "pure beauty," and then bowed down before her forever; the merit lies precisely in this: that even if she later turned out to be a thief, he still had to believe in her.
«Рыцарь бедный» — тот же Дон-Кихот, но только серьезный, а не комический, The poor knight is the same Don Quixote, only serious, and not comic.
In ch. VII of Part Two she recites Pushkin's ballad, looking only at the prince, with a seriousness that holds everyone, and makes a swap:
во время чтения Аглая позволила себе переменить буквы A. M. D. в буквы Н. Ф. Б., during the reading, Aglaya allowed herself to change the letters A. M. D. into the letters N. F. B.
In the same scene, when Burdovsky's group arrives, it is she who says they want to drag him through the mud, and she demands that he justify himself before everyone. In ch. X of Part Two, after Hippolyte insults him, she whispers in the prince's ear:
Если вы не бросите сейчас же этих мерзких людей, то я всю жизнь, всю жизнь буду вас одного ненавидеть!, If you do not drop these vile people right now, I will hate you, only you, my whole life, my whole life!
In ch. XI of Part Two she quarrels with the whole family, and Kolya says the quarrel is over Ganya; in ch. XII of Part Two the prince shows the mother the note she sent him that morning:
Князь Лев Николаевич! Если, после всего, что было, вы намерены удивить меня посещением нашей дачи, то меня, будьте уверены, не найдете в числе обрадованных, Prince Lev Nikolayevich! If, after everything that has happened, you intend to surprise me with a visit to our dacha, be assured that you will not find me among those who are glad.
In ch. II of Part Three, when the prince apologizes to the family for his own lack of measure, she explodes in his defense:
Здесь ни одного нет, который бы стоил таких слов! [...] Вы честнее всех, благороднее всех, лучше всех, добрее всех, умнее всех! [...] Для чего же вы себя унижаете и ставите ниже всех? Зачем вы всё в себе исковеркали, зачем в вас гордости нет?, Here there is not one who deserves such words! [...] You are the most honest of all, the most noble of all, the best of all, the kindest of all, the most intelligent of all! [...] Why do you humble yourself and put yourself below everyone? Why have you distorted everything in yourself, why do you have no pride?
In the same scene, turning against everyone who has been provoking her for three days, she refuses a marriage that no one had asked for:
Я ни за что за вас не выйду замуж! Знайте, что ни за что и никогда!, I will not marry you for anything! Know this: for nothing, and never!
She takes his arm all the way to the Vauxhall, shows him the green bench where she sits alone at seven in the morning, calls him an idiot under her breath and, after Nastasya Filippovna's scandal with the cane, covers over what she has seen:
Мне хотелось посмотреть, чем кончится комедия, I wanted to see how the comedy would end.
In ch. III of Part Three, on the terrace, she teaches the prince how to load a pistol, afraid that the officer from the Vauxhall will challenge him:
вложите пулю, — слышите же, пулю потом, а порох прежде, а то не выстрелит, put in the ball; do you hear me? The ball afterwards, the powder first, or it won't fire.
And she presses into his hand the note setting the meeting on the green bench. In ch. VIII of Part Three she finds him asleep on the bench, hears the story of Hippolyte's shot, confesses that at thirteen she wanted to poison herself some thirty times, imagining the family weeping beside the coffin, and accuses him:
У вас нежности нет: одна правда, стало быть, — несправедливо, There is no tenderness in you: only truth, and so it is unjust.
She proposes that he be her friend and accomplice in an escape, to study in Paris and devote himself to education, and says why she chose him:
я вас считаю за самого честного и за самого правдивого человека, всех честнее и правдивее [...] то зато главный ум у вас лучше, чем у них у всех, такой даже, какой им и не снился, потому что есть два ума: главный и неглавный, I consider you the most honest and most truthful man, more honest and truthful than all of them [...] but on the other hand your principal intelligence is better than that of all of them, such as they never dreamed of, because there are two intelligences: the principal and the non-principal.
She says she does not love him and that she loves Ganya, who would have held his finger over a candle for her, and confesses the lie as soon as he doubts it. She takes out of her pocket Nastasya Filippovna's letters and reads in them what the prince does not want to see:
Неужели вы не видите, что не в меня она влюблена, а вас, вас одного она любит! [...] Она убьет себя на другой день, только что мы обвенчаемся!, Is it possible that you do not see that it is not me she is in love with, but you, that it is only you she loves! [...] She will kill herself the day after, as soon as we marry!
When her mother arrives, she flings at her that she will marry Ganya and run away with him the next day, and runs home. In ch. IX of Part Three she thanks the prince for not having judged her capable of lying in front of her mother. In ch. II of Part Four she sends Ganya a note setting a meeting on the same green bench, to ask him for advice. In ch. V of Part Four, after humiliating the prince at chess and dismissing him, she sends him a hedgehog in a basket as a sign of respect, and that evening asks the question in front of everyone:
Позвольте, наконец, узнать от вас самого и лично: сватаетесь вы за меня или нет?, Allow me, at last, to learn from you yourself, in person: are you proposing marriage to me or not?
She hears the yes, examines him as in a negotiation (how much he has, whether he intends to serve), falls into an almost hysterical laugh, runs out and comes back alone to apologize for the absurdity, which has no consequence. In ch. VI of Part Four, on the eve of the gathering at which old Belokonskaya is to meet him, she asks him to break her mother's Chinese vase and warns him:
если вы заговорите о чем-нибудь в роде смертной казни, или об экономическом состоянии России, или о том, что «мир спасет красота», то… я, конечно, порадуюсь и посмеюсь очень, но… предупреждаю вас заранее: не кажитесь мне потом на глаза!, if you start talking about something like the death penalty, or the economic situation of Russia, or that "Beauty will save the world," then... I, of course, shall be delighted and laugh a great deal, but... I warn you in advance: afterwards, do not show yourself before my eyes again!
In ch. VII of Part Four she runs and catches him in her arms when the fit knocks him down, and the next day says coldly that she never considered him a fiancé. In ch. VIII of Part Four she goes with him to Darya Alexeyevna's house to face Nastasya Filippovna, and says the words prepared long ago:
Вы его, такого простого, не могли полюбить, и даже, может быть, про себя презирали и смеялись над ним, могли полюбить только один свой позор и беспрерывную мысль о том, что вы опозорены, и что вас оскорбили. Будь у вас меньше позору, или не будь его вовсе, вы были бы несчастнее…, Him, so simple, you could not love, and perhaps even despised him and laughed at him inwardly; you could love only your dishonor and the constant idea that you were dishonored and offended. Had you less dishonor, or none at all, you would be more unhappy...
She confesses to her rival that she loves the prince because anyone can deceive him and he forgives. When he, before the two of them, asks for pity for the other, she gives him a look of suffering and hatred and runs away. In ch. IX of Part Four she takes refuge in the house of Nina Alexandrovna, where, according to rumors, she asks Ganya whether he would burn his finger in a candle for her and laughs hysterically, and she returns with her mother and sisters; the family breaks with the prince and moves to Kolmino. In ch. XII of Part Four, a letter from Radomsky tells of her end:
Пленил он Аглаю необычайным благородством своей истерзавшейся страданиями по отчизне души, и до того пленил, что та, еще до выхода замуж, стала членом какого-то заграничного комитета по восстановлению Польши и сверх того попала в католическую исповедальню какого-то знаменитого патера, овладевшего ее умом до исступления., He captivated Aglaya with the extraordinary nobility of his soul, torn by suffering for the fatherland, and captivated her to such a degree that she, even before marrying, became a member of some committee abroad for the restoration of Poland and, moreover, ended up in the Catholic confessional of some famous priest, who took possession of her mind to the point of frenzy.
Themes Embodied
Aglaya is the character in whom the novel's Beauty has to answer for what it does. The prince postpones his judgment on her face (ch. VII of Part One), she refuses the phrase about beauty saving the world before he says it in public (ch. VI of Part Four), and from the one she loves she wants not contemplation but deeds: the knight who bows down forever (ch. VI of Part Two), the man who does not run from the duel (ch. III of Part Three), the escape to study and to serve (ch. VIII of Part Three). What attracts her in the prince, she herself tells Nastasya Filippovna, is what irritates her in him: that anyone can deceive him and he forgives (ch. VIII of Part Four).
She always speaks by contraries, and the book gives the key through the mother's mouth: when she loves, she scolds aloud (ch. XII of Part Two). The refusal before the proposal (ch. II of Part Three), the note that forbids the visit (ch. XII of Part Two), the lie about Ganya and the candle (ch. VIII of Part Three), the apology that undoes the proposal of marriage (ch. V of Part Four) are all ways of saying yes without exposing herself to laughter. What she cannot bear is exactly what the prince does in the confrontation: hesitate and ask, in front of her, for pity for the one who suffers more (ch. VIII of Part Four). The exchange of letters on the shield (ch. VII of Part Two) already said that she had known, since the terrace, who was at the center of the ballad.
She is also the most accurate voice about the prince and about Nastasya Filippovna, and the book gives her reason in both cases: it is she who says he has truth without tenderness (ch. VIII of Part Three) and who reads in the rival's letters the love the rival conceals (ch. VIII of Part Three). She is right about others and wrong about herself, and the end the book gives her, a false hero who speaks of a lost fatherland (ch. XII of Part Four), is the same desire of the poor knight, now handed to an impostor.
Divergent Readings
The prince himself cannot decide, in ch. VII of Part Two, whether the reading of the ballad was feeling or mockery:
как можно было соединить такое истинное, прекрасное чувство с такою явною и злобною насмешкой?, how was it possible to join such a true, beautiful feeling with such an open and spiteful mockery?
Nor does the mother, and she covers her with both hypotheses: if she read it seriously, she pities her; if she read it mockingly, she does not approve.
Those who read her as the proud girl whom pride destroys find grounds in the ending; the text, however, shows more than pride. She is the only one who defends the prince before the whole family (ch. II of Part Three), the only one who catches him in her arms during the fit (ch. VII of Part Four), and the one who tells her rival, without irony, why she loves him (ch. VIII of Part Four). She does not want Nastasya Filippovna's power over men; she wants to be useful and free; and her flight in the confrontation comes after he hesitates and asks for pity for the other in front of her, and not before. The question the book leaves is whether pride destroyed her or his hesitation did.
Relationships
- Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin: she challenges him on the first day (ch. V of Part One), recites for him the ballad with the swapped letters (ch. VII of Part Two), defends him before the family (ch. II of Part Three), proposes that he run away with her (ch. VIII of Part Three), asks in public whether he is proposing to her (ch. V of Part Four) and runs away when he hesitates (ch. VIII of Part Four).
- Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova: the rival who writes her letters begging that she marry the prince (ch. VIII of Part Three, ch. X of Part Three), and whom she confronts at Darya Alexeyevna's house (ch. VIII of Part Four).
- Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin: the suitor whose note she refuses by haggling (ch. VII of Part One), whom she uses to wound the prince (ch. VIII of Part Three) and whom, according to rumors, she asks whether he would burn his finger in a candle (ch. IX of Part Four).
- Yelizaveta Prokofyevna Epanchina: the mother, for whom she is torment and idol (ch. I of Part Three), and with whom she weeps embraced after the marriage proposal (ch. V of Part Four).
- Evgeny Pavlovich Radomsky: the suitor she refuses (ch. VIII of Part Three), and who tells, in a letter from Paris, of her fate (ch. XII of Part Four).
- Hippolyte Terentyev: leaves her a copy of the Explanation (ch. VII of Part Three), and arranges, through Rogozhin, her meeting with Nastasya Filippovna (ch. VIII of Part Four).
- Nikolai Ardalionovich Ivolgin: Kolya, who hands her the prince's note (ch. I of Part Two), proclaims "The poor knight" (ch. VI of Part Two) and brings her the hedgehog (ch. V of Part Four).