The Idiot — Part III — Chapter IV

Returning with Rogojin, Prince Myshkin finds his verandah full of uninvited guests celebrating his birthday with champagne. Lebedeff explains the accidental convergence: Hippolyte arrived early with Burdovsky; Lebedeff’s family, General Ivolgin, Gania, Ptitsin, Keller, Colia, and finally Evgenie Pavlovitch followed. Ferdishenko appears sheepishly. Vera greets Myshkin warmly and hurries to prepare supper.

Evgenie draws Myshkin aside, first soothing a potential duel by arranging matters with Moloftsoff, then confessing turmoil over his disgraced uncle. Though pressed for time, he vows to stay until the guests depart to discuss an urgent matter and pointedly seeks Myshkin’s friendship and alliance. They agree to speak later in private, while maintaining outwardly casual relations before the crowd.

Back at the table, Hippolyte, flushed and erratic, insists on staying up for sunrise and has been drinking; Myshkin worries it will harm him. A sprawling debate erupts, led by a tipsy Lebedeff, over “springs of life,” railways, and faith versus material progress. Keller admires parliamentary rhetoric; Gania and Evgenie spar with paradoxes; Lebedeff thunders through an anecdote about medieval famine and cannibalism to argue that modernity has weakened unifying ideas.

The company laughs and quarrels as bottles pop. The General reminisces; Keller grumbles about Lebedeff’s hypocrisy. Gania grows suddenly sober and sits near Rogojin, who, stone-cold and intent, seems to await some development. Myshkin, cheerful, notes Evgenie’s gesture toward Hippolyte, who has finally fallen asleep on the sofa. Evgenie, uneasy and fascinated, warns that Hippolyte may be plotting something, underscoring the simmering tension beneath the revelry.