The powerful character of Nastassia in The Idiot Few of the main characters in Dostoyevsky's novels are women. However, in his novel The Idiot, we find one of his strongest female characters. Nastasia Filippovna, a proud but exploited woman, is by far one of Dostoyevsky's most intriguing characters. She has an instant and dramatic effect on the characters around her. Nastasya Filippovna was systematically destroyed by those around her. She realizes that she is incapable of surviving in the society of her time. Appreciated by men only for her beauty or possessions, feared by jealous women, Nastasya Filippovna succumbs to madness and ultimately to her own murder. Believing herself guilty and in need of punishment and purification, Nastasya Filippovna fights but ultimately submits to the destructive forces around her. Nastasya Filippovna, defined by her sensual beauty and remarkable appearance, is already mentioned on page ten. Her presence remains strong throughout the first book and perhaps this section will teach us a lot about the proud Nastasya Filippovna. Nastasya Filippovna's most dominant feature is her beauty. Even the Prince, who at first glance is not inclined to notice the sensuality of women, is captivated by her great beauty. Looking at her photo, he calls it “surprisingly pretty”; he notes her “exquisite simplicity,” her “deep, dark eyes” (31). From her youth, Nastasya Filippovna's beauty led her to become the object of men's sexual desires. There are three men who particularly dominate Nastasya Filippovna's life before the arrival of the prince: Afansy Ivanovich Totsky, Gavrila Ardalionovich (Ganya) and Parfion Semyyonovich Rogozhin.Totsky is the first...... middle of paper ... ...this" (480). Nastasya Filippovna must die to escape the tragic and unjust fate of a scorned woman. Works Cited Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot, Middlesex, Penguin Books Ltd., 1955. Roger B. Anderson, Dostoyevsky - Myths of Duality, Florida: University of Florida Press, 1986. Michael Holquist, Dostoyevsky and the Novel, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977. Robert Louis Jackson, Dostoyevsky's Quest for Form - A Study of his Philosophy of Art, New Haven: Yale University, 1966. Gary Soul Morson, The Frontiers of Genre - Dostoyevsky's Diary of a Writer and the Traditions of Literary Utopia. Joseph Frank, Dostoyevsky - The Miraculous Years 1865 - 1871, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. Robert Louis Jackson, Dostoyevsky's Quest for Form - A Study of His Philosophy of Art, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966, p. 40.