The Idiot: Part Three, Chapter Six Summary & Analysis

When Ippolit became very ill about eight months ago, he cut himself off from his friends, and was also isolated within the context of his family. He is disappointed to see that Kolya, who has always been a loyal friend, has taken on Myshkin’s “Christian humility,” which Ippolit finds “ridiculous.” In March, Ippolit began to feel a little better. While he was walking outside, a man in front of him dropped his wallet, which Ippolit picked up. He ran after the man, which caused him to lose his breath. He managed to follow the man into a house, and found him lying, drunk, in bed. Ippolit could see from the state of the house and the man’s family are terribly impoverished. 

At first, the drunk man was angry that Ippolit came into his house, but when Ippolit showed him the wallet and explained that he dropped it, the man was stunned. He said that all of his documents were in there, and that he would have been destroyed if the wallet was lost. Seeing Ippolit coughing, the man came to sit next to him and told him he was a “medical man.” (Ippolit notes that he specifically did not say “doctor.”) The man went on to explain that he had been a provincial doctor but had lost his job. He’d come to St. Petersburg to try and get reinstated, and in the meantime his family sank into a state of extreme poverty.

Ippolit told the man that he knew the nephew of the state councilor who would be able to reinstate him. This nephew, named Bakhmutov, was an old schoolmate of Ippolit’s. Back at school, Bakhmutov was very popular; Ippolit was the only one who didn’t like him. Where Bakhmutov was been friendly to Ippolit, Ippolit was rude in response. Now, when Ippolit went to see Bakhmutov and told him the story about the doctor, Bakhmutov promised to talk to his uncle immediately. Within six weeks, the doctor was granted a new post, and Bakhmutov even threw him a farewell party. After the party, when the two of them were walking alone, Bakhmutov thanked Ippolit for making it possible for him to do this good deed.

In response, Ippolit told Bakhmutov about an old state councilor in Moscow who always went to visit prisoners about to be sent to Siberia and called them “dear hearts,” giving them money and gifts. Ippolit reflects that in doing good for others, one ends up transforming the world more than it is possible to know. Bakhmutov exclaimed how tragic it was that Ippolit was soon going to die. Around this time, Ippolit developed a sense of his “ultimate conviction,” although he doesn’t yet reveal what this is. About 10 days ago he went to see Rogozhin, whom he had never met before. Ippolit was intrigued by Rogozhin, who he believes is a “man of intelligence.”  

Ippolit was also struck by Rogozhin’s gloomy house. After the visit, he felt very unwell, and was delirious. He suddenly remembers a painting he saw in Rogozhin’s house, the copy of Holbein’s “The Dead Christ.” Ippolit notes that, unlike other paintings of Jesus’s dead body, this depiction does not show Christ as “beautiful,” but rather a totally devastated, lifeless, and even disgusting corpse. He reflects that if this is truly what Jesus’s body looked like after the crucifixion, he cannot imagine how any of his disciples truly believed in the resurrection. The painting thus depicts Christ as having been destroyed by the cruel and ultimately senseless and absurd forces of nature.

Ippolit says these thoughts came to him in pieces, and asks: “Can something that has no image come as an image?” After the visit to Rogozhin’s house, Ippolit lay in bed, and at 1 a.m. Rogozhin came in. He sat silently and stared at Ippolit. Feeling infuriated, Ippolit then wondered if Rogozhin is really there, or if he is just hallucinating. He had never hallucinated before, not even in the midst of his illness. Whereas earlier at his house Rogozhin was wearing slippers, now, sitting in Ippolit’s room, he was dressed in white tie. He is not sure how long Rogozhin stayed, and only knows that eventually, he left as silently as he first came in. After, Ippolit realized the door was locked from the inside the whole time.