The powerful character of Nastasya in The Idiot Few of the main characters in Dostoevsky's novels are women. However, in his novel, The Idiot, we find one of his strongest female characters. Nastasya Filippovna, a proud but exploited woman, is by far one of Dostoevsky's most intriguing characters. She has an instant and dramatic effect on the characters around her. Nastasya Filippovna was systematically destroyed by her surroundings. He discovers that he is unable to survive in the society of his 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 extraordinary appearance, is already mentioned on page ten. Her presence remains strong throughout the first book and we could learn a lot from this section about the proud Nastasya Filippovna. The most dominant feature of Nastasya Filippovna is her beauty. Even the Prince, who at first sight we might believe to be disinclined to notice the sensuality of women, remains overwhelmed by her great beauty. Looking at her photo he calls her "surprisingly cute"; note his “exquisite simplicity,” his “dark, deep eyes” (31). From her youth, Nastasya Filippovna's beauty made her the object of men's sexual desires. There are three men who played a particularly dominant role in Nastasya Filippovna's life before the arrival of the prince: Afansy Ivanovich Totsky, Gavrila Ardalionovich (Ganya) and Parfion Semyyonovich Rogozhin. Totsky is the fifth...... center of the card .. .... it" (480). Nastasya Filippovna must die to escape the tragic and unjust condition of a scorned woman. Works cited Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot , Middlesex, Penguin Books Ltd., 1955. Roger B. Anderson, Dostoevsky - Myths of Duality, Florida: University of Florida Press, 1986. Michael Holquist, Dostoevsky and the Novel, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977. Robert Louis Jackson, Dostoevsky's Search for Form - A Study of His Philosophy of Art, New Haven: Yale University, 1966.Gary Soul Morson, The Boundaries of Genre - Dostoevsky's Diary of a Writer and the Traditions of Literary Utopia.Joseph Frank , Dostoevsky - The Miraculous Years 1865 - 1871, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.Robert Louis Jackson, Dostoevsky's Quest for Form - A Study of His Philosophy of Art, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966, p. 40.