The Role of Impressions in the Interpersonal Relationships of Characters in the Novel “The Idiot” by F.M. Dostoevsky

Предлагается новый подход к дифференциации героев Ф.М. Достоевского с учетом особенностей их душевной жизни. Основой для дифференциации становятся эмоции, впечатления и воображение как составляющие душевной жизни персонажей, а также их соотношение в каждом индивидуальном случае. На примере образа князя Мышкина рассматривается, как первые впечатления определяют дальнейшие межличностные отношения героев и (в отдельных случаях) являются провиденциальными для их судеб. Предложенный подход расширяет представления о специфике художественных образов русского писателя и может быть распространен на других героев Ф.М. Достоевского. The scientific novelty is determined by the fact that the article proposes a new approach to assessing the F.M. Dostoevsky’s heroes. Along with existing typologies and characterologies, differentiation is proposed taking into account the characteristics of the mental life of the heroes and the identification of dominants in their inner world: emotions, impressions or imagination. The identification of emotional, impressionable or imaginative heroes is to a certain extent arbitrary, but it helps to better understand the peculiarity of the writer’s images. The purpose of the article is to show, using the example of the novel “The Idiot,” how first impressions determine the further interpersonal relationships of the characters. Research methods. The main one is the problem-thematic method of studying literary text. Research results. In the novel “The Idiot,” the main character (Prince Myshkin) is endowed with a unique ability to make emotional contact with other people, to influence with his unique charm. He is spiritually sensitive and therefore insightful in his first impressions of the faces of the people around him. His impressions not only help to understand the personality of another in a non-rational way, but are also often providential for the future fate of the character.