Epanchins' friend Yevgeny Pavlovich, and writes long letters to Aglaya telling her she is in love with her and pleading with her to marry Myshkin. Aglaya interprets this as an indication that Nastasya Filippovna is in love with Myshkin herself, and is trying to keep a hold on him by playing the role of tragic victim. As the love relationship begins to develop between Aglaya and Myshkin, Aglaya, shaken by the letters and influenced by ill-intentioned gossip, begins to see Nastasya Filippovna as her rival, and eventually forces the Prince into making a choice between them. It is only in Part 4 that the three characters appear together for the first time in an extended scene. Through Rogozhin and other intermediaries, Aglaya has arranged a meeting with Nastasya Filippovna. She brings the Prince to the meeting, and Rogozhin is also present. Nastasya Filippovna is unsure what to expect, but it quickly becomes apparent that Aglaya's purpose is to castigate and insult her. Nastasya Filippovna is shocked, as her belief in Aglaya's purity and superiority had been sincere. Myshkin is aware of this, and tries to dissuade Aglaya, which provokes her to greater anger. As Aglaya becomes more and more unrestrained and vindictive, Nastasya Filippovna begins to respond in kind. She orders Rogozhin to leave and demands that the Prince stay with her. Overcome, not for the first time, with the pain and despair in Nastasya Filippovna's face, Myshkin turns to Aglaya and reproaches her for the attack. Distraught and now full of hatred for him, Aglaya runs off. Myshkin tries to go after her but Nastasya Filippovna stops him. Following this, the relationship between Myshkin and Aglaya effectively ends, and in the book's concluding chapters the narrative focus returns to the first triangle. Nastasya Filippovna and Myshkin become engaged, at her insistence, but on the day of the wedding she again flees to Rogozhin. In so doing, she abandons once and for all any hope of finally accepting herself, and effectively signs her own death warrant. According to Bakhtin, for Nastasya Filippovna "Rogozhin means the knife, and she knows it." References Fyodor Dostoyevsky characters Fictional Russian people in literature The Idiot Female characters in literature Literary characters introduced in 1869