Beginning of Essay
Of the many characters we see in Dostoyevsky's novels, few of the principal characters are female. However, in one of his more famous novels, , we find perhaps one of the strongest female characters of most nineteenth-century literature, if not of Europe, then at ....

Middle of Essay
.... page ten. Her presence remains strong throughout Book One and we may learn a great deal from this section about the proud Nastasya Filippovna. The most dominant feature of Nastasya Filippovna is her beauty. Her great beauty overwhelms even the Prince, who at first we may believe is not inclined to notice sensuality of women. Looking at her picture he calls her "astonishingly pretty"; he notes her "exquisite simplicity," her "dark, deep eyes" (31). Even from her youth Nastasya Filippovna's beauty has caused her to become the object of men's sexual desires. There are three men who are particularly dominant in Nastasya Filippovna's life prior to th ....