Novodvoroff

Novodvoroff is a central figure among the political exiles accompanying Katerina Maslova to Siberia, a man whose revolutionary fervor is matched only by his immense self-assurance and intellectual rigidity. Though highly esteemed by many of his comrades for his learning and considered very wise, he is revealed through his interactions with others as a fundamentally ambitious and unfeeling individual, whose actions are driven less by a love for the people than by a desire for supremacy. His presence in the narrative serves as a foil to the more spiritually complex characters like Dmitri Ivanovitch Nekhludoff and Valdemar Simonson, highlighting the moral ambiguities within the revolutionary movement itself.

Identity and Background

Novodvoroff is a revolutionary of the Narodnaya Volya party, a man whose entire inner life is of a nature directly opposite to that of Simonson. While Simonson's actions follow the dictates of his reason, Novodvoroff's reason is directed towards the attainment of aims set by his feelings and the justification of acts suggested by them. His revolutionary activity, though he can explain it eloquently and convincingly, appears to Nekhludoff to be founded on nothing but ambition and the desire for supremacy. His capacity for assimilating the thoughts of others and expressing them correctly gave him a position of supremacy in the gymnasium and university, and when he finished his studies, he turned from a modern liberal into a rabid Narodovoletz in order to gain supremacy in another sphere. He is devoid of the moral and aesthetic qualities that call forth doubts and hesitation, and therefore never doubts or hesitates, being certain that he never makes a mistake. This narrowness and one-sidedness of his views make everything seem simple and clear to him.

Role Among the Political Prisoners

Within the group of political prisoners, Novodvoroff is a dominant but unloved figure. His comrades respect him but do not love him, and he does not love anyone in return. He looks upon all men of note as rivals and would willingly strip them of their mental power so that they would not interfere with the display of his own talents. He behaves well only to those who bow before him, such as Markel Kondratieff, who is greatly attached to him and accepts his arguments as unanswerable truths. He is also the object of affection for Vera Doukhova and the pretty, smiling Grabetz, with whom he is sentimentally in love. Though in principle he favors the woman's movement, in the depth of his soul he considers all women stupid and insignificant except those he is in love with, whom he considers exceptions whose merits he alone can discern. He looks upon the question of the relations of the sexes as thoroughly solved by accepting free union, having separated from both a nominal and a real wife.

Key Actions and Conflicts

Novodvoroff's interactions with his fellow prisoners reveal his dogmatic and unyielding nature. During a conversation in the prison, he dismisses the heroic act of Makar Devkin, who risked his life to save a fellow villager, as mere sentimentality, suggesting it might be jealousy of another criminal. When Kryltzoff argues that the revolutionaries should not force their views on the people, Novodvoroff retorts that the masses can only be the object of their activity and cannot be fellow-workers as long as they remain in a state of inertia. He insists that he knows the path the people must travel and can show them that path, a claim that Kryltzoff denounces as the most awful despotism. Novodvoroff's response is to dismiss Kryltzoff's arguments as the ravings of ideologues, contrasting them with the facts based on sound economic science. He also expresses a view that the masses worship power, and that when the revolutionaries have the power, the masses will worship them.

Relationships and Conflict

Novodvoroff's relationship with Nekhludoff is one of mutual antipathy. He despises Nekhludoff for what he terms "playing the fool" with Maslova, and especially for the freedom Nekhludoff takes in considering the defects of the existing system and the methods of correcting them in a manner that is not exactly the same as his own. Nekhludoff, for his part, feels a strong antipathy towards Novodvoroff that he cannot stifle, despite the state of good will he finds himself in during the journey. Novodvoroff's self-assurance is so great that it either repels people or makes them submit to him, and among the very young people in the revolutionary circles, his boundless self-assurance leads them to believe him very profound and wise. His activity is directed towards the preparation of a rising in which he is to usurp the power and call together a council, with a programme he has composed that he feels sure will solve every problem.

Narrative Role and Evaluation

Novodvoroff is a character who embodies the dangers of ideological rigidity and personal ambition within a movement ostensibly dedicated to human liberation. He is a man of considerable intellect and conviction, but his lack of genuine empathy, his contempt for those he considers beneath him, and his unwavering belief in his own infallibility make him a deeply unsympathetic figure. He represents a type of revolutionary who is more concerned with power and abstract theory than with the actual suffering of the people he claims to serve. His presence in the story underscores the novel's critique of all systems—legal, social, or revolutionary—that prioritize abstract principles over human compassion and justice.