How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
There was a question to be decided—most important, but most difficult; so much so, that Mrs. Epanchin did not even see how to put it into words. Would the prince do or not? Was all this good or bad? If good (which might be the case, of course), why good? If bad (which was hardly doubtful), why, especially, bad? […] According to her opinion, the whole thing had been one huge, fantastical, absurd, unpardonable mistake. "First of all, this prince is an idiot, and, secondly, he is a fool—knows nothing of the world, and has no place in it. Whom can he be shown to? Where can you take him to? What will old Bielokonski say? We never thought of such a husband as that for our Aglaya!"
Of course, the last argument was the chief one. The maternal heart trembled with indignation to think of such an absurdity, although in that heart there rose another voice, which said: "And why is not the prince such a husband as you would have desired for Aglaya?" It was this voice which annoyed Lizabeta Prokofievna more than anything else. (4.5.5-9)
It's her willingness to wrestle with the rules of society, i.e., taking a step back and evaluating the unspoken rules, that makes Mrs. Epanchin and her family slightly "off," as she says. Here, she is trying to figure out if her main objection to Myshkin is that he is kind of socially awkward, which she realizes would be way too superficial to actually prevent the marriage.