64 pages • 2 hours read
Fyodor DostoevskyThe Idiot
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1869A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Naïve Idealism
Dostoevsky’s portrayal of Myshkin in The Idiot is an attempt to wrestle with an ideal. Myshkin is a unique person. He is sincere, compassionate, honest, and open in a world that is hostile to all these traits. As such, Myshkin's idealism is portrayed as naïve. The contrast between Myshkin and other characters is obvious from the very beginning. On the train, Myshkin is ideologically and aesthetically opposed to Rogozhin. The cynical, passionate Rogozhin is dark-haired and dark-skinned, while the fairer, lighter Myshkin shares his optimistic view of the world. At the Epanchin home, Myshkin's frank and open approach brings him into dispute with Ganya while General Epanchin and Madame Epanchin are initially baffled by someone who seems so radically different to everyone else. In this world of manners, decorum, etiquette, and social graces, Myshkin emerges as the ideal of a different kind of life, a more naïve form of existence which is not yet tainted by the churning bitterness of contemporary society.
Part of the Myshkin ideal is his innocence. This innocence is challenged by the troubled world as Myshkin struggles to find happiness in a society which operates along different moral precepts. Myshkin is admired for his innocence. This approach wins him the appreciation of the entire Epanchin family, while disarming initially hostile approaches from other characters. Even Rogozhin, the embodiment of cynical passion, cannot bring himself to stab Myshkin when he realizes how fragile and innocent Myshkin truly is; he sees Myshkin collapse in an epileptic fit and immediately abandons his murderous plans. The other characters recognize Myshkin’s innocence, but they do not always treat him with respect.
Myshkin is puzzled at first as to why so many people regard him as foolish. Myshkin is a man who is trying to be good in an immoral, cynical world, which makes him a naïve fool to people who have internalized society’s values of self-gain. The society into which Myshkin falls is so fixed and jaded that it cannot tolerate a challenge in the form of a more moral, more innocent form of existence, so everyone in the society dismisses Myshkin's innocence as a form of naïve foolishness. He seems like a child to them, so he is not to be taken seriously. The religious dimension of his role as the holy fool adds to his dissociation from society. This role produces tension between Myshkin and the other characters because, though they perceive him as lacking in intellectual and social faculties, they also wonder if he is smarter than he seems. If so, his presence makes them even more nervous because, if he is more socially aware as he seems—as when he plays the role of the servant—he can expose their vices even more clearly.
Myshkin's innocence allows him to treat Nastasya differently to the way in which she is treated by everyone else. He is equipped with empathy, allowing him to pity her and to love her as a result. The rest of society views her as a tragic but disreputable figure; their cynicism prevents them from empathizing with the girl who has lost everything and who has been abused by the people who were meant to protect her. Nastasya loves Myshkin because he is innocent enough to love her. She loathes him because, as a member of the jaded society which has internalized society's cynicism, she cannot love herself. For the crime of loving her, she views Myshkin as a naïve fool. She cannot believe that anyone would ever love her, rejecting Myshkin's ideology so that she can reluctantly and tragically perpetuate the self-loathing thrust on to her by society. Myshkin was idealistic enough to think that he could love Nastasya and naïve enough to think that his love might be able to save her.
Religion and Redemption
Religion plays an important role in The Idiot. In many respects, Myshkin functions as an analogy for Jesus Christ. He is an innocent, optimistic figure who arrives in a jaded, sinful world and tries to teach people about his values, only to be tragically and violently rejected by the people to whom he has preached. Myshkin himself feels strongly about religion. One of his lengthiest diatribes is a discussion about the differences between Catholicism and Russian Orthodox Christianity; to him, Russian Orthodoxy is the only true expression of religion while Catholicism is akin to socialism in its ability to embody the alienating, sinful ramifications of modernity. In this sense, Myshkin becomes a Russian interpretation of Christ, spreading a message of compassion and joy in a greedy, corrupted world.
Key to the religious dimensions of Myshkin's character is redemption. While he may be an innocent, Christ-like figure, he does not view the rest of the world as irrecoverably damned. He believes that the world and the people within it can be redeemed. He shares one of his early, formative experiences with the Epanchin family, in which he remembers how an entire village in Switzerland ostracized and mocked a poor woman named Marie who was suffering from consumption. Unlike the rest of the villagers, Myshkin showed compassion to Marie. In a foreshadowing of his pity-filled love for Nastasya, Myshkin kissed Marie and showed the rest of the world that she was human and worthy of their love and respect. His message only resonated with the children of the village but, at least to the children, Myshkin was able to show that Marie was a person capable of redemption, even though society mistreated her horribly. Myshkin continues his discussion with the Epanchin family and describes a similar moment of empathy. He talks about his distaste for capital punishment after witnessing an execution in France. Capital punishment is abhorrent to Myshkin because it presupposes that a person is beyond redemption. Once executed, the person cannot be redeemed. Myshkin believes that this is antithetical to Christian morals as the potential for redemption is a cornerstone of the religion. Similarly, he never believes that anyone he meets is incapable of redemption. Even after Rogozhin proves Myshkin correct and murders Nastasya, Myshkin stays with Rogozhin and comforts him. Rogozhin murders the woman Myshkin loves but, in a divine demonstration of forgiveness, Myshkin never abandons the idea that Rogozhin is a human being, deserving of empathy and capable of redemption.
While Myshkin believes in the importance of redemption, other characters do not. This difference in belief is one of the key moments of juxtaposition which illustrates the ill-fitting nature of Myshkin and the society he inhabits. Even before she arrives in Saint Petersburg, everyone has judged Nastasya. They view her as an ambiguous woman, a woman who has been corrupted by Totsky and who can never rebuild her reputation. Nastasya is not at fault in this circumstance: she was raped by her benefactor after being orphaned. Despite the pain and trauma inflicted upon her, the entire Ivolgin family (and most other people) presume that Nastasya can never been redeemed. Most tragically of all, Nastasya internalizes this idea. She does not believe herself capable or deserving of redemption, even though she blames Totsky for her pain and suffering. She is unable to tolerate Myshkin's love because she cannot see herself as a redeemable or lovable person. With an almost religious fanaticism, she sacrifices herself on the altar of society, giving up her life as an expression of the widespread social belief that she is irredeemably corrupted.
Power, Corruption, and Capitalism
The society portrayed in The Idiot is financially rich but morally poor. Characters are motivated by improving their finances and social status more than they are by doing the right thing. Ganya and Lebedev are early introductions to this social rot. Ganya is willing to marry a woman he does not love so that he can earn a fortune through her dowry. Meanwhile, Lebedev is a snide social climber who studies the rich and powerful so that he can endear himself to them in a cloying, insincere manner. He knows the exact fortunes of many aristocrats, even quoting the extent of the huge inheritance that Rogozhin has only recently received from his father. Wealth is everybody's business, so everybody knows each other's worth. The rich, powerful elite society of Saint Petersburg are so distracted by wealth and power that an embodiment of innocence and goodness, such as Myshkin, seems like a joke or a mental health crisis. Simply by existing, Myshkin reminds the rich and powerful people of Saint Petersburg that they have become corrupt. As a result, they never truly trust him or treat him as anything other than a deeply misguided novelty.
The battle for Nastasya's love is a demonstration of the intersection between power, corruption, and capitalism. Everyone in the elite society knows that Nastasya was raped by Totsky, but they choose to demean Nastasya as a fallen woman rather than criticize Totsky for his actions. He is wealthy enough to insulate himself from criticism and he uses his money to attempt to eradicate any kind of culpability or blame. He offers a huge sum of money to anyone who will marry Nastasya, using money to absolve himself of a sin and to purchase atonement. Absolution, like everything else in the commodified, capitalist society, can be bought at a price. The willingness of the other characters to engage in this auction for Nastasya's hand in marriage shows the extent to which this moral corruption is widespread. Ganya does not love Nastasya, but he does love money, so he is willing to marry her. Rogozhin does love Nastasya, but he tries to outbid Ganya without ever consulting Nastasya; her feelings are irrelevant to him in what is a business transaction. Nastasya takes the money being used to buy her love and she throws it into the fire, performatively rejecting the capitalist bickering for her affection. She rebels against the patriarchal society which reduces her to a commodity to be bought and sold. The act shows the other characters that they are arguing over a fickle, fleeting social construct like money. They have been so utterly corrupted that they care more about the burning paper than they do about Nastasya. Despite her gesture, society refuses to change.
This capitalistic attitude is endemic across Russia. In their large apartments and their dachas, the elites are insulated from the consequences of their corrupt capitalist view of money. In fact, they are only confronted with reality when Lebedev reveals to them the results of their beliefs. Lebedev is a clerk with a far lower social standing than most of the characters. He exists on the periphery of their social circle, enviously regarding their wealth and status. He knows that the wealth is a result of corruption but, rather than combat corruption, he wishes to take part. Nevertheless, the novel turns to Lebedev to reveal the truth about Russian society. He describes the massive poverty which afflicts most of the working-class people and the serfs of Russia. They suffer more than any of the elites could ever imagine but their voices are absent from the dinner parties which punctuate the novel. The poor pay taxes to the state and the church, getting nothing in return, while the rich eat their lavish banquets and bicker among themselves. Lebedev believes this powerful, corrupt, capitalist society is, ultimately, doomed.
Related Titles
By Fyodor Dostoevsky
