The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

reviewed by Rebecca Barclay

It is helpful to know Dosteovsky’s aim in The Idiot before digging into the book itself. Dosteovsky writes,

For a long time already there was an idea that had been bothering me, but I was afraid to make a novel out of it because it was a very difficult idea and I was not ready to tackle it…The idea is—to portray a perfectly beautiful man…The idea used to flash through my mind in a somewhat artistic form but only somewhat, not in the full-blown form that was needed. It was only the desperate situation in which I found myself that made me embark upon an idea that had not yet reached full maturity. I took a chance, as at roulette.

Later Dostoevsky explained that there is only one such perfectly beautiful man, Christ, “so that the phenomenon of that boundlessly, infinitely good figure is already in itself an infinite miracle.”

available from Amazon

The opening scenes of Dostoevsky’s The Idiotprovide the reader with further themes of the novel at large. We open the first page to find Prince Myshkin traveling by train to Petersburg. We learn later that he’s traveling from Switzerland, a land portrayed as distant and unknown by those in Petersburg; in fact, many are surprised that he left Russia in the first place and that he ever found his way back from Switzerland. We also learn that Myshkin had been there because of his ‘idiocy’, for treatment of his epilepsy. He had been staying in a small village where his everyday interactions were with children, and Myshkin himself declares that he enjoys being with children as opposed to with grown ups, “who always seem to oppress him.”

Myshkin is described as,

…just above the average height, with very fair thick hair, with sunken cheeks and a thin, pointed almost white beard. His eyes were large, blue and intent; there was something gentle, though heavy-looking in their expression, something of that strange look from which some people can recognize at first glance a victim of epilepsy.

The man who is traveling with him, Rogohzin, is described like this:

…with almost black curly hair and small, grey, but fiery eyes. He had a broad and flat nose and high cheek bones. His thin lips were continually curved in an insolent, mocking and even malicious smile.  But the high and well-shaped forehead redeemed the ignoble lines of the lower part of his face. What was particularly striking about the young man’s face was its death-like-pallor, which gave him a look of exhaustion in spite of his sturdy figure.

The rest of the novel will be Dostoevsky’s literary attempt to portray the most beautiful man in the corrupt world we find ourselves in. Rogohzin, the dark man, is representative of the world while Myshkin, traveling from the foreign and unknown Swiss country, is fair haired and white, representative of his purity and setting him up as the embodiment of what is beautiful in humanity. The characters seem to be darkened, or lightened, in respect to their innocence.

The characters themselves are a comment on beauty, supplying the reader with different perceptions of beauty to hold in mind as they read. Madame Epanchin’s daughters declare that beauty is power while Myshkin holds that beauty is a riddle. Nastasya Fillipovna is regarded with the utmost of beauty, breathtaking and wonderfully beautiful, captivating all who gaze even at a photograph of her; and the Epanchin daughters are described as being very beautiful as well.

Another theme present throughout the novel is the power of money and greed over people. The price on Nastasya’s hand in marriage, the money matters of the social class of the Epanchins and their social circle are all contrasted with the stark poverty of the mysterious Prince Myshkin.

As beauty enters the corrupt world of greed and selfishness, Dosteovsky’s attempts will be to show how beauty is perverted in a fallen world and what role beauty plays through the relationships Myshkin has with other characters.

Another scene that is important for understanding the novel is when Myshkin is recounting the story of the man sentenced to death and then recalled at the last moment. The psychological effects of such an incident would be deep indeed and Prince Myshkin is obviously affected by reflecting on such a story. The experience of being on the brink of death, on the brink of corruption, portrayed realistically through the retelling of the young man’s story with the guillotine provides a basis for the spiritual state of many characters in the novel: on the brink of death and corruption through the practice of greed, lust, and power-hunger. Can beauty bring men back from these brinks to life?

Only time will tell as you read through Dostoevsky.