✅ What Dostoevsky wanted to say with his novel, an idiot. "The Idiot" by Dostoevsky: a detailed analysis of the novel

Analysis of Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky entered the history of literature as a master of the philosophical novel.
The inner world, mental anguish, and actions of his heroes are nothing more than food for thought for the reader. The novel “The Idiot” by Dostoevsky is known throughout the world. It is still read and dramatized in theaters and cinemas not only in Russia, but also abroad. The author tried to show how decomposed intelligent society was during this period of the 19th century. Even the most educated people could not achieve anything in life without connections, money, support, as is the case today. The novel will always be relevant, since these pressing problems are still present in modern society.

Prince Myshkin, the main character, is a man of extraordinary spiritual organization. Man is the sun, an adult child. There is no place for meanness and lies in his soul. He was surprisingly well-bred, and thus completely unadapted to this cruel world.

Getting to Russia, he, with his unshakable faith in beauty, is faced with a completely different understanding of life, honor, and dignity. He is shocked, but, alas, is unable to change.

In contrast to Prince Myshkin, the novel contains the image of Parfen Rogozhin, with whom fate brings the main character together at the very beginning of the story. A wealthy merchant, open, madly desiring the fallen beauty Nastasya Filippovna, spitting on public opinion and openly despising the prejudices of society. He is seasoned by life in this decayed society, he has his own concept of honor and financial independence. His fate is also not enviable. Unable to share the woman he loves and live in fear of whether she will stay with him or not, Rogozhin kills Nastasya, and he himself goes crazy from his own passion.

Myshkin also fell in love with the fatal beauty Nastasya, but some part of his soul was also filled by Aglaya, a girl who dreams of breaking out of this swamp. In the prince she saw her savior and reached out to him with all her soul, despite the fact that everyone around her considered him an eccentric.

The prince’s love and his tossing between two women, whom he treated with reverence, further intensified the torment of the protagonist’s soul, but showed the reader how attentive and sensitive a person can be towards the object of his adoration. As a result, the prince breaks up with Aglaya, and later learns from Rogozhin the terrible truth about the death of Nastasya Filippovna. After calming the unfortunate Parfen for several days in front of the corpse of his beloved woman, the prince himself goes crazy.

However, the personality of the protagonist, his actions and worldview did not pass unnoticed by those with whom he came into contact. The prince helped others see their distorted reflection in the mirror of the soul. Yes, society did not appreciate him. The prince was never able to adapt to local society; his mind could not withstand such a psychological breakdown. The only pure, wise and bright person was broken mentally and physically. Russia missed him so much! The prince is a prototype of Christ, who laid his head on the chopping block for the salvation of people.

As long as such mice exist in our society, there is hope that people will become cleaner and better.

F.M. Dostoevsky “The Idiot”: description, characters, analysis of the novel

The entire novel is filled with deep symbolic content. Dostoevsky strives to invest one or another hidden meaning into every plot, into the image of every hero. Nastasya Filippovna symbolizes beauty, and Myshkin symbolizes Christian grace and the ability to forgive and humility. The main idea is the contrast between the ideal image of the righteous Myshkin and the cruel surrounding world of Russian reality, human baseness and meanness. It is precisely because of the deep disbelief of people, their lack of moral and spiritual values, that we see the tragic ending with which Dostoevsky ends his novel.

Option 2

The novel “The Idiot” by F.I. Dostoevsky is a great work of all times, a long-standing idea and an important creative part of his life.

The main character, a prince named Myshkin, is the personification of high morality and selflessness. According to the author himself, this person is a moralist, kind-hearted and open to society. He is honest with himself and people, despite the fact that he lives in a world of material values and hypocrisy. According to the people who surround him, Prince Myshkin is a simple “idiot.”

For a third of his life, the prince did not attend social events; he lived separately and secluded. Going out was a terrible discovery for him. Everything he saw led Myshkin to bewilderment and confusion. Everything that surrounded him was inhumane, unnatural for Myshkin; people shocked him with their vices, greed for money and hypocrisy.

The author compared Prince Myshkin with Jesus Christ, who tried to reason with people and take the path of correcting their mistakes. So the prince tried to make people’s thoughts purer and kinder. He dies in an effort to make the world a better place, to convey to society the principles of morality and sincere thoughts that would not discredit him.

Unlike other characters, such as Rogozhin, Nastasya Filippovna, Ippolit, etc., who have nothing but pride, Myshkin is a happy person. He says that the one who knows how to love is happy, it is the loving person who seeks joy, but isn’t this happiness? For others, pride and the desire to have power and superiority play a role. It is this inner state of the soul that prevents people from opening their kind hearts.

Images of the main characters

Prince Myshkin

The main character, Prince Myshkin, is an example of the embodiment of universal goodness and mercy; he is a blessed man, completely devoid of any kind of shortcomings, such as envy or malice. He has an unattractive appearance, is awkward and constantly causes ridicule from others. In his image, Dostoevsky puts the great idea that it is absolutely unimportant what a person’s appearance is, only the purity of his thoughts and the righteousness of his actions are important.

Myshkin loves all the people around him infinitely, is extremely unselfish and open-hearted. This is why they call him “Idiot”, because people who are accustomed to being in a world of constant lies, the power of money and depravity absolutely do not understand his behavior, consider him sick and insane. The prince, meanwhile, is trying to help everyone, trying to heal other people’s spiritual wounds with his kindness and sincerity. Dostoevsky idealizes his image, even equating him to Jesus. By “killing” the hero at the end, he makes it clear to the reader that, like Christ, Myshkin has forgiven all his offenders.

Read more: Prince Myshkin: characteristics and image of the hero

Nastasya Filippovna

Nastasya Filippovna is another symbolic image. An exceptionally beautiful woman who can strike any man in the heart, with an incredibly tragic fate. Being an innocent girl, she was molested by her guardian and this darkened her entire future life. Since then, she has despised everything, both people and life itself. Her entire existence is aimed at deep self-destruction and self-destruction. Men trade her like a thing, she only watches this with contempt, supporting this game. Dostoevsky himself does not give a clear understanding of the inner world of this woman; we learn about her from the lips of other people. Her soul remains closed to everyone, including the reader. She is a symbol of the ever-elusive beauty, which in the end no one got.

Read more: Nastasya Filippovna: characteristics and image of the heroine

Analysis 3

This novel has become widely known; the author exposes the true state of the intelligentsia society of the nineteenth century. It has long since become rotten and lost its moral foundations. The problem of money and connections in high circles appeared already then. Even if a person had an education, this was not enough. Contacts and money were needed to solve such a problem, otherwise the person would not be considered a specialist. For this reason, the work is very relevant in the modern world, when these problems have gained even greater momentum.

The main character has amazing qualities that are not typical for other characters. He is a prince named Myshkin. This is an open and bright person who, despite the fact that he grew up, was able not to indulge in abomination and lies. The hero is brought up, he cannot live in accordance with the rules that current life dictates.

The hero believes in beauty, however, when he finds himself in Russia, he sees a completely different truth of life, not the one he was taught. He sees that the people living here have a completely different idea of how they should live. Myshkin is shocked, but he is not going to change to these rules.

The novel also contains a contrast to the main character, who is Rogozhin. This man is rich and wealthy, he has a goal and he goes towards it by any means. Both Myshkin and Rogozhin fall in love with Nastasya Filippovna. Rogozhin is inflamed by passion and wants to possess his object of desire. Rogozhin's fate was sad, unable to live in uncertainty and fear, the hero comes to the point of killing his beloved, after which he loses his mind. This is what passion brought him to.

Myshkin also loved Nastasya very much, but a girl named Aglaya was very drawn to him, who loved him with all her heart. She was able to fill some kind of emptiness. The girl was not embarrassed by the fact that everyone around her perceived the prince as an eccentric.

The prince loved two girls, and as a result, he broke off relations with Aglaya. Later he learned that his beloved Nastasya was killed. The hero calmed Porfen for a long time, after which he himself could not stand it and lost his mind.

Myshkin helped many people; he could not ignore the grief of others. He left a good mark in the life of everyone he came into contact with. Unfortunately, the harsh realities of life broke him too. It is very painful and scary to lose such people, because they still bring so much benefit.

Such people are very sacrificial, they first of all think about others, and not about themselves. Society really needs such people.

The meaning of the work The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The books of the Russian classic Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky conquered the world with their deep psychologism, revealing the secrets of human souls and the constant need for the reader to make moral choices together with the heroes of the works. One of the most famous works is the novel “The Idiot,” in which Dostoevsky reflected his thoughts on human life, its difficulties, death and hope that never extinguishes in people who managed to become like the Creator.

The meaning of the book title Idiot

At first glance, the title of the book is offensive and disparaging. An idiot is a person of narrow mind, low mental abilities, different from other people. However, in this novel, the insulting status of the main character, Prince Myshkin, becomes a mirror for his environment, which reflects all the dirt and spiritual stinginess. The idiot turns out to be a holy fool - a man with pure thoughts, a naive belief in goodness and love, who stands in opposition to the hypocrisy and cruelty reigning around him.

The meaning of the book The Idiot

The main meaning of this novel lies in the idea that Dostoevsky carried throughout his work: true intelligence requires from a person not cunning, not money and not fame, but sincerity, meekness and true sacrificial love for loved ones. Madness is nothing more than the result of the decline of the human spirit, the absence of conscience and love. And there are many more crazy people in the world than normal people. A biblical motif can also be traced here; in the author’s words one can also read Jesus’ call to renounce the world, for real life on earth is impossible due to the Fall and man’s unwillingness to repent of his deeds.

The meaning of the ending of the work The Idiot

The transition from a state of mental health to madness that Prince Myshkin experienced can be interpreted in different ways. Perhaps this was his death: he forever “fell out” of the life around him, it became indifferent and inaccessible to him. On the other hand, this life led him to madness, and madness itself became salvation for the prince. There is no more evil, no more pain, no more deception, no more death. Catharsis, which plays an important role in all of Dostoevsky’s works, in “The Idiot” is that glimmer of hope that still remains for a person in a seemingly completely tragic situation.

“The Idiot” is an eternal reflection on purity and dirt, justice and dishonor, the price and importance of earthly life and the human soul. The author of the work tells readers with every word: everything in life has its price, only the human soul is priceless, therefore it must be protected as the most expensive treasure, despite all the difficulties and earthly temptations.

History of creation

Work on the novel began in April 1867 and lasted almost a year and a half. The creative impulse for the author was the case of the Umetsky family, where the parents were accused of child abuse.

1867 was a difficult time for the writer and his family. Dostoevsky was hiding from creditors, which forced him to go abroad. Another sad event was the death of a three-month-old daughter. Fyodor Mikhailovich and his wife experienced this tragedy very hard, but the agreement with the magazine “Russian Messenger” did not allow the creator to be overwhelmed by grief. Work on the novel completely absorbed the author. While in Florence, in January 1869, Dostoevsky completed his work, dedicating it to his niece S. A. Ivanova.

History of the work

F. M. Dostoevsky began work on the novel in 1867. After a year and a half, the work was ready for publication. The idea for the novel arose in connection with the Umetsky case, which was tried in Kashira in September 1867. The parents were accused of abusing their own children. Daughter Olga, at the age of 15, tried to set fire to the estate out of despair.

Tragic events also took place in the family of Fyodor Mikhailovich in 1867. The writer had many debts, his family was persecuted by creditors. Dostoevsky was forced to hide abroad. Around the same time, his three-month-old daughter died.

Close cooperation with the publication “Russian Messenger” helped Fyodor Mikhailovich survive grief; moreover, the writer was fascinated by the work on the novel “The Idiot”. The creation was completed while he was in Florence. The author dedicated it to his beloved niece Ivanova.

Genre, direction

In the second half of the 19th century, writers paid special attention to the novel genre. Various subgenres emerged related to direction, style, structure. Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" is one of the best examples of a philosophical novel. This type of prose arose during the Enlightenment in Western European literature. It is distinguished by its emphasis on the thoughts of the characters, the development of their ideas and concepts.

Dostoevsky was also much interested in exploring the inner world of the characters, which gives grounds to classify “The Idiot” as a psychological novel.

Prince Myshkin arrives from Switzerland to St. Petersburg. With a small bundle of things in his hands, dressed inappropriately for the weather, he goes to the Epanchins’ house, where he meets the general’s daughters and secretary Ganya. From him, Myshkin sees a portrait of Nastasya Filippovna, and later learns some details of her life.

The young prince stops at the Ivolgins, where he soon meets Nastasya herself. The girl’s patron woos her to Ganya and gives her a dowry of 70 thousand, which attracts a potential groom. But under Prince Myshkin, a bargaining scene takes place, where Rogozhin, another contender for the hand and heart of the beauty, takes part. The final price is one hundred thousand.

Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin is deeply touched by the beauty of Nastasya Filippovna, he comes to her that same evening. He meets many guests there: General Epanchin, Ferdyshchenko, Totsky, Ganya, and closer to night Rogozhin himself appears with a newspaper bundle containing the promised hundred thousand. The heroine throws money into the fire and leaves with her chosen one.

Six months later, the prince decides to visit Rogozhin at his house on Gorokhovaya Street. Parfyon and Lev Nikolaevich exchange crosses - now, with the blessing of Mother Rogozhin, they are brothers.

Three days after this meeting, the prince goes to Pavlovsk to Lebedev’s dacha. There, after one evening, Myshkin and Aglaya Epanchina agree to meet. After the date, the prince understands that he will fall in love with this girl, and a few days later Lev Nikolaevich is proclaimed her groom. Nastasya Filippovna writes a letter to Aglaya, where she convinces her to marry Myshkin. Soon after this, a meeting of the rivals takes place, after which the engagement of the prince and Aglaya is dissolved. Now society is looking forward to another wedding: Myshkin and Nastasya Filippovna.

Idiot

End of 1867. Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin arrives in St. Petersburg from Switzerland. He is twenty-six years old, the last of a noble noble family, he was orphaned early, fell ill with a severe nervous illness in childhood and was placed by his guardian and benefactor Pavlishchev in a Swiss sanatorium. He lived there for four years and is now returning to Russia with vague but big plans to serve her. On the train, the prince meets Parfen Rogozhin, the son of a wealthy merchant, who inherited a huge fortune after his death. From him the prince first hears the name of Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, the mistress of a certain rich aristocrat Totsky, with whom Rogozhin is passionately infatuated.

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Upon arrival, the prince with his modest bundle goes to the house of General Epanchin, whose wife, Elizaveta Prokofievna, is a distant relative. The Epanchin family has three daughters - the eldest Alexandra, the middle Adelaide and the youngest, the common favorite and beauty Aglaya. The prince amazes everyone with his spontaneity, trustfulness, frankness and naivety, so extraordinary that at first he is received very warily, but with increasing curiosity and sympathy. It turns out that the prince, who seemed like a simpleton, and to some even a cunning one, is very intelligent, and in some things he is truly profound, for example, when he talks about the death penalty he saw abroad. Here the prince also meets the extremely proud secretary of the general, Ganya Ivolgin, from whom he sees a portrait of Nastasya Filippovna. Her face of dazzling beauty, proud, full of contempt and hidden suffering, strikes him to the core.

The prince also learns some details: Nastasya Filippovna’s seducer Totsky, trying to free himself from her and hatching plans to marry one of the Epanchins’ daughters, wooed her to Ganya Ivolgin, giving her seventy-five thousand as a dowry. Ganya is attracted by money. With their help, he dreams of becoming one of the people and significantly increasing his capital in the future, but at the same time he is haunted by the humiliation of the situation. He would prefer a marriage with Aglaya Epanchina, with whom he may even be a little in love (although here, too, the possibility of enrichment awaits him). He expects the decisive word from her, making his further actions dependent on this. The prince becomes an involuntary mediator between Aglaya, who unexpectedly makes him her confidant, and Ganya, causing irritation and anger in him.

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Meanwhile, the prince is offered to settle not just anywhere, but in the Ivolgins’ apartment. Before the prince has time to occupy the room provided to him and become acquainted with all the inhabitants of the apartment, starting with Ganya’s relatives and ending with his sister’s fiancé, the young moneylender Ptitsyn and the master of incomprehensible occupations Ferdyshchenko, two unexpected events occur. None other than Nastasya Filippovna suddenly appears in the house, having come to invite Ganya and his loved ones to her place for the evening. She amuses herself by listening to the fantasies of General Ivolgin, which only heat up the atmosphere. Soon a noisy company appears with Rogozhin at the head, who lays out eighteen thousand in front of Nastasya Filippovna. Something like a bargaining takes place, as if with her mockingly contemptuous participation: is it her, Nastasya Filippovna, for eighteen thousand? Rogozhin is not going to retreat: no, not eighteen - forty. No, not forty - one hundred thousand!..

For Ganya’s sister and mother, what is happening is unbearably offensive: Nastasya Filippovna is a corrupt woman who should not be allowed into a decent home. For Ganya, she is a hope for enrichment. A scandal breaks out: Ganya’s indignant sister Varvara Ardalionovna spits in his face, he is about to hit her, but the prince unexpectedly stands up for her and receives a slap in the face from the enraged Ganya. “Oh, how ashamed you will be of your action!” - this phrase contains all of Prince Myshkin, all of his incomparable meekness. Even at this moment he has compassion for another, even for the offender. His next word, addressed to Nastasya Filippovna: “Are you as you now appear,” will become the key to the soul of a proud woman, deeply suffering from her shame and who fell in love with the prince for recognizing her purity.

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Captivated by Nastasya Filippovna's beauty, the prince comes to her in the evening. A motley crowd gathered here, starting with General Epanchin, also captivated by the heroine, to the jester Ferdyshchenko. To Nastasya Filippovna’s sudden question whether she should marry Ganya, he answers negatively and thereby destroys the plans of Totsky, who is also present. At half past eleven the bell rings and the old company appears, led by Rogozhin, who lays out one hundred thousand wrapped in newspaper in front of his chosen one.

And again, in the center is the prince, who is painfully wounded by what is happening, he confesses his love for Nastasya Filippovna and expresses his readiness to take her, “honest” and not “Rogozhin’s,” as his wife. Then it suddenly turns out that the prince received a rather substantial inheritance from his deceased aunt. However, the decision has been made - Nastasya Filippovna goes with Rogozhin, and throws the fatal bundle with a hundred thousand into the burning fireplace and invites Gana to get them from there. Ganya is holding back with all his strength so as not to rush after the flashing money; he wants to leave, but falls unconscious. Nastasya Filippovna herself snatches the packet with fireplace tongs and leaves the money to Gana as a reward for his torment (later it will be proudly returned to them).

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Six months pass. The prince, having traveled around Russia, in particular on inheritance matters, and simply out of interest in the country, comes from Moscow to St. Petersburg. During this time, according to rumors, Nastasya Filippovna ran away several times, almost from under the aisle, from Rogozhin to the prince, remained with him for some time, but then fled from the prince.

At the station, the prince feels someone’s fiery gaze on him, which torments him with a vague premonition. The prince pays a visit to Rogozhin in his dirty green, gloomy, prison-like house on Gorokhovaya Street. During their conversation, the prince is haunted by a garden knife lying on the table; he picks it up every now and then until Rogozhin finally takes it away in irritation. he has it (later Nastasya Filippovna will be killed with this knife). In Rogozhin’s house, the prince sees on the wall a copy of a painting by Hans Holbein, which depicts the Savior, just taken down from the cross. Rogozhin says that he loves to look at her, the prince screams in amazement that “... from this picture someone else’s faith may disappear,” and Rogozhin unexpectedly confirms this. They exchange crosses, Parfen leads the prince to his mother for a blessing, since they are now like siblings.

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Returning to his hotel, the prince suddenly notices a familiar figure at the gate and rushes after her to the dark narrow staircase. Here he sees the same sparkling eyes of Rogozhin as at the station, and a raised knife. At the same moment, the prince suffers an epileptic fit. Rogozhin runs away.

Three days after the seizure, the prince moves to Lebedev’s dacha in Pavlovsk, where the Epanchin family and, according to rumors, Nastasya Filippovna are also located. That same evening, a large company of acquaintances gathers with him, including the Epanchins, who decided to visit the sick prince. Kolya Ivolgin, Ganya’s brother, teases Aglaya as a “poor knight,” clearly hinting at her sympathy for the prince and arousing the painful interest of Aglaya’s mother Elizaveta Prokofyevna, so that the daughter is forced to explain that the poems depict a person who is capable of having an ideal and, having believed in it, to give his life for this ideal, and then with inspiration he reads Pushkin’s poem itself.

A little later, a company of young people appears, led by a certain young man Burdovsky, allegedly “the son of Pavlishchev.” They seem to be nihilists, but only, according to Lebedev, “they moved on, sir, because they are business people first of all.” A libel from a newspaper about the prince is read, and then they demand from him that, as a noble and honest man, he reward the son of his benefactor. However, Ganya Ivolgin, whom the prince instructed to take care of this matter, proves that Burdovsky is not Pavlishchev’s son at all. The company retreats in embarrassment, only one of them remains in the spotlight - the consumptive Ippolit Terentyev, who, asserting himself, begins to “orate.” He wants to be pitied and praised, but he is also ashamed of his openness; his enthusiasm gives way to rage, especially against the prince. Myshkin listens to everyone attentively, feels sorry for everyone and feels guilty before everyone.

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A few more days later, the prince visits the Epanchins, then the entire Epanchin family, together with Prince Evgeny Pavlovich Radomsky, who is caring for Aglaya, and Prince Shch., Adelaide’s fiancé, go for a walk. At the station not far from them another company appears, among which is Nastasya Filippovna. She familiarly addresses Radomsky, informing him of the suicide of his uncle, who squandered a large government sum. Everyone is outraged by the provocation. The officer, a friend of Radomsky, indignantly remarks that “here you just need a whip, otherwise you won’t get anything with this creature!” In response to his insult, Nastasya Filippovna cuts his face with a cane snatched from someone’s hands until it bleeds. The officer is about to hit Nastasya Filippovna, but Prince Myshkin holds him back.

At the celebration of the prince’s birthday, Ippolit Terentyev reads “My Necessary Explanation” written by him - a stunningly profound confession of a young man who almost did not live, but changed his mind a lot, doomed by illness to a premature death. After reading, he attempts suicide, but there is no primer in the pistol. The prince protects Hippolytus, who is painfully afraid of appearing funny, from attacks and ridicule.

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In the morning, on a date in the park, Aglaya invites the prince to become her friend. The prince feels that he truly loves her. A little later, in the same park, a meeting takes place between the prince and Nastasya Filippovna, who kneels before him and asks him if he is happy with Aglaya, and then disappears with Rogozhin. It is known that she writes letters to Aglaya, where she persuades her to marry the prince.

A week later, the prince was formally announced as Aglaya's fiancé. High-ranking guests are invited to the Epanchins for a kind of “bride” for the prince. Although Aglaya believes that the prince is incomparably higher than all of them, the hero, precisely because of her partiality and intolerance, is afraid to make the wrong gesture, remains silent, but then becomes painfully inspired, talks a lot about Catholicism as anti-Christianity, declares his love to everyone, breaks a precious Chinese vase and falls in another fit, making a painful and awkward impression on those present.

Aglaya makes an appointment with Nastasya Filippovna in Pavlovsk, to which she comes together with the prince. Besides them, only Rogozhin is present. The “proud young lady” sternly and hostilely asks what right Nastasya Filippovna has to write letters to her and generally interfere in her and the prince’s personal life. Offended by the tone and attitude of her rival, Nastasya Filippovna, in a fit of vengeance, calls on the prince to stay with her and drives Rogozhin away. The prince is torn between two women. He loves Aglaya, but he also loves Nastasya Filippovna - with love and pity. He calls her crazy, but is unable to leave her. The prince's condition is getting worse, he is plunging more and more into mental turmoil.

The wedding of the prince and Nastasya Filippovna is planned. This event is surrounded by all sorts of rumors, but Nastasya Filippovna seems to be joyfully preparing for it, writing out outfits and being either inspired or in causeless sadness. On the wedding day, on the way to the church, she suddenly rushes to Rogozhin standing in the crowd, who picks her up in his arms, gets into the carriage and takes her away.

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The next morning after her escape, the prince arrives in St. Petersburg and immediately goes to Rogozhin. He is not at home, but the prince imagines that Rogozhin seems to be looking at him from behind the curtain. The prince goes around to Nastasya Filippovna’s acquaintances, trying to find out something about her, returns to Rogozhin’s house several times, but to no avail: he doesn’t exist, no one knows anything. All day the prince wanders around the sultry city, believing that Parfen will certainly appear. And so it happens: Rogozhin meets him on the street and asks him in a whisper to follow him. In the house, he leads the prince to a room where in an alcove on a bed under a white sheet, furnished with bottles of Zhdanov’s liquid, so that the smell of decay is not felt, the dead Nastasya Filippovna lies.

The prince and Rogozhin spend a sleepless night together over the corpse, and when the next day they open the door in the presence of the police, they find Rogozhin rushing about in delirium and the prince calming him, who no longer understands anything and recognizes no one. Events completely destroy Myshkin's psyche and finally turn him into an idiot.

The main characters and their characteristics

Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin . In the drafts, the writer calls the protagonist Prince Christ. He is the central character and is opposed to all other heroes of the work. Myshkin interacts with almost all participants in the action. One of its main functions in the novel is to reveal the inner world of the characters. It is not difficult for him to call his interlocutor for a frank conversation, to find out his innermost thoughts. For many, communication with him is like confession.

There are more interesting characters in the book, but we don’t want to drag out the article too much, so if you need character characteristics that are not here, write about it in the comments. And she will appear.

Part one

Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin arrives by train in St. Petersburg from Switzerland. A young man comes to Russia because his guardian Pavlishchev has died. The man supported the young man abroad and provided funds for the treatment of his epilepsy.

After Pavlishchev’s death, the prince had no relatives left, except for his distant relative Elizaveta Prokofievna Epanchina (Myshkina). Lev Nikolaevich goes to her house for a visit.

On the train, the prince meets Parfen Rogozhin. This young man recently became the heir to his father's million-dollar fortune, and he can't wait to take over. Rogozhin is passionately in love with the beautiful princess Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova.

In the carriage, Myshkin also meets Lebedev, a forty-year-old official who is well aware of all the social events taking place in the city. Lebedev also knows that Nastasya Filippovna is now Totsky’s kept woman.

After arriving in St. Petersburg, Myshkin goes to Epanchin. There the prince receives a rather warm welcome. The general promises to place him in the office and places the guest in the house of his friend Nina Aleksandrovna Ivolgina. A woman rents out several furnished rooms. At the moment, only one of them is occupied in her apartment, where Ferdyshchenko lives.

At the general's, Myshkin also meets Ganya Ivolgin. The young man is the son of Nina Alexandrovna, a friend and employee of Epanchin. Ganya has a very difficult relationship with Nastasya Filippovna, already familiar to everyone. And the point is this.

Totsky, a middle-aged man with a substantial fortune, once, out of compassion, took upon himself responsibility for the fate of the two daughters of his neighbor Barashkov, who were left orphans. Soon the youngest of the girls died, but the eldest, Nastasya, blossomed over time and turned into a beautiful young lady.

Unable to resist the beauty of the girl, Totsky took her to the estate in Otradnoye, where he regularly visited. But now the man suddenly decided to marry Alexandra Epanchina, the general’s eldest daughter. His desire is unshakable, but Totsky does not know how to break his connection with Nastasya. And finally, he comes up with an interesting plan. Totsky decides to marry the girl to Ganya, offering her a dowry of 75 thousand rubles. Surprisingly, Nastasya takes this proposal quite calmly and takes time to think.

But General Epanchin’s wife is uneasy about this whole situation. She does not want to let Nastasya Filippovna close to her family. Lizaveta Prokofyevna sees her husband’s passion for this young lady. She knows that for her birthday the general prepared a gorgeous gift for the girl - expensive pearls.

In such a situation, Myshkin’s arrival comes in very handy for Epanchin. The general uses the guest to distract his wife and prevent a scandal. Myshkin’s spontaneity captivates the general’s wife and her eldest daughters, Alexandra and Adelaide. The youngest, the beautiful Aglaya, is at first quite wary of the prince, suspecting that he is not as simple as he seems.

Unexpectedly for himself, Myshkin becomes a participant in yet another triangle in the Epanchins’ house. Ganya, who is attracted only by material gain in marrying Nastasya Filippovna, writes a note to Aglaya. In this message, he asks the girl to say just the word so that he can cancel the engagement. He himself does not dare to do this.

Ganya takes out his anger at Aglaya’s refusal and returning the note to him on Myshkin. Since then, he begins to dislike the prince and often provokes scandals.

Myshkin settles with Ivolgina, where he meets her entire family and Ferdyshchenko. And then an unexpected event happens: Nastasya Filippovna comes to visit Gana. Nastasya meets Myshkin at the door and mistakes him for the doorman. At first she treats the prince arrogantly and mockingly, but then begins to look at him with growing interest.

Events thicken when Rogozhin appears next in the Ivolgins’ apartment. It turns out that Parfen has heard a rumor about Ganya’s matchmaking, and the hero, in desperation, decides to offer Nastasya Filippovna money for abandoning this idea. There is a kind of bargaining going on, which Nastasya herself conducts, raising her price. This behavior of hers outrages Varya, Ganya’s sister. The girl demands to take the “shameless woman” out of their house, for which she almost receives a slap in the face from her brother. She is saved from this by the intervention of Myshkin, who takes the blow himself.

Having endured the insult, the prince only tells Gana that he will be ashamed of his action. He addresses the following phrase to Nastasya Filippovna: “Are you really what you seemed to be now?”

The prince alone is able to discern in this vicious woman her true spiritual purity and see how she actually suffers from her shame. This opens Nastasya Filippovna's heart to love him. Myshkin himself has also long been in love with the beauty. In the evening he comes to Barashkova’s luxurious St. Petersburg apartment. A very diverse society has gathered here.

During the holiday, Nastasya Filippovna suddenly loudly asks Myshkin in front of everyone whether she should accept Ganya’s proposal. The prince gives a negative answer, and the girl decides that so be it.

Soon Rogozhin appears at Nastasya’s apartment. The young man brought the girl the promised hundred thousand. The scandal is flaring up with renewed vigor. But then, unexpectedly for everyone, Myshkin proposes to Nastasya and confesses his love to her. In addition, he reports that he is not at all as poor as everyone thinks, and has a substantial inheritance.

But Nastasya Filippovna, convinced of her depravity, still leaves with Rogozhin. Before leaving, she defiantly throws a bundle of money into the fire and invites the corrupt Ghana to get it with his bare hands. Ganya, trying to demonstrate the miracles of self-control, gets up and tries to leave the room, but faints. Then Nastasya Filippovna herself takes out the money with tongs and orders him to give it to Gana when he wakes up.

Topics and issues

The problems of the novel are very diverse. One of the main problems identified in the text is self-interest . The thirst for prestige, status, and wealth makes people commit vile acts, slander each other, and betray themselves. In the society described by Dostoevsky, it is impossible to achieve success without patrons, a noble name and money. In tandem with self-interest comes vanity, especially inherent in General Epanchin, Gan, and Totsky.
Since The Idiot is a philosophical novel, it develops a huge wealth of themes, an important one of which is religion . The author repeatedly addresses the topic of Christianity; the main character involved in this topic is Prince Myshkin. His biography includes some biblical allusions to the life of Christ, and he is given the function of "savior" in the novel. Mercy, compassion for one's neighbor, the ability to forgive - other heroes also learn this from Myshkin: Varya, Aglaya, Elizaveta Prokofievna.
Love is presented in the text in all its possible manifestations. Christian love, helping one's neighbor, family, friendly, romantic, passionate. In Dostoevsky's later diary entries, the main idea is revealed - to show three varieties of this feeling: Ganya is vain love, Rogozhin is passion, and the prince is Christian love.

Here, as with the characters, one can spend a long time analyzing the themes and issues. If you are still missing something specific, please write about it in the comments.

Direction and genre

In terms of genre, the work “The Idiot” can be characterized as a philosophical novel. This type of prose arose during the Enlightenment and flourished towards the middle and end of the 19th century, when many novelists experimented with style, delivery, structure and direction. Features characteristic of this genre:

emphasis on the worldview of the characters;
conceptual understanding of the fate of the heroes;
intellectual development;
analysis of certain phenomena of social life.

Dostoevsky paid attention to the maturation and internal development of the heroes, to the description of their inner world and experiences. By this criterion, “The Idiot” can be called a psychological novel. It is written using the means of artistic expression, while being imbued with the spirit of philosophical analysis.

the main idea

The main idea of Dostoevsky is to show the decomposition of Russian society in the layers of the intelligentsia. In these circles there is spiritual decline, philistinism, adultery, and double life - practically the norm. Dostoevsky sought to create a “beautiful man” who could show that kindness, justice and sincere love are still alive in this world. Prince Myshkin is endowed with such a mission. The tragedy of the novel lies in the fact that a person who strives to see only love and kindness in the modern world dies in it, being unadapted to life.

The meaning laid down by Dostoevsky is that people still need such righteous people who help them face themselves. In a conversation with Myshkin, the heroes get to know their souls and learn to open it to others. In a world of falsehood and hypocrisy, this is very necessary. Of course, it is very difficult for the righteous themselves to settle into society, but their sacrifice is not in vain. They understand and feel that at least one corrected fate, at least one caring heart awakened from indifference is already a great victory.

Criticism

Some contemporaries called the novel “The Idiot” fantastic, which caused the writer’s indignation, since he considered it the most realistic work. Among researchers over the years, from the creation of the book to the present day, various definitions of this work have arisen and continue to arise. Thus, V.I. Ivanov and K. Mochulsky call “The Idiot” a tragedy novel, Yu. Ivask uses the term evangelical realism, and L. Grossman considers this work a novel-poem. Another Russian thinker and critic M. Bakhtin explored the phenomenon of polyphonism in Dostoevsky’s work; he also considered “The Idiot” to be a polyphonic novel, where several ideas are developed in parallel and several voices of the characters are heard.

It is noteworthy that Dostoevsky’s novel arouses interest not only among Russian researchers, but also among foreign ones. The writer’s work is especially popular in Japan. For example, critic T. Kinoshita notes the great influence of Dostoevsky’s prose on Japanese literature. The writer drew attention to the inner world of man, and Japanese authors willingly followed his example. For example, the legendary writer Kobo Abe called Fyodor Mikhailovich his favorite writer.

Sources:

https://sochinimka.ru/sochinenie/po-literature/dostoevskij/analiz-idiot https://kakoy-smysl.ru/meaning-book/smysl-proizvedeniya-idiot-fyodor-dostoevskij/ https://literaguru.ru /analiz-romana-idiot-fm-dostoevskij/