What Makes The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky a Good Book?
The Idiot is one of the greatest works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, which was written in 19th century. Fyodor Dostoevsky is a famous Russian writer, who left after him some immortal works, which show us that some things never die and do not lose their value, but stay in hearts of generations of people. The author managed to combine in The Idiot different problems, not only of his time, but also some moral, social and religious aspects of human soul, that we can observe even nowadays. Despite the fact it was written such a long time ago, we can confirm that this book has not lost its deep meaning and is actual in modern world.
The main hero of this book is Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, who spent several years in Swiss sanatorium and now is going to Saint Petersburgh. Myshkin is very kind and honest, his actions are full of kindness and love to people. Main hero is an image of faith and Christianity. Myshkin is an opposing viewpoint of ideal person to the disgusting world of indifferent society of people whose biggest cares in this world are their own needs, money and domination.
Soon after coming to Petersburgh, Myshkin finds himself in a circle of new people with their dirty affairs. Prince is getting acquainted with Rogozhin, who wants to marry Nastassya Barashkov, but his intentions aren’t clear. Some time after it Myshkin meets Gavril Ivolgin and then he realizes that this man also wants to marry Nastassya, but not because of love to her. Totsky promised to give Ivolgin 75 thousand rubles if he would marry Nastassya. Being very naïve and kind, Myshkin cannot realize how this world could be so spoilt. When the moment of Nastassya’s decision came, Myshkin found out that he has some real feelings to Nastassya and offers her to marry him. Nastassya was deeply touched by this proposal, but decided to run away with Rogozhin. Next 6 months Nastassya was suffering, Rogozhin confessed to beating her, what completely confused Myshkin. The main hero spent a lot of time in Yepanchin’s house and fell in love with Aglaya. It was a romantic love, something totally different from the feelings that he felt to Nastassya. That is how, Prince appeared in a center of struggle. Not only between two women, but also between two different feelings: romantic love to Aglaya and compassionate feelings to Nastassya.
The main tragedy of this book is Nastassya’s death. Rogozhin killed her, but Myshkin feels moral responsibility for it. As it is said in the book “beauty will save the world.” I think, the author means not only beauty of the body, but also a beauty of the soul. Myshkin is a bright example of ideal person, but even he could not save the life of innocent Nastassya. It means that beauty is dying in our world and has lost its value. Dostoevsky wrote that ‘’the main idea of novel is to create a positive, wonderful personality…What is actually the hardest task in the world, especially nowadays.’’ Myshkin got in the world of affairs and betrayal, for this society, he was an idiot, somebody who did not fit their way of life, who didn’t understand their dishonesty, unhealthy desire for money and selfishness. Dostoyevsky wants to pay our attention to disappearance of kindness. Moral qualities are becoming rare and strange.
To sum it up, I can confidently say that The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a good book. It is really instructive and actual. Author predicted degradation of society and created this book to prevent us from evil. It does not mean that everyone should be perfect, but each person has to try to conquer evil, which raises in his soul. Myshkin is an example of person who managed to save all good qualities in himself and we are responsible for doing everything possible to do the same. Only in this case we can change the world.
