I think he was simply too good and too naïve for the world around him. One time I actually said “Oh, you are an idiot!” But then I felt bad. Then towards the end of the novel, I even ended up calling him an idiot a few times. I got pissed off when people would laugh at him or call him an idiot. I admit that in the beginning and throughout much of the novel I felt intensely protective of Prince Myshkin. And what a money-hungry, power-hungry, cold and manipulative society it is. Where Crime and Punishment deals with Raskolnikov’s internal struggle, The Idiot deals with Prince Myshkin’s effect on the society he finds himself a part of. The only other Dostoevsky novel I’ve read was Crime and Punishment, so of course my brain is going to compare the two. Of course the prince gets caught up with Rogozhin, Filippovna, and the society around them. Rogozhin is unhealthily obsessed with the mysterious beauty, Nastasya Filippovna to the point where the reader just knows nothing good will come of it. While on the train to Russia, he meets and befriends a man of dubious character called Rogozhin. The Idiot portrays young, childlike Prince Myshkin, who returns to his native Russia to seek out distant relatives after he has spent several years in a Swiss sanatorium. I’m struggling with something: How do I review a Russian literature classic? Better yet, how do I review a Russian literature classic without sounding like a total dumbass? (Hint: It’s probably not going to happen.)įirst I suppose a short plot synopsis should be in order: I’ve been trying to review this book for over a week now, but I can’t.

Dostoevsky novel the idiot