The Idiot

During its reception history, The Idiot has been evaluated by commentators in opposing terms. Some consider it one of Dostoevsky's best novels, others a literary failure and, indeed, The Idiot it is an ambivalent novel. The main character, Lev Myshkin, is psychologically interesting and he personifies a high ethical ideal, but he is not the Christ-like figure or the moral force the author intended him to be.

Neither does the structure of The Idiot help to strengthen Myshkin's character as lifelike. The first part has an improbable time scale: it covers one day, in which Myshkin, who must be dead tired and out of sorts after four days in a third-class compartment of a steam train from Switzerland to St Petersburg, has various meetings on arrival and long conversations in different places, becomes involved in a love intrigue, visits a party and is engaged in verbal peace-keeping until late at night. In comparison with the other characters, Parfyon Rogozhin, Nastasya Barashkova and Aglaya Epanchina, with their effervescent zest for living, Lev Myshkin appears as a passive person who becomes involved in events that originate outside his own world. But this is largely only appearance. As Sarah Young, in her study of The Idiot has shown, Myshkin has a major effect on the course of events through the ‘active expression’ of his compassion and humility. Through his originality, he even has ‘a plot-defining script’ to offer, right up to the final failure.