The Idiot

"The Idiot" is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868 novel which tells the story of Prince Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin who, after a long absence, returns to Russia from Switzerland where he sought treatment for his epilepsy. The story is primarily a tragic tale of the struggle for the love of a woman, Nastasya Filippovna, between Myshkin and Rogozhin, a dark and impassioned man that the Prince meets on the train to St. Petersburg. "The Idiot" is a classic tale of the conflict between good and evil. On the one hand Prince Myshkin represents Dostoyevksy's attempt to portray a Christ-like "positively good man" which is sharply contrasted with not only the dark and roguish character of Rogozhin but also with the nature of Russian upper-class society depicted in the novel.