The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky — Reflection
on Book Review
I found strange parallels between myself and Prince Myshkin while reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Reading The Idiot feels like diving into the strange world painted with unique characters that are so intriguing, at times ridiculous, and in a sense so otherworldly.
Where on earth will you find The Prince Myshkin, who’s idealistic in the aspect of love and everything that comprises life, and goes so far as to understand even the most destroyed soul. His presence in such a world is analogous to the illuminating light in the dark, misty, and cold world where the wind’s sole purpose is to extinguish the light from its very existence. But rather, the extravagant beings of this obscure world often come face to face with their true self. They are taken aback by the simplicity and generosity of Prince Myshkin that they often disregard him as The Idiot.
The most intriguing and complex scenario that I came across in this book was when the Prince had to choose between his romantic love and compassionate love. To me, Dostoevsky beautifully painted both of them throughout the story. And therefore sparks my curiosity to discover the characters of Aglaya Yepanchin and Nastassya Filippovna in depth.
Aglaya Yepanchin is Prince Myshkin’s romantic love interest, and to her delight, he had also proposed to her formally. She is egoistic and childish in her actions and often seems to contradict what she feels when affronted. Her rival to Nastassya ultimately leads to the demise of all.
Nastassya Filipponvna, is a fallen angel. An angel cursed with beauty and intelligence, enough to freak out the dark world where it resides. The world surrounding her would call her an extremely impulsive and passionate character. Only Prince could see the infinite pain that she’d suffered, which has made her delirious and nearly driven her to absolute madness. Tell me would you pity such a character who’d drive you nearly crazy with her impulsive and passionate actions? If you’d see beneath the surface, then you’d notice the beauty that’s wronged by the malfeasance of the world. Where she shall see herself as unworthy of love and respect, she proposes to marry Ganya and then Rogozhin because she knew one hated her from the bottom of his heart. The other loved her in the all-devouring passion that often approaches hatred and destruction. And if you ask the prince the consequence of both of these marriages, then he’d tell you that one would murder her immediately after receiving the money and the other would murder her on the instant he marries her and would then live in cold Siberia living his capital punishment. Both of them seem so drastic on Prince’s part, but they reflect so much of the Ganya’s and Rogozhin’s character. As for Nastassya, it’s perfectly what she wants for herself. Though she loves the Prince very deeply, she cannot bring herself to destroy his life by marrying him as he’s too pure for her and her only destiny is to be ruined by those men. In my perspective, she’s a very dark character, and I can truly understand the strong, compassionate love of Prince for her.
I was heartbroken to see Prince Myshkin let go of Agalya without much saying, and things never really got cleared between them, and the reason why he stayed with Nastassya. Nastassya, though thinking she loved the Prince quite deeply, never really regarded Prince’s or Agalaya’s happiness more than she despised her own shame. She was blinded by ruining herself that even in letting go of Prince to Agalaya, she herself became the reason for their separation. But not one character is to be blamed for all the complexities in Prince’s life. It was what we call an aggregate of all the vices that exist as a society, from sinners to habitual liars and superficial people and even murderers. All played their role well in driving this turbulence in Prince’s life.
Dostoevsky painted a perfect picture in my mind regarding that of a child committing an offense against their parents and then confessing the same for their moral support and affection as though no one in this world can truly understand them except Prince Myshkin. I cannot agree more, but Prince could imagine their pain and confusion and nevertheless resonate with them and could do nothing but rather be compassionate. Alas, his selfless compassion couldn’t save the ones he truly loved.
The poor Prince was already torn between his strongly compassionate love and Romantic love. Analogous to darkness with whom he shared the pain and the light whom he dreamed timelessly. Would you’ve chosen light instead? The truth is the world rejoices in the light, and darkness is forever to stay in silence. The Prince knew this well, and hence he could love both of them passionately. But he couldn’t save any of them from the ruins and ultimately loses himself in this attempt.
This is just one of the strong ideas that I explored in this book, and you’d likely find a uniquely interesting one from the philosophical point of view. But isn’t this so true to be torn apart in certain scenarios and endlessly wondering the Road not Taken?