Roman idiot summary main idea. "Idiot" Dostoevsky: a detailed analysis of the novel

A novel in four parts

Part one

I

At the end of November, during the thaw, at nine o'clock in the morning, the train of the Petersburg-Warsaw railway approached Petersburg at full speed. It was so damp and foggy that it was hardly dawn; ten paces to the right and left of the road, it was difficult to see anything from the windows of the car. Of the passengers were those returning from abroad; but the compartments for the third class were more filled, and all with petty and businesslike people, not from very far away. Everyone, as usual, was tired, everyone's eyes were heavy during the night, everyone was cold, all their faces were pale yellow, the color of fog. In one of the carriages of the third class, from dawn, found themselves facing each other, at the very window, two passengers both young people, both almost light, both not smartly dressed, both with rather remarkable physiognomies, and both who wished, at last, to enter with each other into conversation. If they both knew one about the other, in what way they are especially remarkable at this moment, then, of course, they would be surprised that chance had so strangely placed them opposite each other in the third-class carriage of the St. Petersburg-Warsaw train. One of them was short, about twenty-seven, curly-haired and almost black-haired, with grey, small, but fiery eyes. His nose was broad and flattened, his face was cheeky; thin lips were constantly folded into some kind of insolent, mocking and even evil smile; but his forehead was high and well formed, and brightened up the ignoblely developed lower part of the face. Particularly noticeable in this face was his deathly pallor, which gave the whole physiognomy of the young man a haggard look, despite his rather strong build, and at the same time something passionate, to the point of suffering, not in harmony with his impudent and rude smile and with his sharp, self-satisfied look. . He was warmly dressed in a wide, lambskin black covered sheepskin coat, and did not get chilly during the night, while his neighbor was forced to endure on his shivering back all the sweetness of a damp Russian November night, for which he was obviously not prepared. He was wearing a rather wide and thick cloak without sleeves and with a huge hood, exactly as travellers, in winter, are often used somewhere far abroad, in Switzerland or, for example, in Northern Italy, not counting, of course, at the same time, and to such ends along the road as from Eidtkunen to St. Petersburg. But what was suitable and quite satisfying in Italy turned out to be not entirely suitable in Russia. The owner of the cloak with a hood was a young man, also about twenty-six or twenty-seven, a little above average height, very blond, thick hair, sunken cheeks and a light, pointed, almost completely white beard. His eyes were large, blue and intent; in their eyes there was something quiet, but heavy, something full of that strange expression by which some people guess at first glance in the subject epilepsy. The young man's face was, however, pleasant, thin and dry, but colorless, and now even blue-chilled. In his hands dangled a skinny bundle made of an old, faded foulard, containing, it seems, all his travel possessions. On his feet were thick-soled shoes with boots, everything is not in Russian. A dark-haired neighbor in a covered sheepskin coat saw all this, partly because he had nothing better to do, and finally asked with that indelicate smile in which human pleasure is sometimes expressed so unceremoniously and casually at the failures of one’s neighbor: Chilly? And shrugged. Very much, the neighbor answered with extreme readiness, and, mind you, it is still a thaw. What if it was cold? I didn't even think it was that cold here. Weaned. From abroad, or what? Yes, from Switzerland. Phew! Eh, after all, you! .. The black haired man whistled and chuckled. A conversation ensued. The readiness of the blond young man in the Swiss cloak answered all the questions of his Black Maza neighbor was amazing and without any suspicion of perfect negligence, inappropriateness and idleness of other issues. Answering, he announced, among other things, that he really had not been in Russia for a long time, more than four years, that he had been sent abroad due to illness, for some strange reason. nervous disease, like falling or witt dance, some kind of trembling and convulsions. Listening to him, the black -haired grinned several times; he especially laughed when he asked: “Well, have you been cured?” the blond answered that “no, they didn’t cure it.” Heh! The money must have been overpayed for nothing, but we believe them here, the black-fashioned one sarcastically remarked. — true truth! one ill-dressed gentleman, who was sitting nearby, got involved in the conversation, something like a scrawny official in the clerkship, about forty years old, strong build, with a red nose and a pimply face, true truth-, only all Russian forces are transferring to themselves for nothing! Oh, how wrong you are in my case, the Swiss patient picked up in a quiet and reconciling voice, of course, I can’t argue, because I don’t know everything, but my doctor gave me one of his last ones on the way here and almost two years there kept at his own expense. Well, there was no one to pay, or what? The black man asked. Yes, Mr. Pavlishchev, who kept me there, died two years ago; Later I wrote here to General Yepanchina, my distant relative, but received no answer. So with that, he came. Where did you come to? That is, where will I stop? .. Yes, I don’t know yet, right ... so ... Haven't decided yet? And both listeners laughed again. And I suppose your whole essence lies in this bundle? The black man asked. I am ready to bet that it is so, the red-nosed official picked up with an extremely pleased look, and that there is no further luggage in the baggage cars, although poverty is not a vice, which again cannot be overlooked. It turned out that this was also the case: the fair-haired young man immediately and with unusual haste admitted this. Your bundle still has some significance, the official continued when they had had their fill of laughter (it is remarkable that the owner of the bundle himself finally began to laugh, looking at them, which increased their gaiety), and although you can fight that it does not lie foreign gold bundles with napoleondors and friedrichsdores, lower with Dutch arapchiks, which can still be concluded even if only by the boots that envelop your foreign shoes, but ... if you add to your bundle in addition such an alleged relative, like, approximately, a general's wife Yepanchin, then the knot will take on some other meaning, of course, only if General Yepanchina is really a relative of you and you are not mistaken, out of absent-mindedness ... which is very, very characteristic of a person, well, at least ... from an excess of imagination. Oh, you guessed it again, the blond young man picked up, I really am almost mistaken, that is, almost not a relative; even to the point that, really, I was not at all surprised then that they did not answer me there. That's what I was waiting for. They spent the money for the franking of the letter for nothing. Hm ... at least they are simple-hearted and sincere, and this is commendable! Hm ... we know General Yepanchin, sir, actually, because he is a well-known person; and the late Mr. Pavlishchev, who supported you in Switzerland, was also known, sir, if only it was Nikolai Andreevich Pavlishchev, because their two cousins. The other is still in the Crimea, and Nikolai Andreevich, the deceased, was a respectable man, and with connections, and four thousand souls at one time had, sir ... That's right, his name was Nikolai Andreevich Pavlishchev, and, answering, the young man looked intently and inquisitively at Mr. know-it-all. These gentlemen of the know-it-all meet sometimes, even quite often, in a certain social stratum. They know everything, all the restless inquisitiveness of their minds and abilities rush irresistibly in one direction, of course, in the absence of more important vital interests and views, as a modern thinker would say. By the word “everyone knows,” one must understand, however, a rather limited area: where such and such serves, with whom he is familiar, how much fortune he has, where he was governor, to whom he was married, how much he took for his wife, who is his cousin, who are second cousins, etc., etc., and everything like that. For the most part, these know-it-alls walk around with skinned elbows and receive seventeen rubles a month's salary. People about whom they know all the ins and outs, of course, would not have figured out what interests guide them, and yet many of them are positively consoled by this knowledge, which is equal to a whole science, they achieve self-respect and even the highest spiritual contentment. Yes, science is fascinating. I saw scientists, writers, poets, politicians who acquired and acquired in the same science their highest reconciliations and goals, even positively making a career only by this. Throughout this conversation, the black man yawned, looked at the window without a target and was looking forward to the end of the trip. He was somehow distracted, something very absent-minded, almost alarmed, he even became somehow strange: sometimes he listened and did not listen, looked and did not look, laughed and sometimes he himself did not know and did not understand why he was laughing. Excuse me, with whom I have the honor... young man with a knot. Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin, he answered with complete and immediate readiness. Prince Myshkin? Lev Nikolaevich? I don't know. So I didn’t even hear it, the official answered in thought, that is, I’m not talking about the name, the name is historical, you can and should find in Karamzin’s “History”, I’m talking about the face, sir, and the princes Myshkins are already something is not found anywhere, even the rumor has died down, sir. Oh, of course! the prince immediately answered, now there are no princes of the Myshkins at all, except for me; I think I'm the last one. And as for the fathers and grandfathers, they were with us and the same palace. My father was, however, a lieutenant in the army, from the junkers. Yes, I don’t know how General Yepanchina ended up also from the Myshkin princesses, also the last of her kind ... He-he-he! The last of its kind! Hehe! How did you turn it around, the official giggled. The black man chuckled too. The fair-haired man was somewhat surprised that he managed to say, however, a rather bad pun. And imagine, I said it without thinking at all, he finally explained in surprise. Yes, it’s understandable, sir, it’s understandable, the official assented cheerfully. And what did you, prince, study sciences there, with a professor? the black man suddenly asked. Yes... studied... But I never learned anything. Why, I’m like that too, just for something, the prince added, almost in apology. Due to illness, they did not find it possible to teach me systematically. Do you know the Rogozhins? The black -haired asked quickly. No, I don't know, not at all. I know very few people in Russia. Are you Rogozhin? Yes, I, Rogozhin, Parfyon. Parfen? Yes, these are not the same Rogozhins ... the official began with heightened importance. Yes, those who quickly and with impatient impatience were interrupted by the black -haired, who, however, had never addressed the opposed official, but from the very beginning, he spoke only to one prince. Yes... how is it? the official was surprised to the point of tetanus and almost bulged his eyes, whose whole face immediately began to take shape in something reverent, and obsequious, even frightened, this is the same Semyon Parfenovich Rogozhin, a hereditary honorary citizen, who died a month ago and two and a half million capital left? And how did you know that he left two and a half million net worth? He interrupted the black -haired, not awarding this time to look at the official. Look after all! (he winked at him to the prince) and what's the use of this only to them, that they immediately climb in like henchmen? And it’s true that my parent died, and in a month I’m going home from Pskov almost without boots. Neither the brother, the scoundrel, nor the mother, nor the money, nor the notification sent anything! Like a dog! He lay in a fever in Pskov for the whole month. And now you have to get a millionaire with more than once, and this at least, oh my God! The official threw up his hands. Well, what is he, tell me, please! Rogozhin nodded irritably and angrily at him again, after all, I won’t give you a penny, even though you walk upside down in front of me here. And I will, and I will walk. Vish! Why, I won’t give it, I won’t give it, if you like, dance for a whole week! And don't! That's what I need; do not give! And I will dance. I will leave my wife and small children, and I will dance in front of you. Flatter, flatter! Fie you! The black -haired spat. Five weeks ago, I, like you, he turned to the prince, ran away with one bundle from a parent to Pskov, to his aunt; Yes, he fell ill with a fever, and he would die without me. Kondrashka hurt. Eternal memory to the deceased, but he almost killed me then to death! Do you believe it, prince, by God! If I hadn't run away, I would have killed you. Did you annoy him in any way? the prince replied with some special curiosity, examining the millionaire in the sheepskin coat. But although there could be something noteworthy in the million itself and in receiving the inheritance, the prince was surprised and interested in something else; and Rogozhin himself, for some reason, especially willingly took the prince as his interlocutor, although he seemed to need companionship more mechanically than morally; somehow more from absent-mindedness than from simplicity of heart; from anxiety, from excitement, just to look at someone and bang your tongue about something. It seemed that he was still in a fever, and at least in a fever. As for the official, he just hung over Rogozhin, did not dare to breathe, caught and weighed every word, as if he were looking for a diamond. He got angry, yes, maybe he should have, answered Rogozhin, but my brother drove me most of all. There is nothing to say about mother, an old woman, Cheti-Minei reads, sits with old women, and that Senka-brother will decide, so be it. Why didn't he let me know? We understand! It's true, I was unconscious at the time. Also, they say, the telegram was launched. Yes, a telegram to your aunt and come. And she has been a widow there for the thirtieth year and has been sitting with the holy fools from morning till night. A nun is not a nun, but even worse. She was frightened of the telegrams, and without opening them, she presented them to the unit, and so she lay there until now. Only Konev, Vasily Vasilyich, helped out, wrote everything off. From the cover of the brocade on the coffin of the parent, at night, the brother cut off cast, golden brushes: “They, they say, what money they cost.” Why, he can go to Siberia for that alone, if I want to, because it is sacrilege. Hey you scarecrow pea! He turned to the official. How according to the law: blasphemy? Sacrilege! Sacrilege! The official immediately agreed. For this to Siberia? To Siberia, to Siberia! Immediately to Siberia! They all think that I am still ill, continued Rogozhin to the prince, and I, without saying a word, slowly, still ill, got into the car and went: open the gate, brother Semyon Semyonitch! He told the deceased parent about me, I know. And that I really irritated my parent then through Nastasya Filippovna is true. Here I am alone. Confused sin. Through Nastasya Filippovna? obsequiously said the official, as if thinking something. But you don't know! Rogozhin shouted at him impatiently. An u know! the official answered triumphantly. Evona! How little Nastasy Filippovna! And what an impudent you are, I'll tell you, creature! Well, that's how I knew that some kind of creature like that would immediately hang! he continued to the prince. An, maybe I know, sir! The official hesitated. Lebedev knows! You, Your Grace, would like to reproach me, but what if I prove it? This same Nastasya Filippovna is the one through whom your parent wished to inspire you with a viburnum staff, and Nastasya Filippovna is Barashkova, even a noble lady, so to speak, and also a princess in her own way, but she knows a certain Totsky, with Afanasy Ivanovich, with one exclusively , a landowner and a capitalist, a member of companies and societies, and a great friendship on this score with General Yepanchin leading ... Ege, that's what you are! Rogozhin was really surprised at last. Ugh, hell, but he really knows. He knows everything! Lebedev knows everything! I, Your Grace, traveled with Aleksashka Likhachev for two months, and also after the death of a parent, and I know everything, that is, I know all the corners and alleyways, and without Lebedev, it came to the point that not a single step. Now he is present in the debt department, and then Armans, and Koralia, and Princess Patskaya, and Nastasya Filippovna had the opportunity to learn, and he had the opportunity to learn a lot of things. Nastasya Filippovna? But is she with Likhachev ... Rogozhin looked angrily at him, even his lips turned pale and trembled. N-nothing! N-n-nothing! How to eat nothing! the official caught himself and hurried up as soon as possible, n-no, that is, Likhachev could not get there with money! No, it's not like Armance. There is only one Totsky. Yes, in the evening in Big Ali in French theater sits in his own box. The officers there say little among themselves, but even they cannot prove anything: “here, they say, this is the same Nastasya Filippovna,” and nothing more; but about the next nothing! Because there is nothing. That's all the way it is, Rogozhin confirmed gloomily and frowning, Zalezhev also told me then. I then, prince, in my father's third-day bekesh ran across the Nevsky, and she left the store, got into the carriage. So I got burned here. I meet Zalezhev, he is not a match for me, he walks like a clerk from a hairdresser, and a lorgnette in his eye, and we were different from a parent in oily boots and on lean cabbage soup. This, he says, is not a couple for you, this, he says, is a princess, but her name is Nastasya Filippovna, the last name is Barashkova, and she lives with Totsky, and Totsky now doesn’t know how to get rid of her, because, that is, she has reached real years, fifty-five, and wants to marry the most beautiful woman in all Petersburg. Then he inspired me that today you can Nastasya Filippovna in Bolshoi Theater see, in the ballet, in his box, in the benoir, he will sit. With us, with a parent, try to go to the ballet, one reprisal will kill! However, I ran away quietly for an hour and saw Nastasya Filippovna again; didn't sleep all that night. The next morning, the dead man gives me two five-percent tickets, five thousand each, go, they say, and sell it, and take seven thousand five hundred to the Andreevs’ office, pay, and imagine the rest of the change from ten thousand, without going anywhere, imagine to me; I will wait for you. I sold the tickets, took the money, but I didn’t go to the Andreevs’ office, but went, without looking anywhere, to the English store and for all the pair of pendants and chose one diamond in each, that way it’ll be almost like a nut, four hundred rubles should have stayed, said the name, believed. With pendants, I went to Zalezhev: so and so, let's go, brother, to Nastasya Filippovna. Let's go. What is under my feet then, what is in front of me, what is on the sides - I do not know and do not remember anything. They entered the hall directly to her, she herself came out to us. That is, I didn’t say then that I myself am; and “from Parfyon, they say, Rogozhin,” Zalezhev says, “to you in memory of yesterday’s meeting; kindly accept." She opened it, looked, grinned: “Thank you, she says, to your friend Mr. Rogozhin for his kind attention,” she bowed and left. Well, that's why I didn't die here then! Yes, if he went, it was because he thought: “It doesn’t matter, I won’t return alive!” And the most insulting of all, it seemed to me that this beast Zalezhev appropriated everything for himself. I’m small in stature, and dressed like a lackey, and I stand, I’m silent, I stare at her, because I’m ashamed, and he, in all fashion, in lipstick and curled, ruddy, a checkered tie, She probably took it here instead of me! “Well, I say, as we left, you don’t dare to think here now, you understand!” He laughs: “But how are you going to give an account to Semyon Parfenych now?” True, I wanted to go into the water at the same time, without going home, but I thought: “After all, it doesn’t matter,” and, like a cursed one, returned home. Eh! Wow! the official grimaced, and even trembled him, and after all, the dead man lived for the next world not only for ten thousand, but for ten rubles, he nodded to the prince. The prince examined Rogozhin with curiosity; he seemed even paler at that moment. Lived! Rogozhin spoke up. What do you know? Immediately, he continued to the prince, he found out about everything, and Zalezhev went to chat with everyone he met. My parent took me, and locked me upstairs, and lectured for an hour. “It’s just me, he says, I’m preparing you, but I’ll come in with you for another night to say goodbye.” What do you think? He went gray-haired to Nastasya Filippovna, bowed to her earthly, begged and wept; She finally brought him a box, slammed: “Here, he says, you, old beard, your earrings, and they are now ten times more expensive for me, if Parfyon got them from under such a thunderstorm. Bow down, he says, and thank Parfyon Semyonitch. Well, and this time, with my mother’s blessing, I got twenty rubles from Seryozhka Protushin and drove to Pskov by car and set off, but I arrived in a fever; the old women began to read me there with the holy calendar, and I was sitting drunk, and then I went to the last taverns, but in insensibility all night on the street and lay around, but by morning I had a fever, and in the meantime the dogs gnawed more during the night. Violently woke up. Well, well, well, now Nastasya Filippovna will sing with us! rubbing his hands, the official chuckled, now, sir, what a pendant! Now we will reward such pendants ... And the fact that if you say a word about Nastasya Filippovna at least once, then, God, I’ll flog you, even if you went with Likhachev, cried Rogozhin, tightly grabbing his hand. And if you carve, then you will not reject! Seki! Carved, and thereby captured ... And here they are! Indeed, they entered the railway station. Although Rogozhin said that he left quietly, several people were already waiting for him. They shouted and waved their hats at him. Look, and Zalezhev is here! Rogozhin muttered, looking at them with a triumphant and even, as it were, malicious smile, and suddenly turned to the prince. Prince, I don't know why I fell in love with you. Maybe because at that moment I met him, but, after all, I met him (he pointed to Lebedev), but he didn’t fall in love with him. Come to me, prince. We'll take off those boots from you, I'll dress you in the best fur coat, I'll sew you the best tailcoat, a white waistcoat or whatever you like, I'll stuff my pockets full of money, and ... we'll go to Nastasya Filippovna! Are you coming or not? Pay attention, Prince Lev Nikolaevich! Lebedev added impressively and solemnly. Oh, don't miss out! Oh don't miss out! Prince Myshkin half rose, politely held out his hand to Rogozhin, and kindly said to him: I will come with the greatest pleasure and thank you very much for loving me. I might even come today, if I have time. Therefore, I will tell you frankly, I liked you very much, and especially when they talked about diamond pendants. Even before you liked the pendants, although you have a gloomy face. I also thank you for the dresses you promised me and for the fur coat, because I really need a dress and a fur coat soon. I have almost no money at the moment. There will be money, by the evening there will be, come! They will, they will, picked up the official, by evening, before dawn, they will! And before the female sex, you, prince, are a great hunter? Tell me before! I, n-n-no! I, after all... Perhaps you don't know, because I don't even know women at all due to my congenital illness. Well, if so, Rogozhin exclaimed, you, prince, are coming out a holy fool, and God loves people like you! And God loves such people, picked up the official. And you follow me, line, Rogozhin said to Lebedev, and everyone got out of the car. Lebedev ended up achieving his goal. Soon the noisy gang left in the direction of Voznesensky Prospekt. The prince had to turn towards Liteiny. It was damp and wet; The prince asked passers-by, to the end of the path ahead of him, it was about three versts, and he decided to take a cab.

Dostoevsky is convinced that the bearer of goodness and love, a high and undeniable ethical and aesthetic ideal can become the salvation of an individual and all of humanity. Engaging in polemics with the enlighteners of the 18th century, who focused on a reasonable beginning in the process of finding happiness for people, as well as with Russian radical democrats, who relied on decisive actions and deeds on the path of transformation public life, Dostoevsky painted a hero who would influence people with his compassion, his boundless love, faith and readiness for the conscious "self-sacrifice of all of himself for the benefit of all." Ideality central hero The novel is felt by almost all of its characters. General Ivolgin exclaims: “Prince, you are noble as an ideal! What are others before you? » The pathos inherent in this character is combined in this statement with sincere admiration.

"Idiot" (Dostoevsky) : the meaning of the name

Why did Dostoevsky's work turn out to be called such a strange and shocking reader word - "Idiot"? The latter has several meanings taken into account by the writer. One of them is used in everyday life and has a swearing character. In this regard, it is used by "other" characters, often in irritation, in their hearts, by people who are not able to understand him, to whom he seems to be a stranger. However, these characters feel the conventionality of such word usage, its offensive sound for a person who, in terms of his intellect, is much higher than such as General Yepanchin or Ganya Ivolgin. Another meaning of this word is folk. In this case, it is close to such designations as "wretched", "holy fool", "God's man". The third value is associated with Myshkin's disease, severe epilepsy, nervous breakdown, insanity, or, conversely, excitability. These diseases struck the young man back in Russia, as a result of which he had to be treated for a long time in a Swiss clinic. In the fourth sense, this word "idiot" was used in the Renaissance and in the 17th century in relation to physical freaks who performed the function of jesters and tricksters and often suffered from dementia or, on the contrary, were distinguished by a sharp mind. Such are El Primo, Sebastian de Morra, Don Antonio the Englishman, especially Francisco Lezcano and Bobo de Corca at the Spanish court, portrayed by D. Velazquez, Triboulet at the court of Francis I, Rigoletto in Verdi's opera. “This is horror: to be a jester! What a horror: to be a freak!” - says Triboulet in the drama of V. Hugo "The King is amused", knowing that the courtiers consider him an idiot alien to them. In the fifth meaning, this word was used in the Middle Ages, when an idiot, as R.-I. Khlodkovsky showed, was called a person deprived of "book wisdom", but rich in wisdom of the heart. Most of these meanings are present in the capacious title of Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot", and the author "plays" with them in the text, showing the relative inappropriateness of such a nickname for the hero at the beginning of the novel (which the people surrounding Myshkin do not take into account) and the tragic justification of this designation - in the final . Readers of the book are finally convinced of the capacity and accuracy of the title of the work chosen by the author.

Place and time of action

The author brings his hero, the young Prince Myshkin, from distant mountainous Switzerland to Russia, confronting him with the "chaos" of the new reality. Sometimes the writer deliberately expands the scene, introducing scenes from the life of France (Lyon), Switzerland, the Russian provinces and Moscow with the help of the stories of the characters and his own descriptions, but mostly the events take place in St. Petersburg and its suburbs - Pavlovsk. But this narrowing of the scene does not prevent the author from introducing the entire Russian reality of the post-reform era into the reader's orbit.

The time of action in the novel The Idiot by Dostoevsky covers about seven months, starting at the end of November 1867 and ending in the summer of 1868. These years correspond to the time when Dostoevsky wrote a work that literally “breathes” with modernity. The era of the 1960s is reflected in references to judicial reform (“there is a lot of talk about courts here”), construction railways, developed usury, publicity, the growth of criminality, in the disclosure of the convulsive throwing of the characters of the novel, in the brokenness of characters, in anticipation of “renewal” by people, in the screaming contradictions of the behavior of the characters, in the sharp struggle of ideas and opinions. “Here you have a lot of different things that have grown sore and grown,” remarks the insightful Myshkin, barely meeting the life of the capital. A number of characters' statements confirm this summary characteristic. “Wealth is greater, but less power; there was no connecting thought.” Indeed, at one pole, the Rogozhins, throwing thousands of millionaires, at the other, the fatigue of the Totsky aristocrats, the Ivolgins falling out of the usual rut of life. Lebedev's phrase itself evokes an association with a long-standing testimony captured in Hamlet: "The connection of times has broken up." The crisis of time was repeated in new historical conditions. General Epanchin is seized with fear: “It’s as if something is floating in the air, as if bat, trouble flies, and I'm afraid, I'm afraid! It is clear that this is not a perception of the landscape, but a sense of the era. Lizaveta Prokofievna perceives the changes just as keenly: "Everything is upside down, everything has gone upside down." Even fifteen-year-old Kolya is at a loss: “And how it all worked out, I don’t understand. It seems that it stood firm, but what now? In society, money gained special power, scams, commercial transactions, ransoms, and receiving the richest inheritances spread. “In our age, everyone is an adventurer,” notes one of the heroes of the novel. The society was noticeably criminalized. Dostoevsky's book reflects such high-profile crimes as the murder of six people by an eighteen-year-old high school student V. Gorsky in the house of the merchant Zhemarin; as a robbery by university student A. M. Danilov of the usurer Popov and his maid Nordman. Nastasya Filippovna remarks: “After all, now such a thirst has seized them all, they are so torn apart for money that they seem to have become stupefied.” Therefore, it is impossible not to feel the internal connection of The Idiot with the novel Crime and Punishment, although in the first of these works the murder occurs not only because of money, but in The Idiot and not because of them at all. All these signs of the times of the second half of the 60s are captured in Dostoevsky's new novel thanks to the fact close attention, which the writer devoted to newspaper information, thanks to the generous penetration into the novel of the facts of current social life. All this made the picture of life painted in it historically concrete. That is why Dostoevsky once said about his work: “This a good thing... Everything is here! To a large extent, this referred to the real Russian reality of a certain era reflected in the novel.

Composition

An original, exceptional talent places Dostoevsky among the greatest writers in the world. “The genius of Dostoevsky is undeniable,” Gorky wrote, “in terms of the power of representation, his talent is perhaps equal only to Shakespeare.” The works of the writer - a wonderful artist of the word - invariably touch a nerve, teach compassion, cordiality and spiritual sensitivity.

In the novel The Idiot (1869), Dostoevsky tried to create an image goodie opposing the cruel and dirty world of predators and ambitious people, commercialism and inhumanity of the surrounding society. In one of the letters, Dostoevsky admitted that he “had long been tormented ... by the idea ... of portraying a completely beautiful person”, the idea is “ancient and beloved”, and adds: “In my opinion, nothing can be more difficult than this, especially in our time ... »

This difficult task was not completely resolved by the writer: after all, Dostoevsky makes such a “quite a wonderful person” the mentally ill Prince Myshkin - a man who, due to the peculiarities of his psyche, stands outside the usual norms and ideas. The main hero of the novel is the “renewed Raskolnikov”, a man “healed” from pride, Prince Myshkin, the bearer of a “positively beautiful” ideal. Prince Myshkin - "Prince Christ", who grew up far from society, alien to his class-mysterious passions and interests, a man of exceptional spiritual disinterestedness, beauty and humanity, foreshadowing the joyful harmony that awaits humanity in the future. Like his gospel prototype, Myshkin perishes in the struggle of unsatisfied egoistic interests and passions that excite modern society. Of course, Myshkin is not Christ, but a mortal man, but one of those chosen ones who, through strenuous spiritual effort, managed to approach this radiant ideal, who carry it deeply in their hearts.

Dostoevsky contrasted Myshkin's naive childishness and spiritual humility with the conflicting, suffering, "disharmonious" heroes of the novel. Myshkin's responsiveness to other people's suffering and grief, his fraternal attitude towards all people, regardless of their condition and social status, put him morally higher than the people around him and make him a judge and comforter. Thus, Myshkin acts not so much as a social reformer, but as a new Christ. Myshkin himself endured much suffering, mental illness, loneliness, so he perceives the suffering of others much more sharply. Myshkin's moral strength, his spiritual purity, disinterestedness, kindness and sympathy for other people's suffering made him an indisputable authority not only for the exhausted Nastasya Filippovna, who had lost faith in people, but even for such people as the narcissistic and empty General Yepanchin or the confused and bitter merchant Rogozhin. In the name of saving Nastasya Filippovna, Myshkin sacrifices his own happiness, the happiness and honor of his beloved girl, selflessly fights against injustice, seeks to alleviate the suffering of other people.

The image of the protagonist turned out to be "terribly difficult" for Dostoevsky. Prince Myshkin trustingly and openly goes to people, hoping to help them in misfortunes, to make life easier. He sees a portrait of a woman whose face was beautiful, but at the same time reflected inner suffering. This is Nastasya Filippovna, deep and passionate nature, a man with a "piercing" and wounded heart. She was put in a false position by Totsky, who kept her, she is now being traded like a thing. Prince Myshkin appears at the moment when Nastasya Filippovna, experiencing pain and insult from humiliating bargaining, decides to challenge everyone, shocking society with her feigned cynicism.

The main misfortune of the society into which Prince Myshkin finds himself is the general "disunity". “There is more wealth, but less power,” says Lebedev, “the connecting thought is gone.” Prince Myshkin wants to introduce a "connecting thought", but he does not succeed, he achieves the opposite effect. Wanting to reconcile, he divides everyone with his mediation and quarrels even more. By his appearance, the hero intensifies the struggle between good and evil that takes place in the souls of people. Nastasya Filippovna passes from the dream of a pure and righteous life to suffering from the impossibility of realizing it and plunges herself into cynicism. Rogozhin is either generous, or gloomy, or fraternizes with the prince, or wants to kill him. Ganya Ivolgin either seeks to marry Nastasya Filippovna for the sake of money, or finds the strength to refuse them. The insignificant, pitiful and ridiculous Lebedev suddenly realizes the baseness of his fall, his heart acquires the ability to shrink from sympathy for the soul of another person who was driven "to convulsions."

The heroes of the novel, in contact with Prince Myshkin, discover those high quality that once were in them, but were ruined by life. Penetrating deeply into the soul of each of those around him and seeing there with his clairvoyant gaze the moral struggle between good and evil familiar to him from his own experience, the prince seeks to suppress the hidden egoistic passions in the soul of other characters, to contribute to the victory of bright feelings and motives.

Prince Myshkin fails to save Nastasya Filippovna, but manages to awaken the soul of the girl who fell in love with him. The daughter of General Epanchin, Aglaya, thanks to Prince Myshkin, understood the unconscious that filled her with anxiety, made her capricious, wayward and quarrelsome. It was a spontaneous desire for an ideal, for understanding life. She fell in love with Myshkin because he is a "serious" Don Quixote. The girl took Pushkin’s ballad “A poor knight lived in the world ...” to her chosen one: “These verses directly depict a person who is able to have an ideal, believe him, and having believed, blindly give him his whole life. This does not always happen in our century... At first I did not understand and laughed, but now I love the “poor knight”, and most importantly, I respect his exploits.”

And yet Myshkin himself does not save anyone and again falls into madness. Nastasya Filippovna dies as a victim of Rogozhin's wild jealousy, the life of Aglaya and all those who are most closely connected with Myshkin is humiliated and broken. Dostoevsky showed the impotence of Christian non-resistance to evil, social injustice and human suffering by preaching humility and moral self-improvement. In the whole appearance of Myshkin, with all his inner softness and moral purity, something lifelike, far from real life, mentally ill. In the collision of good with the world of dirty and vile representatives of people, the positive hero is defeated. The monstrous murder of Nastasya Filippovna by Rogozhin, the madness of the prince complete the picture of the gloomy triumph of evil and inhuman forces over attempts to establish a beautiful, humane principle.

It is not without reason that the novel expresses the idea that "paradise is a difficult thing." The prince's Christian goodness and mercy really exacerbate the contradictions in the souls of people captured by egoism, but the aggravation of contradictions testifies that their souls are not indifferent to such goodness. Before good triumphs, a tense and even tragic struggle between good and evil in the minds of people is inevitable. And Myshkin's spiritual death comes only when, to the best of his strength and ability, he gave himself entirely to people, planting the seeds of goodness in their hearts. Only through suffering will mankind get Inner Light Christian ideal. Here are Dostoevsky's favorite words from the Gospel: “Truly, truly, I say to you, a grain of wheat, falling into the ground, will not die, it will remain alone; and if he dies, he will bring forth much fruit.” Saltykov-Shchedrin highly appreciated Dostoevsky's desire to create in The Idiot the image of a wonderful person, seeing in this "an attempt to portray the type of person who has achieved complete moral and spiritual balance." However, Dostoevsky could not solve the problem of a positive hero - his hero, an "idiot", a mentally ill person, turned out to be unable to resolve and reconcile the sharp and cruel contradictions of life. But as an artist and thinker, Dostoevsky created a wide social canvas, in which he truthfully showed the terrible, inhuman character of the bourgeois-noble society, torn apart by self-interest, ambition and monstrous egoism.

In the notes to the novel, Dostoevsky formulated its main idea: "... a thirst for beauty and an ideal and at the same time disbelief in it or faith, but no love for it". The writer's novel was highly appreciated by progressive critics. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote that in this novel Dostoevsky “entered the realm of foresights and forebodings, which are the goal of not the immediate, but the most distant searches of mankind.”

Other writings on this work

To be strong means to help the weak (based on the novels of F. M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment", "The Idiot"). What is the meaning of the finale of F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot"? Ideal heroes of F. M. Dostoevsky What is the significance of the image of Nastasya Filippovna in revealing the image of Prince Myshkin? (Based on the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "The Idiot") Prince Myshkin - the new Christ (F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot") Nastasya Filippovna - "proud beauty" and "offended heart" The image of Prince Myshkin The image of Prince Myshkin in the novel f. M. Dostoyevsky "The Idiot" The image of Prince Myshkin and the problem of the author's ideal in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot" Review of the novel by F. Dostoevsky "The Idiot" Petersburger, Petersburger, Leningrader: the influence of city traditions on personality (based on the novel Oblomov by I. A. Goncharov and The Idiot by F. M. Dostoevsky) A positively beautiful person in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "The Idiot" The scene of the wedding of Nastasya Filippovna with Prince Myshkin (analysis of an episode from chapter 10 of part 4 of F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot") The scene of the burning of money by Nastasya Filippovna (Analysis of an episode from chapter 16, part 1 of F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot"). The scene of reading Pushkin's poem (Analysis of an episode from chapter 7, part 2 of F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot"). F.M. Dostoevsky. "Idiot". (1868) Gospel motifs in the prose of F.M. Dostoevsky. (Based on the novel Crime and Punishment or The Idiot.) The tragic outcome of the life of Prince Myshkin Nastasya Filippovna and Aglaya are a feature of female characters in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "The Idiot" What brings Prince Myshkin and Rogozhin closer? (Based on the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "The Idiot") Wedding scene of Nastasya Filippovna with Rogozhin What is the originality of the character of the protagonist of the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "The Idiot" The central character of the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "The Idiot" Description of the characters in the novel "The Idiot"

The whole novel is filled with deep symbolic content. In every plot, in the image of every hero, Dostoevsky strives to invest one or another hidden meaning. Nastasya Filippovna symbolizes beauty, and Myshkin symbolizes Christian grace and the ability for forgiveness and humility. The main idea is to contrast perfect image righteous Myshkin and the cruel surrounding world of Russian reality, human meanness and meanness. It is precisely because of the deep disbelief of people, their lack of moral and spiritual values, that we see the tragic ending with which Dostoevsky ends his novel.

Analysis of the work

History of creation

The novel was first published in 1868 on the pages of the Russky Vestnik magazine. The idea of ​​the work was born by Dostoevsky after the publication of "Crime and Punishment" during a trip to Germany and Switzerland. In the same place, on September 14, 1867, he made the first entry regarding the future novel. Further, he went to Italy, and in Florence the novel was completed completely. Dostoevsky said that after working on the image of Raskolnikov, he wanted to bring to life a different, completely ideal image.

Features of the plot and composition

The main feature of the composition of the novel is an overly drawn-out climax, which gets its denouement only in the penultimate chapter. The novel itself is divided into four parts, each of which, according to the chronology of events, smoothly flows into another.

The principles of the plot and composition are based on the centralization of the image of Prince Myshkin, all events unfold around him and parallel lines novel.

Images of the main characters

Main actor- Prince Myshkin is an example of the embodiment of universal goodness and mercy, this blessed man, completely devoid of any kind of shortcomings, like envy or malice. Outwardly, he has an unattractive appearance, awkward and constantly causes ridicule of others. In his image, Dostoevsky puts the great idea that it doesn’t matter what a person looks like, only the purity of his thoughts and the righteousness of his actions are important. Myshkin infinitely loves all the people around him, is extremely disinterested and open-hearted. It is for this that he is called the “Idiot”, because people who are used to being in a world of constant lies, the power of money and debauchery absolutely do not understand his behavior, consider him sick and insane. The prince, meanwhile, is trying to help everyone, seeking to heal other people's spiritual wounds with his kindness and sincerity. Dostoevsky idealizes his image, even equating him with Jesus. By "killing" the hero at the end, he makes it clear to the reader that, like Christ, Myshkin has forgiven all his offenders.

Nastasya Filippovna - another symbolic image. Exclusively beautiful woman, which is able to hit any man in the heart, with insane tragic fate. Being an innocent girl, she was molested by her guardian and this darkened her whole later life. Since then, she has despised everything, both people and life itself. Its entire existence is directed towards deep self-destruction and self-destruction. Men trade her like a thing, she only contemptuously observes this, supporting this game. Dostoevsky himself does not give a clear understanding inner world this woman, we learn about her from the lips of other people. Her soul remains closed to everyone, including the reader. She is a symbol of eternally elusive beauty, which in the end never got to anyone.

Conclusion

Dostoevsky admitted more than once that The Idiot is one of his favorite and most successful works. Indeed, there are few other books in his work that so accurately and fully managed to express his moral position and philosophical point of view. The novel survived many adaptations, was repeatedly staged in the form of performances and operas, and received well-deserved recognition from domestic and foreign literary critics.

In his novel, the author makes us think about the fact that his "idiot" is the most happy man in the world, because he is able to sincerely love, enjoys every day and perceives everything that happens to him as an exceptional blessing. This is his great superiority over the rest of the characters in the novel.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky created amazing romance"Idiot", summary which will be outlined below. The mastery of the word and the vivid plot is what attracts lovers of literature from all over the world in the novel.

F.M. Dostoevsky "The Idiot": a summary of the work

The events of the novel begin with the arrival of Prince Myshkin in St. Petersburg. He is a 26-year-old man who was orphaned early. He is the last representative of a noble family. In view of early illness nervous system, the prince was placed in a sanatorium located in Switzerland, from where he kept his way. On the train, he meets Rogozhin, from whom he learns about the beautiful novel "The Idiot", the summary of which will undoubtedly impress everyone and encourage them to read the original, is the highlight of Russian classical literature.

He visits his distant relative, where he meets her daughters and sees the portrait of Nastasya Filippovna for the first time. He makes a good impression of a simple eccentric and stands between Ganya, the secretary of the seducer Nastasya and her fiancé, and Aglaya, the youngest daughter of Mrs. Yepanchina, a distant relative of Myshkin. The prince settles in Ganya's apartment and in the evening sees that same Nastasya, after whom his old friend Rogozhin comes and arranges a kind of bargaining for the girl: eighteen thousand, forty thousand, not enough? One hundred thousand! Summary "The Idiot" (Dostoevsky's novel) is a superficial retelling of the plot of a great work.

Therefore, in order to understand the full depth of the events taking place, you need to read the original. For Ganya's sister, his fiancee seems like a corrupt woman. The sister spits in her brother's face, for which he is going to hit her, but Prince Myshkin stands up for Varvara. In the evening, he attends Nastasya's dinner and asks her not to marry Ganya. After Rogozhin reappears and lays out a hundred thousand. The "corrupt woman" decides to go with this darling of fate, even after the declaration of love of the prince. She throws money into the fireplace and invites her ex-fiance to get it. There, everyone will learn that the prince received a rich inheritance.

Six months pass. Rumors reach the prince that his beloved has already run away from Rogozhin several times (the novel The Idiot, a summary of which can be used for analysis, shows all the everyday realities of that time). At the station, the prince catches someone's eye. As it turned out later, Rogozhin was following him. They meet with the merchant and exchange crosses. A day later, the prince has a seizure, and he leaves for a dacha in Pavlovsk, where the Yepanchin family and, according to rumors, Nastastya Filippovna, are resting. On one of his walks with the general's family, he meets his beloved.

Here the engagement of the prince with Aglaya takes place, after which Nastasya writes letters to her, and then completely orders the prince to stay with her. Myshkin is torn between women, but still chooses the latter and sets the wedding day. But even here she escapes with Rogozhin. A day after this event, the prince travels to St. Petersburg, where Rogozhin calls him with him and shows the corpse of their beloved woman. Myshkin finally becomes an idiot...

The novel "The Idiot", a summary of which is outlined above, allows you to plunge into a bright and interesting plot, and the style of the work helps to feel all the experiences of the characters.