The Idiot Themes

The Idiot explores the question of what profound, total moral innocence would look like, and whether this might be taken for foolishness. The novel’s main character, Prince Myshkin, is a totally pure human being who is admired and adored by other characters but is also often characterized as a fool (or an “idiot”—hence the book’s title). The book shows that this characterization of the prince as a fool is mistaken, as Myshkin is actually…

The Idiot depicts a world corrupted by money and greed. At a time when moral and religious values—along with social hierarchies and norms—are in flux, greed becomes a powerful force driving people’s actions. The novel’s Christian viewpoint drives its message that while all people have an innate moral innocence, this can be corrupted by the consequences of money and greed: selfishness, exploitation, cruelty, and even violence. A capitalist system of value, therefore, corrupts people’s sense…

The Idiot contains an extensive depiction of nihilism, a philosophical movement that became popular in Russia in the 1860s. Nihilists were heavily critical of the existing structures, laws, and norms, which they held were arbitrary and wrong. They asserted that existence was fundamentally meaningless. The novel shows how the difficulty and absurdity of life might indeed compel someone to embrace a nihilistic worldview. However, through the character of Prince Myshkin, it ultimately takes…

The Idiot is a novel preoccupied with violence and death. It depicts a harsh world in which people behave brutally toward one another and where the presence of death haunts all the characters. Understanding the novel’s treatment of violence and death requires focusing on the extent to which Prince Myshkin is constructed as a Christ figure. Violence and death play very important roles in Christianity and in the story of Jesus’s life. In Christian traditions…