The Idiot

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a psychological novel that explores innocence, morality, and the corruption of society through the eyes of Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a man often labeled an "idiot" for his honesty, naivety, and epileptic condition.

The story begins with Prince Myshkin returning to Russia after treatment in Switzerland. He becomes entangled in a complex web of relationships involving two women: the beautiful but troubled Nastasya Filippovna, and the pure, idealistic Aglaya Epanchin. Myshkin's deep compassion and inability to conform to society's hypocrisy make him both admired and scorned. As he tries to act as a moral beacon, the people around him unravel in jealousy, passion, and despair.

Ultimately, his goodness is powerless against a corrupt world, and the novel ends in tragedy-Myshkin's mind collapses under the weight of his experiences, and he retreats into a state of near-catatonia.

Dostoevsky's The Idiot is both a philosophical inquiry into what it means to be truly good and a powerful critique of the society that punishes such goodness.