Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot (1869) follows Prince Lev Myshkin, a compassionate young man who returns to St. Petersburg after treatment for epilepsy in Switzerland. His innocence, honesty, and lack of worldly cunning lead society to dismiss him as an "idiot," yet he embodies almost Christ-like goodness. Myshkin becomes entangled in a tragic love triangle with the beautiful, tormented Nastasya Filippovna and the passionate merchant Rogozhin, while navigating the greed and hypocrisy of Russian high society. Through its doomed protagonist, the novel explores whether pure goodness and beauty can survive in a corrupt world, culminating in tragedy and devastating loss.
