Michael Corsiglia

Russian Lit
Anna Barker
Final Paper
12/12/14
Dostoevskys Notes

You're not Dostoevsky,' said the citizeness, who was getting muddled by Koroviev. Well, who
knows, who knows,' he replied.
'Dostoevsky's dead,' said the citizeness, but somehow not very confidently.
'I protest!' Behemoth exclaimed hotly. 'Dostoevsky is immortal! -Mikhail Bulgakov

In the story, Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky, several

of Dostoevskys philosophies and ideas about the world were
revealed. He uses the Underground man to convey his ideas about
a utopian society, the westernization of Russian culture through the
underground man, and the problems with the educated or
conscious man, (also through the underground man). Dostoevsky
does a great job of conveying these ideas and themes through
characters and actions without blatantly addressing them in the
story. He brilliantly points out the flaws of society, and what Russia

needs to do to fix the flaws, and what they can do to avoid making
mistakes in the future. Not only in this novel, but we also see
Dostoevsky doing the same thing in two other novels that he has
written in, The Idiot, and Brothers Karamazov. In this essay I
will discuss how conveys his ideas in all three of these novels.
During the entire story the Underground Man discusses the idea
of a utopian society that is brought up by the rational egoists.
They believed that world order could be brought upon by just
reason and people knowing what was in their own best interests.
Dostoevsky gives his argument on these theories through the
Underground Man by saying that these people underestimate their
own free will. The Underground Man insists that people will never
want to listen to what others believe they should do or believe in,
and will make their own beliefs and decisions even if they are not in
their best interest. The way that Dostoevsky portrays this in the
novel is when the Underground Man begins to have liver disease
and toothaches. Instead of doing the sensible thing and going to
see a doctor, the Underground Man prefers to suffer from these
ailments by his own free-will. He does this to show that he has
power over society, and he will never succumb to the social norms

that the world would have him believe. Another problem that
Dostoevsky saw in the idea of a utopian society is that it would
overall lead to uniformity. Everyone acting and having the same
morals as all other people. He thought that a uniform society would
lead to totalitarianism, which is a type of government where the
state has full power over all of the citizens in the government.
During the time of this story Russia was beginning to have many
different western traits being introduced into the Russian culture.
This was especially seen in the elite of the society. A well educated
man in Russia was considered to be somebody that was well
informed on the philosophical views of Germany, France, and
England. This was shown through the Underground man, because
he shows all of these traits. Dostoevsky distaste for the
westernization of Russia is shown when the Underground Mans
western traits cause him to become the underground person he
becomes. The underground attempts to live by these western
values and it causes him to become isolated and unhappy. In
showing this Dostoevsky is calling for a return to soil, or in other
terms, Russians remembering their Russian values of family,
religion, love for brothers of Russia, and personal responsibility of

each person. Dostoevsky believes that the Russians have lost their
inner touch with what Russia was built on, which was the way of life
created by the peasants and lower-class.
In the story the Underground Man explains that he is a very well
educated and conscious man. The underground man explains that
he is unable to make decisions with any confidence because of his
consciousness. What this means is that he basically over thinks
every decision that he attempts to make. It makes every decision
that he makes very complicated and complex and whenever he
does something he has lots of doubt. This doubt is one of the roots
of his unhappiness. This is where some of the depressing tone of
the story comes from. Because his mind is smart, it makes him
unhappy, and there is nothing that he can really do about it. This
part makes the reader even question their own happiness.
Dostoevsky is trying to convey that mindless following of the laws
of science and man will not make anyone happy. The main problem
Dostoevsky finds with the conscious mind is that it is fixed. These
educated people have fixed ideas, and are not open to different
possibilities.

Throughout the entire story Dostoevsky makes points about the

world through the Underground man. These ideas are so strong
that the book can still be related to by the youth of non-russian
countries over a hundred years later. However, the ideas in the
novel were not so general that they did not express the opinion on
specific topics currently in Russia.
In Dostoevskys The Idiot he focuses largely on the idea of an
ideal human being, and the everlasting battle between good, and
evil. These two ideas Dostoevsky has very passionate views on,
and makes them very clear throughout the entire novel with the use
of his characters, their personalities, behaviors, and actions.
First, Dostoevsky does some very interesting things when he looks
at the ideal human being in this novel. The character that
Dostoevsky tries to make into the ideal person is Prince Myshkin.
The way he does this is by having all of the traits that he thinks
makes an ideal person in the character of Prince Myshkin. The
traits that we see in Prince Myshkin are his honesty and openness,
he is very meek, selfless, humble, compassionate, and kind. We
find all of these traits in Myshkins interactions with other
characters, and his actions. Myshkin is incredibly kind to everyone

he meets, and he also is always honest. Myshkin says whatever he

feels, regardless of the social situation or setting. One trait we see
in him that is very rare is his selflessness. He constantly puts the
happiness of others ahead of his own. Especially when he is willing
to marry Nastassya out of pure pity. It is also interesting which
traits he chose. Often times when somebody would think of the
perfect person one wouldnt think of somebody who has epileptic
fits, and isnt the most handsome person in the world. Dostoevsky
uses Prince Myshkin to display what he believes are the most
important traits for a person to have. Another interesting thing we
can look at is how does the ideal man fare in the real world.
A very interesting point that Dostoevsky was making in this novel
was how the ideal person can do in the world. Dostoevsky shows
the world as a dark place that is filled with evil. In the novel money
is one of the most important things to everyone. It is a very
corrupted and everyone thinks that money is what will bring them
happiness. Many other characters that are seen in the novel are
drunks, and they are obsessed with superficial things. It is hard to
find another character with genuinely good traits other than
Myshkin. During the novel Myshkin is desperately tries to make the

world a better place, and make the lives of others better, but in the
end it is all for nothing. He has a few slight victories as well as
losses, and when all is said and done at the end of it all the world,
and the characters are back where they started at the beginning of
the novel. This shows Dostoevskys belief that a good person in a
bad world cannot make the world good. Actually, when a good
person enters the bad world, the good person will be corrupted by
the evils in the world.
We can also look at is as if Prince Myshkin is supposed to be a
Christ like figure. In the novel Myshkin discusses religion several
times, and there is a scene where he examines a picture of a sickly
looking Christ that has just been killed. The connection can be
made that this picture of Christ could be the version of Christ that
Prince Myshkin is playing. Prince Myshkin also spends time with
sinners much like Christ did on his time on Earth. He has
compassion for all of these sinners even after they have wronged
him.
In, Brothers Karamazov a familiar theme of free-will is seen again.
The main argument that Dostoevsky makes is whether or not
free-will is a good thing or a bad thing. One could say that if we

didnt have free-will and a higher power were to control our actions
that our world would have much less evil. Many times in the novel
Dostoevsky shows free-will as being a curse. He makes the
argument through the Grand Inquisitor, which is a poem about this
higher power, where somebody would tell us what to do at all
times, thus, making a perfect society. It seems throughout the
entire novel that Dostoevsky is making the points that would show
that free-will is a useless burden, but in the end we see it as
necessity when we look at Alyosha and Zosimas practicing their
faith.
Another big theme we see from Dostoevsky in this novel is faith vs
doubt. We see several of the characters struggling with their faith
such as Ivan who has a lot of logical skepticism. On the other hand
there is Alyosha who has an undying faith in Christ as lord. It
seems that the point that Dostoevsky is making is that to have faith
is clearly a philosophical risk because there is no logical evidence
that would support the existence of a God.
Throughout all three of these novels we see Dostoevsky making his
incredible statements about the world that still hold true today. The

statements that Dostoevsky makes about society still hold true not
only in a different generation, but in a different part of the world.

Work Cited:
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground. New York:
Dover Publications, 1992. Print.
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. S.l.: Heron B, 1967.
Print.
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Idiot. Trans. Boardman Robinson and
Constance Garnett. New York: Modern Library, 1962. Print.