Penguin Select Classics: The Idiot

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Prince Myshkin returns to Russia after years in a Swiss sanatorium, carrying with him a heart untouched by cynicism and a soul defined by compassion. In a society driven by vanity, greed, and quiet cruelty, his innocence appears almost absurd—and dangerously out of place.

Myshkin gets caught in an intense love triangle between the passionate Nastasya Filippovna and the innocent Aglaia marked by obsession, pride, and wounded desire. But Myshkin’s unwavering kindness exposes the duality and layered egos of those around him. In a world that mistakes goodness for weakness, can his purity survive without being destroyed?

The Idiot is a tender exploration of innocence in a broken society; whether true goodness is possible in a flawed world and is empathy a gift or a burden. The novel leaves one reflecting on the cost of compassion and the quiet strength of beauty in a hardened world.