Like its immediate predecessor, The Idiot is a novel which demonstrates Dostoevsky's gift for penetrating character analysis,and deals with profound religious and political concepts. Dostoevsky had been intensely moved by Hans Holbein's painting of Christ taken from the cross which he had seen in Basel, and this was clearly the inspiration behind his determination to make of his single,dominant hero, what he calls 'a positively good man'. Aware that the 'good' heroes of contemporary fiction tended to be comic figures,Dostoevsky resolved to present Prince Myshldn seriously, as an idiot who embodies Christian virtue. Paradoxically, the humorous elements of his brilliant portrayal of Myshkin seem to be a deliberate form of self-derision on Dostoevsky's part, and create what biographer Ronald Hingley calls 'an unresolved tension' between seriousness and humour.

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Prince Myshkin returns to Russia from an asvlum in Switzerland. As hc hceomes embroiled in the frantic anmtorv and financial intrigues which centre around a east of brilliantly rcalised characters and which ultimately lead to tragedy, he emerges as a unique combination of the Christian ideal of perfection and Dostoevsky's own views, afflictions alld manners. Ilis serene selflessness is contrasted with the worldly qualities of every other character in the novel. Dostoevsky supplies a harsh indictment of the Russian ruling class of his day who have created a world which cannot accommodate the goodness of this idiot.