A Love that Kills: The Idiot
摘要
The IdiotThe Idiot1 is structured on the symmetry between Parfyon Rogozhin and Prince Myshkin. A dominant, patronizing character versus a Christ-like figure and a pathological man of compassionate nature. However, it is possible that DostoevskyDostoevsky himself did not completely grasp the ethicalEthical dilemma inherent in the narration. Rather than considering the climactic final as expression of moral or neurotic failure, we shall consider Rogozhin’s and Myshkin’s viewpoint as the embodiment of Kierkegaard’sKierkegaard dichotomy between estheticEsthetic and ethicalEthical life.