Fyodor Dostoevsky Evil Vs Evil

The Idiot Many religious faiths believe in the doctrine of original sin. It is accepted that humanity is born evil - despite its efforts to achieve high moral standards. A child’s innocence becomes tainted by the sin of the world. God’s purest creations are stained by the sin and evil of human nature, yet salvation is promised to those who embrace and delight in it. Fyodor Dostoevsky alludes to the idea of the embracing of faith in the midst of the persistence of evil. In his book, “The Idiot”, Dostoevsky destroys innocence and reveals the stain past evils leave behind to depict the destructive power of evil. The impossibility of standing against this powerful force is shown through evils’ destruction of all characters as well as through
Nastasya, like Myshkin, suffered from others sin, which contributed to her destruction. As a young girl she was raped, and stained by these evils done to her. She believed herself to be unworthy of innocence and salvation, even though it was offered to her through Myshkins proposal. She was afraid of the love she had for him, and the stain her evils may leave on him. She didn’t want to ruin his purity, like others had ruined hers. By choosing Rogozhin, Nastasya let go of salvation, because of her failure to forgive her own impurity. “Ill marry you, Parfyon Semyonovich, and not because I’m afraid of you, but because I’ll perish all the same” (Pg. 212). Nastasya denied herself salvation, and chose sin, even though she knew it would lead to her death. Her beauty and intelligence had been corrupted by the sin of the world around her, and the sins committed on her. She also had knowledge, that in choosing death, she would be able to inflict the same pain her offender had inflicted on her. Sin had corrupted her and had manifested a belief of her unworthiness. In Christian beliefs, salvation is promised, but one must embrace Christ’s forgiveness and accept his destruction of sin in order to fully embrace life. Nastasya failed to forgive herself, and she chose an ending which she believed she deserved. One must overcome their own sin and forgive themselves before they can fully embrace Christ’s true forgiveness and
One can relate the story’s message of embracing faith, to their own life, integrating Dostoevsky’s contemplation of religion as their own. The painting of the Dead Christ illustrates a main theme throughout Dostoevsky’s story of the absence of salvation. What is there without faith? What is there without salvation? What would there be if Christ had not destroyed sin? The only way to find purpose in this life, to defeat evil, is to find the beauty in God’s creations and to have faith in everlasting life. Ippolit attacks this struggle directly. Through his failure, the dominance of evil is shown, but the reader is also able to connect his lack of faith to his destruction. Ippolit, being a raging atheist, failed to see the beauty in nature, and the other side to death. He equated this thought of death to being a dead end, that life ends with death, but one must see that through faith in God, life doesn’t end. The reader must take Ippolits message of embracing life while you have it, but also add the embracing of death. In Ippolits ‘Necessary Explanation’ he states, “And what do they want to do with their ridiculous ‘Pavlovsk trees’? Sweeten the last hours of my life? …What do I need your nature for, your Pavlolovsk park, your sunrises and sunsets, your blue sky, and your all-contented faces, when this whole