THE IDIOT

Prince Myshkin is so guileless that people take him for an idiot. He arrives at the home of his distant relative, General Yepanchin, hoping to win over the general, his wife and their three daughters. Then he comes across a photograph of Nastasya Filippovna, and his life is never the same.

He falls deeply for her and is drawn into a love triangle. From there the story spirals into blackmail, betrayal and finally murder, as Myshkin's gentleness collides with the passions and schemes of the people around him.

Dostoevsky was inspired by the suffering of Christ and shaped Myshkin as a Russian holy fool, a man of real purity and a truly beautiful soul. The novel asks what happens to innocence and goodness in a corrupt world, and it has long been regarded as a classic that is not bound by its time or place.