Dostoevsky wrote some very fine stories, exploring life in the tumultuous religious and political world of 19th-century Russia. "Crime and Punishment" takes a sympathetic view of a murderer who carried out the deed with a sense of ethical justification, only to suffer an overwhelming sense of guilt. "The Brothers Karamazov" is a theological and political drama spurred by patricide and hedonistic characters. "Notes from Underground" inspires many with the notion that there is an underground, a world inhabited by isolated free-thinking existentialists. But my favourite is the polyphonic novel, "The Idiot"; not on account that the protagonist and I share the same first name, but more that we share a similar ethos.
Thematically, the story involves the challenge of a character who strives toward being an ethical person, in the Christian model, whilst encountering those who are far more interested in material gain, domination in their relationships, and hedonism in their lifestyle. Whilst Lev is open about his own life and ethical motivations, those that he encounters connive to take advantage of him, and they do so with apparent ease. Nearly every character in the novel, including the women who claim to love him, refer to him as "the idiot" for his seemingly naive innocence in a cut-throat social world.
In reality, Lev is not naive or innocent. He has quite a deep insight into the motives and behaviours of those around him but chooses not to engage on their level, but rather continues to promote his ethical position without judgment, but with radiant friendliness, honesty, and a far greater depth of character to those who he is surrounded by. Such leadership is influential; even as others treat him with disdain, his voice becomes increasingly present in the internal dialogue of the other characters. In an environment where others pay lip service to their supposed faith and morality, he practices it with humility and consistency and thus becomes a shared conscience among other characters. Despite this, the novel accelerates to a clash of perspectives between the guileless and the manipulative, including betrayal and murder (this seems to be so common with Dostoevsky) with a stunning conclusion.