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Dostoevsky's Dichotomy

1563 Words7 Pages

In his short story, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, Fyodor Dostoevsky illustrates a perfect society using several diverse teachings about love. Firstly, Dostoevsky fills the ridiculous man’s dream with Mahayana Buddhism’s compassionate philosophy. Further, the dream society follows Christianity’s rule of neighborly love. Dostoevsky also infuses the dream with Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophies about the dichotomy of love. Each philosophy provides an explanation for the dream society’s downfall and also an allegorical connection between Petersburg and the possible corruption of traditional Russia. Dostoevsky creates the ideal dream society by pulling compassionate, neighborly, and dichotomous ideas about love from Buddhism, Christianity, and Kierkegaard’s meditations. He juxtaposes these philosophies with the character of the ridiculous man to illustrate St. Petersburg’s corruption of Russia. Dostoevsky alludes to Buddhist philosophy in the ridiculous man’s …show more content…

This is, [perhaps, the most obvious religious allusion in the text. From the beginning, the dream people seem to live in an Eden where “they [do] not strive to gain knowledge” and “[live] peaceably” with the animals and nature around them (Dostoevsky 730). Furthermore, their food comes from their surroundings and they eat “the fruit of their trees,” just as Adam and Eve “eat fruit from the trees” (Dostoevsky 731; Genesis 3:2). They are “innocent and beautiful” like “children” because of their immense love and compassion towards one another (Dostoevsky 729-731). The peace in their society comes from inherently knowing “love your neighbor as yourself,” which is a direct quote from the bible (Dostoevsky 738; Leviticus 19:18). Furthermore, The ridiculous man corrupts the dream people with a lie, just as the serpent deceives Eve. Therefore, Dostoevsky illustrates how society demolishes this peaceful and holy way of living because of its selfish

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