Subservience: Dostoevsky’s Response to Suffering
In a commentary on Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, scholar Lev Shestov noted the novella’s exposure of: “Dostoevsky’s acceptance of a universe of cruelty, pain, and suffering that no ultimate moral perspective can justify,” this view falls short of the full truth of Dostoevsky’s world view however (Shestov 113). Dostoevsky never “accepted” the perspective that cruelty and pain serve as dictates of nature’s underlying principles. Certainly he did not view humanity as chiefly wicked or evil, rather he, through works such as Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov, reveals a belief in the inherent good of humanity, while acknowledging the “fallen state” of existence.
Dostoevsky’s message is not that one should embrace the world as it is, or that one should spend time debating the exact nature of its …show more content…
The Underground Man had been fighting loudly with his servant, and realizing Liza has heard everything, feels “crushed, humiliated, abominably ashamed” (Underground 82). The wounded pride of the Underground Man carries over into his tone towards Liza, whose responses to the Underground man’s cruel treatment shows the first instance of Dostoevsky’s message of service to one another in the face of suffering. After furiously and repeatedly questioning Liza as to why she came to him, the Underground Man decides it was “to be saved,” which prompts a second extended lecture of the inability of the Underground Man to help, his general disinterest in her life, and the pitiable condition her life is in. He includes enough references to his own nature and situation though, that upon finishing his speech “a very strange thing suddenly occurred;” Liza recognizes the pain and suffering of the Underground Man, and they throw themselves together in a tear-filled embrace
In a commentary on Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, scholar Lev Shestov noted the novella’s exposure of: “Dostoevsky’s acceptance of a universe of cruelty, pain, and suffering that no ultimate moral perspective can justify,” this view falls short of the full truth of Dostoevsky’s world view however (Shestov 113). Dostoevsky never “accepted” the perspective that cruelty and pain serve as dictates of nature’s underlying principles. Certainly he did not view humanity as chiefly wicked or evil, rather he, through works such as Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov, reveals a belief in the inherent good of humanity, while acknowledging the “fallen state” of existence.
Dostoevsky’s message is not that one should embrace the world as it is, or that one should spend time debating the exact nature of its …show more content…
The Underground Man had been fighting loudly with his servant, and realizing Liza has heard everything, feels “crushed, humiliated, abominably ashamed” (Underground 82). The wounded pride of the Underground Man carries over into his tone towards Liza, whose responses to the Underground man’s cruel treatment shows the first instance of Dostoevsky’s message of service to one another in the face of suffering. After furiously and repeatedly questioning Liza as to why she came to him, the Underground Man decides it was “to be saved,” which prompts a second extended lecture of the inability of the Underground Man to help, his general disinterest in her life, and the pitiable condition her life is in. He includes enough references to his own nature and situation though, that upon finishing his speech “a very strange thing suddenly occurred;” Liza recognizes the pain and suffering of the Underground Man, and they throw themselves together in a tear-filled embrace