Nihilism In Notes From The Underground

Dostoevsky’s extended criticism of the world in his novel “Notes from the underground”, explores a dark truth about the human condition. The inevitably of suffering and the absence of consciousness is Dostoevsky’s example of the human condition that he perceives to be tragic but rather truthful. The protagonist whom represents the worldview of the Dostoevsky, tends to escape the 19th-century capitalist society of Russia by living underground and doing nothing. In this sense the retrospect of a 40-year-old man who reflects on his life affirms that nothingness is the key. The notion of ‘nihilism’ is hence essential as it sets the backdrop for Dostoevsky’s work. Whilst his tone may appear to be inconsistent, unreasonable and contradictory, audiences …show more content…
The particular rhetoric “I could never stand more than three months of dreaming at a time without feeling and irresistible desire to plunge into society” (Dostoevsky, 2001, p.75) is a fundamental demonstration of this idea. It is further extended when the Underground man “began to experience a rush of enjoyment” after what he describes it to be an “affair with the officer” (Dostoevsky, 2001, p. 67). This is crucial as the audience can deduce the struggle for the protagonist to experience real intimate contact with a fellow being. He distinguishes himself from humans in the physical realm “I am alone and they are everyone” (Dostoevsky, 2001, p.58). the tone in this particular context renders an ostracised man who is oppressed by loneliness. Yet how significant Is loneliness for a man that believes “conscious inertia Is better” is the subject of controversy in Dostoevsky’s notes from the underground? Indeed, the Nevsky Prospect of the anti-hero yearning to bump into the officer was his desire to achieve his dignity. The euphoria “I was ecstatic! And sang Italian Arias!” (Dostoevsky, 2001, p.71) is the anti-hero convincing himself that the officer knew he existed. In respect to this, audiences can infer Dostoevsky’s hammering critique of the so-called enlightenment equality. It has formed illusions of freedom and equality that Marx like Dostoevsky …show more content…
Societies tarnished such pre- enlightenment values for they required individuals to highly evaluate and scrutinise their life, in a sense awaken their conscious. As oppose to this, western capitalist societies promised comfort and the mere illusions of happiness equality and freedom (Dostoevsky, 2001) rather than encourage critical self-evaluation. The Underground man although highly envies men of action, continues to affirm that it is better to live in a state of inaction rather than indulging in worldly achievements and accomplishments without the capacity to reason. The affirmation “I should live at ease, I should die with dignity, why, it is charming, perfectly charming!” (Dostoevsky, 2001, p.26) represents the lost values of the conventional Russian society that the Underground man yearns for. However, he cannot escape his context which leads him to question the whole basis of modern literary thinking; mocking it, critiquing it, and using it to justify the halt in human internal progress (Dostoevsky, 2001). Dostoevsky by utilising his character as the stagnated being, thus conveys that the underground man is prevented from engaging in the real world of action due to his extreme inertia that finds comfort in abstaining from the real deluded world of the 19th