Униженные и оскорбленные

Poor people, left without support and means of existence, often became heroes of Dostoevsky. In the novel "Humiliated and Insulted" (written immediately after the reference), the author shows us characters who found themselves in a deplorable situation and tries to find the deep reasons for such a state.
The study of human psychology led the classic to the thought that selfishness can be not only "predatory" and cynical (as with the intriguer with the dark past Prince Valkonsky), but also "sacrificial" (in the case of Natasha Ikhmenova, blinded by love) and even "suffering" (as seen in her proud father Nikolai Ikhmenev).