Humiliated and Offended

“The Humiliated and Insulted” (1861) is the first great novel by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821–1881). In it, he finally developed the main types of his future heroes and the main plot plots: the naive helplessness of the “weak heart” is opposed to the cynicism and pride of the “predatory type”. What makes predators do evil? How do they justify themselves? Why do they enjoy the evil they cause? Is it really the humble despair of the humiliated and insulted that is the reason for the indispensable and constant triumph of evil over love, kindness and philanthropy? All these questions tormented the writer from his first works until the end of his creative career.
The victim’s enjoyment of suffering and misfortune is an indisputable and great psychological discovery of Dostoevsky, a philosopher, artist, and expert on human souls. The reader can only hope that the heroes of the novel will still suffer their happiness, and that the world, in spite of everything, will be saved by kindness and love.
For high school age.