Reading Reflection #1 for "The Idiot"

I think I was officially a nerd before, but if not, I think this proves it!

I recently went to Barnes and Noble to buy some books to read in some of my newly-found free time. One of the books that I purchased was a novel called "The Idiot" by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. Several years ago I spent an entire summer reading "The Brothers Karamazov" and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, I thought I would pick up some more Dostoevsky and continue reading some more of his stuff. I was also interested in this book because the central figure, Prince Myshkin, was deliberately crafted to be a "Christ-like" figure. Not that the author was trying to answer the question, "What would Jesus look like in my own time?", but he simply set out to create a picture of "a perfectly beautiful man" and used Christ as his inspiration (Dostoevsky became a very devout man and apparently a true Christian after being exiled to Siberia as a political prisoner).

Early in the book, Dostoevsky conveys some interesting thoughts on capital punishment through the lips of Prince Myshkin. Since the author used the hero of his story to convey these thoughts, it seems safe to assume that the author was in agreement with these opinions.

In this brief discussion, Prince Myshkin speaks out against captial punishment, apparently along two lines of reasoning: 1) The Bible says "Thou shalt not kill"; and 2) Execution brings with it more psychological suffering than murder because the criminal knows about his death ahead of time, and his death is certain. If a man is simply attacked by another, he states, his death is not necessarily certain--the man may fight off his attacker, he may survive his wounds, etc.

I thought point #2 of this discussion was an interesting thought, and it was certainly one that I had never heard before. Though I don't think I buy this notion as a reason to oppose capital punishment (I think the question of justice carries more weight), it certainly made me stop and think for a moment, and perhaps it will do the same for you.