The Idiot

A recurring motif throughout the novel is the relationship between ethics and esthetics, or, in simplified terms, truth and beauty. Svetlana believes the two concepts to be different, whereas Selin thinks they are one and the same. In practical terms, Svetlana likes to think they are different because she does not feel physically beautiful and wants to believe that outer appearance is not as important as inner personality. However, the physical is still important to Svetlana. However, Selin, who also does not think of herself as physically attractive, does not place much value on outer appearance. Aesthetics or beauty for her are already almost spiritual values, so extending them to include goodness or the right thing to do is not much of a stretch.

The juxtaposition between these two ideas is made relevant to contemporary Western culture by the late eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Romantic poets and writers. In his 1819 poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” John Keats famously proclaims, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” While the poem postulates a unity between the two, medieval and modern Western culture habitually juxtaposes them, based on the Christian dual conception of the world as divided between a sinful, inferior physical plain and a superior spiritual one.