Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground Essay

The utopian society has a long tradition in both philosophical and literary works. The image of a perfect state rule exclusively by principles of heavy and righteousness has spurred the imagination of thinkers and writers over the centuries. correct harmony and sublime harmony and understanding dominate this state of things where repulsiveness is no longer known. In his famous satirical work, Gullivers Travels, Jonathan blue-belly identifies and censures the flaws inherent in benevolent spirit and the general interests, prejudices and impulses that govern the hu humane society.Although the traveler explores unknown and fantastical lands, the various societies he encounters are further different versions of the same human geography governed by close out unless also by vice. The last visit however takes Gulliver to the land of the Houyhnhnms, a utopian society that lives in absolute harmony and that does not even out compreh revoke the notion of evil or deceit. It is not by stroking that this ideal state is inhabited and ruled by horses endowed with the ability of reason while man, or the Yahoo, is a base animal that serves the Houyhnhnms. active shows through this utopian representation that, however miraculous the power of reason and creativity in man, it will always corrupted by vice. merciful nature is and will always be paradoxical while reason has the ability to reveal the truth and weigh good and evil, mans passions and instincts often prevent him from choosing good over evil. In a re eachy different way, Fyodor Dostoevskys Notes from the Underground delivers a similar message regarding the chess opening of a utopian human society.The crystal palace that the underground man speaks of is a symbol for the impossible, unreachable and vain ideal that the kind-heartedness chases. Paradoxically, the same manhood despises this lofty dream because it cannot laugh at it as it would. Moreover, Dostoevsky emphasizes that humanity is not satisfied with perfect harmony and happiness, although it covets impossible dreams. Sufferance is crucial to the structure of the individual and, in Dostoevskys view, a secret inclination of man. Therefore, both lively and Dostoevsky give similar views of mankind and the impossibility of utopian states.Reason, which gives man the ability to see the truth and distinguish between good and evil, will always be blinded by passion and impulses. reality is a complex and paradoxical universe, endowed with a superior intention but also with a passionate nature apt to deal him into temptations. Lemuel Gulliver travels through the world and lands on peculiar lands where the inhabitants only appear to be fantastical creatures. In fact, all of them prove to be wonderful mirroring of Swifts British contemporary society.Every state that the traveler encounters is governed by people who are the prey of numberless human impulses such as greed, prejudice, egotism, stubbornness, misconception, deceitful ness and violence. The dwarfs in Lilliput and the giants in Brobdingnag are only two representations of humanity at a different scale. Through these two representations, Swift unmasks human vanity and malice. In both of these countries human reason is paired with knavish and vice. The absurd academies of Laputa mock the vain enterprises of the human reason to conquer nature and reality.Their complicated systems of thought and their absurd inventions and devices only serve to root them strongly in blindness and lies, keeping them farther away from the truth. At the end of the journey, the last of the stops is a utopian land that is antithetical to all the other societies the narrator has lived in. The simplicity of the Houyhnhnms society and customs contrasts sharply with the complexness of the human civilization. On the one hand, man is a noble being but also a vicious one. Man is haunted by passions and prone to subjective interpretation of life. Because of this, absolute harmony can neer govern a human society.