The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (in Russian "Сон смешного человека") is a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky written in 1877. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing to live for in the world, and is therefore determined to commit suicide. A chance encounter with a young girl changes his mind.

A BBC production called "The Dream" (1990) was adapted by Murray Watts from "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man". "The Dream" is a monologue. The director was Norman Stone ("Shadowlands") and it stars Jeremy Irons.

Plot summary

The story opens with the narrator wandering the streets of St. Petersburg. He contemplates how he has always been a ridiculous person, and also, how recently, he has come to the realization that nothing much matters to him any more. It is this revelation that leads him to the idea of suicide. The narrator of the story reveals that he had bought a revolver months previous with the intent of shooting himself in the head.

Despite a dismal night, the narrator looks up to the sky and views a solitary star. Shortly after seeing the star, a little girl comes running towards him. The narrator surmises that something is wrong with the girl's mother. He shakes the girl away and continues on to his apartment.

Once in his apartment, the narrator sinks into a chair and places his gun on a table next to him. He hesitates to shoot himself because of a nagging feeling of guilt that has plagued him ever since he eschewed the girl. The narrator grapples with internal questions for a few hours before falling asleep in the chair. As he sleeps, he descends into a very vivid dream. In the dream, he shoots himself in the heart. He dies but he is still aware of his surroundings. He gathers that there is a funeral and he is also buried. After an indeterminate amount of time in his cold grave, water begins to drip down onto his eyelids. The narrator begs for forgiveness. Suddenly his grave is opened by an unknown and shadowy figure. This figure pulls the narrator up from his grave, and then the two soar through the sky and into space. After flying through space for a long time, the narrator is deposited on a planet, one much like Earth, but not the Earth that he left through suicide.

The narrator is placed specifically on what appears to be an idyllic Greek island. Soon, the inhabitants of the island find him, and they are happy, blissful, sinless people. The narrator lives in this utopia for many years, all the while amazed at the goodness around him.

One day, perhaps in jest or frivolity, the narrator tells a lie. This begins the corruption of the utopia. The lie engenders pride, and pride engenders a deluge of other sins. Soon the first murder occurs. Factions are made, wars are waged. Science supplants emotion, and the members of the former utopia are incapable of remembering their former happiness. The narrator pleads with the people, he begs for martyrdom, but they will not allow it.

The narrator then awakes. He is a changed man, thoroughly thankful for life. The first thing he does is help the girl that he had earlier pushed away. He later becomes a preacher, and spends the rest of his days trying to recapture the truth he witnessed in his dream.

References

*Magarshack, David, "The Best Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky", (New York: The Modern Library, 2005), xi-xxvi.