Nikolay Speshnev chapter of "Demons" when, in the midst of confessing to a terrible crime, he formulates the guiding idea of his life: "that I neither know nor feel good and evil and that I have not only lost any sense of it, but that there is neither good nor evil (which pleased me), and that it is just a prejudice." It is speculated that Dostoevsky also refers to Speshnev on one occasion in "The Idiot". The central character, Prince Myshkin, recounts a long conversation with "a certain S—", an erudite and well-bred man, on the subject of atheism. Nikolay Speshnev Nikolay
Alyosha Karamazov moral agent, playing a passive role in the events of the novel. Rufus W. Mathewson states that Alyosha Karamazov is a more robust positive hero than Prince Myshkin. He argues that Alyosha is closer than Myshkin to being an active spokesman for conservatism, citing Alyosha's most impressive success as helping Dmitri. He describes Alyosha as relying on forgiveness, kindness and natural justice, rather than attempting to change the social order. Alyosha is named after Dostoevsky's son of the same name, who was born in 1875 but died in 1878 of epilepsy. Because of this Dostoevsky imbued Alyosha with qualities and