A Comparative Study of the Role of Religion and Ethics in Shaping the Social Actions of Characters in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot and Daneshvar’s Savushun

Razmjoo, Tooran; Dastmard, Farzaneh; Rostami, Fataneh

doi:10.30465/scs.2025.52589.3041

A Comparative Study of the Role of Religion and Ethics in Shaping the Social Actions of Characters in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot and Daneshvar’s Savushun

Articles in Press

Document Type : .

Authors

Tooran Razmjoo ¹

Farzaneh Dastmard ¹

Fataneh Rostami ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran

10.30465/scs.2025.52589.3041

Abstract

This study offers a comparative examination of the role of religion and ethics in shaping the social actions of characters in two novels: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Savushun by Simin Daneshvar. The main research question asks how religious and ethical values in two distinct cultural contexts—nineteenth century Russia and 1940s Iran—have influenced and guided the social orientations of the main characters. The central hypothesis posits that, despite historical and cultural differences, both novels demonstrate that religion and ethics can act as fundamental forces directing individual and collective actions toward resistance against injustice and social crises. The research method is descriptive–analytical, employing a comparative literature approach. Data were collected through a close reading of the primary texts and a review of authoritative critical sources, followed by conceptual and comparative analysis. The findings reveal that Prince Myshkin in The Idiot embodies an individual ethic grounded in compassion and forgiveness, while Yusof and Zari in Savushun enact a collective and resistant ethic. Nonetheless, in both works, religion and ethics play a central role in guiding social actions and provide a framework for redefining human identity.

Keywords

Dostoevsky

Simin Daneshvar

religion and ethics

social action

comparative literature

The Idiot

Savushun

Subjects