The House of the Dead

Main Ideas

• Exploration of human nature and psychology under conditions of extreme humiliation and deprivation
• Critique and analysis of the 19th-century Russian penal system and its impact on the prisoners' personalities
• Issues of morality, guilt, and redemption through suffering and personal spiritual experience
• Reflection of the author's views on religion, faith, and the possibility of spiritual rebirth
• Contemplations on freedom, human dignity, and the ability to maintain humanity in extreme conditions
• Depiction of social injustice and the diversity of human characters against the backdrop of the harshness of prison life