Historical events do not play a prominent role in the novel in any immediate sense, yet there are several key aspects to the historical context of Russia in this period that help illuminate the narrative and its themes. During the 1870s, Dostoevsky health declined, and in 1881 he died of a pulmonary hemorrhage. He and Anna had four children, two of whom died in infancy. He was deeply in debt due to his gambling addiction.

In 1864 Maria died, and in 1867 Dostoevsky married his second wife, Anna. Their marriage was passionate but troubled. After being released, he married his first wife, Maria, in 1857. In the prison camp there, his health worsened. Dostoevsky and the other members were sentenced to death by firing squad, but at the final moment, just before they were about to be shot, the sentence was switched to hard labor in Siberia. He joined a reformist group named the Petrashevsky Circle, who were denounced to the authorities. During this period, Dostoevsky became interested in socialism, although he clashed with other socialists over the issue of religion, as he was a devout adherent to the Russian Orthodox Church. Dostoevsky’s first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846. Not long after, he started gambling, a habit that became a lifelong problem for him. It was around this time that Dostoevsky, like the hero of The Idiot, Prince Myshkin, began to suffer from epilepsy.

His mother died of tuberculosis when he was a teenager, and his father died two years later. As a child, Dostoevsky suffered from ill health, and developed an early love of literature. Fyodor Dostoevsky was born into a noble family in Russia.

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