His rumination has trapped him in a contradictory hell. Throughout the novella, he struggles to characterise himself properly, and frequently revisits the way he sees himself from instances of egoistic individualism where he proclaims his own intelligence, to statements of self-pity as he laments his low social-standing and isolation (Swensen 278). He is a “man of consciousness” rather than a “man of action”, which he deeply desires to be, but rejects the idea of a world built on rationality forming a Utopia, firmly believing that one needs consciousness in order to have free-will. The Underground Man writes his thoughts in a diary, and describes himself to be, amongst other things, “an intelligent man” (Dostoevsky 14), while also stating that “an intelligent man cannot become anything” in modern society (Dostoevsky 6). He resembles qualities of an antihero, and is a lonely, self-loathing character who has irrational and destructive tendencies, leading him to feel and be isolated from society. The Underground Man is a 40-year old man living in a “wretched, horrid” room in the big city of St. The Defining Characteristics Of 'The Underground Man' The character of ‘The Underground Man’ and the themes he represents are not only present in other Dostoevsky works, such as The Double and The Idiot, but have also heavily influenced characters and themes in worldwide contemporary cinema, notably works by filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Matteo Garrone, and Paul Schrader, amongst many others.

‘The Underground Man’ is the central character in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1864 novella Notes From The Underground, who describes himself in the opening lines of the novella as a “sick man”, “a spiteful man”, and “an unattractive man” (Dostoevsky 5). The Crystal Palace in London in 1951, referred to as a vision of a 'Utopian world' by The Underground Man.

The underground man dostoevsky