Character Analysis: The Brothers Karamazov

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, and Constance Garnett. The Brothers Karamazov. Dover Publications, 2015 Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov was a vulgar and immoral man that one would wish to never have the pleasure of meeting. His only mission in life was to give in to the many vices that lay in the world around him. He threw himself into debauchery and drunkenness in his pursuit of worldly pleasure. He would end up marrying two different women and siring three sons( none of which he would raise himself.) From his first wife would come his oldest son, Dmitri. Soon after his birth, Dmitri’s mother would die, leaving him the care of many other families. From his second wife, his sons Ivan and Alyosha were born. They too would never get to know their mother.

The story flashes forward to a couple decades in the future. At this point the brothers have reached adulthood. The true story begins when Dmitri, now as immoral as his father, visits his father in order to collect his inheritance. This leads to a conflict between them causing Ivan, now an intellectual, and Alyosha, now a local monk in Zosima’s monastery, to arrive and help mediate the crisis. Despite the remaining brothers’ efforts, Dmitri and Fyodor are unable to resolve their conflict and soon Fyodor is found murdered. Despite his saying otherwise, Dmitri is arrested for his father’s murder. The rest of the novel explores the aftermath of the murder and reveals whether Dmitri is innocent or

In one instance, Ivan is regalling Alyosha with the tale of “ The Grand Inquisitor.” In this story, Jesus comes back in Seville during the time of the inquisition. He is promptly arrested and confronted by the Grand Inquisitor. The inquisitor tells Jesus that he is no longer needed by the church and that he should have given into the devil's three temptations. Despite this Jesus doesn’t seem to be angered, he only leans forwards and gives the inquisitor a kiss. This seems to melt the heart of the inquisitor who lets him go under the condition he never comes again. Yet, Ivan says that the inquisitor, like himself, never lets go of his ideas. He then asks Alyosha if he has room in his heart for one such as him. In reply, Alyosha only leans forwards and kisses him. This shocks Ivan, who replies “ That’s plagiarism. You stole that from my poem. Thank you though. Get up, Alyosha, it’s time we were going, both of us.”(Dostoyevsky 239) Through these words, Dostoyevsky offers a semblance of hope to the reader that doubt and faith can both coexist;that they are not mutually exclusive. Just because Ivan doesn't believe in god, it doesn't mean that Alyosha loves him