The Brothers Karamazov

“The churchman with whom I argue maintains that the Church occupies a precise and definite place within the state. I objected that, on the contrary, the Church should contain in itself the whole state and not merely occupy a certain corner of it, and that if for some reason that is impossible now, then […] it undoubtedly should be posited as the direct and chief aim of the whole further development of Christian society.”

Ivan explains his view that the church and the state should merge. The relationship between religious law and secular law is a theme throughout, culminating in Dmitri’s trial. The gap between human and divine judgment is shown to be impossible to mend, but Ivan’s essay argues that such a harmony is possible. These comments prefigure the critiques of Jesus Christ presented in Ivan’s “Grand Inquisitor” poem.

“No, man is broad, even too broad, I would narrow him down. Devil knows even what to make of him, that’s the thing!”

Dmitri complains about the contradictions of human nature, but he is also describing his own character: He encapsulates the extremes of human nature in that he is careless and violent but also displays great courage and conscience. The broadness of human nature refers to the human potential to act in the name of the highest ideals as well as acting from base instincts.

“Hm. More than likely Ivan is right. Lord, just think how much faith, how much energy of all kinds man has spent on this dream, and for so many thousands of years! Who could be laughing at man like that? Ivan? For the last time, definitely: is there a God or not? It’s the last time I’ll ask.”

Fyodor has a conversation with his two sons: Ivan, who is an atheist, and Alyosha, who believes in God. Despite Fyodor’s grotesque actions, he is open to the idea of God’s existence and even seems frightened by the idea that no one is watching over humanity.

“[T]he science of this world, having united itself into a great force, has, especially in the last century, examined everything heavenly that has been bequeathed to us in sacred books, and, after hard analysis, the learned ones of this world have absolutely nothing left of what was once holy.”

Alyosha realizes that Zosima has put Alyosha under Paissy’s care, and Alyosha comments on the deep impression that Father Paissy’s words leave on him. Paissy is concerned about the effect that science has had on religion, specifically in that science has offered explanations that leave little room for the sacred.

“Nikolai Ilyich Snegiryov, sir, former captain in the Russian infantry, sir, disgraced by his vices, but still a captain. I should have said Captain Yessirov instead of Snegiryov, because it’s only in the second half of my life that I’ve started saying ‘Yessir.’ ‘Yessir’ is acquired in humiliation.”

Captain Snegiryov is humiliated by his poverty and his fall from a higher status rank but tries to retain a shred of pride in the face of his misfortune. He is ashamed of his desperation, and his pride leads him to initially refuse the money that Katerina Ivanovna has offered him through Alyosha.

“Lise, your question just now: aren’t we contemptuous of that wretched man, dissecting his soul like that—that was a martyr’s question […] you see, I can’t express it at all, but someone in whom such questions arise is capable of suffering.”

In her first appearance, Lise Khokhlakov is giggly and immature, but a conversation she has with Alyosha about Captain Snegiryov offers a glimpse beneath this exterior. Lise says that this is dehumanizing and condescending to analyze another person like this. Alyosha praises her sensitivity and ascribes to this deep empathy an ability to suffer for what is right.

“There is, of course, a beast hidden in every man, a beast of rage, a beast of sensual inflammability at the cries of the tormented victim, an unrestrained beast let off the chain, a beast of diseases acquired in debauchery—gout, rotten liver, and so on. These educated parents subjected the poor five-year-old girl to every possible torture.”

Ivan discusses a litany of human evils, especially focusing on the torture of children. These evils are part of a world that, Ivan asserts, is beyond redemption. Ivan’s sense of justice is key to his philosophical ruminations and his inner torment.

“But you did not know that as soon as man rejects miracles, he will at once reject God as well, for man seeks not so much God as miracles.”

Directly opposing an earlier statement on the relationship between faith and miracles, the Inquisitor states why Jesus’s rejection of the Devil’s second temptation (to throw himself off a peak and be saved) was a failure, arguing that had Jesus performed this miracle, humanity would have followed him forever. Instead, Jesus chose to reject the miracle and leave humans with the choice to believe. The Grand Inquisitor (i.e., Ivan) believes this reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature.

“Why did you reject that last gift? Had you accepted that third counsel of the mighty spirit, you would have furnished all that man seeks on earth, that is: someone to bow down to, someone to take over his conscience, and a means for uniting everyone at last into a common, concordant, and incontestable anthill—for the need of universal union is the third and last torment of man.”

The Grand Inquisitor arrives at the third and final temptation. Because Jesus denied this temptation, says the Inquisitor, humans are left with the burden of faith when they could have simply had an earthly ruler to dictate their beliefs and thereby unify humanity. The Inquisitor’s argument suggests that instead of wanting freedom, humans want security.

“Freedom, free reason, and science will lead them into such a maze, and confront them with such miracles and insoluble mysteries, that some of them, unruly and ferocious, will exterminate themselves; others, unruly but feeble, will exterminate each other; and the remaining third, feeble and wretched, will crawl to our feet and cry out to us ‘Yes, you were right, you alone possess this mystery, and we are coming back to you—save us from ourselves.’”

The Grand Inquisitor argues that science and reason will overwhelm humanity with a power that appears miraculous. This power will create such fear in humans that they will beg to be enslaved by their rulers rather than have to make sense of the world. The poem reflects Ivan’s low regard for humanity, but it also illustrates a utopian impulse to use political systems as a form of salvation.

“[E]ach of us is guilty in everything before everyone, and I most of all.”

This line was spoken by Markel, Zosima’s older brother who passed away at the age of 17. The concept of guilt is important, as guilt is related to shame and the human desire to scapegoat and shift blame from oneself to others. This phrase captures the spirit of empathy and love toward one’s fellow humans, and this provides the foundation for Father Zosima’s love for all those he encounters.

“For the world says: ‘You have needs, therefore satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the noblest and richest men. Do not be afraid to satisfy them, but even increase them’—such is the current teaching of the world. And in this they see freedom. But what comes of this right to increase one’s needs? For the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; for the poor, envy and murder, for they have been given rights, but have not yet been shown any way of satisfying their needs.”

In Father Zosima’s homilies, he comments on the current spiritual condition of Russia and describes a society that, though it provides rights to citizens, does not offer any mercy or compassion for the poor. Father Zosima’s concern for those who are low status, ostracized, and impoverished is a fundamental aspect of his teaching that he passes on to Alyosha.

“‘I believed, I believe, and I want to believe, and I will believe, and what more do you want!’ Alyosha cried irritably. ‘[…] So you’ve gotten angry with your God now, you’ve rebelled: they passed you over for promotion, you didn’t get a medal for the feast day! Ah, you!’ Alyosha gave Rakitin a long look […] ‘I do not rebel against my God, I simply ‘do not accept this world,’ Alyosha suddenly smiled crookedly.”

When Rakitin is tempting Alyosha, Alyosha displays a crooked smile and quotes directly from Ivan’s “Grand Inquisitor” poem. This reference to his brother’s poem, and the “crooked” smile, symbolize Alyosha’s temptation to follow a wayward path and leave behind his faith.

“From the zenith to the horizon the still-dim Milky Way stretched its double strand […] Alyosha stood gazing and suddenly, as if he had been cut down, threw himself to the earth […] He wanted to forgive everyone and for everything, and to ask forgiveness, oh not for himself! But for all and for everything, ‘as others are asking for me,’ rang again in his soul […] Never, never in all his life would Alyosha forget that moment.”

On the evening after Father Zosima’s funeral, Alyosha has a moment of doubt. As he lies down, he hears Father Paissy reading the passage from the Bible when Jesus performs his first miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Galilee. The words of the Bible, in combination with the imagery of the heavens, inspires in Alyosha a powerful sense of awe at the cosmos. This experience replenishes his soul, and his faith survives his moment of doubt.

“‘Parricide!’ the old man shouted for all the neighborhood to hear […] The old man’s head was all covered with blood. Mitya reached his hand and began feeling it […] the blood was flowing, flowing terribly, and instantly poured its hot stream over Mitya’s trembling fingers. He remembered snatching from his pocket the new white handkerchief […] and putting it to the old man’s head, senselessly trying to wipe the blood from his forehead and face.”

On the evening of the murder, Dmitri flees from his father’s home and harms Grigory, his father’s servant. Concerned that he might have accidentally killed him, Dmitri wipes some of the blood away to see if he is still alive. The transferring of the blood from Grigory to himself symbolizes the blame that will falsely be placed on Dmitri for Fyodor’s murder.

“He felt unbearably awkward: everyone else was dressed, and he was undressed, and—strangely—undressed, he himself seemed to feel guilty before them, and, above all, he was almost ready to agree that he had indeed suddenly become lower than all of them, and that they now had every right to despite him.”

Dmitri is deeply embarrassed when he is forced to undress for prosecutor Kirillovich and Parfenovich when they are questioning him for his father’s murder. The dehumanizing treatment of the accused is highlighted in the imagery of this scene, with Dmitri feeling especially humiliated by his shabby, dirty clothing and his feet. This scene captures materially what is already happening emotionally during the interrogation.

“I imagined you must deeply despise me for being in such a hurry to show what a fine fellow I was, and I even hated you for it and began talking drivel. Then I imagined (it was here, just now) when I was saying: ‘If there was not God, he would have been invented’ that I was in too great a hurry to show off my education, especially since I got that phrase out of a book […] Oh, Karamazov, I’m profoundly unhappy. Sometimes I imagine God know what, that everyone is laughing at me, the whole world […]”

Kolya tells Alyosha how profoundly unhappy he is and that he often quotes books without understanding what they mean simply to impress others. Kolya represents youthful arrogance, but his encounter with Alyosha influences him positively. Though Kolya often behaves with hubris and a lack of empathy, his confession reflects not only honestly but self-awareness.

“Listen, your brother is on trial now for killing his father, and they all love it that he killed his father […] They love it, they all love it! Everyone says it’s terrible, but secretly they all love it terribly. I’m the first to love it.”

Lise, a sweet, innocent, and kind girl, changes dramatically after Ivan visits her, becoming possessed with evil thoughts. She tells Alyosha that everyone loves hearing terrible news because they feel morbid pleasure from hearing about evil. Alyosha admits that this is true. This suggests that humans receive a strange gratification from horror, commenting with a measure of irony on the pleasure that people receive from reading illicit tales.

“Imagine: it’s all there in the nerves, in the head, there are these nerves in the brain […] that’s why I contemplate […] because of the little tails, and not at all because I have a soul or am some sort of image and likeness, that’s all foolishness. Mikhail explained it to me, brother, just yesterday, and it was as if I got burnt. It’s magnificent, Alyosha, this science! The new man will come […] And yet, I’m sorry for God!”

While Dmitri awaits trial, Rakitin visits him in jail and teaches him about neuroscience. Rakitin, a seminarian with a love for chaos, seeks to influence Dmitri by stating that science has proven that there is no soul. Though Dmitri rejects Rakitin’s influence, he is initially dazzled by this but also sorrowful because of this idea’s implications for the existence of God.

“In my opinion, there is no need to destroy anything, one need only destroy the idea of God in mankind […] then the entire old world view will fall of itself […] People will come together to take from life all that it can give, but, of course, for happiness and joy […] and the man-god will appear.”

When Ivan’s brain fever takes hold of him entirely the night before Dmitri’s trial, he hallucinates that the devil is speaking to him. This quote refers to the idea that science will empower humanity and create peace by removing the need for God. This echoes the argument in “The Grand Inquisitor” that science will make humans like gods.

“It was the same impetuous Katya who had once rushed to a young libertine in order to save her father; the very same Katya who, proud and chaste, had just sacrificed herself and her maiden’s honor before the whole public by telling of ‘Mitya’s noble conduct,’ in order to soften at least somewhat the fate in store for him. So now, in just the same way, she again sacrificed herself, this time for another man, and perhaps only now, only that minute, did she feel and realize fully how dear this other man was to her!”

Katerina’s character displays extremes in her nature. Her sudden choice to renege on her previous testimony—in which she sacrificed her reputation for Dmitri’s—and instead present evidence against him and say that he was the murderer is rooted in the same self-sacrificial impulse. This time, however, she is acting out of her overwhelming love for Ivan.

“Precisely because we are of a broad, Karamazovian nature—and this is what I am driving at—capable of containing all possible opposites and of contemplating both abysses at once, the abyss above us, an abyss of lofty ideals, and the abyss beneath us, an abyss of the lowest and foulest degradation.”

Kirillovich’s final speech recapitulates the concept of the extremes of human nature. The two “abysses” symbolize the highest and lowest in humans. Though Kirillovich is wrong on many of the details of the murder, and wrong in his conclusion that Dmitri did kill his father, the narrator seems to fundamentally agree with Kirillovich’s view that it is possible for a single human to exhibit all these qualities.

“You must know that there is nothing higher, or stronger, or sounder, or more useful afterwards in life, than some good memory, especially a memory from childhood, from the parental home. You hear a lot said about your education, yet some such beautiful, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man stores up many such memories to take into life, then he is saved for his whole life. And even if only one good memory remains with us in our hearts, that alone may serve some day for our salvation.”

Alyosha’s sermon emphasizes the power of childhood memories. However, against the view that a bad childhood is the reason for one’s life of crime (as argued by the prosecuting attorney about Dmitri), Alyosha argues that even a single good memory can provide the moral foundation for one’s entire life. Alyosha argues that real-life experiences teach us more about reality and that a single act of love or compassion can fundamentally alter the course of a life.