INSIGHTS (BOOK REVIEW) FROM DOSTOYEVSKY’S “THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV”

 

INSIGHTS (BOOK REVIEW) FROM DOSTOYEVSKY’S “THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV”

 

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After an interesting reading of "Crime and Punishment", “The Player”, and “Notes From Underground” I dived into "THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV", which turned out to be even more interesting. A "Book Review" from a Russian author is already difficult, now what to say about Dostoyevsky himself? But this is fuel for a curious mind. That's why in the following pages I share my grasp of this immensely wide and comprising book. My understanding and interpretation of the book is made via some interesting quotes, as I find that this is the best way to expose the main ideas of the book

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The author begins by presenting the History of the Family Karamazov. Exposing the profile of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, "(...) rumor had it that Fyodor Pavlovich (...) was beaten by her [wife], for she was a hot-tempered, bold, dark-browed, impatient woman, possessed of remarkable physical strength. Finally, she left the house and ran away from Fyodor Pavlovich with a destitute divinity student, leaving Mitya, a child of three years old, in her husband's hands." Well, there's a warning for the bachelors who want to get married: beware!

Mutatis Mutandis, the wife of Pavlovich died soon after and Fryodor Pavlovich married another woman, younger and with a remarkable beauty, which is recurring with divorced men: search for novelty and innocence.

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Fyodor Pavlovich had three children: Alyosha (19), Ivan (24) and Dmitri (27). However, spoiler alert, maybe there was another one -- a bastard? who knows... Each one of them offers us a different vision of the world. This is an interesting possibility as it shows how dysfunctional this family is.

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Alyosha, a believer in God "(...) never tried to show off, (...) was never afraid of anyone (...) and never resented an insult. It would happen that an hour after the offence he would address the offender or answer some question with as trustful and candid an expression as though nothing had happened between them." Additionally, "He was always one of the best in class but was never the first. (...) In general he seemed scarcely to know the value of money, not, of course, in a literal sense. When he was given pocket-money, which he never asked for, he was either terribly careless of it so that it was gone in a moment, or he kept it for weeks together, not knowing what to do with it." Alyosha didn't finish his studying, but he was far from being dumb.

 

Alyosha had "some feelings" with Lise, a disabled young girl. And Lise's mother had counseled him to "Never trust a woman's tears (...)." Maybe Alyosha enabled this vision of a 'frail' creature. A word about the "Romance" between Lise and Alyosha, can begin with an inquisition by Lise : "Tell me rather why you who are so clever, so intellectual, so observant, choose a little idiot, an invalid like me? Ah, Alyosha, I am awfully happy, for I don't deserve you a bit." Alyosha complimented Lise in a strange way, saying that she laughed like a child and thought like a martyr.

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Alyosha went to a monastery where he learned with the best. Here Father Zossima arises as a men of wisdom, which we can tell by his advice to Fyodor Pavlovich, when he and his children went to him in search of light: "Do not trouble. Make yourself quite at home. And, above all, do not be so ashamed of yourself; for that is the root of it all (...) don't give way to sensual lust; and, above all, to the love of money. And close your taverns (...) Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for him and for others."

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At the monastery many people went to see Father Zossima. Some with an elevated faith, such as the peasant women -- as always, poor people tend to have a strong faith. How could they live after all?

But Father Zossima also received some people who by their own mouths, told by Dostoievski, of course, suffered from lack of faith: "(...) the future life -- it is such an enigma And no one, no one can solve it."

Now, the afterlife is something that preoccupied all great minds of the past, from the prophets to scientists, and also the layman. Back to the book, this question of lack of faith allows a paradox to emerge: "I love humanity, (...) but (...) the more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular.

And as Father Zossima was about to die he left a precious advice to Alyosha: "You will see great sorrow, and in that sorrow you will be happy. This is my last message to you: in sorrow seek happiness. Work, work unceasingly." Unfortunately, the reputation of Father Zossima was ruined after his death for his body was smelling "too much for a monk's body" --.but no facts were brought to sustain the argument that it was smelling like that because he was a sinner, only conjunctions... Well, life it is🤷🏾‍♂️. Men don't like facts, but explanations of their beliefs, no?

Like Father Zossima, another father from the monastery, Father Ferapont, had some incisive advice to Alyosha: "Be proud neither to the little nor to the great. Hate not those who reject you, who insult you, who abuse and slander you. Hate not the atheists, the teachers of evil, the materialists -- and I mean not only the good ones -- for there are many good ones among them, especially in our day -- hate not even the wicked ones."

And this gold from Father Paissy: "the temptations of this world are great and beyond your strength to endure." [A little digression back to father Zossima: as father Zossima knew beforehand of the rumors that would follow his death, he had on one of his manuscripts: "(...) man loves to see the downfall and disgrace of the righteous.”]

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There is another character of interest in the Book: Grushenka. Grushenka is the very woman who messes with the "heart" of the father, Fyodor, and the son Dmitri. And talking about women, Rakitin says to Alyosha some golden words: "A man will fall in love with some beauty, with a women's body, or even with a part of a women's body (a sensualist can understand that), and he'll abandon his own children for her, sell his father and mother, and his country, Russia, too. If he's honest, he'll steal; if he's humane, he will murder; if he's faithful, he will deceive."

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Speaking of Dimitri, to understand him -- the son that wants the same girl as the father, there are some interesting quotes, on love and confusion of life. While talking to Alyosha, he states that "(...) being in love doesn't mean loving. You may be in love with a woman and yet hate her. Remember that."

More interesting yet is the confusion inside his head: "Have you ever felt, have you ever dreamt of falling down a precipice into a pit? That's just how I'm falling, but not in a dream. (...) I am afraid, but I enjoy it. It's not enjoyment though, but ecstasy."

And the relationship between Dmitri and Alyosha can be understood by the following monologue from Dimitri: "You are an Angel on earth. You will hear and judge and forgive. And that's what I need, that someone above me should forgive."

And Dmitri trusted Alyosha that much to confess to him the deepest secrets he had, above all about he and Grushenka, the lady two Karamazovs wanted. At the end for instance Dimitri asks Alyosha if he thinks that his brother killed his father, for which Alyosha answers “I’ve never for one instant believed that you were the murderer.”

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There is an interesting episode in the book, about Schoolboys and Alyosha. One of those days, Alyosha was wandering and a schoolboy who turned out to be Ilusha, threw some stones 🪨 on him; and surprised Alyosha tried to understand it and found out that his brother had intimidated and even humiliated Ilusha's father, and Ilusha was honoring his family. Alyosha managed to get closer to Ilusha and his family to repair the behavior of his brother.

Some quotes help to understand the thinking and personality of the little Ilusha: "Father, (...) don't forgive it. When I grow up I'll call him out myself and kill him." And even if the father alerted him that killing, be it in a duel or elsewhere, is a sin, Ilusha had it mind made. And Ilusha, understanding the injustices of life, perhaps the fact that the Karamazovs had more money than his family and it was the cause of the humiliation his father suffered asked "Father, are the rich people stronger than anyone else on earth?" A resounding question, even nowadays. And with a positive response, Ilusha said "I will get rich. I will become an officer and conquer everybody."

A context after the text: Katerina Ivanovna -- a relation of Dimitri -- had given Alyosha some money in order for him to pay Ilusha's father, captain Snegiriov as a way of compensation for the humiliation of Dimitri.

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In the book there is a discussion about God, Faith and cruelty. Questioning how some people are capable of doing bad things to children - the epitome of innocence, one could say -- Ian affirms to Alyosha: "I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness." More interesting is an episode that Ivan shares with Alyosha in which a little serf-boy of eight boy had hurt the paw of the general's favourite hound. In response the general summoned all the serfs including the mother of the little kid and ordered to undress the kid and make him run, and after him he ordered his pack of hounds who tore the boy into pieces in front of everyone, in front of her mother. This conversation was actually pleasing to Ivan as he was making Alyosha uncomfortable with all the examples of immorality and cruelty. In effect, during the conversation Ivan cried to Alyosha: "Let me tell you novice, that the absurd is only too necessary on earth. The world stands on absurdities (...)"

In the middle of the conversation something interesting comes up, that there are only three powers in the world: miracle, mystery and authority. And a conclusive idea from Ivan allows us to grasp his personality: "I told you, all I want is to live on to thirty, and then...dash the cup to the ground!" Nevertheless, Ivan's wishing to depart to Moscow and 'forget all his past' didn't happen in a smooth way: he didn't manage to detach himself from his older life. A reminder, that actions can be hampered by ideas, or better, emotions.

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An interesting point the second part is by recollecting some exhortations of Father Zossima.

‌"For the world says: 'You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiplying your desires.' That is the modern doctrine of the world. In that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; in the poor, envy and murder; for they have been given rights, but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants."

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‌"They live only for mutual envy, for luxury and ostentation. To have dinners, visits, carriages, rank, and slaves to wait on one is looked upon as necessity, for which life, honour and human feeling are sacrificed, and men even commit suicide if they are unable to satisfy. We see the same thing among those who are not rich, while the poor drown their unsatisfied need and their envy in drunkenness. But soon they will drink blood instead of wine, they are being led on it. I ask you, is such a man free?"

‌"And therefore the idea of the service of humanity, of brotherly love and the solidarity of mankind, is more and more dying out in the world. And indeed this idea is sometimes treated with derision."

‌"They have succeeded in accumulating a greater mass of objects, but the joy in the world has grown less."

‌"Obedience, fasting and prayer are laughed at, yet only through them lies the way to real, true freedom."

‌"You are rich and noble, you are clever and talented, well be so, God bless you. I respect you, but I know that I too am a man. By the very fact I respect you without envy I prove my dignity as a man."

‌"And of servants I will add this: in the old days when I was young I was often angry with servants; 'the cook had served something too hot, the orderly had not brushed the clothes.' But what taught me better then was a thought of my dear brother's, which I had heard from him in childhood: 'Am I worth it, that another should serve me and be ordered about by me in his poverty and ignorance? And I wondered at the time that such simple and self-evident ideas should be so slow to occur to our minds."

‌"What ', they asked, 'are we to make our servants sit down on the sofa and offer them tea?' And I answered them: 'Why not, sometimes at least' Everyone laughed. Their question was frivolous and my answer was not clear; but the thought in it was to some extent right."

‌"Young Man, be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be a new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education."

 

‌"Brothers, have no fear of men's sin. Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day."

‌"Love children especially, for they too are sinless like the angels; they live to soften and purify our hearts and, as it were, to guide us. Woe to him who offends a child! Father Anfim taught me to love children. The kind, silent man used often on our wanderings to spend the farthings given us on sweets and cakes for the children. He could not pass by a child without emotion. That's the nature of man."

‌"But throwing your own indolence and impotence on others you will end by sharing the pride of Satan and murmuring against God. (...) Remember particularly that you cannot be a judge of anyone

‌"Work without ceasing (...) for your light will not die even when you are dead.”

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The third part of the book introduces the seventh book on which Alyosha is the main character. We already know Alyosha and his worldview, but here we need to state that after the death of Father Zossima, Alyosha was a bit lost trying to understand the “sign” of the bad smell emerging from the body of Father Zossima. And signs are difficulty to understand as Father Paissy said: “Perhaps we see here a ‘sign’ which neither you, nor I, nor anyone of us is able to comprehend.” Effectively, there are things on which we shouldn’t bother if we understand not.

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Going forward, Grushenka, Alyosha and Raktin had a discussion on regarding knowledge and time: ‘If you know too much, you’ll get old soon”, and “fools are made for wise men’s profit.” In a addition, a word of hope for the lovers: “I’ve been waiting all my life for someone like you, I knew that someone like you would come and forgive me. I believed that, nasty as I am, someone would really love me, not only with a shameful love.”

Grushenka has a special role in this second part of the book. Actually, the girl that had caught the attention of two Karamazov’s, had also some polish men on her tail. The men that wanted Grushenka, had all one characteristic: jealously. And jealous man, as said in the book is “quick to forgive”.

Dmitri besides many things wanted a sum of money held by his father that he thought was righteously his to have. And Dmitri didn’t mind verbalizing the hate he had for his father and the willing to take his money. Grushenka on one hand, had traveled with some polish man, to enjoy life, Dmitri on the other hand, had felt the need to have that money to follow Grushenka; in between, Fyodor Pavlovich was murdered.

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On the course of events, Dmitri happens to have some 3.000 rubles and follows Grushenka. Grushenka that he found with the polish men, which he tries to pay them to let Grushenka go with him – here we can remember that Dmitri considers money an accessory for his goals, and he even states again: “What does money matter? We shall waste it, anyway…”. All of this Imbroglio happens in a tavern where some time after the police arrests and interrogates Dmitri for the murder of his father.

Grushenka even offended by the idea of being bought still had feelings Dmitri and they had some ‘good time’ as we can tell by the following quote: ‘Mitya, don’t give me any more wine – if I ask you, don’t give it to me. Wine doesn’t give peace.’ All of this finishes with Dmitri being arrested.

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After that comes the prosecution of Dmitri for the murder of his father. And as expected with a woman of emotions, Grushenka suggests ingloriously to the prosecutors: “Judge us together (…) Punish us together. I will go with him now, even if it’s to death.” On the other hand, Dmitry says “You see, I understand, gentlemen, that there are terrible facts against me in this business. I told everyone that I’d kill him, and now, all of a sudden, he’s been killed. So it must have been me!”. Well, the case against Dmitry was very compelling.        

During the process, the dialogue between Dmitry and the prosecutors was very interesting. There is a critique on the method of the prosecutors, made by Dmity himself: “‘Whom did you murder? Whom did you rob? Ha, ha! That’s your regulation method, that’s where all your cunning comes in. You can put peasants off their guard like that, but not me. I know the tricks. I’ve been in the service, too. Ha, ha, ha! You’re not angry, gentlemen?”

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The prosecution process allows us to dive into Ivan and Smerdyakov’s personalities with pure precision. Ivan, desperate that his brother didn’t commit the crime tried to search for proves to prevent the condensation of Dmitry. And one of the ways he could do that was by talking with Smerdyakov, who was around the house the day Fyodor Pavlovich was murdered – Smerdyakov, the domestic, may be the illegitimate son of Fyodor Pavlovich. Everyone looked down at him, but he may have a good idea of all of them, as understood at this dissection of Ivan’s character via the following dialogue:

“It isn’t possible. You are very clever. You are fond of money, I know that. You like to be respected, too, for you’re very proud; you are far too fond of female charms, too, and you mind most of all about living in undisturbed comfort, without having to depend on anyone – that’s what you care most about. You won’t want to spoil your life forever by taking such a disgrace on yourself. You are like Fyodor Pavlovitch, you are more like him than any of his children; you’ve the same soul as he had.  

‘You are not a fool’, said Ivan, seeming struck. The blood rushed to his face. ‘You are serious now!’ he observed, looking suddenly at Smerdyakov with a different expression.

‘It was your pride made you think I was fool. Take the money.’”

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During the judgment, the audience was divided; it can be said, between two groups: those who wanted Dmitry to be absolved and those who wanted him to be condemned, the first group was vastly composed by women, and the second by men. On the experts side the Doctors – Herzenstube and Varvinsky – disagreed on their vision of Dmitry: Dr. Herzenstube considered that the “abnormality of the prisoner’s mental faculties was self-evident”.

Dmitry defendant, Fetyokovich questioned the father figure on the upbringing of Dmitry and the proper fact that a father can allow himself to love a women his son loves. Without admitting the murder but offering the reason why Dmitry may have expressed ill words toward and abut his father de defense suggested that a father should not be loved just for the sake of being a father, but rather for being a good father, a good human being.

The defense problematized the psychological argument of the prosecutors, considering it is an argument that cut both ways: “Psychology lures even most serious people into romancing, and quite unconsciously.” Fetyokovich added: “as for this shouting in taverns throughout the month, don’t we often hear children or drunkards coming out of taverns shout ‘I’ll kill you?’ But they don’t murder anyone’”. Fetyokovich was a very capable man, as we can tell by this compelling message to the jury: “Remember, you have been given absolute power to bind and to loose, but the greater the power, the more terrible its responsibility

Fetyokovich concluded his argument with the following sentence: “Better acquit ten guilty men than punish one innocent man.”

Nevertheless, Dmitry was sentenced. His brothers had planned an space: run from Russia to America, work there, and go back to Russia as American investor.

We can finish with a conversation between Alyosha and Kolya – one of Ilusha’s friend about the destiny sealed for Dmitry:

“’The valet killed him, my brother is innocent,’ answered Alyosha.

‘That’s what I said,’ cried Smurov.

‘So he will perish an innocent victim’ exclaimed Kolya; ‘though he is ruined he is happy! I could envy him’

‘What do you mean? How can you? Why? Cried Alyosha surprised.

‘Oh, if I, too, could sacrifice myself some day for truth’ said Kolya with enthusiasm.’

‘But not in such a cause, not with such disgrace and such horror!’ said Alyosha.

‘Of course…I should like to die for all humanity, and as for disgrace, I don’t care about that – our names may perish. I respect your brother.’

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And that’s the end! No well-made answers rather, many thought-provoking ideas on the condition of men.