The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov (?????? ?????????? in Russian) is generally considered one of the greatest novels by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky and the culmination of his life's work. It has been acclaimed all over the world by authors as diverse as Sigmund Freud, Andrew R. MacAndrew, Konstantin Mochulsky, Albert Einstein and Pope Benedict XVI as a masterpiece of literature and one of the greatest novels ever written. The book is written on two levels: on the surface it is the story of a patricide in which all of the murdered man's sons share varying degrees of complicity, but on a deeper level, it is a spiritual drama of the moral struggles between faith, doubt, reason, and free will. The novel was composed mostly in Staraya Russa, which is also the main setting of the book. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger, and completed in November of 1880. The author died less than four months after publication.

List of major characters

Fyodor Karamazov

Is a 55-year-old sponger and buffoon who has 3 sons during the course of his two marriages. He is also rumored to have fathered a fourth, illegitimate son whom he employed as his servant. Fyodor took no interest in any of his sons. So as a result they were all raised apart from each other and their father. The murder of Fyodor and the ensuing implication of his oldest son provides much of the plot in the novel.

Related Topics:
Illegitimate - Servant

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Dmitri Karamazov (Mitya, Mitka, Mitenka)

Is the only son of Fyodor by his first marriage. Dmitri's personality is closest to that of his father among the three sons; He has an insatiable lust for living, is a sensualist on all levels, and gambles and carouses away enormous sums of money. In his youth Dmitri was also a soldier, participated in a duel, and generally dishonored himself in numerous ways. At the outset of the novel Dmitri is embroiled in a bitter dispute with his father over his inheritance and a local woman who has infatuated them both. The turmoil between father and son is one factor that leads to Dmitri becoming the primary suspect in his father's murder.

Related Topics:
Sensualist - Soldier - Duel

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Ivan Karamazov (Vanya, Vanka, Vanechka)

Is the middle son and first by Fyodor's second marriage. He is a fervent rationalist and an atheist as well. From an early age he was sullen and isolated from everyone around him. Ivan carries a hatred for his father that is not openly expressed but which leads to his own moral guilt over Fyodor's murder and contributes to his later insanity. Some of the most memorable and acclaimed passages of the novel involve Ivan, including the chapter "Rebellion", The Grand Inquisitor, and his nightmare of the devil in book 11.

Related Topics:
Rationalist - Atheist - The Grand Inquisitor

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Alexei (Alyosha) Karamazov (Alyoshka, Alyoshenka)

Is the youngest of the Karamazov brothers. He is proclaimed as the hero of the novel by the narrator in the opening chapter. At the outset of the events chronicled in the story Alyosha is a novice in the local monastery. In this way Alyosha acts as a counterbalance to his brother Ivan's atheism. He is sent out into the town by his Elder and subsequently becomes embroiled in the sordid details of his family's dysfunction. Alyosha is also involved in a side story in which he befriends a group of school boys whose fate adds a hopeful message to the conclusion of an otherwise tragic novel.

Related Topics:
Monastery - School

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Pavel Smerdyakov

Was born from a mute woman of the street and is widely rumored to be the illegitimate son of Fyodor Karamazov. When the novel begins Smerdyakov is Fyodor's lackey and cook. He is a very morose and sullen man. As a child he would collect stray cats so he could hang and later bury them. Smerdyakov is aloof with most people but holds a special admiration for Ivan and shares his atheistic ideology. He later confesses to Ivan that he and not Dmitri was the murderer of Fyodor and claims to have acted with Ivan's blessing.

Related Topics:
Mute - Ideology

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Agrafena Alexandrovna Svetlova (Grushenka, Grusha, Grushka)

Is the local Jezebel and has an uncanny charm among men. She was jilted by a Polish officer in her youth and came under the protection of a tyrannical miser. Grushenka inspires complete admiration and lust in both Fyodor and Dmitri Karamazov. Their rivalry for her affection is one of the most damaging circumstances that leads to Dmitri's conviction for his father's murder.

Related Topics:
Jezebel - Polish

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Katerina Ivanovna Verkhovtseva (Katya, Katka, Katenka)

Is Dmitri's fiancé, despite his very open forays with Grushenka. She became engaged to Dmitri after he bailed her father out of a debt. Katerina produces a further love triangle among the Karamazov brothers as it is learned that Ivan is in love with her. She is characterized as exceedingly proud and her magnanimity is a constant source of torment for Dmitri.

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Zosima

Is Alyosha's starets in the town monastery. He is something of a celebrity among the townspeople as he displays certain prophetic and healing abilities. This fact inspires both admiration and jealousy amidst his fellow monks. The task of refuting the powerful atheistic arguments of Ivan is left to the spirituality espoused in Zosima's life and teachings.

Related Topics:
Starets - Celebrity

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Ilusha

Is one of the local schoolboys, and the protagonist of the most important subplot in the novel. His father, Captain Snegiryov, is an impoverished official who is insulted by Dmitri when Fyodor hires him to threaten the latter over his debts, and the family is brought to shame as a result. We are led to believe that it is partly because of this Ilusha falls ill, and eventually dies (his funeral is the concluding chapter of the novel), undoubtedly to illustrate the theme that even minor actions can touch heavily on the lives of others, and that we are "all responsible for one another".

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