Zossima, who is what is called an "elder" which is a role a lot deeper than just an older man. Also, Rakitin, like Alexey, a novice in training to become a monk, but in reality a first-class cynic, who could not be less promising a candidate for a religious vocation. Katerina is a woman scorned, by Dmitry, and who ultimately is revenged upon Dmitry, who, undone by his fatal flaws, ends up on trial for the murder of his father, who is not only in competition with him for the favors of Grushenka, but has, at least according to Dmitry, cheated his son out of an inheritance from his mother who died when Dmitry was in his early childhood.Īmong the supporting cast is one Smerdyakov, a servant in the household of Karamazov pere, and thought to be Karamazov's illegitimate son. Grushenka, in turn, is holding a torch for a Polish officer who had wronged her and abandoned her five earlier. The main female characters are Katerina, the sometime fiancée of Dmitry and beloved of Ivan, and Grushenka, who is an obsession of Dimitry and his father. The dissolute patriarch Fyodor, the ex-officer eldest son by Fyodor's first wife, Dmitry, the intellectual atheist middle son, Ivan, and the devout monk in training Alexey. a father and three sons who could not be more unlike.
The plot revolves around the male members of the Karamazov family. This novel has been on my list of books I need to get to for some time. As far as I am concerned Dostoevsky is the greatest of the pantheon of 19th century Russian authors who collectively represent the pinnacle of Russian letters and culture. Not surprisingly, his degeneration leads indirectly to his death it was his seduction of the village idiot, "stinking Lizaveta," that produced Smerdyakov, the strange epileptic who grew up as his father's servant and then dispassionately slaughtered him.It requires a certain amount of modesty to review a work of the caliber of The Brothers Karamazov.
Later, he refused to give any of them money, and although the matter is not stated definitely in the novel, all indications suggest that he cheated Dmitri out of a large portion of his mother's inheritance.įyodor's vulgarity is part and parcel of his every action he lives the part of the vulgar buffoon, delighting in embarrassing anyone in his presence. When they were young, he was oblivious to their presence and relieved when relatives took them away. Little wonder, for a man who has no respect for himself can respect no one else.Īs is pointed out during Dmitri's trial, he was never, in the truest sense, a father to any of his sons. He has married twice for selfish reasons and has treated each wife with total disrespect. He is a self-centered man - corrupt and immoral - and is cynically dedicated only to the fulfillment of his bestial appetites.
The father of the Karamazov brothers is a disgusting sensualist.
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