The
Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky illustrates a grand scheme of
characters embedded with careful development. Throughout the novel the reader
is introduced to characters that inhabit specific roles that convey different
experiences of human life. These experiences shed light on the deep
psychological conceptions that are far reaching and can relate to almost all
individuals living in this world. Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov is one such
character embroiled with inner conflict. The second son of Fyodor Pavlovich
Karamazov, Ivan possesses an intellectual and logical mind. Through the
irrationalities of how the world seems to Ivan, he battles with religious
constructs that contradicts his “Euclidian understanding” (Dostoyevsky 220) of existence.
Ivan’s rebellion, against the confines of a world made from God, causes him to
give back his “entrance ticket.” (221) Ivan says he accepts God, yet cannot
live in a world without justice for the innocent victims of evil men. The
innocent victims he exemplifies are children:
Listen! If all
must suffer to pay for the eternal harmony, what have children to do with it,
tell me, please? It’s beyond all comprehension why they should suffer, and why
they should pay for the harmony. (221)
The rationality of his
argument that children should not suffer in a world full of adult sin because
of their innate innocence, is a compelling one indeed. However, to confront a
world with an attempt to rationalize horrific scenes, like a brutal murder of a
small child, can send one into a depth of despair. As Ivan progresses
throughout the novel, the reader sees a character full of doubt, guilt, belief,
and disbelief. The question to which one agrees with Ivan’s worldview and the
notion of “returning his ticket” is to be answered quite tragically.
The Grand Inquisitor prose poem is told by Ivan to
illustrate a point to Alyosha. It also acts as a pivotal foreshadowing to
Ivan’s character development. Furthermore, free will is an important aspect in
reading this chapter. The Inquisitor explains to Christ that mankind should
give up free will to be led to happiness:
They will
understand themselves, at last, that freedom and bread enough for all are
inconceivable together, for never, never will they be able to share between
them! They will be convinced, too, that they can never be free, for they are
weak, vicious, worthless, and rebellious. (229)
The Inquisitor explains
further that man’s freedom will only lead to further despair and suffering. The
message clearly stated is that men, with the heavy burden of free will, are
much more harmful to their conscience than it is to be told what to believe and
how to live one’s life. It seems fair to say that the Inquisitor has given up a
central locus of Christianity’s message, spiritual free will. The temptations
of mankind are too great to plunge into the freedom to believe or not to
believe in God or to choose evil over good. Ivan, with the returning of his
ticket, shares the same view as the Inquisitor.
In comparing Ivan and the Inquisitor we see that they do
not discard the belief in God outright; however they do reject the world God
created that caused suffering of mankind. The Inquisitor is a figure that loves
mankind so much that it exceeds his love for God. Ivan believes that only an
unjust God will let children suffer thus undermining God’s will. Both make the
conscious choice to suffer for what they believe to be true. Towards the end of
the poem the Inquisitor awaits Christ’s response:
The old man longed
for him to say something, however bitter and terrible. But he suddenly
approached the old man in silence and softly kissed him on his bloodless aged
lips. That was all his answer. The old man shuddered. (238)
There is no
philosophical disagreement, just a soft kiss. The kiss is soon mimicked by
Alyosha in response to Ivan’s argument. Both Christ and Alyosha give a response
that counteracts the Inquisitor’s and Ivan’s rejection. Book VI, The Russion Monk, perhaps can give a clearer counter argument
to Ivan’s Rebellion.
Where Ivan uses his logical reasoning to reject the
constructs of Christianity, the parables of Zosima provides an appropriate
contrast to his rejection. Perhaps the central message to the parables that the
reader should focus on is the notion that, “everyone is responsible to all men
for all men and for everything” (261), for that is the only true way to come to
terms with the unjust suffering and free will of mankind. This passage comes
from a subchapter entitled: 2. Notes of
the Life of the Deceased Priest and Monk, the Elder Zosima, Taken from His Own
Words by Alexey Fyodrovich Karamazov. In this subchapter Father Zosima’s
brother, Markel is introduced. After a brief and close friendship with a “freethinking
political exile” Markel began to reject his religion and God; “It was the
beginning of Lent, and Markel would not fast, he was rude and laughed at it. “That’s
all silly twaddle, and there is no God.”” (260). After Markel became seriously
ill, his mother persuaded him to confess his sins and take sacrament. Shortly
after, the reader sees a complete spiritual transformation in Markel. His love
towards his family, servants, and neighbors grew enormously. No longer was he
suffering, but triumphed in life even though he was gravely ill. The ideas of
love and forgiveness for the spectrum of all mankind, both good and evil that
Markel conveys during his short life is indeed an appropriate solution towards
Ivan’s conflicted sense of God.
Further in the novel in Book XI, Chapter 9 entitled The
Devil. Ivan’s Nightmare, the
reader sees Ivan’s character come full circle into madness. Ivan is confronted with the devil; a character
conjured from his mind. The devil, in contrast with Christ in the Grand
Inquisitor parable, is full of disorienting conversation and torments Ivan’s
psyche, where Christ stood silent with a gentle smile. The appearance of the
devil brings a question to fruition. Both the Grand Inquisitor and the devil
spring up in Ivan’s mind. What is the significance of both figures inhabiting
his psyche? An answer might be in Ivan’s wavering of belief and disbelief. The
devil toys and torments Ivan, but in doing so has a motive; “As soon as you
disbelieve in me completely, you’ll begin assuring me to my face that I am not
a dream but a reality.” (600) In
throwing away belief and ushering in complete disbelief, the devil’s motive
will be realized. That motive is creating a sense of hell on earth for Ivan.
The reader soon realizes that Ivan’s rebellion will be
his downfall into a hell made real on earth. The devil’s torment is a careful
approach into using Ivan’s intelligence and rationality against him; “My dear
fellow, intelligence isn’t the only thing!” (596). The devil continues by
saying, “For all their indisputable intelligence, men take this farce as
something serious, and that is their tragedy. They suffer of course…but then
they live, they live a real life, not a fantastic one, for suffering is life”
(596). Ivan continues to denounce his belief in this apparition that appeared
before him. Nearing the end, after the devil’s numerous anecdotes and stories
he told Ivan, he concludes with one last statement; the statement being how
mankind will eventually kill the belief in God ushering in a new phase of
finite pleasures. Where there is no God and only darkness after life, “all
things are lawful” (604). However, with all things lawful, and no sense for
what is evil, true hell on earth will be realized.
Even though Ivan is plagued with the idea of how some
suffer in this world unjustifiably, he cannot accept the old ways of thinking.
He loses faith in God through not being able to forgive even though it
contradicts rationality. He is unable to forgive even himself which perpetuates
his disbelief and an actualization of hell. Conclusively, the more agreeable
path to enriching one’s soul is to live a life that Father Zosima and Alyosha choose
to live. Their leap of faith, although irrational and absurd in Ivan’s eyes,
enriches them to find everlasting forgiveness and love. Love of all men is the
ultimate answer to suffering and injustices that happen in this world. The belief
of an afterlife like heaven seems to be a better approach in improving society and
freeing individuals form a life of evil then disbelief because one cannot see
justice before his own eyes. Ivan, the Inquisitor and those who choose
suffering willingly on behalf of their own disbelief are catapulted into despair.
Works
Cited
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov.
London: Dover, 2005.
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