Major Themes in Brothers Karamazov PDF

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What is the Brothers Karamazov?  Structured as a novel for 3 reasons o Empathy - characters directly relate to you o Different viewpoints - fully fledged believable characters that can interact and we can see what happens→ everyone will have a different perspective, how human beings interact with each other o Inner thoughts - difference bw wishes and actions, psychological complexity and moral consequences Characters: Dmitri (Mitya) His oldest son, who develops an intense hatred for his father and who is convicted of murdering him. Ivan The second son, who develops into the extreme intellectual and who questions all values of life. Alyosha (Alexey) The youngest son, who is deeply religious and who functions as the central figure in the novel. Smerdyakov (Pavel Fyodorovitch Smerdyakov) Old Karamazov's illegitimate son, whose last name was assigned to him by Fyodor and whose first names were merely adopted. He grows up in the Karamazov house as a servant. Adelaida Karamazov's first wife and the mother of Dmitri. Sofya Karamazov's second wife and the mother of Ivan and Alyosha. Lizaveta Smerdyastchaya The town's deformed idiot, who is seduced by Karamazov and then gives birth to Smerdyakov. Grigory Vassilyevitch The old Karamazov servant who takes care of the children and who adopts Smerdyakov. Marfa Ignatyevna Grigory's wife and another of the Karamazov servants. Grushenka (Agrafena Alexandrovna) The lady of so-called loose morals who attracts the attentions and consequent jealousies of Dmitri and Fyodor. Katerina (Katya) Ivanovna Dmitri's fiancee, whom he deserts upon falling in love with Grushenka. Lise Madame Hohlakov's young daughter, who becomes engaged to Alyosha and then capriciously breaks the engagement. Captain Snegiryov Ilusha's father, who is destitute and broken by misfortunes. He is attacked by Dmitri one night because he earned money from Fyodor. Ilusha The young boy whose illness brings all of his friends together with Alyosha. Book ends at his burial at the stone. Kolya The young boy who influences the other boys and becomes Alyosha's disciple. Miusov A cousin of Karamazov's first wife, who was instrumental in having Dmitri taken away from Fyodor. Father Zossima The revered elder at the monastery and the spiritual guardian for Alyosha, whose teachings become central to all the ideas in the novel. Father Paissy The learned theologian and devoted friend of Father Zossima who tries to console Alyosha (Cana of Galilee) Father Ferapont The acetic and deranged monk who is a bitter opponent to Father Zossima.

Rakitin A young seminarian who professes to have very liberal and advanced ideas and who betrays his friendship with Alyosha.

4 Big Umbrellas for Themes Human Psychology is Complex  Victim psychology o ppl play the victim psychology to be superior (self laceration) o Victims knows how to suffer so they know how to make ppl suffer o once you feel hurt, you feel entitled to pay the world back, you are free from the normal moral code bc of what you have suffered and you know exactly what really hurts o Last people you want to give power to are people with victim psychology o Examples:  Fyodor was a victim and can piss off other ppl, and also self-lacerating to try to feel morally superior  Katerina Ivanovna - self laceration  Smerdyakov was treated as a servant and goes crazy and knows how to make everyone suffer  Takes down each of the brothers by the end of the book  Human complexity o All characters are more complex than science gives them credit for  Captain that Dmitri beat up - father of Alusha - threw money on the ground that Alyosha gives him-he is going to take the money but then surprises himself and throws it on the ground  Alyosha could be a revolutionary or a devout monk (wants immediate deed, swift action) p.25  Smerdyakov could take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem or set fire to his native village (potential for evil)  Dmitri says to Alyosha “God and the Devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.” p.118  “All we Karamazovs are such insects”  “All shores meet”  ***”Man is too broad, too broad, I’d have him narrower” o We hate those we have injured, we hate them because they are innocent and that makes us guilty (p. 91) o Lacerations-want to feel hurt so you can be morally superior  Katerina and Dmitri-inviting him to hurt her so she can feel superior o We hate those we have injured, we hate them because they are innocent and that makes us guilty -psychological mechanism  “He had done me no harm. But I played him a dirty trick, and ever since I have hated him.”  If you feel you have unjustly harmed someone else, that person is causing you the pain of guilt or shame → the more innocent the other person is, the more guilty you are o it takes human beings to torture so artistically, cause as much pain as possible, making a mother see her child get shot

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Element of surprise - part of being humanity is the capacity of surprise o When ppl are reduced to objects they react violently  First principle of ethics is to treat ppl like ppl, not as objects  Ppl are unpredictable  If u treat someone like they are completely and certainly predictable and calculable, you are turning them into an object  Surprisingness is so vitally human o Free will and Choice v Authority and security→ grand inquisitor, ivan choosing to leave → murder o Field of possibilities - one field leads to another, there’s not definitive event fucks w causality - if there are multiple possibilities then agency is important → makes us all responsible for each other  Smery could’ve gone to mecca or lit a town on fire or both  Captain Snegiryov throwing money or keeping it  Never describe actual murder scene  No one knows who Smery’s father is  Lizaveta climbing over Fyodor’s fence while in labor (supernatural?)  Supernatural is easier to explain than humanity bc at least ppl who believe in the supernatural understand that there are no simple explanations  No one knows how mother died -suddenly starved to death  Courtroom scenario-makes it seem like Dmitri murdered his father but we know that’s not the truth

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Wishes v action o Can wishes be moral or immoral or are they just actions?  Ivan’s inactions are self-denied, not acknowledged  “In my wishes i reserve myself full latitude”  Scientific- only physical actions in the world have consequences  Religious aspect - wishes have consequences (if you desire to kill a man it’s the same moral consequences as actually killing a man)  If u lust after someone, for if u do, you have already committed adultery o You are responsible for what you could do → why everyone is responsible for everyone

Nature of Good and Evil  good and evil desires are both equally present and valid and primordial, you can’t dissolve one into the other (the world is too complicated for that)  Evil is ordinary o Wishes can be morally evil  When we look away when we know evil happens (shifts field of possibilities) we let evil exist  Potential of evil → evil o Small evil that we all do  Everyone has evil in everyday things o Satan - the personification of evil looks like a decently fashionable attractive guy who is somewhat normal (not the grand powerful figure towering evil fire and brimstone usually depicted)  In the chapter called The Devil - Ivan’s nightmare

We are responsible for most of the evil in the world hence why the devil looks like us-we have met the enemy and he is us  Devil says I didn’t choose this but if i weren’t evil than the world would cease to exist  If evil wasn’t attractive and didn’t entice us then we wouldn’t do it  Satan feels like a victim  I was there when jesus rose from the dead, when he ascended to heaven but knew that if he jumped on the band wagon he had to restrain himself to keep life interesting w evil and do his job but ppl still blame him Hell has to be like earth(in The Devil)  In hell there is modern science, progressive views, etc.  The devil claims be an agnostic - maybe the whole world is a hallucination  The devil is a materialist It’s in everyone - people pretend to be horrified of evil but they keep watching and want to keep watching  Everyone in the town pretends to be horrified that his Dmitri has killed his father but they’re secretly glad to see Fyodor dead  If we didn’t enjoy evil, murder, the heinous etc then those horrors wouldn’t be on the news  Accidents on the side of the road→ ppl slow down (rubbernecking)  If we just watch it then we’re not taking part of it and that makes us feel better → we get to enjoy the evil but then be morally superior (we all wish it vicariously)  The deep desires that you deny are nonetheless there  The progressive, rich couple beats their children for the love of cruelty  Good Active daily love - small good deeds things can have big impact  The Onion (small good deeds and other possibilities-the choice was still hers)  It’s the small things, not the grand gestures  The importance of the ordinary→ chain of kind small actions  Folktale: a wicked lady once gave one onion to a beggar (kind small deed) but just the same when she said no this is my onion and kicked everyone off her in hell, the onion broke and left her rotting in hell for all eternity  Grushenka and Alyosha-they give each other an onion after Zossima’s death and they pour their hearts out while Rakitin is an asshole in the background  Dmitri wakes up with a pillow under his head and is overwhelmed with joy  Pound of nuts - dmitri still remembers it and it changed him Not miracle-based faith Wishes versus actions  Wish can be inherently evil → Ivan subconsciously lets Fyodor’s death happen  Morality of wishes\ Memory is holy and good and forgetting is evil 

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The act of remembering a small part of someone that defines them is so significant and important - if you are remembered for something than you are given significance  Alyosha’s memory of his mother → icon p.17  Praying for him to the mother of god with the slanting rays of the setting sun  Like the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus Christ  F’s story about how he once tried to sell Alyosha’s mother, told Alyosha that he spat on her icon (torture), and him saying that to Alyosha is spitting on Alyosha’s icon because Alyosha’s icon is his mother → outburst of anger in Ivan (bc F forgets who Ivan’s mother is, basically denying his existence)  Zossima’s memory of his brother  Illusha’s funeral-let us remember him and Alyosha says that he will remember the boys forever and ever If your standards are Natural = good, then you have no standards  Sexual violation and cruelty, great  Nature has evil  Small deeds are how to make change not revolution Small deeds shift field of possibilities 

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Nature of the World Around Us  There are not necessarily correct answers  Paradoxes  Field of possibilities o Which is why we are responsible for everyone, there’s a connection of everyone in the world and our choices affect everyone else  Free will and choice Empathy  Why it’s a novel itself  Necessity of empathy as a way to understand ppl and influence the world and expand others  We need to get outside our own heads to live and to do good  We must consider the best argument of the opposing side  We need empathy to know how to best help someone ____________________________________________________________________________ Other Important Shit Paradoxes→ complexity of human nature shown by praising something that usually isn’t praised  Ivan speaks in paradoxes bc he doesn’t want to commit himself → field of possibilities p.72 o Ivan believes in a material world where crime is legal and even the rational, honorable thing to do o Acting out of self-interest is praised  Ivan knows that morality shouldn’t exist thru materialism yet he still feels it

Smerdyakov brings this up in their third encounter which happens after the murder; you preach all this crime is legal etc yet your hands are shaking o materialistic view, no right or wrongs exist → yet Ivan ends up feeling guilty even though it shouldn’t matter o Actions only have moral value, not wishes → yet Ivan ends up feeling guilty over a wish not an action Smerdyakov and the holy paradox o A soldier is captured and has to choose to renounce his faith or die o He must decide in his head even a second before he says it that he will say it so at that moment you are giving up your faith so when you say it outloud you are not lying about anything and by the time you say it you can’t be damned bc you’ve already given up your faith o Fyodor says: what’s the difference if you make up your mind a second earlier, you’re still committing the same sin just a second earlier so you will be damned the same way o Smerdyakov mostly just wanted to piss off Grigory All shores meet p.117 The Grand Inquisitor is the least Christian makes the most Christian argument Complexity of world around us→ there can’t be a simple explanation for anything o

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The Grand Inquisitor  Story told by Ivan → Alyosha to shake his faith “I won’t give you up to your Zossima”  2 types of ways to live o Grand Inquisitor: no freedom/agency (bread)→ security and no sin → more ppl end up in heaven  GI sacrifices his eternity (most Christian thing he could do by being unchristian - more Christian than Christ - paradox) o Jesus Christ: freedom/agency (no bread) → (according to GI) bad choices and sin→ human suffering: regret, remorse, guilt → less ppl going to heaven  Jesus shouldn’t have picked bread bc he damned all of humanity  Jesus kisses GI on the lips in respect for his suffering, there’s arguments for both sides  Alyosha kisses Ivan on the lips o agency is what makes us human or else we’re just automotons  Represents Ivan’s internal conflict 

Miracle, Mystery, Authority  Man’s great wishes: Someone to worship, someone to keep his conscience, and someone to unite everyone  Jesus embraced free will → ruined man bc humanity isn’t strong enough to avoid temptation  Free will is bad bc it results in a conscience and guilt  Ppl should just be happy and ignorant → more ppl will make it to heaven but GI is willing to sacrifice all of his eternity to send more ppl to heaven which is what humanity wants  Mystery: conscience o We can’t possibly understand the reasons behind things so if we just accept that it’s a mystery and God is working in mysterious way then our conscience is eased o If they’re in the dark then they are not to blame

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 If you’re not responsible, then they can’t sin and they can go to heaven  GI will go to hell by taking all the responsibility for mystery on himself Authority: ppl want to be ruled over so they don’t have to make choices if someone tells them what to do Miracle: faith thru believing in force (no doubt) Faith is believeing something in contrary to the evidence

Argument Against Grand Inquisitor  Choice is inherent to human nature  The entire book is a rebuttal to The Grand Inquisitor D argues against God the Father in The Rebellion  Suffering of the innocent D argues against God the Son in The Grand Inquisitor  Choice v security  Posed the poem as if he is arguing against god the son  Butttttttttt it could be in favor of God the Son D doesn’t argue against God the Spirit  God the Spirit-represented by sticky green leaves, onion, day to day living and loving  Despite arguments against it, Ivan knows there’s something more than just atoms and molecules  God the Spirit’s message is what the book’s main point is Cana of Galilee  Alyosha goes back to the monastery after seeing Grushenka and Father Paissy is reading the story of Cana of Galilee over Zossima’s body  Jesus’ first miracle: jesus turns water into wine in order for wedding to go on o Small miracle  It is the small deeds that really matter  Alyosha has a dream where he is at the wedding and Father Zossima is there o Everyone here has given an onion  Christianity is not should be of grand miracles but of small daily acts of kindness→ the real miracle is that we have the capacity to do these things, the miracle of onions not the miracle of resurrecting the dead  Restores Alyosha’s faith bc Zossima talks about small acts in form of onion, go out and participate, live your life for the small moments The Babe  Dmitri is being interrogated and it looks like he committed the crime according to all the evidence → humiliated, stripped, accuse  He admits to hitting Grigory (he was at the place of the time of the murder with a weapon)  Has a dream that he sees a village of poor starving peasants and one of them is a mother holding her baby to her chest w/ no milk, there was a fire and Dmitri asks “why are they poor? What aren’t they feeding the babe?” His driver gives a matter of fact answer but Dmitri wants to know why there are any poor ppl? Why is there any suffering in the world? A Little Demon p.662

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Lise recognizes the evil in herself→ she dreams of doing awful things (setting fire to the house, just to do it) Alyosha asks, “why do evil” and she said “just so” it’s an irreducible principle Everyone in the town pretends to be horrified that his Dmitri has killed his father but they’re secretly glad to see Fyodor dead People pretend to be horrified of evil but they keep watching and want to keep watching If we didn’t enjoy evil, murder, the heinous etc then those horrors wouldn’t be on the news o Accidents on the side of the road→ ppl slow down (rubbernecking) If we just watch it then we’re not taking part of it and that makes us feel better o We get to indulge but also feel morally superior We all wish it vicariously

Who is responsible for the murder?  Actual murderer (Smerdyakov)  Person who we think did the murder (Dmitri)  Person who let it happen (Ivan) -the agent  All those ppl in the town who wish F were dead become vicariously responsible  Reader is an accomplice  Everyone who wishes, is responsible  We are all responsible for not giving onions when we can Ivan begins to recognize that he has some responsibility for this murder, it is clear that Smerdyakov has been talking in code  It’s good to speak to another clever person→ we can talk in code and neither of us are responsibility  1st time: first code where Smer talks about faking seizure and Ivan leaving  2nd time: Ivan comes home and says decode our last convo to Smerdyakov and Smer uses another code to decode the last convo  3rd time: Smer leads Ivan step by step thru his guilt (you wanted him dead) Smer is saying in code that Smer killed F and therefore Ivan is responsible o Arent’ you the one who said that all is permitted? That morals pertain to actions not wishes? Then why are your hands shaking? o What is the effect on you if you tried to live your ideas? Ivan sees someone knock over a peasant in the cold but leaves him there  After he recognizes his own guilt and decides he is going to confess  Seeks out the peasant and saves him and has him taken care of even though he has no direct responsibility  YOU CANNOT BE THE OBSERVER, YOU CANNOT BE NOT INVOLVED BC YOU’RE ALLOWING OF IT ALLOWS FOR EVIL -passed by on the other side and hurries on  You are responsible for what you could do The Devil  Ivan’s nightmare  Ivan says that the devil is just repeating his story and tells the Devil to come up with something original  There was an atheist and died but found himself in the other world, at heaven but the atheist refused, the punishment was he had to walk a quadrillion kilometers in the dark, so it would take him billions and billions of years

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I wish i had a reality just to be some fat pious lady lighting candles for god -the devil Hell has to be like earth

Smerdyakov  If he has killed for the money why does he give the money back?  Why does he commit suicide? Not out of guilt  Ivan’s pride made him think that Smerdyakov was a fool  Wants to destroy the family: Father is dead, Dmitri will go to prison, Ivan will go mad, Alyosha has some responsibility but is somewhat unt...