CHARACTERIZATION
The main characters of Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov are, as
the title suggests, the members of the Karamazov "family," if it can indeed be
called such. The only things that the members of this family share are a name
and the "Karamazov curse," a legacy of base impulses and voluptuous lust.
References to this tendency towards immorality are sprinkled heavily throughout
the novel; phrases such as "a brazen brow and a Karamazov conscience,"
"voluptuary streak," and "Karamazovian baseness" abound.
Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the father of the brothers Karamazov, is the
embodiment and the source of this immorality. In him Dostoevsky creates such
perversity and depravity that one can feel no positive emotions for the man.
His physical appearance--he is "flabby" with "small, suspicious eyes" and a
"long, cavernous mouth with puffy lips, behind which could be glimpsed small
fragments of black teeth"--accurately reflects his foul, disgusting character.
He has no respect for himself; he enjoys playing the part of the shameless
"buffoon" for attention, even though the attention he receives is negative.
Because he has no respect for himself, he can have no respect for others, either.
He has no respect for women, for example; he is a despicable "voluptuary," and
he satisfies his lust at any cost. He drives his wife to madness by bringing
"women of ill-repute" into their house right in front of her. Even more
shockingly, he rapes a mentally retarded woman, who later dies giving birth to
his illegitimate son, Smerdyakov, who grows up as his father's servant.
Fyodor is even more blatantly disrespectful to his three legitimate
children. After his wife's death, he abandons them, for they "would have been
a hindrance to his debaucheries." He is never a true father to any of them.
When his oldest son, Dmitry, becomes an adult, Fyodor is even so cruel as to
deny Dmitry his inheritance and instead use the money to seduce Grushenka, with
whom his son is in love.
It is Alyosha, the youngest brother, that is most successful in escaping
the curse of the Karamazovs. Miraculously, he is almost the complete opposite
of his father; he is an easygoing "lover of mankind" whom everyone likes. When
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...ativity of the
atmosphere.
STYLE
Dostoevsky's style is very realistic and straightforward. He almost
never uses flowery or poetic language or figures of speech; his language is
simple and spare, as if he tried to eliminate all that wasn't absolutely
necessary. Similarly, he is unpretentious in his choice of words. He generally
states things in the simplest terms possible. Contrastingly, however, his
sentences are often fairly complex; despite their complexity, though, they are
easy to understand and thus do not detract from his simplicity and
straightforwardness.
Because the book consists largely of dialogue, Dostoevsky changes his
style frequently, for each of his characters has a unique style of speaking that
complements his character. Dostoevsky writes Ivan's dialogue, for example, in a
very verbose, complex style that reinforces Ivan's characterization as an
intellectual. He writes Dmitry's dialogue in a very random, disjointed style
that underscores Dmitry's tendency to allow his passion and his emotions to
cloud his logic. Finally, he writes Alyosha's dialogue in a simple style very
similar to his own, as Alyosha is himself simple and unpretentious.ÿýOï
As Rodya analyzes Luzhin’s character, he realizes that intellect unrestrained by moral purpose is dangerous due to the fact that many shrewd people can look right through that false façade. Luzhin’s false façade of intellect does not fool Rodya or Razumikhin, and although they try to convince Dunya into not marrying Luzhin, she does not listen. Rodya believes that Luzhin’s “moral purpose” is to “marry an honest girl…who has experienced hardship” (36). The only way he is able to get Dunya to agree to marry him, is by acting as if he is a very intellectual person, who is actually not as educated as he says he is. This illustrates the fact that Rodya knows that it is really dangerous because he knows that people can ruin their lives by acting to be someone they are not. Rodya also knows that people will isolate themselves from others just so that no one will find out their true personality. This is illustrated in through the fact that Luzhin tries to avoid Dunya and her mother as much as possible. The way he writes his letter, exemplifies his isolation, for Luzhin does not know how to interact with society. He has no idea how to write letters to his fiancée and his future mother in law. This reflects on Rodya’s second dream because he is unable to get Dunya married off to a nice person. He feels isolated from everyone else because his intellect caused him to sense that Luzhin is not telling the truth about his personality. However, it was due to his lack of moral purpose that Rodya berates his sister’s fiancé. He is unable to control himself, and due to his immoral act of getting drunk, Rodya loses all judgment and therefore goes and belittles Luzhin. Although Rodya’s intellectual mind had taken over and showed him that Luzhin wa...
lust. To his Coy Mistress is a pure lust one even though in parts may
cold-hearted to his second-wife also shows how unloving Vladek is too anybody who did not make the
In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky gives the reader an inside look to the value system that he holds for himself, as well as the type of characteristics that he abhors in people as well as the characteristics that he admires in people. He uses characters in the novel to express his beliefs of what a person should be like in life to be a “good'; person. Specifically he uses Raskolnokv to show both good and bad characteristics that he likes in people. Also he uses Svidriglaiov and Luzin to demonstrate the characteristics that people should shun and his personal dislikes in people.
identical. Both characters were in isolation prior to the initial plot of the books, but for
after his parents, he is thought of as being 'unfilial' and seen as a bad
Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Dostoevsky, the only one who has taught me anything about psychology.” The two writers share many similarities and differences. Dostoevsky clearly had an effect on the thinking of Nietzsche. The two would be considered both philosophers and psychologists. Both writers became prominent in the late 19th century in Germany and Russia respectively. Dostoevsky was noted for his Russian literary classics and would be responsible for a flowering of late 19th century Russian literary culture. His Russian contemporaries include Leo Tostoy and Anton Chekov. Dostoevsky’s most famous works include The Brothers Karamozov, The Idiot, and Crime and Punishment. Nietzsche is most famous for his philosophical works such as thus spoke Zarathustra. The two writers have many similarities in their philosophy. They both see a changing role in religion. Nietzsche and Dostoevsky also differ sharply on some other aspects of life. One of these being the differing views on the role of the fatherland. Nietzsche’s beyond good and evil and Dostoevsky’s crime and punishment are two works that can be compared and contrasted to show the similarities and dissimilarities of the two geniuses. The two men offer great insights in these books on morality and the affect it can have on the actions of the individual and the society as a whole.
“Notes from Underground” was published in 1864 as a feature presentation of his first 1860 issue “The Epoch”. “Notes from Underground” was written by the author during a time when he faced many challenges in his life. Dostoyevsky faced failure in the publishing of his first journal “Time”, his financial position was becoming weaker and embarrassing. Moreover, his wife was dying and his conservatism was eroded leading to a decline in his popularity with the liberal reading Russians and consequently, he became the focus of attack by the radical and liberal press (Fanger 3). Therefore, this research seeks to find how the author presents the aspect of “underground man” and how he approached Charles Darwin’s thoughts of man in “Origin of the Species”.
people, for they thought him to be an idiot, unable to remember that the very
Within the tortured mind of a young Russian university student, an epic battle rages between two opposite ideologies - the conservative Christianity characteristic of the time, and a new modernist humanism gaining prevalence in academia. Fyodor Dostoevsky in the novel Crime and Punishment uses this conflict to illustrate why the coldly rational thought that is the ideal of humanism represses our essential emotions and robs us of all that is human. He uses the changes in Raskolnikov's mental state to provide a human example of modernism's effect on man, placing emphasis upon the student's quest for forgiveness and the effect of repressed emotion.
...uses sex as a cholera sufferer would use medicine to endure pain. In his mind, that's the only way to help him cope his insurmountable heartache and endure his desire for the woman who is the source of all his suffering.
The problem of reconciling an omnipotent, perfectly just, perfectly benevolent god with a world full of evil and suffering has plagued believers since the beginning of religious thought. Atheists often site this paradox in order to demonstrate that such a god cannot exist and, therefore, that theism is an invalid position. Theodicy is a branch of philosophy that seeks to defend religion by reconciling the supposed existence of an omnipotent, perfectly just God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. In fact, the word “theodicy” consists of the Greek words “theos,” or God, and “dike,” or justice (Knox 1981, 1). Thus, theodicy seeks to find a sense of divine justice in a world filled with suffering.
The word “hero” is simple in connotation but complex in the feeling it evokes. The Oxford dictionary defines a hero as, “A person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” This statement can be interpreted in many ways and thus creating a multitude of heros but heros that all share the same essential qualities, albeit in different manners. In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the protagonist Raskolnikov is depicted as a "Code" or Hemingway hero (Crime and Punishment). A proportional hero from a different literary classic would be Winston Smith in George Orwell’s 1984 (1984). In this story, Winston displays characteristics of a modern hero through both
thinks that no man is good enough for his daughter. Therefore, he pushes anyone who
In his novel Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov as a vessel for several different philosophies that were particularly prominent at the time in order to obliquely express his opinions concerning those schools of thought. Raskolnikov begins his journey in Crime and Punishment with a nihilistic worldview and eventually transitions to a more optimistic one strongly resembling Christian existentialism, the philosophy Dostoevsky preferred, although it could be argued that it is not a complete conversion. Nonetheless, by the end of his journey Raskolnikov has undergone a fundamental shift in character. This transformation is due in large part to the influence other characters have on him, particularly Sonia. Raskolnikov’s relationship with Sonia plays a significant role in furthering his character development and shaping the philosophical themes of the novel.