Dolors's Reviews > The Karamazov Brothers

Dark abysses in moonless skies will engulf the titillating brightness of stars and ghastly winters will obliterate the warmth of the earth until justice has been done.
Recline comfortably in your velvety chaise longue and concentrate on the spectacle that is about to begin, for the so much awaited day of the trial has arrived and the Karamazov family will be submitted to relentless interrogation, psychological scrutiny and the righteous proof of circumstantial evidence. There is humor, melodrama and suspense to be expected.
The peasants in the jury rub their hands greedily in anticipation because it is a widely known fact that the Karamazov brothers are evil creatures, doomed wretches and witless idealists, cursed with inherent vice and rotten spirit. Murder is not the real crime but only a succulent appetizer to the real feast. Prejudice doesn’t exist when the morality of Mother Russia has been challenged, defiance is the biggest offense and adequate punishment needs to be inflicted.
Let the trial begin, let the accused condemn themselves.

Prosecutor Ippolit Kirillovitch knows the Karamazov well.
Fyodor, the murdered head of the family, an appalling father and a worse Christian is a man of excesses drawn by hedonistic pleasures, whose debauchery and petty buffoonery put his name to shame. Malignant cynicism is his moral code and sarcasm his only religion. When Grushenka, the quintessential femme fatale, crosses Fyodor’s path he is irredeemably attracted to her like a moth to a bulb light. She becomes his obsession and ultimate perdition.

“I am an inveterate buffoon, and have been from birth up, your reverence, it’s as though it were a craze in me. I dare say it’s the devil within me. But only a little one.” Book II, chapter one (41).

Mitya, a man of wild passions and destructive jealousy seeks for absolution but his love for Grushenka eclipses his commitment to his betrothed Katya. Ashamed of his weaknesses he struggles against himself in constant contradiction. Good and evil, a scoundrel but not a thief, a deceitful swine but of noble heart, a squanderer but a man of honest generosity, a sentenced murderer but a redeemed victim, he suffers to purge his corrupt spirit.

“In thousand of agonies – I exist. I’m tormented on the rack – but I exist! Though I sit alone on a pillar – I exist! I see the sun, and if I don’t see the sun, I know it’s there. And there’s a whole life in that, in knowing that the sun is there.” Book XI, chapter 4 (665).

Ivan, the rebellious atheist of sharp intellect and faster tongue who, in spite of proving God’s non-existence through the intrinsic cruelty of mankind, admits receiving nightly visits from the devil. Ivan’s strategist and scheming mind rejects the idea of mercy and his Grand Inquisitor makes him refuse his own humanity.

“I don’t want harmony. For love of humanity I don’t want it. I would rather be left with the unavenged suffering. I would rather remain with my unavenged suffering and unsatisfied indignation.” Book V, chapter 4 (268).

Aloysha, the bright star whose light nurtures, guides and absolves those rotating in his Solar System of forgiveness and gentleness. He spreads Father Zossima’s belief in the goodness of people with innocent idealism, never faltering faith and a modest heart that pumps unselfish love through mankind’s veins.

“If you are penitent, you love. And if you love you are of God. All things are atoned for, all things are saved by love. If I, a sinner even as you are, am tender with you and have pity on you, how much more will God have pity upon you. Love is such a priceless treasure that you can redeem the whole world by it, and cleanse not only your own sins but the sins of others.” . Book II, chapter 3 (53).

Smerdyakov, Fyodor’s pitiful bastard and valet, neglected creature and cursed with epilepsy hides his vile temperament behind a mask of groveling servitude. His nihilist tendencies find solace in Ivan’s calculating logic and cold rationalism.

“That was quite right what you taught me, for you talked a lot to me about that. For if there’s no everlasting God, there’s no such thing as virtue, and there’s no need of it.” Book XI, chapter 8 (710).

Guilty, guilty, guilty. Three times guilty villains! One after another, all the members of the Karamazov family succumb to temptation and become plagued by doubt. Lust, envy, greediness, wrath and arrogance are only a few of their countless sins.
There is neither verbose nor pompous enough speech the defense attorney could articulate to convince the jury of their blamelessness. Conscience is the sterner judge of all and these sensualists have condemned themselves. The prosecutor basks in his victory but wears a distorted smile on his pallid and emaciated face because the price to pay for the irrefutable proof of guilt might be too dear. For aren’t we all blameworthy?
“Nothing is more seductive for a man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is greater cause of suffering.” Book V, chapter 5 (279).

Nothing is what it seems and fictional actors in the most grotesque of stages can transcend the borders of realism and become myths to decide the fate of a nation or the destiny of mankind’s soul.
Russia is on trial. The fraternal, ambiguous and chauvinistic troika represented by Fyodor and Mitya, the mystical mother earth embodied in Alyosha’s untainted belief in the worthiness of its people and Ivan’s intellectual realism and detached views on European Enlightenment are presented as diverging instruments to save the fate of Russia. Traditional conservatism, religious idealism or disruptive modernity?
The true nature of humanity is being dissected, probed and mercilessly judged while the Karamazov brothers emerge as allegorical symbols of incongruous contradiction coexisting in their intrinsic need for spiritual redemption. It is only human to strive for salvation. Even The Grand Inquisitor, the emblem of unsatisfied indignation and logical argumentation feels his heart beating with relief when a kiss of forgiveness has blessed his right cheek, or when he has given an onion and performed a good deed.
Step aside, Mr.Kirillovitch. The real judgment of the Karamazov brothers’ soul can’t possibly take place in a courtroom, neither of human nor even of divine nature. Nothing can supplant the judgment of one’s own conscience. The onion needs to be peeled of its pungent layers to get to its tender core. It is a painful task to perform but once the tears have washed away the itchiness, a bright light remains which will illuminate the shadowy paths to redemption.
The Karamazov Brothers have fought their own demons, admitted their own flaws and achieved spiritual transformation. They have been absolved. And so has been this humble reader. There will be hope as long as there is love.
“Hurrah for Karamazov!” Epilogue, chapter 3 (870).

“"What is hell?" I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.” Book VI, chapter 3 (356).