Book Report On Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"
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 ...
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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 ...
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to understand the depravity inherent in man gives him,
and therefore the reader, great insights into the personalities and motives of
the other characters. For example, it is Alyosha that guesses that Katerina
Ivanovna does not truly love Dmitry, and that she acts out this "false love"
only so that she can, out of pride, "observe [her] heroic sacrifice of
faithfulness and reproach [Dmitry] for his unfaithfulness." Dostoevsky uses
Alyosha's insights into the minds of others as a unique way by which to develop
his characters.
Ivan, the second youngest of the brothers, is much different from both
Fyodor and Alyosha. Ivan is a cold and haughty yet brilliant man incapable ...
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Book Report On Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov". (2006, March 1). Retrieved December 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Book-Report-On-Dostoevskys-Brothers-Karamazov/42015
"Book Report On Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 1 Mar. 2006. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Book-Report-On-Dostoevskys-Brothers-Karamazov/42015>
"Book Report On Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"." Essayworld.com. March 1, 2006. Accessed December 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Book-Report-On-Dostoevskys-Brothers-Karamazov/42015.
"Book Report On Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"." Essayworld.com. March 1, 2006. Accessed December 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Book-Report-On-Dostoevskys-Brothers-Karamazov/42015.
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