Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Karamazov Brothers"

Fyodor Dostoevsky is the most outstanding Russian writer of positivism movement. The movement of great transformation in Russia and Europe, as well.  He was born in Moscow, was a son of a doctor, his family was wealthy.  He got a very good education, as a child he was taught at home, later on he was sent to boarding school.  His father wanted him to become a lieutenant, he choose writing,  he wanted to be a novelist, an essayist. He was touched by social changes that took place, the social diversification, poverty and injustice. He had very traumatic experienced passed by, his father was assassinated while he was at the boarding school, the poverty, jealousy, mayhem that aroused  in Russia were cause of his personal problems.

He was changing, I mean, his mentality was changing gradually, in his writing as in the film we see a transformation form the boy, to an adult man, the time he spent in prison made his senses more sharp, his writing was more aggressive. His time in Siberia he described in “Crime and Punishment” – Raskolnikov is him himself. His youth was marked not only by imprisonment but also by the health condition he suffered till the rest of his life, he had an epilepsy. He had never been cured of. His imprisonment not only gave him plot to write “Crime and Punishment” but also “Karamazov Brothers”, in this book he described the pure evil, the satanic evil that is in every human being but awoken only in circumstantial situation marked by fear, jealousy and revenge. Marrying Anna Snitkina was as a balm for him, she helped him to overcome epileptic seizures and depression. She has been his “angel”. Dostoevsky dealt with existentialism, which put on an agenda the issues of despair, suffering, pain, poverty, famine. His characters were sophisticated, unforgettable.

The main character of the book is Fyodor Karamazov, a commoner who takes care only for the money, and women, nothing else really matters. Real coarse! He was married twice, and had sons, Dmitri, Ivan and Aloysha. He never took care of them, the sons do not exist for him, when their mothers died he sent them away, to the relatives, they were burden for him, a problem he would rather avoid than to cope with. He was busy with drinking.  One of his sons returned home, now, a soldier, Dmitri is a thread to Fyodor, Dmitri wants money, inheritance. The two men have fight over the will, to settle it up, Ivan, younger brother is asked for help. For Ivan it is a very difficult situation, he doesn't know his own father and the brother, he was about to finish the argument of two complete strangers. He doesn't feel its right. He asked Zosima for help. Both Fyodor and Ivan agrees it is far more better idea. Aloysha the youngest of brothers stays in the monastery, however, his fears that all ends bad become true, both man fight verbally, the poor monk doesn't have a chance to fight back. The money is not the only dispute they are quarreling about, a woman is a prime subject – Grushenka. She is a beautiful young woman desired by everyone. Dmitri left his fiancée Katarina for Grushenka. He is madly in love with her, he became infuriated finding out that Fyodor offered Grushenka 3.000 rubles to become his lover. He wants to kill him. To perplex it all more, Dmitri stole the same amount of money from Katarina to travel and find Grushenka. He has to pay her back, he needs money to get rid of Katarina. The three sons did not know for the very long time they have a brother. Many years ago, Fyodor had an affair with a village girl, she gave a birth to the boy, Fyodor never acknowledged. Smerdyakov is a very strange person, with malicious personality. He is not stupid, he likes a philosophical discourse. He listens and analyses everything, he is quiet and shrewd like a fox. Aloysha  is having a tough time, he is like a mediator, sent form person to person, as a result he is told to go and break Dmitri and Katarina’s engagement, surprisingly he founds out that the engagement is not a problem because Katarina is in love with Ivan.

Young Aloysha symbolizes pure innocence, he is a witness of almost a bloody fight between Fyodor and Dmitri, he stays calm and cool, he prays for them. He loves them, and even though he is ashamed of their behavior he still wants to finish an uncomfortable dispute. He helps his father, looks after his wounds. Aloysha is very sensitive, his friend Zosima is dying, Aloysha is in deep grief, but, he understands how important is to pray for one soul, how important is to forgive and understand incomprehensible.   Love, understanding  and ability to forgive are the most important values people of all kind should believe in. Zosima was about to be proclaimed saint, but any miracle ever happened after his death, the symbol of decaying body in “Karamazov Brothers” is very important, a person who was believed to symbolize purity, innocence and truthfulness turned out to be corrupted, evil and filled with lies, it is humiliation. Other monks believed so, the body started decaying faster than expected.

Aloysha is a wise young boy, he is not corrupted, he feels evil and stands against it, his shield is truth. People wanted to corrupt him many times, even Grushenka had attempts, all of them were futile. Instead, he is liked by everyone, the friendship between him and Grushenka had rough beginning, now, it seems to bloom.

The disputes between Fyodor and Dmitri do not ease, the fight begins and Dmitri strikes Fyodor severely, Fyodor lost consciousness, the servant runs away afraid of consequences, besides, he doesn't know how to help Fyodor, who dies. Dmitri is one, prime suspect, he is imprisoned for a murder of his father. After a trial he will be sent to Siberia,  after some time Aloysha finds out, that it is not Dmitri who killed the father but Ivan, who had been filled with guilt, and become more and more insane, madness ate him out. The chain of unfortunates  do not end, Semerdyakov hanged himself.

The book is a symbolical novel, metaphorical novel, the most important symbol is a matter of faith, it is portrayed by Aloysha, his devotion to God, by his approach to others, Aloysha represents kindness, devotions, love, goodness. He is overwhelmingly good like God. The book also touches the problems of being free, decisive, One as a free individual being. The system they are in forbids them being free, independent, stay out of judgment. Last value is responsibility, no one except Aloysha is responsible in Karamazov's family. Sadly, unfortunately Aloysha cannot halt the consequences of other people actions, he had to bear with it. The figure of great irresponsibility is Ivan – he cares only for himself, he kills his father, he has no doubts, no regrets, he represents emotional dryness. Dostoyevsky’s main villain is  Evil, it is present in a personality of Fyodor, Dmitri, Ivan, Smerdyakov, only Aloysha is out of Evil’s reach. His religious approach helps him to build a distance needed to forgive and to forget.