Resumo de The Brothers Karamazov

This novel was to have been followed by another, in which Alyosha, the youngest of the Karamozov brothers, would presumably have given up the devout path which he intended to follow, but the author did not live to write that book. In THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, Dmitri, the passionate, impetuous, brother has serious disagreements concerning money and the woman Grushenka with the old buffoonish sensualist father Fyodor, who purposely aggravates him, while the intellectual brother Ivan takes the attitude that they can destroy one another for all he cares. The cruel half-idiot, half-brother Smerdyakov , an epileptic, is a cook and servant in Fyodor?s house, which embarrasses him, and he wishes to demonstrate to Ivan that he is a kindred spirit, another intellectual, as well as socially sophisticated.
Alyosha tries to reach out to the family of the man whom Dmitri had thrashed in the street and to befriend them when the little boy Ilusha falls ill after a serious falling-out with the other children, following upon his defence of his now-disgraced father. This falling-out is patched up with the help of Alyosha and the leader of the children, precocious 13-year-old Kolya Krassotkin, who had been seeking out Alyosha?s acquaintance. Young Ilusha tells Alyosha of an unspeakably cruel trick Smerdyakov showed him which he played on a dog, and he fears the dog died, so he too has a heavy conscience.
Ivan at one point tells Alyosha his story of THE GRAND INQUISITOR, surely the most famous story-within-a-story ever. It is a story of Christ coming to earth during the time of the Spanish Inquisition and having the inquisitor explain that the church does not hold accurately to the teachings of Christ, but instead provide people with what they need psychologically. What the church does, he says, is to provide ceremony and excitement and show something impressive enough to persuade people that the church is a thing to which they may hand over their wills; and further it lays down rules and takes away the limitless choice which would crush the normal person. In the face of this freedom and choice, a person would be paralyzed and could not handle the responsibility of having to choose, hence the church takes away the need to exercise freedom and take responsibility, right or wrong. People gladly become enslaved to have such a burden lifted, according to Ivan?s story.
This, like other passages, reveals that despite his claim to atheism, Ivan has a natural sense of morality, and questions of right and wrong disturb him greatly. In this respect, the cynical Ivan is an interesting foil to the overtly religious Alyosha, who does not write articles, but seeks to do good works, after the manner of his elder Zosima, a very humble and pious man, who evidently did not seek rank or power even within the church, but whose worth ultimately is put in doubt in the minds of the monks following his death.
Philosophically, this is perhaps the most important novel written. Each brother has self-knowledge issues, with Alyosha beginning to feel doubts about the spiritual path and receiving a crushing blow following the death of his elder Zosima, considered a saintly figure, whose body, surprisingly, decomposes unnaturally quickly, which is taken as a sign that he is not favored by God. As Dmitri begins to realize he is a bully and regrets many things he has done, Ivan, who represents himself as an atheist, is overwhelmed with guilt. The relationship and a conversation between Smerdyakov and Ivan after the murder has inspired those in philosophy of mind, and illustrates nicely existentialist notions that behaviors are underdetermined by mental states.
For those interested in the history of the Russian legal system, the account of Dmitri?s trial may be of some interest as well. In 19th century Russia, as in contemporary America, there was a widespread public dissatisfaction with arguments made on behalf of criminal defendants which sought to create sympathy for the criminal because of his psychological condition, life experiences, social conditions, etc. Nonetheless, the peasants, the representatives of good old-fashioned common sense, hold firm in the face of the arguments offered by the high-powered city lawyer, and turn in a verdict of guilty, despite Ivan?s insane (Ivan, now clearly affected by brain fever, was not even in town at the time.) claim to be guilty himself.
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is considered by many to be the greatest novel every written, and certainly should be on the reading list of anyone who wishes to acquire a familiarity with the major literary works of Western Culture.
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