Brothers Karamazov

Author: Dostoevsky
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Foreign Masterpieces of Long Novels - Second Batch. Fyodor Karamazov is a nouveau-riche in a provincial Russian town. He has accumulated over 100,000 rubles in wealth. However, he lacks religious faith and indulges in sensual pleasures, being petty, greedy, and lustful. He has three sons. The eldest, Mitya, is an officer and becomes infatuated with a foreign woman named Grushenka at the same time. Meanwhile, he also keeps a cook named Smelkaev. Due to jealousy over Grushenka, Mitya threatens to kill his father but does not carry it out. Instead, the cook actually kills him. The cook is the illegitimate son of Fyodor and a foolish woman. After the incident, things go awry, and the blame falls on Mitya. During the trial, although Smelkaev admits to killing Fyodor in front of Ivan, he commits suicide immediately afterward. Without witnesses, and due to the conflicting testimonies of Mitya's two lovers, the court eventually sentences Mitya to twenty years of hard labor. Later, Mitya realizes that he should voluntarily endure suffering and atone for humanity by forgiving everyone. The ideal character in the novel is Alyosha, Fyodor's son, who converts to religion and dedicates himself to the love of God and humanity. However, even he advocates for and participates in planning Mitya's escape, leaving the success of the escape to the reader's imagination.