People who are harmed and humiliated -- Works of Dostoevsky

Author: F.M. Dostoevsky () (translated by Lou Ziliang)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The Brothers Karamazov is one of the important works of the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky in the 19th century. The novel depicts the persecution of the "little people" by the bourgeois adventurer Varkovsky, especially two weak women, and the two family tragedies he masterminded. Ignatiev, a declining nobleman, is the steward of Prince Varkovsky. He diligently manages the prince's household and estates but receives neither recognition nor trust from the prince, often clashing with him. Eventually, they come to blows and end up in court. To destroy the Ignatiev family, Varkovsky appropriates the only estate he owned and, through all means, forces his son Alyosha to marry the heiress of a million-dollar fortune, leaving the steward's daughter Nadya, who was in love with Alyosha, abandoned. Another victim is the family of the elderly Schmidt. His daughter once ran away with the prince after being seduced, only to be left with nothing and her family destroyed, leaving a lonely illegitimate daughter, Nellie, who later also dies of poverty and illness.