Brothers Karamazov (Volume 1 and 2) (Illustrated Edition)

Author: (Russian) Dostoevsky
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Fyodor Karamazov is a nouveau-riche in a provincial Russian town. He has accumulated over 100,000 rubles in wealth. However, without religious faith (in the author's view, also without a spiritual life), he indulges in sensory pleasures, is petty, greedy, and lustful. He has three sons. The eldest, Mitya, is an officer and falls in love with a woman named Grushenka, who is from outside the town. Meanwhile, he also keeps a cook named Smelka. Due to jealousy over Grushenka, Mitya threatens to kill his father but does not carry it out. The actual murderer is the cook. Smelka is the illegitimate son of Fyodor and a foolish woman. Smelka kills Fyodor because he is influenced by Fyodor's second son, Ivan. Although Ivan behaves nobly, he has no faith in his thoughts, nor does he have a moral compass. He advocates that "anything is permissible," which leads Smelka to kill Fyodor and take 3,000 rubles. After the incident, things go awry and the blame falls on Mitya. During the trial, although Smelka admits to killing Fyodor to Ivan, he commits suicide immediately. Without a witness, and due to the conflicting testimonies caused by Mitya's two lovers' jealousy, the court sentences Mitya to 20 years of hard labor. Later, Mitya realizes that he should actively endure hardship, forgive everyone, and atone for humanity. 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. Even though he advocates and participates in planning Mitya's escape, whether the escape succeeds is left to the reader to imagine.