Why should we read The Brothers Karamazov?
By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
Rating: 5/5
Review:
I tried to sum up as much as I could. The novel is massive and needs a high concentration level to digest. I finished this book in a month and have enjoyed it a lot!
The brothers Karamazov is a melodramatic novel that discusses many social, ethical, humanitarian, religious, psychological and political issues in the 19th century in Russia that are relevant until today. The issues appear in the characters' behaviours and thoughts, such as the understanding struggle between good and evil, the concept of justice, the definition of love, friendship and betrayal, the view of death and life, and the controversial meaning of faith. Moreover, not only the relationships between humans but also our relationship with materialistic things such as money and wealth and how it controls us and our values.
And from here, I can assure you that “Dostoevsky is intelligent” summed up all this in one masterpiece.
The novel is about the family of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, “the family's father”, who’s married twice and has three sons, and one illegitimate son "as rumoured in the city". Fyodor is a heavy drinker, selfish and irresponsible, engaged in many illegal activities, and surrounded by prostitutes all the time. He’s married twice and has the following sons:
1st son from the 1st marriage: is Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov “Mitya”. He is an officer in the army.
2nd son of the 2nd marriage: is Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov. He is Smart, educated and studied at the university.
3rd son of 2nd marriage: is Alexei Fyodorovich Karamazov “Alyosha”. He is a novice in a monastery
4th son “illegitimate son”: is Pavel Fyodorovich Karamazov “Smerdyakov”. He works as a servant and cooks at Karamazov's house.
The novel discusses deep down the psychological aspect of the characters, it explains in detail the stages of raising each child since their father Fyodor doesn't devote himself or engage in raising or looking after any of them. For example, it appears that Smerdyakov has aggressive behaviours from an early stage of his life and intelligent thinking that appear in an intellectual conversation with his guardian. On the other hand, the kindness of Alyosha had appeared since his early childhood and Meta's controversial behaviours, when he claimed decency but malice in the outward appearance of his actions.
This might lead us to a major question.
Are our values acquired or inherited?
The Russian society at that time emphasised that the Karamazov family inherited the maliciousness and the malevolence in their blood. This issue has become a major subject of discussion till today.
Also, the impact of family disputes in society was given analysis in the novel in an exciting way, and how the same family members have different beliefs, actions and concepts, which appears in an interesting conversation between the brothers Ivan and Alyosha, ended with a poem named “The Grand Inquisitor” by Ivan.
Romantic relationships happen in the novel, where love has a different definition from one to another, so we can see how Fyodor, “the father,” links love with his illegitimate activities and money. On the other hand, it shows a beautiful love story between Alyosha and Lisa, “the daughter of Madam Khokhlakov,”. and many complications in other romantic relationships that sometimes arise from indiscretion. Additionally, how can one-sided love be treated? And how can we handle the acceptance and rejection of love?
Death has a strong presence here, represented by the persons who passed away and people related to them from relatives, friends and others. So, we see various people receive the news of death, how they act, and how they grieve differently from one to another. Those actions and feelings can be translated into several behaviours and actions. Meanwhile, an important incident that happened in town, which is the death of Father Zosima, "the elder in the monastery," shows us the human curtly in how some people take advantage of others' grief and sorrow, so they take this opportunity to spread their hate "even the death doesn't deter them".
However, the crime happened and caused chaos throughout Russia. So the novel discusses the crime in psychological, religious and philosophical aspects, and the criminal justified his crime under this principle, “If there is no God, everything is permitted.”. Also, in referring to the principle of “Collective Responsibility”, everyone is responsible for everyone's actions, whether directly or indirectly, everyone here, including society, so the whole society should be accountable for the actions of the individual, so from here, we can spot the philosophical perspective.
The questions here are:
Can we criminalise thoughts? And what are the limits of thoughts? And can a crime based on morality, religion, or honourable be justified?
We can say the crime consists of two parties involved, the main criminal party, the person who committed the crime directly, such as the murderer and the thief, etc., as well as the hidden criminal party to the crime, the one who contributes indirectly in the crime as we named under the law “accessory in crime”.
The questions here are:
Who is the actual criminal, and who is responsible for the crime? And why do we criminalise one and justify the other?
The defence’s lawyer gave an important and marvellous lesson about parenthood in the courtroom. He explained how raising children and family disputes would affect society. He said, “not all parents deserve this honour”.
Finally, Some of you might find that many characters and names could be a defect in the novel. Still, I find it advantageous because every character is well-developed and attractively captured.