The Brothers Karamazov Characters Analysis
Karamazov, Fyodor Pavlovich - Fyodor is the rich landowner, and father of Dmitri, Ivan, Alexei, and perhaps even Smerdyakov. The novel revolves around Fyodor’s trouble-riddled relationship with his children and his eventual murder. Dmitri, his eldest son, is accused of the crime, because Fyodor had stolen Dmitri’s inheritance, and was then attempting to steal his mistress. Smerdyakov eventually confesses that he had murdered Fyodor, but he had only done so because Ivan had seemed to desire it.
Dmitri Fyodorovich - Dmitri is the sensualist among the three Karamazov brothers, and the only son from Fyodor’s first marriage. Dmitri is severely neglected by his father throughout his life and grows up moving from one benefactor to the other. He is also misled by his father about the size of his inheritance, thus he spends his money extremely lavishly. He begins legal proceedings against his father, but then his father begins to court Grushenka, and Dmitri does all he can to prevent this. Eventually, he wins her love, but everyone begins to believe that he had murdered his father. Dmitri is even convicted of the crime, but Ivan and Katerina had already arranged an escape plan for such an eventuality.
Ivan Fyodorovich - The intellectual Karamazov brother is marked by intelligence from a young age. However, he is melancholic and ashamed of his father, as Ivan realizes that he is being raised by the kindness of others rather than his parent. Ivan nurses a deep hatred for his father as well as the corrupt people of the world. He is deeply in search of the meaning of virtue and corrupts all those around him by spreading the view that there was no such thing as virtue. Eventually, Ivan is driven mad as he discovers that the ideology he espoused had led to the murder of his father, and it caused him to experience great remorse.
Alexei Fyodorovich - The spiritual Karamazov brother, and the youngest of the three is most certainly the intended protagonist of the novel. He is presented in a most favorable light by the narrator, and often praised. Alyosha treads the path of faith as he had been taught by the Elder Zosima, and until the very end of the novel delivers messages to and fro, much like an angel.
Smerdyakov, Pavel Fyodorovich - Smerdyakov, the son of the stinking one, is a manservant at the Karamazov house. He was raised by Grigory, Fyodor’s manservant, as Smerdyakov’s mother had given birth to him in the Karamazov bathhouse and died. It is rumored that Fyodor had fathered Smerdyakov, and Fyodor appeared to treat the servant with a lot of kindness, going so far as to have him educated as a cook in Moscow. Eventually, Smerdyakov confesses that he had murdered Fyodor, although he claims that he had only done it because he believed Ivan had desired it. Furthermore, he had been corrupted by Ivan’s claims that there was no such thing as morality.
