The Brothers Karamazov Part 1, Book II - III
Book II - An Inappropriate Gathering
Fyodor arrives with Ivan at the same time as his first wife’s cousin, Pyotr Musiov, at the monastery. Dmitri was also supposed to arrive at the same time but no one is aware why he hasn’t. The company is invited to dine with the Father Superior after they meet with Elder Zossima. They are led to the Hermitage of the Elder by a monk and on their way Pyotr warns Fyodor about behaving before they are shown in to see the elder. Fyodor sarcastically agrees, and Pyotr begins to dread the meeting. They enter the bare hermitage and meet with Elder Zosima, an old man in his mid-sixties who appears to be sick. Alyosha escorts the elder into the meeting with another novice.
Fyodor takes over the proceedings by acting like the buffoon he’s known to be. He tells them ridiculous and vulgar anecdotes and berates himself as well as the other members of the meeting, including Elder Zossima. Pyotr is deeply embarrassed by Fyodor’s treatment of the elder because he understands how the people venerate him. Pyotr apologizes to him and hurries to leave but the elder prevents him from doing so and asks Fyodor to be in his natural state. In a quiet and meek tone, the elder asks Fyodor to stop telling lies, especially to himself. The monk promises to return to them shortly after blessing the pilgrims that have been waiting to see him. The monk blesses the common folk who have journeyed from all over to receive his blessings. He then goes to the nobility, Mrs. Khokhlakov, who thanks him deeply for healing her daughter Lise, but the elder tells her that it is only God who heals, and not he. Lise has a message for Alyosha from Katerina, Dmitri’s betrothed. He reads the mysterious letter and discovers that she wishes to meet with him concerning Dmitri.
The elder returns to find the room full of conversation as the churchmen are discussing Ivan’s recent article about ecclesiastical courts. The churchmen support his view that there ought to be no separation between the state and the church. Rather that the state must become the church. Ivan expounds his view on the elder’s inquiry and states that criminal proceedings would be mightily different if the state were to become the church as then the criminals could not console themselves in the arms of the church. The elder agrees with Ivan and criticizes the present policy of punishing criminals through social isolation and rigorous labor. Musiov is quite upset at the direction of the discussion and accuses them of all being religious socialists. Just then, Dmitri arrives in a hurry, he is quite upset because his father had given him the wrong time for the meeting. The conversation returns and Musiov brings up Ivan’s argument that virtue is irrelevant if the soul is not immortal. Ivan expands the view that if indeed there were no such things as immortality then doing the worst things possible would be the best way to proceed in life to secure the things you desire. Dmitri makes a note of this little statement in front of the group. Interestingly the elder expresses his belief that Ivan feels neither view and is deeply confused. Ivan kisses his hand reverentially and Fyodor begins to talk loudly about the poor character of Dmitri and he claims that all of the inheritance has been accorded. He claims that Dmitri has ruined his fortunes on the seductress, Grushenka, despite being betrothed to the honorable, Katerina. Dmitri is deeply insulted and he reveals that his father has been obsessed with Grushenka, and has attempted to turn her against him. In a disgusted voice, he asks how a man like him can continue to live. The Elder’s only response is to bow to Dmitri so low that his forehead touches the ground, and then he leaves. The elder doesn’t explain what the gesture meant and instead, he tells Alyosha that he must leave the church and make his way in the world.
Alyosha then meets Rakitin on the way to Father Superior’s room for dinner. The seminarian compliments the elder for making the vague prophecy by bowing to Dmitri and he explains the whole feud around Grushenka. He tells Alyosha that his father is in love with Grushenka, but in recent days Dmitri has also come to desire her and is consequently avoiding his betrothed, Katerina. A further complication exists in the form of Ivan, who it is said is in love with Dmitri’s wife, and it seems that Dmitri wants Ivan to marry Katerina rather than him. The whole town is waiting to see who Grushenka wants between the father and the son, meanwhile she has also expressed an interest in seeing Alyosha. There is general havoc at the dinner, and as Fyodor departs he shouts for Alyosha to leave the monastery immediately and return home.
Book III -Voluptuaries
The narrator turns to describe the living conditions of Fyodor Pavlovich, who lived in a large house but liked to be on his own. He desired the company of someone loyal, from time to time, someone who would not judge him for his debauchery and he found this in his manservant, Grigory. The household was supported by three servants namely, Grigory, his wife Irfana, and their adoptive son, Smerdkyakov.
Grigory had stayed with his master even after serf liberation out of a sense of duty and loyalty. He had raised all the Karamazov children for a time when they had been neglected by their father. He had wanted a child of his own and received it through the village holy fool, the Stinking Lizavetta. One night, Grigory found a dying Lizavetta in the Karamazov bathhouse right after she had given birth to a child. There had been rumors that the child Lizavetta was carrying had been fathered by Fyodor, and perhaps that was why Lizavetta had climbed into the Karamazov compound to give birth to her child. Grigory placed the child at his wife’s breast, and Fyodor named him Smerdyakov, the son of the stinking one.
Alyosha meets Dmitri as he leaves the monastery and heads to a meeting with Katerina. Dmitri appears to be in dire straits, he drinks cognac and Curses his Karmazov lineage, which gives him the voluptuousness that makes him an insect. He requests Aloshya to be his envoy to their father and Katerina. Dmitri explains his history with Katerina who he had through his father. Dmitri had met a lieutenant colonel who loaned public sums to a merchant for trading, which led him into a serious predicament. The man had a beautiful daughter who studied in Moscow, Katerina, and Dimitry had received some money from his father and learned this secret from his superior officer. He offered Katerina the sum that the colonel required to retain his honor if she would visit him. Katerina obliged him by appearing at his residence to reduce her father from dishonor. Dmitri was ashamed of himself and gave her the sum without exchanging a word with him. Katerina considered herself to be in debt to him, she had received a large inheritance from another relative and they had gotten betrothed. Dmitri believed that Ivan had fallen in love with her, and he considered Ivan to be more deserving of her than him. He explains how he had used three thousand roubles, that Katerina had entrusted with him for an errand, to woo Grushenka with a luxurious and raucous trip. He asks Alyosha to tell her “I bow to her,” because he had failed her.
He hopes to retain his honor with Katerina by asking his father for the money to pay her back so he asks Alyosha to now go to his father and ask for just three thousand, after which Dmitri would no further claim on his inheritance. Dmitri tells Alyosha that their father wishes to marry Grushenka, and has even promised her three thousand roubles if she agrees to it. Smerdyakov has told him of an envelope that Fyodor had made just for Grushenka. Dmitri is currently living close to the Karamazov household to ensure Grushenka doesn’t go to his father, Dmitri claims that he’ll prevent it from happening by killing his father before he can be with Grushenka. Alyosha is severely worried as he heads to his father’s house.
Alexey finds his father having coffee and conversing with boisterous laughter with his manservants. He is very happy for Alexei and orders the manservants to entertain him and his two sons, as Ivan is also present. The narrator provides a brief history of Smerdyakov, a dark man who would sit in the corner and stare contemptuously at those around him from a young age. He had also developed a fainting sickness at a young age and Fyodor had taken a liking to him. This had been strengthened as Smerdyakov had once returned Fyodor two hundred roubles that he had lost, and this had impressed Fyodor very much. He sent him to be taught as a cook in Moscow. Grigory felt that Smerdyakov disliked everyone and felt no gratitude for anything. In recent times he had a growing like for Ivan. Grigory talks of a Russian soldier that was martyred in defense of Christianity and Smerdyakalov constructs an argument about why the soldier was a fool, since they are all essentially faithless due to their inability to move mountains, a power denoted to the faithful in the bible.
Fyodor dismisses the manservants, and turns to his sons as he becomes more drunk. He asks Ivan to tell him if God and immortality exist Ivan says while Alyosha says yes. Fyodor begins to talk of women and the conversation turns to his second wife and he tells them how he had caused her to have a fit once by threatening to spit on her icons. As he talks Alyosha suffers a similar fit to his mother and as they begin to care for him they are interrupted by a furious Dmitri who claims he saw Grushenka enter.
Dmitri gets into a scuffle with his father and beats him badly while Ivan and Alyosha try to stop him. Dmitri leaves after confirming Grushenka is not there. Ivan says they should let one reptile kill the other, but Alyosha is horrified at such words. Alyosha watches over his father as he recovers. He leaves after Fyodor wakes up and meets Ivan on his way out, and asks him how one can decide whether one is worthy of life or not.
Alyosha goes to see Katerina, who it turns out knows about the money, and introduces him to Grushenka who has come to see her at Katerina’s request. Katerina praises her but Grushenka betrays her earlier words as she says she’s not going to give up Dmitri because she might like him later. Katerina is reduced to tears at a jibe about the money that Dmitiri had given her to rescue her father. Grushenka leaves, and she asks Alyosha to follow, but he doesn’t. Katerina begs Alyosha to return the following day, and he meets Dmitri on his way back to the monastery. Katerina’s maidservant also hands him a letter that she had received from someone, for him. Dmitri is quite amused by Grushenka’s behavior with Katerina, although he is sad that Katerina had been humiliated by Grushenka. Yet, he decides to go after Grushenka. Alyosha returns to the monastery and finds the Elder’s health has continued to deteriorate. The letter from the maidservant turns out to be a love letter from Lise, Mrs. Khokhlakov’s daughter, and this pleases Alyosha greatly.
Analysis
Dostoevsky has been noted to be particularly skilled at conveying the complexity of human nature through the use of nuanced characters and this extends to the auxiliary characters in the novel, like Grigory, and Rakitin. Some critics have postulated that the interactions between characters in his books can almost be seen as chemical reactions that lead to deep and complex character dynamics. For example, Fyodor’s view of Elders exemplifies his hedonistic fixation on pleasure and the lens through which he believes everyone operates. Religion and Christianity are important themes of the book, and in this section, these ideas are explored through Zosima, Ivan, and Alyosha. Zossima’s happy and cheerful attitude is a powerful contrast to the stark and austere attitude of other monks like Father Ferapont. Dostoevsky develops the theme of love for mankind through the Elder’s character.
On the other hand, Dmitri’s involvement with Katerina and Grushenka focuses the author’s examination of romantic love. Dmitri remarks that there is a distinction between falling in love and being truly in love. He explains that he had fallen in love with Katerina, but at the same moment, he had felt a deep hatred for her. This hatred of Katerina is hatred for his baseness, and jealousy for her noble character. Women often exemplify disruptive power in Dostoevsky’s work, much like Sonya from Crime and Punishment, who leads Raskolnikov to confess his crime, Dmitri is similarly changed through his encounter with Katerina. Smerdyakov, the illegitimate Karamazov, can be seen as a combination of Ivan, the intellectual, and Dmitri, the sensualist. He is perhaps the representation of a spiritually degenerated.
