Main Character Sketches
Ivan is the first of two sons born to Sofya Ivanova, the second wife of
Fyodor. Ivan follows the same route as Dmitri by coming into the initial
care of Grigory. After a time, he, along with his younger brother Alyosha,
from the servant's care by the lady who brought up his mother. Death came
again as the boys' new guardian passed away and left each of them one thousand
roubles for the purposes of education. Their new inheritor, Yefim Petrovich
took them into his home and saw to their education. Ivan soon comes to display
an incredible aptitude for learning which his guardian attempts to enhance
by sending him off to university -- only it is left to Ivan to pay his way
through publishing articles in local journals. Expository essay soon becomes
the boy's strong point as he begins to become interested in an intellectual
attack on theology. Ivan becomes well know in literary circles and comes
back out of interest in his older brother Dmitri and is introduced into
the main plot as the quintessential intellectual who questions everything.
Born to Adelaida Ivanova, the first wife of Old Karamazov, Dmitri is left
by his mother who can no longer stand Fyodor's domestic orgies and general
buffoonery. At three, Dmitri is left in his father's hands and is quickly
passed off into the care of his mother's cousin, Pyotr Alexandrovich who
had just returned from revolutionary activities in Paris. From there Dmitri
passed into the care of the former's aunt and then onto the daughters of
this same aunt when she herself died. As for what can be said about his
traits in comparison with his other brothers, Dmitri is a great sensualist,
second only to his father. He leads a "wild" life that leads him
through war in the Caucuses, duels and general debauchery. The boy returns
home in the style of the prodigal son in order to settle with his father
on the issue of property he believes he should have a claim to upon coming
of age. Dmitri is the one convicted of killing his father.
Following on the heels of Ivan until his older brother's departure for St.
Petersburg, Alyosha is the second son of Sofya and is the central character
of the novel. Probably the most wondrous of the three boys, Alyosha embodies
above all a love of humanity and is taken special care of by Yefim Petrovich.
It seems that this love of humanity finds its home in the monastic way of
life, as Alyosha becomes a follower of the revered Father Zossima. Alyosha
gets caught up in the central plot as the mediating force between his brothers
and the Old Buffoon. Alyosha approaches everything with open-minded forgiveness
to a degree that had not been exhibited by any previous Dostoyevsky character.
Alyosha becomes the messenger of the Elder Zossima's teachings and is presented
as the closest thing to a more perfect human since the Prince in Dostoyevsky's
The Idiot.
The token epileptic in the novel, Pavel Fydorovich Smerdyakov is illegitimate
and assumed to have been brought to life during one of the more insidious
exploits of Fyodor Karamazov, Smerdyakov grows up in Karamazov's house as
a servant. Fyodor never really admits to siring him during a base drunken
orgy (or rape?). The boy is born to "stinking" Lizaveta who was
the town idiot and ended up dying in childbirth. Interestingly enough, all
the donations of coppers, food and clothes that she received she quickly
would donate to the church and she herself would go barefoot. Smerdyakov
is named after his mother's nickname, and his middle name is Fyodorovich,
meaning son of Fyodor. Karamazov sends him to Moscow to be trained in cooking
after it is discovered that he may have a talent. Coming back from his training
and occupying the post of house cook, Smerdyakov is repeatedly insulted
and humiliated by Fyodor. Although he is assumed to have a low intellectual
capacity, the boy spends his salary on perfumes, clothes and pomade. Interestingly
enough, he does not appear to be interested in the other sex. It ends up
that Smerdyakov is Fyodor's murderer, but only after he perceives having
been somewhat encouraged by Ivan who he looks upon with admiration and fondness.
Elders occupy a pivotal role in Russian ecclesiastical society and Father
Zossima becomes the ideological focal point of the novel. Based on the philosophy
of asceticism, Elders such as Zossima were in charge of their community's
souls. At sixty-five, Zossima is a former soldier who has now stepped into
a life of helping others and has hours during which the townspeople come
to him in order to get answers and predictions on the future. Zossima's
greatest thematic role in the novel is that of a sage. His teachings of
communal responsibility and his ideas of universally shared guild will end
up being part of what Dostoyevsky considers to be the true path. Zossima's
teachings become engrained in Alyosha who becomes a sort of apostle not
only for his family but also for the children of the book.
Fyodor "god's gift" Karamazov is the father of the Dmitri,
Alyosha, Ivan and Smerdyakov. His murder is told of on the first page of
the book. He is presented as a terrible buffoon of a man who has no respect
for anything but the appeasement of his disgusting sensualist desires. He
came into money largely through marriage to his first wife who abandoned
him after she realized that he was not willing to abate his bestial lifestyle.
What is unique about Fyodor is the way in which we do not see an ounce of
humanity in him. He manages to make a joke of everything and everyone. The
mistreatment of his sons strongly brings into question the fact that his
being killed (supposedly by Dmitri but really Smerdyakov) does indeed constitute
patricide. He makes every attempt to guard his own money in order to begrudge
his children, and even worse, it is implied that he even attempted to cheat
Dmitri, his oldest son out of his mother's inheritance. A sense of justice
is fulfilled when he is finally brutally murdered by Smerdyakov his illegitimate
son.