Worked for three years. The final stage of work—artistic embodiment—lasted for three years. But spiritually he worked on it all his life. “The Brothers Karamazov” is the pinnacle from which the organic unity of the writer’s entire work is revealed to us. Everything he experienced, thought about and created finds its place in this huge synthesis. The complex human world of the "Karamazovs" grows naturally, over the course of decades, incorporating philosophical and artistic elements previous works: " Writer's Diary“- the laboratory in which the ideology of the latest novel is finally formed; in “Teenager” the construction of a family chronicle is being prepared and the tragedy of “fathers and sons” is outlined; in “Demons” - the clash between the atheist Stavrogin and Saint Tikhon anticipates the tragic struggle of faith and unbelief (Elder Zosima - Ivan Karamazov); in “The Idiot” a plot scheme is developed that is close to “Karamazov”: at the center of the action is a criminal offense; the offended beauty Nastasya Filippovna resembles Grushenka, the proud Aglaya resembles Katerina Ivanovna: the motif of the dramatic meeting of the rivals is repeated in both novels.
Brothers Karamazov. Series. Episode 1
Brothers Karamazov. Series. Episode 2
"The Brothers Karamazov" is not only a synthesis of Dostoevsky's work, but also the completion of his life. In the very topography of the novel, childhood memories are combined with impressions recent years: the city in which the novel is set reflects the appearance of Staraya Russa, and the surrounding villages (Darovoe, Chermashnya, Mokroe) are associated with his father’s estate in the Tula province. Fyodor Pavlovich inherits some traits of the writer’s father and his violent death corresponds to the tragic end of Mikhail Andreevich. Dmitry, Ivan and Alyosha - three aspects of Dostoevsky’s personality, three stages of his spiritual path. The ardent and noble Dmitry, reciting the "Hymn to Joy", embodies romantic period the life of the author; tragic fate his accusation of parricide and exile to Siberia is determined by the story of the innocent criminal Ilyinsky and is thereby associated with memories of the years of hard labor. Ivan, an atheist and creator of a social utopia, reflects era of friendship with Belinsky and passion for atheistic socialism; Alyosha – symbolic image writer after a period of hard labor, when a “rebirth of convictions” occurred in him, when he found the Russian people and the Russian Christ.
The novel "The Brothers Karamazov" reveals itself to us as a spiritual biography of the author and his artistic confession . But, transformed into a work of art, the history of Dostoevsky’s personality becomes the history of the human personality in general. The random and individual disappears, the universal and all-human grows. In the fate of the Karamazov brothers, each of us recognizes our own destiny. The writer depicts three brothers as spiritual unity . This is a conciliar personality in its threefold structure: the beginning of reason is embodied in Ivan: he is a logician and rationalist, a born skeptic and denier; the beginning of feeling is represented by Dmitry: it contains “the voluptuousness of insects” and the inspiration of eros; the beginning of the will, realizing itself in active love, as an ideal, is outlined in Alyosha. The brothers are connected by blood ties, growing from the same family root: a biological given - the Karamazov element - is shown in Father Fyodor Pavlovich. Any human personality carries within itself a fatal split: the legitimate Karamazov brothers have an illegitimate brother Smerdyakov: he is their embodied temptation and personified sin.
The concept of the conciliar personality determines the construction of the novel. All of Dostoevsky's works are personalistic: their action is always concentrated around the personality of the main character (Raskolnikov, Prince Myshkin, Stavrogin, Versilov). Main character“Karamazovs” are three brothers in their spiritual unity. Three personal themes develop in parallel, but in a spiritual sense parallel lines converge: the brothers, each in their own way, are experiencing a single tragedy, they have a common guilt and a common redemption. Not only Ivan with his idea of “everything is allowed,” not only Dmitry in his uncontrollable passions, but also the “quiet boy” Alyosha are responsible for the murder of his father. They all consciously or half-consciously wished for his death; and their desire pushed Smerdyakov to commit a crime: he was their obedient instrument. Killing thought Ivana turned into destructive passion Dmitry and criminal act Smerdyakov. They are actively to blame, Alyosha is passively to blame. He knew and allowed could save my father and didn’t. The common crime of the brothers entails a common punishment: Dmitry atones for his guilt with reference to hard labor, Ivan with the disintegration of his personality and the appearance of the devil, Alyosha with a terrible, spiritual crisis. All of them are purified in suffering and gain new life.
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The architectonics of “The Karamazovs” are distinguished by extraordinary rigor: the author systematically follows the law of balance, symmetry, and proportionality. It can be assumed that the harmonious philosophical schemes of Vladimir Solovyov influenced the technique of constructing the novel. This is the most “constructed” and ideologically complete of all Dostoevsky’s works. Human world The novel is arranged in a symbolic order: Dmitry is placed in the center of the plot - he is the bearer of action and the source of dramatic energy. His passion for Grushenka, rivalry with his father, affair with Katerina Ivanovna, an imaginary crime, trial and exile constitute the external content of the novel. On both sides of him stand Ivan and Alyosha; the first, with his ideas, prepares for parricide and thereby influences the fate of Dmitry: he is his ideological opponent and spiritual antipode, but is connected with him by blood, common hatred of his father and common guilt. Alyosha contrasts her “quietness” with Dmitry’s violence, her purity with his sensuality; but in his bashful chastity lives the “Karamazov element”; he also knows the bites of voluptuousness. They are different and similar: they are mysteriously united by an ecstatic feeling of life. Therefore, Dmitry’s sin is Alyosha’s sin.
Dostoevsky. Brothers Karamazov. Audiobook. Part 1
Behind the group of legitimate sons, located in the foreground, in the distance and half-light, stands the ominous figure of the illegitimate brother, the lackey Smerdyakov. He is separated from them by origin, social status, character; the spiritual unity of the family is torn apart by his evil separation. And yet how mysteriously deep is his connection with his brothers: mediumistically he carries out their subconscious suggestion; Ivan determines his fate with his ideas, Dmitry with his passions, Alyosha with his disgusting indifference. The theme of “children” is developed in four ideological aspects by four brothers; the theme of “fathers” is presented by Fyodor Pavlovich alone. It is united and simple: the impersonal natural element of life, the terrible power of the earth and gender.
A tragic struggle takes place between father and children. Only men fight, clash with each other men's ideas. Dostoevsky's women do not have their own personal history - they are included in the biography of the heroes, they form part of their destiny. Each of the Karamazov brothers has their own addition to female image: next to Ivan is Katerina Ivanovna, next to Dmitry is Grushenka, next to Alyosha is Liza Khokhlakova; even Smerdyakov has his own “lady of the heart” - the maid Marya Kondratyevna. In the “love” plane, the indivisible unity of the brothers appears with particular clarity. The threads connecting them to their lovers cross and intertwine. Ivan loves Katerina Ivanovna, Dmitry’s fiancée, Alyosha momentarily becomes his rival, feeling stung by his passion for Grushenka; Katerina Ivanovna is a femme fatale for both Ivan and Dmitry; Grushenka unites Dmitry and Alyosha in her love. Finally, the unity of the Karamazov family is symbolically shown in the passion of Fyodor Pavlovich and Dmitry for one woman - Grushenka. Rest characters are located around this central group. Fyodor Pavlovich is surrounded by his “world” of drinking buddies and dissolute women; Grushenka brings with her her admirers and a company of Poles; Mitya breaks in with gypsies, random friends and creditors. Alyosha’s world is richest of all: the “young lover of humanity” introduces two types of human communication into the novel: the monastic community and the “brotherhood of children.” He connects the dark kingdom of Karamazov with the world of the elder Zosima and Ilyusha Snegirev. Ivan alone does not have his own world: he does not accept God’s creation, human things are alien to him, he is disembodied. His only companion is a ghost, the spirit of nothingness, the devil.
The history of the conciliar personality of the Karamazov brothers is depicted in tragedy novel . Everything is tragic in this artistic myth about man: the enmity of children against their father, the struggle of brothers among themselves, and the internal struggles of each brother individually. The discovery of the metaphysical meaning of human destiny belongs to Dmitry. In the experience of the passions, he realized that “the devil is fighting with God, and the battlefield is the hearts of people.” Two abysses opened before him - above and below. But he is powerless to make a choice and this is his personal tragedy. In the group of brothers, he occupies a middle, neutral place. Ivan and Alyosha, standing on his left and right, have already made this choice. Ivan is irresistibly drawn to the lower abyss, Alyosha rushes to the upper one. One says no, the other yes. Fyodor Pavlovich, sitting over a cognac, asks Ivan: “Is there a God or not?” He answers: “No, there is no God.” He turns to Alyosha: “Alyosha, is there a God?” Alyosha answers: “There is a God.” Ivan’s personal tragedy is that his “mind and heart are not in harmony”: with his feelings he loves God’s world, although he does not accept it with his mind.
Of the three brothers, Alyosha is the most harmonious, but there is also a crack in his integral nature: he knows the temptations of Karamazov’s voluptuousness, and his faith passes through the “crucible of doubt.” The religious idea of the novel - the struggle of faith with unbelief - goes beyond the Karamazov family. Ivan's denial gives birth to the sinister figure of the Inquisitor; Alyosha's statement mystically deepens in the image of the elder Zosima. The hearts of people are only a battlefield, and God and the devil are fighting. Beneath the psychological surface of personality, Dostoevsky reveals its ontology and metaphysics. The history of the Karamazov family is an artistic myth, in the shell of which is enclosed religious mystery : that's why in the center of it is "
Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV
Dedicated to Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; and if it dies, it will bear much fruit.
Gospel of John, Chapter XII, 24.
Starting the biography of my hero, Alexei Fedorovich Karamazov, I am somewhat perplexed. Namely: although I call Alexei Fedorovich my hero, I myself know that he is by no means a great person, and therefore I foresee inevitable questions like this: what is so remarkable about your Alexei Fedorovich that you chose him as your hero? What did he do? Who is known and what? Why should I, the reader, waste time studying the facts of his life?
The last question is the most fatal, because I can only answer it: “Maybe you’ll see for yourself from the novel.” Well, if they read the novel and don’t see it, they won’t agree with the remarkableness of my Alexei Fedorovich? I say this because I foresee this with regret. For me it is remarkable, but I strongly doubt whether I will have time to prove it to the reader. The fact is that this is perhaps a figure, but an uncertain figure, not clarified. However, it would be strange to demand clarity from people in a time like ours. One thing is, perhaps, quite certain: this is a strange man, even an eccentric. But strangeness and eccentricity are more likely to harm than to give the right to attention, especially when everyone strives to unite particulars and find at least some common sense in the general confusion. An eccentric is in most cases particular and isolated. Is not it?
Now, if you do not agree with this last thesis and answer: “Not so” or “not always so,” then perhaps I will take heart about the meaning of my hero Alexei Fedorovich. For not only is the eccentric “not always” particular and isolated, but on the contrary, it happens that he sometimes carries within himself the core of the whole, and the rest of the people of his era - all, by some floating wind, for some reason got away from him...
However, I would not indulge in these very uninteresting and vague explanations and would start simply, simply, without preface: if you like it, they will read it anyway; but the trouble is that I have one biography, but two novels. Main novel the second is the activity of my hero already in our time, precisely in our current current moment. The first novel took place thirteen years ago, and there is almost not even a novel, but only one moment from the first youth of my hero. It is impossible for me to do without this first novel, because much in the second novel would become incomprehensible. But in this way my initial difficulty becomes even more complicated: if I, that is, the biographer myself, find that even one novel would perhaps be unnecessary for such a modest and indefinite hero, then what is it like to appear with two and how to explain such arrogance on my part?
Lost in resolving these issues, I decide to bypass them without any permission. Of course, the perspicacious reader had long ago guessed what I was driving at from the very beginning, and was only annoyed with me why I was wasting fruitless words and precious time. I will answer this exactly: I wasted fruitless words and precious time, firstly, out of politeness, and secondly, out of cunning: “after all, they say, I warned you about something in advance.” However, I’m even glad that my novel split itself into two stories “with the essential unity of the whole”: having become acquainted with the first story, the reader will decide for himself: is it worth taking on the second? Of course, no one is bound by anything, you can throw the book away from two pages of the first story, so as not to reveal more. But there are such delicate readers who will certainly want to read to the end so as not to make a mistake in an impartial judgment, such as, for example, all Russian critics. So, in front of such people, my heart still feels lighter: despite all their accuracy and conscientiousness, I still give them the most legitimate excuse to abandon the story at the first episode of the novel. Well, that's all the preface. I completely agree that it is superfluous, but since it has already been written, let it remain.
Now let's get down to business.
PART ONE
BOOK ONE
"THE STORY OF ONE FAMILY"
I. Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov.
Alexey Fedorovich Karamazov was the third son of the landowner of our district, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, so famous in his time (and even now remembered among us) for his tragic and dark death, which happened exactly thirteen years ago and which I will report on in its proper place. Now I will say about this “landowner” (as we called him, although he hardly lived on his estate all his life) only that he was a strange type, one that is encountered quite often, namely, the type of person who is not only trashy and depraved, but at the same time stupid - but one of those stupid people who know how to manage their property affairs perfectly, and only these, it seems. Fyodor Pavlovich, for example, started out with almost nothing, he was the smallest landowner, he ran to dine at other people's tables, strived to become a hanger-on, and yet at the time of his death he had up to a hundred thousand rubles in pure money. And at the same time, all his life he continued to be one of the most stupid madcaps throughout our district. I’ll repeat again: this is not stupidity; Most of these madmen are quite smart and cunning - namely, stupidity, and even some kind of special, national one.
He was married twice and had three sons - the eldest, Dmitry Fedorovich, from his first wife, and the other two, Ivan and Alexey, from his second. The first wife of Fyodor Pavlovich was from a rather rich and noble family of nobles, the Miusovs, also landowners of our district. How exactly did it happen that a girl with a dowry, and even beautiful and, on top of that, one of the lively smart girls, so not uncommon in our current generation, but who appeared in the past, could marry such an insignificant “brain”, as everyone called him then? , I won’t explain too much. After all, I knew one girl, back in the last “romantic” generation, who, after several years of mysterious love for one gentleman, whom, however, she could always marry in the most calm way, however, ended up inventing insurmountable obstacles for herself and in a stormy night rushed from a high bank that looked like a cliff into a rather deep and fast river and died in it entirely from its own whims, solely because it resembled Shakespeare’s Ophelia, and even so that even if this cliff, so long ago planned and beloved by her, , is not so picturesque, and if in its place there had been only a prosaic flat bank, then the suicide might not have happened at all. This fact is true, and one must think that in our Russian life, in the last two or three generations, quite a few similar or similar facts happened. Likewise, the action of Adelaida Ivanovna Miusova was, without a doubt, an echo of other people’s trends and also a captive thought of irritation. She may have wanted to declare female independence, to go against social conditions, against the despotism of her kinship and family, and an obliging fantasy convinced her, let us put it for just one moment, that Fyodor Pavlovich, despite his rank as a hanger-on, is still one of the bravest and most mocking people of that era, transitional to everything better, while he was only an evil jester and nothing more. The piquant thing was that the matter was carried away, and this greatly seduced Adelaida Ivanovna. Fyodor Pavlovich, even due to his social status, was very prepared for all such passages at that time, for he passionately wanted to establish his career, at least in some way; It was very tempting to cling to good relatives and take a dowry. As for mutual love, it seems that there was none at all - neither on the part of the bride, nor on his part, despite even the beauty of Adelaide Ivanovna. So this incident was perhaps the only one of its kind in the life of Fyodor Pavlovich, the most voluptuous person in his entire life, in an instant ready to cling to any skirt, if only it beckoned him. And yet this woman alone did not make any special impression on him from the passionate side.
In all of world literature there are not many books comparable in depth to famous novel Russian classic. This is one of the undeniable peaks of not only Russian, but also world literature. Can hardly be considered fully educated person, if Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov” is not on the list of books he has read. But it is complex, multidimensional, and in order to understand it, you need to do a lot of mental and intellectual work.
Dostoevsky. "The Brothers Karamazov"
This is the final book and a kind of culmination of everything creative path writer. In it he reflected everything he thinks about man and the world in which man lives. At the center of the story are three brothers who have very different relationships both with the world and with the Almighty Creator. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky tied too many contradictions into the plot of his novel. The Karamazov brothers are at the very center of a multidimensional knot of contradictions boiling in the quiet provincial town of Skotoprigonyevsk. The town, as it turns out, lives by the principle: But there are devils in people’s souls.
And one of the key phrases of the novel is the maxim of Karamazov Sr.: “Since there is no God, then everything is permitted.” And dad Karamazov is guided in his life by precisely this principle, in accordance with it he accepts death at the hand of one of his sons. The plot of the novel is based on the murder of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, and Dostoevsky slowly unwinds this detective intrigue before the reader. The Karamazov brothers are among the suspects in this crime, which shook up the quiet town.
Of course, the detective intrigue here is nothing more than a structural framework on which the brilliant image of Russia is based. It can be clearly read in the novel; it clearly depicts something more than an outburst of passions against the backdrop of the murder of an old drunkard in a provincial village. locality. But what is especially impressive is the denouement to which Dostoevsky leads the action.
"The Brothers Karamazov" is not limited to the three main characters of the story, and none of the sons of the deceased committed murder. But he killed Fedor Mikhailovich brother Karamazov Jr. This character goes through the entire novel as the lackey Smerdyakov. No one knows that he is the fourth son of the deceased, and he calculated his crime very competently. All the evidence points against Dmitry Karamazov, and those few who know the truth cannot prove it.
Posthumous fame
The author himself was not destined to trace the fate of his main book; he died shortly after its publication on the pages of a literary magazine. But the novel has an enviable fate; it has been read and reread for a century and a half. A thick volume with the inscription on the spine “F. Dostoevsky. The Brothers Karamazov” is in any self-respecting library; many read it several times during their lives, comparing the impression that this book left in their youth with the perception of it in adulthood. And you can just guess about future fate heroes of Dostoevsky. The brightest character in the novel had to go throw a bomb at the Tsar-Liberator. But the revolution ended without him.
Novel " Brothers Karamazov" is last work the great Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich. The novel was written in two years, was completed in 1880 and published in the Russian Messenger magazine. It is known that the writer conceived The Brothers Karamazov as the first part epic work“The Story of a Great Sinner,” however, these plans were not destined to come true, since Fyodor Mikhailovich died four months after publication.
In his last novel Dostoevsky in a sense described himself at different stages of his life, as well as his personality real people that met in the writer’s life. So, for example, it is known that the three Karamazov brothers are a kind of symbolic embodiment of the personality of Dostoevsky himself at different stages of growing up and rethinking life and life values. Romantic, riotous, eccentric, throwing himself from one extreme to another, sometimes unpredictable and self-confident Dmitry Karamazov became the prototype of the early Dostoevsky, the period of his growing up and comprehension of the main moments of life. Ivan Karamazov is the prototype of the atheistic Dostoevsky, of the time when Fyodor Mikhailovich had already matured, got rid of childishness, but had not yet fully thought through the meaning and purpose of existence. Alyosha Karamazov is Dostoevsky’s way of thinking at the time of writing the novel - religious, philosophizing, in constant search the meaning of existence and has already comprehended a lot. The prototype of some features of Fyodor Mikhailovich Karamazov was Dostoevsky’s father, and Elder Zosima’s was Elder Ambrose. There is an assumption that the prototype of one of the main characters of Grushenka’s novel was Agrippina Ivanovna Menshova (b. 1815), who was a good friend of the Dostoevsky family.
The novel "The Brothers Karamazov" is a complexly constructed Detective story, which sorts out history human destinies, caught up in a tragic event. A criminal offense that results in the death of a person reveals the secrets of the Karamazov family and all those who were close to them. Rivalry, hatred, greed, stupidity, prejudice, deceit, lies, soul-searching, envy and other vices of any person weave a complex tangle of relationships in society that lead to tragic results. At the heart of the whole plot, of course, is love. Because of love, all reckless actions are committed, which people then regret for the rest of their lives, and the heroes of this book learned this from their own experience. One of the most famous novelists of world significance, Fyodor Dostoevsky, created a real masterpiece, which was included in the 100 greatest novels of all times.
Dostoevsky introduces readers to the Karamazov family. Its head, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, is a small landowner. The author characterizes him as a “stupid”, “trashy and depraved” person, but cunning.
Fyodor Pavlovich was married twice. The first wife belonged to the rich and influential Miusov family. Immediately after the wedding, Karamazov took away her dowry and began to behave boorishly towards his young wife. From constant beatings and scandals, the woman fled to St. Petersburg, where she soon died, leaving behind a three-year-old son, Mitya. Fyodor Pavlovich was not involved in raising the child. His wife's cousin Pyotr Aleksandrovich Miusov took guardianship of Mitya, but soon left for Paris, entrusting the boy to his relatives.
Dmitry grew up and was raised almost on his own. Without graduating from high school, he ended up in military school, from there to the Caucasus, where he caroused a lot. There, Dmitry was demoted for participating in a duel. To a young man I couldn’t get my mother’s money by inheritance from Fyodor Pavlovich. The father paid off his son with a small amount and sent transfers until the inheritance ended. But Dmitry did not want to admit it.
Fyodor Pavlovich's second wife was a timid and quiet woman who bore him two sons, but never knew family happiness. The despot humiliated his wife in every possible way, organizing disgusting orgies right in front of her. The unfortunate woman died four years after the birth of her second child. The father also did not want to raise Ivan and Alexei. They were taken, essentially, by a stranger. The noble and kind heir of their mother's teacher raised and educated the children.
Ivan was an excellent student at an early age, for which he was sent to a gymnasium with a famous teacher. The boy then entered the university, where he learned to make a living from newspaper publications. After finishing his studies, he returned to his father and got along with him quite easily.
Alexey was everyone's favorite. He was adored both in his foster family and at the gymnasium. Fyodor Pavlovich also treated the younger one better than other children. Even when Alyosha decided to go as a novice to a monastery, his father did not object. The young man made his choice under the influence of Elder Zosima.
Wanting to end the dispute between his father and Dmitry about the inheritance, Alexey invited the whole family to get together and discuss the problem in the monastery with the elder.
Book two. Inappropriate meeting
All the Karamazovs, as well as Pyotr Miusov, gathered in the cell of Elder Zosima. Fyodor Pavlovich, not embarrassed by the elder, started a buffoonish conversation, trying to offend Miusov. This prank provoked a scandal, which is how the meeting ended. Fyodor Pavlovich also accused Dmitry of the fact that his son brought his fiancee Katerina Ivanovna to the city, and he himself was seducing Grushenka, the kept woman of a local rich merchant. Mitya responds by accusing his father, saying that he himself wants to get Grushenka.
Zosima behaves amazingly at this meeting. He bows at Dmitry’s feet, anticipating his future tragedy, and blesses Ivan to search for the truth. After his death, Alexei is punished to leave the monastery and be close to his brothers.
Book three. Voluptuaries
Dmitry tells Alyosha about Katerina Ivanovna’s problem. Her father lost government money and, in despair, decided to shoot himself. Dmitry had just the right amount, and he was ready to give money to Katerina if she came to him. And the girl decided to sacrifice herself in order to save her father’s good name. Dmitry, however, did not take advantage of the moment, but gave Katerina money just like that. After this incident, the girl's father fell ill and soon died. And Katya unexpectedly became the rich heiress of a Moscow aunt. She wrote a letter to Dmitry, declaring her love and inviting him to marry her, now a rich bride. Mitya agreed and wooed Katerina. However, in the person of his middle brother, he had a rival. When Katerina met Ivan, it became clear that love was emerging between the young people.
Dmitry does not regret this. He invites Alyosha to visit Katya and explain to her that he will no longer come to the bride, she can marry Ivan. Dmitry himself lost his head over Grushenka and is ready to marry her. For the sake of new lover he squandered three thousand rubles that Katerina gave him for one business. Dmitry hopes to return the money to his bride with the help of his father. He knows that Fyodor Pavlovich has prepared such a sum for Grushenka. Dmitry is determined to prevent the girl from meeting her parent. Out of jealousy, he is even ready to kill his father.
Mitya must be warned about Grushenka’s arrival by Smerdyakov, a servant in Fyodor Pavlovich’s house. This is the son of the holy fool Lizaveta and Fyodor Pavlovich himself, as people said. Lizaveta died during childbirth, and the boy was raised by the lackey Grigory and his wife. Smerdyakov, like his mother, suffered from seizures, treated animals cruelly and was a very vile person.
Alexey finds Grushenka at Katerina Ivanovna's. Women speak in a raised voice. The maid gives Alexei a letter with a declaration of love from Lisa, the sick daughter of the landowner Khokhlakova.
Dmitry breaks into his father's house, suspecting that Grushenka has come, and in a fit of anger beats Fyodor Pavlovich.
Book four. Tears
Alexey goes to the Khokhlakovs. On the way, he gets into a fight with schoolchildren, one of whom bites his finger. As it turns out, this is Ilyushenka, the son of retired staff captain Snegirev, who was cruelly insulted by Dmitry. At the Khokhlakovs, Alexey meets his middle brother and Katerina. Ivan confesses his love to Dmitry's fiancee and is about to leave, since Katerina intends to remain faithful to Mitya, despite his desire to marry Grushenka.
Katerina Ivanovna sends Alyosha to Snegirev so that he gives the staff captain 200 rubles. Snegirev, despite the difficult situation in the family (sick daughter, feeble-minded wife, young son), refuses money.
Book five. Pro and contra
Ivan and Alexey meet in a tavern, where one of the main scenes of the novel takes place. The middle brother talks about his beliefs. He does not deny God, but he also does not recognize that the world is organized by the Almighty. Ivan retells his poem about the Grand Inquisitor, in which he describes how Christ came down to earth again and was imprisoned. The Grand Inquisitor comes to the Son of God to explain his theory: humanity cannot be free between good and evil, people suffer from uncertainty. The Inquisitor and his associates want to save humanity from the torment of choice. If you arrange the world according to strict rules, then people will be grateful for such slavery. The inquisitor waits for objections from Christ, but he only silently kisses him. Alyosha explains his impression of what he heard: “Your poem is praise to Jesus, and not blasphemy... as you wanted.”
Ivan returns home and meets Smerdyakov, who advises him to leave somewhere, since something bad may happen to his father in the near future. Ivan is outraged by this kind of hint, but agrees that he needs to leave. In the morning he goes to Moscow, and at this time Smerdyakov has an epileptic seizure.
Book six. Russian monk
This chapter tells about the youth of Father Zosima and his death.
The future holy ascetic was born into a poor noble family. His older brother died of consumption, which affected the boy strong impression. Then he entered cadet corps, became an officer. One day Zosima had to fight a duel. The night before this event, he had an epiphany. Zosima withstood the shot, threw away his pistol and asked the enemy for forgiveness. After this courageous act the man went to the monastery.
The elder died quietly, prostrating himself on the ground in prayer.
Book seven. Alyosha
After the death of Zosima, everyone expected an incorruptible body and all sorts of miracles. But very soon a corruptive spirit spread from the tomb, which caused great fermentation of minds in the monastery and in the city.
Upset by everything that is happening, Alexei agrees to go with his friend Rakitin to Grushenka. They find the girl in great excitement; she is waiting for news from an officer who once deceived her and abandoned her. Grushenka sits on Alyosha's lap and tries to flirt. Having learned about the death of the elder, he abandons this intention. Soon they sent for her, and the girl hastily goes to the officer in Mokroye.
Alyosha returns to the monastery, where he falls asleep at the elder’s tomb. He dreams of Cana of Galilee. The elder is next to Jesus, he rejoices and calls his disciple. After this night, Alexey changed a lot and matured. Three days later he leaves the monastery.
Book eight. Mitya
Trying to find three thousand that Dmitry must return to Katerina, he goes to Grushenka's patron for advice. The merchant decides to play a trick on Mitya and advises him to sell the grove to a timber buyer. After much ordeal, Dmitry finds the buyer drunk and stays overnight with him to resolve matters in the morning. At night he saves a buyer who almost died. Realizing that this plan has failed, Mitya returns to the city. He didn't have a penny of money left, so he had to pawn his watch and dueling pistols. last hope- borrow three thousand from Khokhlakova, but even there Karamazov is refused.
In despair, Dmitry runs away and bumps into a maid, from whom he learns that Grushenka is not at home. Consumed by jealousy, he breaks into her house and tries to find out from the owners where the girl went. Having achieved nothing, Dmitry grabs a copper pestle from the table and rushes to his father, suspecting that Grushenka is there. To find out for sure, he gives a pre-arranged signal, which Smerdyakov told him about.
The delighted Fyodor Pavlovich leans out of the window. Dmitry is seized with anger, he wants to kill his father, but then the footman Gregory comes out onto the porch. Mitya rushes away, Grigory runs after him and catches up with him when the young man climbs over the fence. The old servant hangs on Dmitry, and he responds by hitting Grigory on the head with a pestle. The servant falls, bleeding profusely. Dmitry bends down and wipes the old man’s face with a handkerchief. Then, having come to his senses, he runs away again.
He returns to Grushenka's house and finds out where the girl went. Completely confused and covered in blood, Dmitry appears at the official’s, where he pawned the pistols with a wad of money. He buys the weapons, washes himself of the blood and rushes to Mokroye for Grushenka. There Dmitry finds the girl with Poles and acquaintances from the city. In order to somehow take his mind off the turbulent events, Dmitry sits down to play cards with the men, then begins to go on a drinking spree. So the night flew by, and early in the morning Dmitry was arrested and accused of murdering his father.
Book nine. Preliminary investigation
The wife of the footman Grigory woke up in the middle of the night from the screams that Smerdyakov made in a fit. Out of fear, she began to call her husband until she found him in the garden. In horror, the old woman rushed to the house and saw through open window murdered Fyodor Pavlovich. She screamed and called her neighbors for help. Then everyone called the police officer together.
The investigation began immediately. A pestle was found in the garden, and in the bedroom of the deceased they found an empty, torn bag containing those same three thousand rubles. During interrogation, Dmitry initially refused to explain where he got the money. But then he admitted: these are the remains of the three thousand that Katerina gave him. Nobody believes Mitya. All eyewitness testimony in Mokroye is against him.
Book ten. Boys
This chapter tells about Kolya Krasotkin, who patronized Ilyusha at the gymnasium. Kolya was a very brave boy. One day, as a bet, he lay down between the rails under a passing train. After this incident, all the boys in the gymnasium respected him. Previously, Kolya was in a quarrel with Ilyusha, but now he has made peace and met Alexei.
When Ilyusha became very ill, Alexey began to visit the patient, and also organized the boys from the class so that they would visit their friend every day.
Book eleven. Brother Ivan Fedorovich
Ivan visits the sick Smerdyakov, who confesses to him of the murder. Smerdyakov gives three thousand rubles and accuses Ivan of committing murder under the influence of his theories and reasoning: God does not exist and therefore everything is permitted. That night Smerdyakov hanged himself.
Ivan is tormented by his conscience, he has delusions and hallucinations. A man has a long conversation with the devil.
Book twelve. Judgement mistake
At the trial, Ivan presents three thousand rubles and talks about Smerdyakov’s confession. Some facts also point to Dmitry's innocence, although most of the evidence is not in his favor. Ivan begins to have a seizure right in the courtroom. Frightened by his condition, Katerina Ivanovna presents to the court a letter from Dmitry, in which he wrote about his desire to kill his father. This evidence turns out to be fatal. Dmitry is sentenced to hard labor.
