The novel ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ review

The novel ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ review

Introduction

The novel ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky portrays complex themes about faith, doubt, morality and murder. The themes in the book are brought out by Fyodor, who is a cruel man and also the father of three sons. After his murder, his sons and the other family members of Karamazov build the plot and the theme of the story. The selected passage for close reading focuses on Ivan’s logical and intellectual struggle with his soul. Ivan is a unique character, and his withdrawn state at the begin of the novel further raises curiosity about his relevance to the themes in the book. Ivan is the second born and the most intellectual among his brother. However, he is an atheist and considered a practical stranger by his father since Fyodor neglected him in his childhood. Despite the distant relationship between Ivan and his father, he is characterized by the author as the one who is similar to Fyodor because of his proud sensualism character. Ivan plans Dmitri’s escape yet Dmitri killed Fyodor, and he eventually succumbs to brain fever which led to his madness. The selected passage for the close reading is the centre for bringing out significant themes in the book using Ivan’s character, and it also acts as a metaphor for the whole passage by bringing out the connection between intelligence to faith and religion.

At the beginning of the selected passage, the narrator is unable to give a proper medical diagnosis of Ivan’s condition. At this point, the narrator uses the word ‘feels’ and says that Ivan’s well-being is better off explained to the reader from what he witnessed rather than from logic. The theme of conflict between faith and doubt is brought out at this point. He stops his narration of Ivan’s condition to allow the story to unfold itself and only states that Ivan’s brain fever takes possession of Ivan. The narrator’s withdrawal of revealing the result of the story shows that he does not possess the story, but instead, he facilitates it [1]. The second part of the narrator’s statement after he interjects explains Ivan’s illness. He personifies Ivan’s body when he mentions that Ivan’s body refuses to succumb to Ivan’s whole being. His use of personification and the term ‘organism’ implies a scientific interpretation of Ivan’s body. Ivan’s brain fever condition was as a result of him realizing that he was guilty of Fyodor’s murder and not Smerdyakov. Consequently, his conscience torments him, and his private fears come to pass.

The narrator confesses his lack of knowledge in medical sciences, but he emphasizes that he witnessed Ivan’s condition as a battle of the body together with brain fever. The narrator explains that Ivan’s will is against his body, and this brings a question of why he considers that the two are not interconnected. The narrator explains Ivan’s reliance on hope to overcome his illness. This is contrary to Ivan’s belief since, at this point, he should have believed that he is entirely in control of his condition. The theme of the burden of free will is evident since Ivan suffers the consequence of his free will. In Ivan’s case, his free will results in a curse that cripples and burdens him to voluntary reject the security and comfort of religious beliefs [2].

As the narrator continues with narration, he uses moments of psycho-narration and this aspect moves the reader closer to the character than the narrator. The complex question of whether Ivan loathes his illness or loathes to be ill remains unanswered at this point. Each stage of his disease escalates into incoherency. Ivan experiences wishful thinking and his thoughts depict a relationship between illness and guilt.

Katerina cares for Ivan during the period he is sick. However, her awareness of Ivan’s illness affects the trial. Katerina insists that Ivan should see a doctor and this gives Ivan hope that he has helped in combating his disease. Katerina’s act of helping Ivan depicts a theme of spiritual redemption. This is because, at the beginning of the novel, she was proud and acted as a noble martyr by creating moral barriers between Ivan and herself. Belief and faith are further evident because Katerina insists that Ivan sees a doctor due to her fantasy. However, Ivan accepts to see a doctor because he is aware of his mental state that was becoming more perilous. The involvement of Katerina downplays the exemplification of Ivan over his own body.

The complexity between faith and logic is shown by the way the doctor examines Ivan. First, the doctor carries out a physical examination, and then he later listened to Ivan while reviewing his statements. Ivan’s condition supersedes the doctor’s knowledge, and this is proven by the statement ‘something like a brain disorder’. This phrase deliberately shows the doctor’s inability to diagnose Ivan since the phrase is vague accurately. Ivan’s confession to the doctor leads the doctor to feel aversion. As a result, the doctor’s unprofessionalism is brought out in the text since he did not conduct a further examination.

The doctor’s final statement depicted his urge to exude sound authority over Ivan’s situation. However, his remarks still displayed vagueness, especially from his comments such as ‘generally necessary’ and ‘quite possible’. The hallucinations that Ivan was experiencing made it difficult for the doctor to prescribe treatment. The doctor felt that hallucinations could only be verified if there was a witness to the person’s state of hallucinating. The doctor was further unsure whether Ivan’s body will succumb due to the hallucinations or whether the illusions would make Ivan’s body act out. As a result of the doctor’s vagueness, Ivan prefers to deal with his situation alone.

Ivan treated the idea of the doctor’s treatment with disregard, and he chose to ignore the doctor’s sensible advice. Ivan’s decision was possible as a result of the doctor’s concrete assessment. The narrator also depicts a dismissive tone towards the doctor. Ivan falls into a state of desperation about his mental state and a sense of control about his physical state. This is because Ivan decrees that he is in control and only needs treatment after he collapses. On the other hand, the desperation of his mental state is shown by the part where he feels that he should control his thoughts and actions before he deteriorates physically. Ivan struggles to maintain control over his body and also his discernment.

In the final statement, the narrator confirms Ivan’s loss of control by use of the phrase ‘almost aware’. However, this phrase is also vague because it implies that Ivan is both unaware and unable to perceive his unawareness. The narrator’s use of the words further proves that Ivan was justified to disregard the doctor. The narrator described Ivan’s demise into madness when he began to peer persistently at some object on the sofa against the opposite wall. The fact that the narrator does not know the object that Ivan is gazing depicts vagueness and his limitation of understanding Ivan’s interiority.

Conclusion

Ivan’s atheism makes him struggle logically and intellectually against his soul, especially after his father’s death. Ivan’s deterioration into madness challenges his intellectual prowess and exposes the narrator’s lack of understanding about his situation. The theme of faith and religion is brought metaphorically by the failure of intelligence and logic in Ivan’s case. This theme is further brought out when Ivan gets fatigued from battling intellectual knowledge with religious truth, especially after his hallucinations of the devil arriving during his illness. The touting of Ivan’s mental maturity reaches a cumulative point when his father dies. Intellectually, Ivan fought so that he does not succumb to religion. However, his struggles were fatigued at the end when he experienced religious hallucinations. Ivan still fought despite the illusions by depicting his acute ability to will away sickness.

Another theme from the close reading is the pervasiveness of moral responsibility. This is illustrated by Ivan’s distrust of human nature that eventually forces him to keep distance with the rest of humanity. His distrust of human nature also reflects his fears that the things he does affect other people. Therefore, he keeps a distance to avoid making others emotionally uncomfortable. Also, Ivan willingly accepts the consequences of his relentless scepticism by admitting his complicity in the murder of his father. Therefore, this close reading gives hints to the major themes in the novel and focuses on Ivan, who is the main character used to build the plot of the story.