The Brothers Karamazov is a story of epic proportions. Apart from the psychology of its main characters, it is also deeply
concerned with philosophy,
especially moral and spiritual issues. It has been hailed by some as the greatest work of literature, and is one of the most significant expressions of the
nihilism sweeping through intellectual Russia in the nineteenth century.
Fjodor Pavlovich Karamazov is an old, rough man in his fifties. He has three sons out of two marriages: Dmitri out of the first, Ivan and Alexei out of the second. Smerdyakov, his servant, is rumored to be the fourth, illegitemate son. Dmitri is a strong man, who often fights with his father. By contrast, Ivan and Alexei are more timid persons. Ivan is a quiet man with some harsh views on morality and faith, views which he frequently discusses with Smeryakov the servant. The youngest is a polite, quiet boy, raised in a monastery, who has a firm belief in God, though certain events do change Alexei''s views on the monastery and the world.
Dmitri and his father both love the same woman, Grushenka. They have several rows over her, and when Dmitri enters the garden of his father''s house one night, the noises he makes are mistakenly believed by his father to be Grushenka coming to visit him. He leans out of the window and calls her name. Enraged by this, Dmitri supposedly assaults him with a brass pestle, before making his exit again. He is seen running through the streets, covered in blood. The police consider him to be their prime suspect, and arrest him later, when he is squandering his money during a drunken orgy, in the company of Grushenka. Dmitri is put on trial for patricide and judged guilty. He is sentenced to do forced labor in Siberia.
Ivan, in a breathtaking culmination of the story, is discussing religion again with Smerdyakov, when the latter confesses to have murdered Fyodor: Dmitri is innocent. Smeryakov proposes to live the good life on the inheritance of their father, but Ivan is furious, especially at Smerdyakov''s claim that he acted on Ivan''s own nihilist convictions. In the end, Ivan goes mad, partly because of Smerdyakov''s confession. The epilogue to the book ends with Alexei giving a speech at the funeral of a school boy, a plea for tollerance and love.
The Brother''s Karamazov deals with God, misery, life and death. Its main theme is the weakness of man: man cannot trust his own judgment and wants a higher authority to tell him how to live. This view is especially clear in the famous, brilliant poem ''the Grand Inquisitor'', which Ivan recites to his brother Alexei.