Part III - The Brothers Karamazov

 

In Part III of The Brothers Karamazov by, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, we spend a little bit more time with Alyosha, before diving completely into Dmitry’s world. I found myself missing Alyosha, even though Mitya’s narrative was very engaging. Also, Ivan. There is no Ivan in this segment and I was really curious to know what he was up to. 

Part III gets more into the plot, with the murder of the brothers’ father, Fyodor, but I don’t want to give too much away. However, it’s not a spoiler that Dmitry is the principle suspect. 

From the outset of the novel, Dmitry is the volatile, spontaneous, reckless brother. His rage and outbursts, at first, can make him easy to dislike. However, what I like about this part of the narrative is that we get to spend more time with him and realize that he, like is other brothers, is rather complex. 

Even thought Mitya is rash and quite changeable, he’s actually quite honest. He says what he thinks, often to his detriment. Regardless of if I agree with how he goes about things, I respect the fact that he is honest - what you see is what you get. To me, he also comes across as a rather sensitive man. There are some really great passages of him, while he is being interrogated about the murder of his father, that are genuine and heartfelt. 

“After all, I have, as it were, torn my soul in half before you, and you have taken advantage of it and are rummaging with your fingers in both halves along the torn place … O, God!” 

Dmitry definitely wears his heart on his sleeve and Dostoyevsky makes the torment that he feels about being suspected as the murderer of his father palpable. 

“He felt intolerably embarrassed: everyone was dressed except he, and it was a strange thing - without his clothes on he himself felt guilty before them, and, above all, was himself almost ready to agree that he had suddenly become inferior to all of them and that now they had a perfect right to treat him with contempt … His unendurable shame made him even more uncouth, even intentionally so.” 

This passage in particular, in which Mitya was forced to undress as his clothes were inspected, brought to mind how humiliation is used as a tactic to degrade others. Standing there naked amongst men who were also his colleagues, diminished his sense of self-worth and so he became even more defensive as a way to counter the manipulation that was being used to against him. Unfortunately, his behavior would only prove the point that he has the temperament to commit murder. 

Lastly, as the interrogation unfolds, it becomes clear the Mitya has told several lies about he goings-on. Even though he repeatedly states that he is innocent, his web of lies is not doing him any favors. Mitya even says, 

“Well, so I told a lie; and of course once I had told it I didn’t feel like correcting it. What makes man lie on occasion, anyway?”

White lies are very common in human nature and yet, in Mitya’s case the outcome is monumental. This was one question in the book that made me go, “Hmmm.” How often do we do things, without even thinking about them and then they turn out to have bigger repercussions than we could have fathomed?

I feel like I’m repeating myself for the umpteenth time, but The Brothers Karamazov really is a fantastic novel. Yes it’s massive, but that’s part of the fun. Dostoyevsky even injects a little humor about the length. I’m in the midst of Part IV and it already feels a little bitter sweet. I want to know the ending but I don’t want to leave Alyosha yet. I just adore him. 

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