Characters in The Brothers Karamazov

[Worm]

Surreal?  What makes you think that?  They come across to me as perfectly normal people that are living in the fullness of life.

i really just don't see what you find so surreal about them... esp. about Grushenka..


please clarify

Surreal in the amount of hysteria they have.Sometimes i think its too much.Otherwise,yeah,they do seem normal people,who cannot sometimes decide between right and wrong like most of us

the out-blown emotions are typical of Dostoevsky's works... and it's true, that it comes across as a bit surreal if compared to other people... but D loved to put his characters in special situations... a book says how it is in one hit, no need to beat around the bush, so why not go for it and put them in special situations?

it's amazing what lives inside of everybody...

[Allanysha]

Well, I'm finally finishing TBK. It is by far the greatest and most challenging book I've ever read (might I also add frustrating and heartbreaking).

I am a slow reader, which definitely didn't help when I was an English Lit. major in college, and had to, say, read a Dickens book a week.

Anyway, I don't know where to start.  Alyosha seems to be the only one who didn't suffer for sins, because he was pretty much without sin. The others, Fyodor, Ivan, Dmitri, Grushenka, and even Katya paid dearly for their indiscretions.

Maybe someone can enlighten me as to the meaning of the term "morality play." Does this book fit into that category? If it's what I think it is, that would make sense.

I think Dosoevsky examines the human element, the  "Russian" temperament and psyche, and speaks about mankind's relationship with Christianity; from those who outright refute it, like the father and Ivan, to Father Zosima and Alyosha, the closest thing to Christ-like figures in the book.

I just feel sorry for Dmitri. I don't think he deserved his punishment; but I don't know if the book would be the same had he gotten off (of course, I still have about 50 pages left, but it sure doesn't look good, especially after that damning letter surfaced from Katerina).

I think the book showed what a human is capable of, if there is no God in his/her life.

I welcome replies. I really want to discuss this, since I know no one here in America who's read the book

Thanks,

Allanosha (Allan O.)

I have to add that the love between Grushenka and Dmitri kept me spellbound. It was so real. I think I pointed out that I swear I once dated Grushenka!

[Scoundrel]

I just feel sorry for Dmitri. I don't think he deserved his punishment...

After reading this book, I initially agreed with that statement, but after further consideration, I think Dmitri needs a spell in prison--it's the only thing that can wake him up.  He acts very childishly throughout the book, and is a menace, even if he means well.  Perhaps the months spent in jail awaiting trial was enough to wake him up, perhaps it wasn't.  Perhaps Grushenka's love was enough to wake him up, perhaps it wasn't.  

Perhaps Dmitri blacked out and killed the old man, while Smerdyakov only stole the money from it's secret hiding place weeks later.

...I think the book showed what a human is capable of, if there is no God in his/her life.

I think Fyodor Pavlovitch is the perfect example of this.  He is the opposite of every virtue, the old wretch.  From the way he treated his wives, to the way he neglected his sons, to the way he loved money above everything.

[Allanysha]

I understand what you are saying. Right now I feel an attachment to Dmitri. He's almost a protagonist, I guess.

But as I read the words of the prosecutor, so much becomes clear. Dostoevsky left so much open in the book, as if he wanted the reader to be the judge. Then there's a recap after all has happened, and we see what really transpired.

The only character I can call a protagonist is Alyosha. I'm glad I chose Allanysha as a name

[monika]

I would like to say something about the love of Dmitry ana Grushenka. Those two love eachother, but their love is just destructive. They are two of a kind.
As for Lise, she's just bored of being in a chair and home, she's spoiled from her mom since her illness and now she doesnt realy know what she wants, she loves Alyosha but Ivan is bad so she feels this urge to destroy herself 'couse there is nothing else to do, she is in some blue mood. There is nothing wrong with her, it's just that she is 16, just got better from her illness and a little spoiled.
plz reply, I realy realy want to talk about this book, I'm finishing it now and it is the best one I have ever reed!

[robweb97]

Hi everyone!  I think that Alyosha does love Lise because of the way he smiles like the cat that got the cream as he is reading her letter in Zosimzas room.  The characters are all so "talkie", always claiming they feel this or that, but it is these little things that give them away.