10 Great Scenes from "The Brothers Karamazov"

This is basically one of the best novels ever written. Published in 1879-1880 in "The Russian Messenger" and then made into a separate book the same year, this is basically Fyodor Dostoevsky's seminal work, his magnum opus (I can already hear the "Crime and Punishment" fans rising up against me). But this book is a classic example of how Dostoevsky can create a situation so incriminating and yet, have the lessons of morals and philosophies to go along with it that the character has to use to get themselves out of an impossible situation and avert tragedy. This is definitely true in "The Brothers Karamazov" in which Dmitri is under arrest for the murder of his father, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and yet is adamant that he did not do it even though the whole town seems to know about the fact that he has told his father on ocassion that he will kill him eventually.

The very start of the book sets up this strange tiff between the two and yet, it is not just that which comes into play - it is the other two brothers as well, the favouritism of Alyosha and the distance of Ivan, which makes the relationship between Dmitri and his father so intriguing. When the murder actually happens, nobody seems to believe it is not Dmitri who has done it. The question is: do you?

My Experience with "The Brothers Karamazov"

A sixteen-year-old me was intrigued so much by this novel I would go on to read it three more times in the future. It currently stands as my favourite Russian Novel of all time and one of my favourite books ever - coming in on my top ten. The language of the book is typical Dostoevksy with his raw and coarse ability to twist someone's words and have them saying one thing and meaning another and yet, nobody is who they make out to be. There are always two or three sides to each person - including the devout and guiltless Alyosha. There is a theory that all of the brothers caused their father's death - but that is for another time.

I can honestly say that these ten scenes were very, very difficult to chose (I would chose the whole book if I could). So here are ten great scenes from the book "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

10 Great Scenes from "The Brothers Karamazov"

10. Book 1, Chapter 2

This is the chapter that really makes you feel bad for Dmitri Karamazov. He is a character that we come to know as having a violent temper and yet, has these grand moments of contemplation where he knows that what he has done is wrong. He suffers mental breakdowns and things that we now relate to PTSD from emotional abuse. Here is where the story of Dmitri begins, with his father forgetting about him and other people having to raise him. But when Dmitri joins the military, we find out that he is still like his father and comes back for his inheritance. This is where things get really violent.

An incredible story of the life and growth of Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov, this book proves to us that you cannot escape your genes. Dmitri is sent to live with Grigory, a servant, and yet he still grows up to emulate the unruly lifestyle and abhorrent decadence that his father once enjoyed. Dmitri's military service is meant to set him on the straight and narrow.

9. Book 3, Chapter 5

Dmitri has become engaged to Katarina Ivanovna and that is not all, he is also cheating on her with a woman that keeps pulling him back in - the seductive Grushenka. Grushenka is also having an affair with Dmitri's father, the ill-mannered and decadent Fyodor Pavlovich. When it is revealed why Dmitri got engaged to Katarina Ivanovna, things get very messy very quickly.

This chapter is super-charged with emotion. We get everything about Dmitri all at once. We get his good side: he is engaged and happy, we get his bad side: he is having an affair with the mistress of his father, we get his secretive side: he hasn't told the full story about why he's engaged, and then we get his sorrowful side: he pities himself.

8. Book 7, Chapter 1

This is such a strange chapter and it hurts to see Alyosha so upset. Zosima is dead and his body has been prepared for his funeral. As Alyosha stands aside crying his eyes out, the person leading the funeral notices that the body has probably started to decay and as people start paying more attention to the smell of the decay than the man, Alyosha can do nothing but weep for the death of the man who practically raised him.

It is a terrifyingly sad scene and I think you really feel the rage and melancholy that is in Alyosha's heart. Something that he has trouble expressing and so he tries to keep out of sight and out of mind. He is clearly depressed beyond reason and it really does hurt.

7. Book 8, Chapter 4

Dmitri's suspicions get the better of him in a chapter which will impact the entirety of the events for the rest of the novel. Dmitri goes back to his father's house out of suspecting that is why Grushenka left his company. When he arrives, he takes a gun from his pocket. But we don't see anything and instead - Grigory wakes up. From then on, we get a narrative of Grigory checking that everything has been locked up safely.

It is a highly intense scene in which we don't find out very key information. We don't find out whether Grushenka is there or why Dmitri thinks she would be at a time like this, we don't find out why Dmitri drew his pistol, we don't find out what it really was that made Grigory wake up (out of a few possible things) and we don't know what really happened here. A mystery.

6. Book 12, Chapter 1

The day of the trial of Dmitri Karamazov. The world is waiting and Dmitri is sent to the stand. He hears of Smerdyakov's death - the man killed himself the night before and yet, he feels nothing but contempt. This chapter is so intense that you could actually break a sweat reading it. I'm not going to say too much of what happens because of the fact you really do need to read this chapter for yourself. It is terrifyingly intense.

Dmitri Karamazov is a strange and often paradoxical man. He has a violent temper like his father, but demands respect as if he were not him. As if he could shake of the very nature of him, the eldest child, the one who is most like his father, being connected to his father in any way. Things are about to change for Dmitri - they are about to get worse before they get better.

5. Book 3, Chapter 4

This scene is charged with violent emotion by Dmitri Karamazov. It is a revelation of a scene where he sits down with his brother Alyosha and explains that whilst in military service, he was under the command of the colonel who had affairs with numerous women. From this, he gained two children and one of them was Katarina Ivanovna. When it comes to the money problem he has with Katarina, it shocks and appalls Alyosha and when Katarina arrives, Dmitri rebukes her horribly. When this outburst is over though, there is a really integral moment to the book - he writes her the cheque and she bows to him lightly.

Katarina Ivanovna is a character who seems to want no trouble with anyone. She doesn't have a grudge, she doesn't want a fight, she just wants everything to be even and good so far. When it comes to the money that Dmitri has promised for her, he is reluctant at first to write a cheque but when he does, she is very calm and cool about it. She doesn't hesitate to take the cheque, but she is nowhere near as emotional as he is.

4. Book 11, Chapter 7

Good grief, Dmitri is in jail, Ivan is in love with Katarina Ivanovna and Smerdyakov is engaged! Everything has happened so quickly but Ivan is suspicious of Smerdyakov who has apparently faked a seizure to get out of the army and go to another location - for some reason. The questions that Ivan has for Smerdyakov get harder and harder until Ivan snaps and knows. He knows that it may have been Smerdyakov who killed their father and not Dmitri. Upon his second visit to Smerdyakov in this chapter, he threatens to tell their entire conversation to the police. Smerdyakov says 'go ahead' and the fact that he is so nonchalant about it disturbs and angers Ivan, because he was in on it too.

This chapter and the chapter directly before it are absolutely terrifying to read. They have accusations, interrogation and anger, violent temperament and the classic quizical nature that Dostoevsky is so famous for, going on all at the same time. It is in the next chapter that Smerdyakov comes clean to Ivan - he can hide it no longer.

3. Book 8, Chapter 8

Dmitri is delirious. He goes outside to get some fresh air as he cannot find Grushenka and he doesn't know where she might be at a time like this. Ultimately, someone is coming towards him. It's an attorney. He's here to tell Dmitri that he's being arrested for the murder of his father, Fyodor Pavlovich. Dmitri could not be more surprised if he tried.

One of the points in the book that changes the entire novel and how we see it. We immediately think back to the scene with something waking Grigory. Was it a gunshot? Was it a hit? Was it purely that the gate may have been unlocked and Grigory wanted to close it? There are some things from the time that Dmitri left for his father's house that don't add up and here, they seem not to add up even more.

2. Book 5, Chapter 5

I think everyone knows what 'The Grand Inquisitor' is. But I will explain it anyway. Ivan tells this poem/story to Alyosha and states his opinions on the world and why he would rather live in the academic world than Alyosha's one. The whole poem is about whether man actually wants to be free and have what is known to be 'free will'. The Grand Inquisitor seems to explain the difference between temptation and will, and that there is a blurry line between them. It is something that captures the heart and soul of everyone who reads it. A brilliantly written subplot to the story.

When you read it, you'll first notice how long it is and how many parts it has to explaining the difference between what is fate and free will. But when you get into it, Ivan is simply questioning the kind of lifestyle Alyosha leads and though this rubs tension between the brothers, it is nothing compared to the tension between Dmitri and everyone around him at that moment.

1. Book 12, Chapter 3

There is nothing worse than a child dying in a book. Let us do something even worse here: a child's funeral in a book. Alyosha heads to the funeral of the child who had died only a while after Dmitri's trial and mourns the boy - he is far more composed than when he went to Zosima's funeral. I have to say, out of the whole book, this one seems to capture the heart the most, we really have no idea about the future - anything could happen.

This chapter is just so sad, it really does bring the novel to this strange point between anger, resentment and sadness that we all have for each other all of the time. It is an anger at the fact that we are going to lose someone, the resentment at trying to keep them and the sadness that they are gone.