The Brothers Karamazov Literary Devices

Explanation and Analysis—The Beauty of Suffering:

A prominent motif in The Brothers Karamazov is the desire for suffering. Many characters in the novel suffer voluntarily, taking an unhealthy pleasure in their own physical or emotional pain. Most often, this motivates them to behave in a manner that is shameful or self-destructive. Fyodor’s poor behavior at the hermitage, for example, is driven by his own desire to act like a fool and be hated by others. As Alexei reflects upon his father’s demand that he leave the monastery immediately, the narrator states that:

I hasten to say that he was not in the least afraid of his father’s shouts or his order to move home with “pillow and mattress.” He understood very well that the order to move, given aloud and with such ostentatious shouting, was given “in passion,” even for the beauty of it, so to speak—just as recently in our town a tradesman who got a little too merry at his own birthday party, in front of his guests, became angry when they would not give him more vodka and suddenly began smashing his own dishes [...]

Alexei correctly perceives that his father does not truly mean what he says, but rather is performing. Fyodor gives the “order to move” with “ostentatious shouting” not because he truly wants Alexei to return home, but “for the beauty of it.” Fyodor, then, behaves in an artificial manner, acting out his own self-assigned role as a fool and enjoying his feelings of shame, much like a man in the village who once “suddenly began smashing his own dishes” in a clownish display of anger.

Later, Dmitri reveals that he shares this aspect of his father’s personality, despite their mutual hatred. Speaking frankly with Alexei about his own compulsion to behave poorly, he states:

Because when I fall into the abyss, I go straight into it, head down and heels up, and I’m even pleased that I’m falling in just such a humiliating position, and for me I find it beautiful. And so in that very shame I suddenly begin a hymn. Let me be cursed, let me be base and vile, but let me also kiss the hem of that garment in which my God is clothed[.]

Here, Dmitri reveals that he finds it “beautiful” to be in a “humiliating position,” taking a sort of pleasure in his own debasement. This unhealthy sort of pleasure, which afflicts many members of the Karamazov family, pushes Dmitri towards vice, as he feels “pleased” to find himself “falling” despite—or, perhaps, because of—his shame.

Explanation and Analysis—Insects:

Throughout The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky uses many metaphors related to insects. These insect metaphors serve as a motif throughout the novel, generally signifying behavior or attitudes that are lowly or unworthy of humanity, particularly with regard to Dmitri. When Dmitri confesses to Alexei about his disreputable behavior with women, flirting with them but later refusing to get married, he states that:

This game only amused my insect sensuality, which I was nurturing in myself. After five months she married an official and left … angry, and maybe still in love with me. Now they’re living happily together. Note that I didn’t tell anyone [...] You’re blushing; your eyes flashed. Enough of this filth for you. And it’s all nothing yet, just Paul de Kock’s little flowers, though the cruel insect was already growing, spreading out in my soul. I have a whole album of memories, brother. God bless the little dears.

Here, he describes his “insect sensuality,” an immoral aspect of his psyche that compels him to toy with others without regard to their feelings. Further advancing the metaphor, he claims that “the cruel insect was already growing,” imagining that his inner cruelty is a large bug within him that gets more powerful when he feeds it with acts of vice.

Much later, in the hours following the murder of Fyodor, Dmitri revisits this language of insects while making a toast “to life”:

Enough! To life, my dear, let us drink to life, I offer a toast to life! Why am I so pleased with myself? I’m base, but I’m pleased with myself, and yet it pains me to be base and still pleased with myself. I bless creation, I’m ready right now to bless God and his creation, but … I must exterminate one foul insect, so that it will not crawl around spoiling life for others [...]

Here, he again characterizes the “base” or low qualities that compel him towards poor behavior as a “foul insect.” Here, however, he appears determined to “exterminate” the insect, suggesting that he finally desires to improve himself and stop hurting others.

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