The novel Brothers Karamazov consists of twelve books and an epilogue - all together thirteen parts, thirteen - the fatal number. Dostoevsky puts a lot of importance in the numbers that he chooses - as is the case with number three, the occurance of which throughout the novel is repeated (as we saw in a class presentation). The superstition about the fatality of number thirteen can be tracked far back in history when troops B.C. were always constituted of twelve soldiers and a thirteenth leader; then God had 12 students (altoghether 13) and one of them was a betrayer; then recently the movie 'Friday, 13th" left its mark on the minds of people. Usually one of the thirteen elements stands out, as is the case with the troops (one of them is the leader) and with God's students (one of them is a betrayer). In the same way one of the thirteen divisions of the novel stands out. One might think that this is the epilogue because it is not a 'book', but in terms of plot development it is not much different from the rest of the books. The unit that stands out and is fatal, is book VIII called "Mitya". It is the culmination of the action; it contains the event to which all previous books point, and all following books refer.
Besides being the peak of an escalation of events, book VIII also serves the function of portraying detailedly the character of Mitya. It also introduces seconadary characters - Samsonov, Kopoev and the Polish ex-officer, and expands the characteristics of ones which the reader already knows - Khoklakova and Grushenka.
Book VIII is constituted of eight chapters. Chapters one, two and three, depict the three desparate trials of Mitia to obtain three thousand rubles, which he needs in order to pay back his debt to Katia. Chapter four takes place during the time when Fyodor is being murdered. Chapters five and six describe the actions and decisions of Mitya, that he makes after he almost kills Grigory about which he feels guilty. Chapters seven and eight take place in Mokroe, where Mitya for second time arranges a party of debauchery (guliai).
A usual crime-novel contains a crime - the inception of the action, an investigation, and a denouement of the crime. Brothers Karamazov possesses all these elements. However, there is a significant difference in the arrangement - strangely enough the investigation of the crime in Brothers Karamazov precedes the murder itself. There is a paradox - how can one investigate something that hasn't happened yet? Dostoevsky makes this possible by the use of only one sentence: the very first sentence in the very first chapter of the very first book. "Aleksei Fyodorovich Karamazov was the third son...of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, well known... because of his dark and tragic death, which happened exactly thirteen years ago" [p. 7] Dostoevsky mentions the murder of Fyodor Pavlovich as something that has happened in the past - thirteen years ago (notice the use of the fatal thirteen once again), but in the same time something that is to come in the future in terms of the plot of the story. The author sets up the mind of the reader in a mode to look for hints as to who is the potentional murderer. By revealing what is going to happen in the future Dostoevsky illuminates the events of the present with a light coming from ahead of time and thus modifies the perception of these events. The reader is influenced to think that every aggressive action or unstable behaviour, that otherwise could have been perceived as innocent, of any of the characters, leads to the murder.
The patience of the reader is challenged for it is not until the second half of the novel that the crime in the physical sense is performed. A gradation of prerequisits for the murder is created within the preceding books. Dostoevsky starts with providing a family history background. In book I the bearing and growing up of all three brothers Mitya, Ivan and Alyosha is depicted. None of them has had sufficient parents' care and loving and although the children come from two different mothers, they share one thing in common - they all have been left by themselves to make decisions for their lives and establish their own value-system. Having had only the influnce of real life experience and random relatives, the three brothers develop independently in three different directions: Alyosha cherishes spirituality; Ivan tends to intellectuality; and Mitya is after materialism. It is not hard to conclude that any of them has a motive for the murder of Fyodor Pavlovich including Alyosha, if child neglection is considered a plausible motive. Dostoevsky manages to present Fyodor as a repelling, scornful individual.
Book II reasserts this idea. The incidents that happen in the monastery are unacceptable and still the scandal does happen provoked by both Miusov and Fyodor. Fyodor does it for the sake of being a clown and for no other reason, which tightens the tension around Fyodor's personality "It always seems to me, when I go somewhere, that I am lower than everyone else and that they all take me for a buffon..." [p. 86]. Desagrating the monastery Fyodor biulds up on the idea that he is a parasite: doing harm rather than good for society. In Book II occurs also the first description and personal performance of Mitya whose character is going to be expanded in Book VIII. Dostevsky has dropped here, as everywhere else, indicators that point to the murder "His somewhat sickly look at that time could well be understood:everyone knew about... the remarkable irritation he reached in quarrels with his father over the controversial money" [p. 68].
Book III gives even more examples of the perversity of Fyodor - it completely denounces him. The examples are constituted by a description of Fyodor's life style, the narrator's direct opinion of Pavlovich, the opinion of Fyodor's friends and his actions. The description of the house in which the father Karamazov lives reveals waste and inefficiency "As a matter of fact, the house had been built for a large family: it could have accomodated five times as many masters and servants" [p. 92]. The narrator's personal opinion about Fyodor is more than negative: "most depraved, and, in his sensuality, often as cruel as a wicked insect" [p. 93]. Although one might expect that at least Fyodor's friends will be generous and will find positive features of Fyodor's personality, it is not so: "in relity he was an obsolete boor beside them" [p. 98]. May be one of the worst (or simply the worst) manifestations of Fyodor's perversity takes place in Book III. When asked whether a creature like Lizaveta Smradlivata could be considered a woman, Fyodor and only Fyodor answers yes "yes, she could be regarded as a woman, even very much so, and ...there was some piquancy in it of a special sort" [p. 98].
Book IV is another prerquisite for the events from book VIII. Fyodor is made even more repelling to the reader through his insane words: "At the moment I'm still a man, only 55-years old, but I want to occupy this position for about twenty-five years longer; I'll get old and disgusting and they won't come to me then of their own free will, and that's when I'll need my dear money" [p. 173]. The reader is almost made to be looking forward to the murder of this insanely perverted individual, whose only concept of a man is the sexual one. Fyodor's murder becomes a necessity. Book IV also provides weight for the suggestion that the murderer could potentially be Mitya. Mitya is agressive and impulsive which is shown in his outburst against the captain Snigeriov. He has no reason at all to harm the poor captain but nevertheless he chooses to humiliate him in front of everyone, including in front of Snigeriov's own little son. Mitya thinks little about the consequences of his actions and takes into account only his current emotions with no consideration of the outcome. This will come back into the mind of the reader in book VIII where the reader's trust in Mitya (if there is any) will be challenged and his impulsivity and aggressiveness will become points against him. Book IV establishes the capabilty of Mitya to perform a spontaneous violent act which he eventually might regret and reasserts the abilty of Fyodor to provoke impulsive agression against himself through his repelling words, the impact of which Fyodor undermines.
Book V inroduces new hints against Mitya. In the chapter "Smerdyakov with a guitar" Smerdyakov asserts that Mitya has been threatening him "Twice he even threatened me with death" [p. 227]. This is not the first time when death has been mentioned and is not going to be the last time either. Even when neither Mitya nor Fyodor are present, the conversations held contain hints about the potential murder, Mitya being the supposed killer and Fyodor being the victim. This becomes evident in the conversation between Ivan and Smerdyakov. Smerdyakov's style of talking is misterious and stimulates the reader's imagination about what and how is going to happen. At that point of time the reader is still prone to think that Mitya is going to be the brave enough person to perform the murder and Smerdyakov's words are just another indication of this. (Later Smerdyakov's comments will be interpreted differently.) There are two opposite opinions expressed on the topic one of them belonging to Smerdyakov and the other one - to Ivan. Smerdyakov says that he believes that Mitya "he'll come just because he is angry, or because he is suspicious..." [p. 272]. Ivan holds the opposite "Dmitri won't come to steal money and kill his father on top of it" [p. 272]. The reader already takes the murder as a given, her patience is tightened. The questions occuring in her mind are how, why, what factors are going to contribute to the final outburst of passion that will lead to a irreversible deed, namely murder.
Book VI could be considered a digression from the straightforward development of the murder. When I say 'development of murder' I do not mean elaboration of pre-planned steps that should be taken in order the murder to be performed successfully. Rather, it is a building up of random incidents that lead inevitably to the artificial death of Fyodor Pavlovich. A way to view the crime is that it was premeditated by the Chance. Step by step it added one factor after another together and although random and taken separately neither of the factors would lead to the assasination of the oldest of Karamazov (e.g. Fyodor would not be killed solely because he abused Lizaveta, but this is a decisive element in the murder), taken together all the factors inevitably and unavoidably urge for an assasination. The digression in book VI is a necessary one. The part called "The secret visitor" reveals a story about a murderer, who has stabbed his lover out of passion and jealousy. The chance has played a major role for the murder would not have hapenned if the servants were not conveniently away that day and his lover was not conveniently sleeping. This arrangement of the circumstances in the first death makes the reader automatically parallel it with the expected death of Fyodor. Will all the circumstances be conveniently leading to a murder? Would it be chance that will urge someone to make the move that will stop the parasitic life of Fyodor?
Book VII contains one of these very convenient circumstances, so essential to the assasination in Book VIII. Alyosha is busy - busy looking after Zosima in the last hours of his life, busy discussing God and the grand inquisitor with Ivan, busy letting Grushenka seduce him. With so much on his mind the worries about his second brother Mitya fade away and he remembers these when he already can't do anything about it "He himself remembered later that on that painful day he quite forgot his brother Dmitri, about whom he had been so worried and grieved the day before" [p. 339]. Alyosha has a soul of a saint, but a body of a human. He can not be everywhere at the same time. And it is hard to estimate where is his presence more necessary - at the bed of dying Zosima, in the pub with Ivan, in the house of Iliushechka. However, not only his body is human, but his mind too - he forgets. He forgot about Mitya at the wrong moment and instead he went with Rakitin to Grushenka's house. Or perhaps he wanted to forget? In this case his soul is human too for it has been subconsciously seduced by Grushenka. Was it a chance or Alyosha's choice to omit the talk with Mitya from his schedule and instead pay the more pleasurable visit to beautiful Grushenka? Alysha's performance so far makes the reader think it was chance that governed Alyosha's actions and I, too, am prone to agree with that. However, not all Chance-events happen by chance (the most obvious example being Smerdyakov's seizure).
In every book from the beginning of the novel there are indicators of the murder that is going to occur. Destoevsky depicts carefully every element that is going to play a role and contribute to the murder. Playing the part of Fate he plans every detail of the crime and it seems like a premeditated assasination planned by an invisible hand. As much as the murder was planned by Smerdyakov in the factual sense, it was not really, because it was chance that led Mitya that day to the door of his father, and this movement of his was the decisive particle on which the evil mind of Smerdyakov has counted. The development of this decisive particle has been described throughout all preceding books, which is logical, but the difference from a usual novel is that in this case the reader knows to where this development leads. The following books are a reflection of the event in book VIII for they all refer to it.
Book IX is a reflection of the crime in the eyes of the officials, book X contains the idea that the children have about the event, book XI represents Ivan's personal version of the problem, book XII shows the murder from the point of view of the public, the witnesses and the jury. The epilogue shows the final reaction of the participants in the tragedy. This is not to say that the murder is the only thing that occurs in the novel. Rather, it is the central focus that all other events point to or refer to.
There are two levels of escalations to be found. One is within the novel with culmination Book VIII. The other is within Book VIII itself. This book contains an internal gradation of chance-events and choice-events that reach their peak in chapter four, thus establishing it as the peak of book VIII, as well as the culmination of the whole novel.
Book VIII consists of 8 chapters. The first three of them represent Mitya's desparate attempts to find money. He visits Kuzma Samsonov, then Kopoev, then Khohlakova with the same irrational offer that they could lend him money in exchange for the right to make a request for some land, which supposedly Fyodor Pavlovich owes to Dimitri. Samsonov seems the only rational individual of the three and manages to reject the offer of Mitya, make fun of him, and simultaneously make him thank for it. "How can I thank you, Kuzma Kuzmich... But you don't realize it, you've saved me, oh..." [p.372] - in such a way do Mitya's exalted words sound. With his naivitat he is unable to realize the ridicule behind Samsonov's 'help'. Samsonov sends him to another person Kopoev, who has been trying for years to make a deal with Fyodor about the particular piece of land. With renewed hope Mitya spends his last money and time to find Kopoev who is drunk, unconscious, and incapable of making business of any kind. Mitya's next stop is Khoklakova who as usual is willing to help but her ideas of help are too extravagant for Mitya - working at golden mines is not an option for him. On this level too there is an escalation and that is the one of Dimitri's reactions. Leaving Samsonov he is happy "how can I thank you" [p. 372], leaving Kopoev he is calm "he quietly walked over to the bench..." [p. 379], leaving Khohlakova he is furious "Ah, devil take" [p. 388]. His anger gradually increses and the reader is not surprised by the angry way Mitya treats the servant Fenia. Here another of the chance-events is present. Fenia does not tell Dimitri where Grushenka actually went. Lead by the wrong impression that she went to see his father, Mitya goes in direction to Fyodor's house. And by another chance-circumstance, there is on the table a pestle that Mitya grabs most probably without even realizing.
Dostoevsky with the skill of a crime-novel writer depicts the time around which Fyodor's murder happens in a way that the reader is almost persuaded that it must be Mitya performing the murder. Mitya's state of mind - angry, last thoughts "I'm afraid that his face at that moment will suddenly become hateful to me..." [p. 393], last movements - "Mitya was beside himself, and suddenly he snatched the brass pestle from his pocket." [p. 393] all evidence for his own guilt. Is it possible that the physical murderer is someone else if Mitya himself has had all the prerequisites, emotional and physical, for commiting the crime? To answer these questions the reader must know well the character of Mitya. Here come to use the skills of Dostoevsky to understand and depict the human nature as precisely as possible. So far from the previous books we know that Mitya is emotional and material (as part of the trinity of the brothers). In book VIII the reader learns also that he is impulsive, naive and irrational. The three attempts to obtain money fail in their neobmislenost. These have been his last options for defending his honour in front of Katerina and these rejections only increase Mitya's feeling of desparation. One might say he is in affect.. Khohlakova's blabbering about affect did have some truth in it, and this is another proof of Dostoevsky's efficient use of words. No matter how long his novels are, every single detail has an important place in the development of the plot. Although at the time Khoklakova's words were percieved as meaningless talking of a naive lady, there is reason in her words. And in book VIII it is very much possible that Mitya really recieves an affect. Desparation mixed with rejections, family problems mixed with romantic issues, Mitya becomes overly sensitive to any kind of draznenia. Grushenka's absence from her house and her obvious lie to him is the top drop in the glass that makes it prelia onto everything and everyone that is around. Mitya acts blinded by emotions and that makes him impulsive, naive, and irrational, also aggressive and violent. Against the expectations of the public it is not Fyodor that becomes the victim of Mitya's affect, but Grigory, which the reader learns later. It is not Mitya's evilness that makes hime raise the pestle and hit Grigory, but the arrangement of the circumstances. Mitya is not evil. He is just emotionally unstable. Mitya would not kill. He would simply zamahne. Mitya does not possess the intention to perform a crime. He possess only the aggression to do it.
Dostoevsky is generous in terms of characters. In book VIII there are several new ones. Samsonov and Kopoev are both figures who the reader has only heard mentioned. The meeting with them in book VIII is brief. Nevertheless both of them are described detailedly. There is a full description of Samsonov's house "old, gloomy, spacious" [p. 368]. The way the rooms are shared shows Samsonov's dominance in the house - he lives alone on the secon floor while al the rest are on the first floor. Samsonov appears to be a person used to give commands and tell people what to do. That's what he did with Mitya too - he told him that he should travel all the way to a remote village. It is not hard to imagine how such a powerful indiviual has taken Grushenka into his nets, and has given her a respectful life among society. Kopoev is a complete opposite of Samsonov, and although both of them appear repelling to the public, they do so in different ways. Kopoev, first of all has a ridiculous name. Second of all, he lacks any kind of power. Perhaps this impression is left, because the reader only meets him when he is completely drunk and incapable of holding a conversation, or to say anything at all "the man is drunk, drunk out of his mind" [p. 378] Neither of these two characters occurs again in the novel, but both have an important role for they lead Mitya into his ultimate despair that makes him later on hit his own baby-sitter. It is at Kopoev's that Mitya suddenly realizes that it all has been like game, and he was the loser "what is there to wait for? And what if Samsonov sent me here on purpose? And what if she... Oh, God, what have I done?" [p. 378]. Mitya for first time stops and starts thinking, unfortunately not for long, because afterwards the reader sees him again on the run after Khoklakova, and then chasing Grushenka.
In Mokroe the reader meets another character - Grushenka's first love. Dostoevsky describes him, physically, and mentally, and his bad opinion about the Polish officer is transferred to the reader. The officer's speech and actions are presented and neither of them makes him more respected. His Russian is intentionally bad in order to sound foreign, and during the card game he and his partner cheat. One might wonder how did Grushenka manage to get involved with such a person? And how can he be held responsible for the trauma that he left in Grushenka's life, if he occurs to be so ireesponsible a person anyway. Together with introducing a new character Dostoevsky expands the ones known already. Showing with what kind of person did Grushenka fall in love, evidences a lot about what kind of person is she herself. Very emotional too (as Dmitri), Grushenka hasn't considered at all the mental qualities of her ex-fiancee. She doesn't seem to have thought about it, and once he is here the reader doesn't hear her regret that she has fallen in love with a useless creature. She even sends him money and in this way keeps in contact with him although she has realized that she has no feeling about him and he has feelings only about her money.
Another character expanded in this book is Khoklakova. She is good-hearted and willig to help, she has the good intentions. However, she is so amazingly naive! On Mitya's request for money she answers happily but with the wrong kind of help. He did not go to her for an advice, but for money. Instead, she sends him in search for golden mines. As usual she is not even able to express her thoughts concisely and in an organized form. Mitya is forced to listen to her opinion about issues that do not concern him or about which he does not want to hear. Khoklakova does not realize that - perhaps she thinks that the whole world is made to listen to her. With her words she raises Mitya's hopes only to make them crash in the end of the conversation with a force that would lead Mitya later on, furious with a pestle in the house of Fyodor. Her naivitat and lack of understanding prevent her from realizing that playing with someone's hopes is dangerous and can be fatal. Usually Khoklakova is percieved as a nice, boring lady. But in book VIII she becomes nice, boring and dangerous, her main weapon being her ignorance and lack of considerance. Unintentionally she contibutes a share to the chance-events that have been directing Mitya into his night walk to Fyodor's house and his converstaion is one of the catalyzers of his burst later on that night.
Book VIII is not only a culmination and is much more than a place to introduce and expand characters. It is a necessary part of the chain of events that constitute the novel Brothers Karamazov. The themes of pride and guilt, choice and chance, love and hatred run through it as they do through the whole novel.