Book Report On Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov Essay -- Book Review

CHARACTERIZATIONThe main characters of Dostoevskys novel The Brothers Karamazov are, asthe name suggests, the members of the Karamazov "family," if it support indeed becalled such. The only things that the members of this family share are a nameand the "Karamazov curse," a legacy of base impulses and voluptuous lust.References to this tendency towards offense are sprinkled heavily throughoutthe novel phrases such as "a brazen brow and a Karamazov conscience,""voluptuary streak," and "Karamazovian baseness" abound.Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the father of the brothers Karamazov, is the bod and the source of this immorality. In him Dostoevsky creates suchperversity and depravity that one can feel no positive emotions for the man.His physical appearance--he is "flabby" with " humiliated, suspicious eyeball" and a"long, cavernous mouth with puffy lips, behind which could be glimpsed smallfragments of black teeth"--accura tely reflects his foul, disgusting character.He has no respect for himself he enjoys playing the part of the shameless"buffoon" for fear, sluice though the attention he receives is negative.Because he has no respect for himself, he can consecrate no respect for others, either.He has no respect for women, for example he is a despicable "voluptuary," andhe satisfies his lust at any cost. He drives his wife to madness by bringing"women of ill-repute" into their house right in front of her. Even moreshockingly, he rapes a mentally retard woman, who later dies giving birth tohis illegitimate son, Smerdyakov, who grows up as his fathers servant.Fyodor is even more blatantly disrespectful to his three legitimatechildren. After his wifes death, he abandons them, for they "would have beena hindrance to his debaucheries." He is never a authorized father to any of them.When his oldest son, Dmitry, becomes an adult, Fyodor is even so cruel as to pass over Dm itry his inheritance and instead use the money to seduce Grushenka, withwhom his son is in love.It is Alyosha, the youngest brother, that is most successful in escapingthe curse of the Karamazovs. Miraculously, he is almost the fill in oppositeof his father he is an blowsygoing "lover of mankind" whom everyone likes. Whent... ...ativity of theatmosphere. tendencyDostoevskys course is very realistic and straightforward. He almostnever uses ornate or poetic language or figures of speech his language is unanalyzableton and spare, as if he tried to eliminate all that wasnt absolutelynecessary. Similarly, he is unpretentious in his choice of words. He generallystates things in the simplest damage possible. Contrastingly, however, hissentences are often fairly complex despite their complexity, though, they areeasy to understand and thus do not detract from his simplicity andstraightforwardness.Because the hold up consists largely of dialogue, Dostoevsky changes hisstyle frequ ently, for each of his characters has a unique style of speak thatcomplements his character. Dostoevsky writes Ivans dialogue, for example, in avery verbose, complex style that reinforces Ivans characterization as anintellectual. He writes Dmitrys dialogue in a very random, disjointed stylethat underscores Dmitrys tendency to allow his passion and his emotions tocloud his logic. Finally, he writes Alyoshas dialogue in a simple style verysimilar to his own, as Alyosha is himself simple and unpretentious.O