SIR World Languages Investigation Abstract
THEMES OF MORALITY AS PRESENTED IN FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY'S THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV
Presenter:
Yao Bian, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 West Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL, 60506; yaoyao@imsa.edu
Advisor:
Dr. Dennis Czerny, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 West Sullivan Road, English, Aurora, IL, 60506; 630-907-5974; dczerny@imsa.edu
Asbtract:
Kurt Vonnegut once said, "Everything you need to know about life can be found in The Brothers Karamazov." Dostoevsky finished writing The Brothers Karamazov just three months before his death and it is considered by many critics to be the crowning achievement of his literary career, as well as the sum of his creative, philosophical, and ideological thinking. However, it is difficult to isolate Dostoevsky's ideology because of his fascination with, and incorporation of, the idea of the Double in his writing. Within his characters, Dostoevsky presents the dualism existing in everyone; a person with a pure Christian soul can still harbor darker human desires in his heart. Conversely, a man ruled by his baser instincts and passions can be conscious of loftier ideals and morals. As a result, Dostoevsky demonstrates that in each person exists the potential to be good or evil. Along with this is the notion that for every ideal there exists an opposite, and it was Dostoevsky's wish to present both sides of each argument. Most prominent in The Brothers Karamazov is the conflict between reason and religious faith, with which the author battled throughout his lifetime. Thus, what has made Fyodor Dostoevsky so respected in literature is perhaps not his intelligent presentation of philosophical ideas, but his belief that a writer should leave nothing unsaid.