The Grand Inquisitor/The Devil

Part 1: Ivan's Condition
The person narrating the story is a man from the town who speaks of all the events from The Brothers Karamazov with a certain amount of omniscience. For instance, the narrator is able to recount this story although it is obvious that Ivan is alone. However in other situations, the narrator does not know everything, especially concerning the murder of Fyodor Karamazov. the opening line of this chapter is illustrative of this point:


 * I AM NOT a doctor, but yet I feel that the moment has come when I must inevitably give the reader some account of the nature of Ivan's illness.

The narrator admits a certain shortcoming in his literary omniscience, but yet he is able to speak frankly about events that he did not witness.

Part 2: Ivan's Guest
While sitting and staring at the far wall, a person simply "appeared to be sitting there". Notice that the narrator does not claim the stranger appeared from thin air, but almost says that the person had been there all along, unnoticed. Notice again the absurdity of the narrator: he can recount the events of this night, although even he seems to be somewhat confused by the presence of this new man in the room. Ivan also does not appear to be alarmed or startled by this person. He never inquires where the visitor came from, and does not greet him the way a proper gentleman would have greeted a new visitor.

The passage starts out with the words And so he was sitting almost conscious himself of his delirium, again pointing out that Ivan was somehow expecting to have a problem with "brain fever". Multiple stresses had been piling up: the murder of his father, the imprisonment of his brother, and the fact that he has been pursuing Katerina Ivanova, who was desperately in love with Dimitri (love only strengthened because Dimitri was wrongfully accused and in jail).

The stranger in the room is described in a particular way, as a Russian gentlemen who was reasonably fashionable although dated. His clothing is described as being nice but old and generally "shabby". The first line of the second paragraph pushes the idea home, that the man had every appearance of gentility on straitened means. At the time of writing The Brothers Karamazov, Russia had only recently abolished serfdom, and it is in the terms of the feudal system that the visitor is described. Notice the following descriptions, specifically:


 * He had unmistakably been, at some time, in good and fashionable society, had once had good connections, had possibly preserved them indeed, but, after a gay youth, becoming gradually impoverished on the abolition of serfdom, he had sunk into the position of a poor relation of the best class, wandering from one good old friend to another and received by them for his companionable and accommodating disposition and as being, after all, a gentleman who could be asked to sit down with anyone, though, of course, not in a place of honour

Look at this description as a metaphore for the devil: The rise of atheism or agnosticism among the educated creates a poorness for supernatural beings, where the dark ages only years before had been a boon. He is also being described as having "good connections" which have been preserved, and that he could sit down with anybody. The devil, representative of sin, certainly is nobody's stranger.

Part 3: Truth
The visitor is now described in terms of being a personal relation, where previously he was described as being everybody's acquaintance.

Ivan had gone to Smerdyakov's house to inquire about Katerina Ivanova. However the two talked about Fyodor almost exclusively, and forgot entirely about Katerina. This passage, presented two chapters before The Devil explains the situation:


 * When, after his conversation with Alyosha, Ivan suddenly decided with his hand on the bell of his lodging to go to Smerdyakov, he obeyed a sudden and peculiar impulse of indignation. He suddenly remembered how Katerina Ivanovna had only just cried out to him in Alyosha's presence: "It was you, you, persuaded me of his" (that is, Mitya's) "guilt!" Ivan was thunderstruck when he recalled it. He had never once tried to persuade her that Mitya was the murderer; on the contrary, he had suspected himself in her presence, that time when he came back from Smerdyakov. It was she, she, who had produced that "document" and proved his brother's guilt. And now she suddenly exclaimed: "I've been at Smerdyakov's myself!" When had she been there? Ivan had known nothing of it. So she was not at all so sure of Mitya's guilt! And what could Smerdyakov have told her? What, what, had he said to her? His heart burned with violent anger. He could not understand how he could, half an hour before, have let those words pass and not have cried out at the moment. He let go of the bell and rushed off to Smerdyakov. "I shall kill him, perhaps, this time," he thought on the way.

Katerina claims that she has been convinced by Ivan that Dimitri is guilty of the crime. However, Katerina also went to see Smerdyakov about the issue, which indicated to Ivan that perhaps Katerina was not convinced about Dimitri at all. Ivan went to Smerdyakov's apartment to ask about why Katerina had gone to see Smerdyakov, and what she had said to him. However, during the meeting, Smerdyakov admitted to killing Fyodor, with the statement:


 * "Aren't you tired of it? Here we are face to face; what's the use of going on keeping up a farce to each other? Are you still trying to throw it all on me, to my face? You murdered him; you are the real murderer, I was only your instrument, your faithful servant, and it was following your words I did it."

Notice how even though Smerdyakov admits to killing Fyodor, he still blames Ivan for the murder. Smerdyakov claims he was only acting as Ivan's "instrument". The guilt that he had convinced Katerina against Dimitri, and the guilt that somehow he had persuaded Smerdyakov to murder Fyodor are weighing on Ivan, and it is because of this weight that he could not remember about Katerina. However, there was the persistant feeling that he had forgotten something, that even though he had gone to see Smerdyakov, and did get answers to some of his questions, he still hadn't concluded all his business.

It is the man across the room who reminds Ivan about the contents of his subconscious. This man knows that Ivan is trying to remember what precisely he was forgetting, and he also knows precisely what was forgot. And when he brings it up, Ivan has a most unusual response:


 * "Ah, yes." broke from Ivan and his face grew gloomy with uneasiness. "Yes, I'd forgotten... but it doesn't matter now, never mind, till to-morrow," he muttered to himself, "and you," he added, addressing his visitor, "I should have remembered that myself in a minute, for that was just what was tormenting me! Why do you interfere, as if I should believe that you prompted me, and that I didn't remember it of myself?"

There is almost some measure of familiarity between Ivan and his guest, which prompts the question whether Ivan has seen this man before, and if not, was Ivan expecting him.

Part 4: Ivan's Realization
Ivan is aware of his own delirium, and also seems to be aware that the person in the room is a figment. Ivan also refers to "last time", when the stranger put Ivan into a "fury". This is clearly not Ivan's first encounter with this stranger, which helps to explain the ease with which Ivan speaks to him.

Part 5: Aloysha
The stranger is referring to a conversation several chapters previously, where Alyosha confronts Ivan in the street at night. With Aloysha speaking first:


 * "No, Ivan. You've told yourself several times that you are the murderer."
 * "When did I say so? I was in Moscow.... When have I said so?" Ivan faltered helplessly.
 * "You've said so to yourself many times, when you've been alone during these two dreadful months," Alyosha went on softly and distinctly as before.

Ivan has been blaming himself, although he does not quite know why. There has only been one time when Ivan ever mentioned it out loud, and refers to that incident next:


 * "You've been in my room!" he whispered hoarsely. "You've been there at night, when he came.... Confess... have you seen him, have you seen him?"
 * "Whom do you mean- Mitya?" Alyosha asked, bewildered.
 * "Not him, damn the monster!" Ivan shouted, in a frenzy, "Do you know that he visits me? How did you find out? Speak!"
 * "Who is he? I don't know whom you are talking about," Alyosha faltered, beginning to be alarmed.
 * "Yes, you do know. or how could you- ? It's impossible that you don't know."

Ivan is talking about previous meetings with this stranger, and assumes that Alyosha must be aware of it because Alyosha is a monk in training, a holy man.

When the stranger mentions Alyosha again, Ivan becomes petulant. It's interesting to note how Ivan is both aware that this stranger is a delusion, but also treats him as a separate entity. His insults, referring to the visitor as a "flunky", are self-deprecating because this visitor his really Ivan.