Religiosity and Freedom in The Brothers Karamazov Sunny Hwang

The chapter entitled "The Grand Inquisitor" is unquestionably an integral part of The Brothers Karamazov. The poem allows Ivan to express many of the reasons that he cannot accept certain aspects of Christ's behavior, the existence of God, and mankind's intertwined freedom and suffering. Within the poem, the Grand Inquisitor represents one paradigm of belief, while Christ represents the antithesis. This is paralleled by Ivan's beliefs contrasting with Alyosha's in the frame of the novel itself. "The Grand Inquisitor" serves mainly to delineate the conflict between the two principal belief systems evident in The Brothers Karamazov - that of accepting mankind's freedom, and therefore his suffering, and that of rejecting it.

Those of unwavering faith are able to blindly accept the world and everything about it. They do not question mankind's suffering, instead attributing it to a larger, infallible plan of God's. They do not need to understand in order to accept. To them, earthly suffering is a small price to pay for the eternal rewards they will eventually reap. The suffering, whether supernal or otherwise, is viewed as ameliorative for both character and faith. They have accepted...