Book V of The Brothers Karamazov is dominated by the presence of Ivan Fyodorovich’s poema concerning the Grand Inquisitor of Seville and the hypothetical visit of Christ. This is the first occasion in the text in which Ivan presents his thought on any subject in a forthright manner. There have been previous allusions to Ivan’s notions concerning religion and the Church, most specifically the discussion of his article concerning the Ecclesiastical Court in Book II.
In Book II Ivan outlined his thought concerning the relative strengths of the Church and the state in reference to the harmonious governance of society. Ivan espoused that the main concern of these institutions is the maintenance of a sound society. He advocates that the state, through imposing punitive and retroactive justice does not play an adequate enough role in governing society toward a harmonious condition. The Church however, has the ability to instill incentives that prevent infractions before they occur. As such the Church has the ability to govern a society by influencing it into accepting self-governance and self-accountability.
In the poema that Ivan iterates to Aleksey, the Church is defined as a separate entity from the theological base upon which it is founded. Ivan feels that humans in their most free state are unable to conduct themselves accordingly due to their lack of ability to fully comprehend the nature of religious things. The Church has established itself as the earthly authority that mankind could “bow down” to, and submit to in shared obedience. Ivan’s character of the Grand Inquisitor furthers this by stating that conflict itself was caused by the competing needs of individuals to seek something in which they could believe, something that could provide direction in the face of the uncertainty of freedom.[1] The granting of authority to the Church in the absence of Christ became the basis on which the Church built its secular power. In resisting the first temptation of the tempter in the wilderness, Christ (in the viewpoint of the Grand Inquisitor) refused the opportunity to provide the governance that the masses sought, and hence provided the opportunity to the earthly institution of the Church.
Ivan’s estimation importantly consists of the inability for the human masses to comprehend the gift of freedom. Therefore, in order for society to exist a structure or direction must be provided through which to govern the masses. The Church is designed to supplant the state, in the sense that the former has the power to truly govern, while the latter only has the ability act retroactively in reflex to a given transgression.
In a sense it almost seems that Ivan is not condemning the Church for his perceived view of its true power, but in a manner almost in awe of its ability to seize its dominant position over society. Despite the rather up-front nature of the poema, I still feel as if Ivan is hiding the true content of his feelings. I find it quite intriguing that Ivan managed to develop a similar argument in Book II, but managed tailor it in such a manner that it seemed supportive of both religion and the Church. With Aleksey however, the poema developed a much darker relationship between the Church and its theological foundation. At present I still feel as if Ivan is hiding his genuine allegiance. In many respects I liken Ivan to a merchant ship in wartime that is flying a “flag of convenience”…whether the ship contains a cargo of arms or cargo of aid remains yet to be seen.
[1]Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Translated by David McDuff (New York: Penguin Group, 2003), 331.
I'm trying very hard to hold off my final judgment of any characters until the end of the book... that said, I'm glad you brought up this parallel because I noticed also that The Grand Inquisitor's language regarding the church mirrors what Ivan was saying in his article earlier. Really I think that it serves to make Ivan look more consistent and clearer as a character. The question for him doesn't seem so much to be what he believes as it is how he feels about it. His article presents the argument that the Church will eventually overtake the State, and is presented in such a way that one sort of assumes that he thinks this is a good thing. In the Grand Inquisitor it seems that he still believes that the Church will take over but suggests that it is an apparently evil institution. Similarly it seems as though Ivan really does believe in Christianity based on his comments, he just does not like it and does not want it to be true.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Ben, Ivan truly is a sneaky bastard. In fact even Fyodr at one point mentions that he does not fear Dimitry as much as he fears Ivan, because Ivan is so unpredicatble. I do believe we learned quite a bit about Ivan, but I'm you are right and there's more too it. Even in his argument with Alyosha, Ivan did not forget about Jesus Christ being innocent and suffering but rather he was toying with Alyosha and waiting for him to bring it up the whole time. Once brought up Ivan hits us with the Grand Inquisitor story. I'm very happy you drew the parallel between Ivan's previous thesis and the inquisitor. Freedom, in Ivan's mind, seems too dangerous to be given to the people. Although in the story the Church sides with Satan himself, I believe it does so with good intentions. This method may prove faulty and it probably will, but I got the sense that the Church took a stand for humanity and had a complaint towards Christ. This complaint being, that it is simply too hard for the common folk to use their free-will to follow Christ. At this point I am just repeating things but to be honest I am trying to make sense of all this in my head... and it's difficult. Ben, I applaud you for being able to put together such broad concepts!
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