Question by Fresh Air: The relationship between God and evil according to Dostoevsky?
According to Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov ‘Rebellion’, what is the relationship between God and evil?
Im doing a paper on ‘Rebellion” and am having trouble figuring this out. I have a hard time understanding the readings for my Philosophy class.
Also, If anybody has some advice that would help me better understand reading Philosophy I’d appreciate it.
thanks
Answers and Views:
Answer by Julia
can you clarify what you mean? Do you mean GOD and EVIL or did you miss out an O and mean between GOOD and EVIL?
read this it might help! http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/dostoevsky.html
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akristel2003 says
It's complicated… Karamazov certainly believed in a dichotomy of good and evil, but believed that nobody was completely pure of either. Additionally, good and evil are often misconstrued and misrecognized for one another.
For instance: a priest dies in the book. He was a very holy priest an emobdiement of good. When this priest dies his body naturally begins to stink within a couple of days. This was misconstrued by the villagers to symbolize evil.
There are conceivably three evil characters in Brothers Karamazov:
The elder, who's buffoonery and buggery taint the rest of his soul.
The bastard, who's fear and weakness lead him to patricide
The oldest son, who's temper and ignorance lead to crime, and ultimately being punished for something he did not do.
Additionally, there is the middle Karmazov brother, who is an atheist.He is eventually visited by Satan, who sends him into a nervous breakdown. For what it's worth, that is the amoral brother.
Finally, there is the youngest brother, who is extremely religious, and beloved by everyone else in the story.
I'm sorry if that didn't help you very much. I'd have to know what parts of the book you are reading to offer more.