Analysis Of Pavel Fyodorvich Smerdyakov In The Brothers Karamazov

Pavel Fyodorvich Smerdyakov is one of the uttermost interesting and layered characters in The Brothers Karamazov. One of the features that draws us to him, is his mysterious origin. Smerdyakov was born to Lizaveta, who died during childbirth, in a bath house. Lizaveta, commonly known as “stinking Lizaveta,” was the village idiot and was incapable to communicate well. There is a rumor that Fyodor raped her and that Smerdyakov is his son, but Fyodor neither confirms this or denies it in the text. Smerdyakov was taken in to live on the Karamazov property with Grigory and Martha as a servant to Fyodor and the Karamazov brothers.

As we get to know Smerdyakov throughout this novel, we can see how his origin directly and indirectly impacts him. His unknown birth shapes Smerdyakov’s character by influencing his values and opinions. As a child, Smerdyakov didn’t have a positive father figure. Although he has Grigory as a guardian, he regularly

He says, “The father [is a person] who has begotten me, loved me, not spared his life for me, grieved over my illnesses from childhood up, troubled all his life for my happiness, and has lived in my joys, in my successes.” Fetyukovitch then points out that Fyodor Pavlovitch did not match his definition of a father and didn’t fulfil the obligations that fathers have, towards his sons. Although the defendant was talking specifically about Fyodor Pavlovitch’s fatherly obligations towards his first born son, Mitya, he also utterly failed in his responsibillities to Smerdyakov, perhaps in an even more extreme way. In The Brothers Karamazov, one theme that Dostoevsky continues to return to is that fathers have a duty towards their children. This ties in because people who don’t know their origins leads to trials, don’t know they are from god. Is god a real father figure. Smerdyakov didn’t know his origins just like some people don’t know where they came