Description of Alyosha Karamazov from the story boys. "The Karamazov Brothers" - characteristics of the main characters

2. Alyosha Karamazov

"Alyosha" stands for diminutive pet name Alexei Fedorovich Karamazov, and it is no coincidence that everyone around him, including people who are not close and little known to him, call him that, even though he is in no way the person whose essence provokes such a diminutive form of address. So, “Alyosha” is not just an affectionate abbreviation of the name, but an expression of something deeper. It is well known that this young man occupies a special position in life. He is an alien, a stranger - and at the same time connected with other people by bonds of unique, trusting intimacy.

“... everyone loved this young man,” it is said about him, “wherever he appeared, and this from his very childhood years... he contained the gift of arousing special love for himself, so to speak, in nature itself, artlessly and directly. The same thing happened to him at school, and yet, it would seem, he was precisely the kind of child who arouses the distrust of his comrades, sometimes ridicule, and perhaps even hatred.”

Alyosha is the elder's favorite student. He is selflessly devoted to him - from the time when, as if at someone’s call, he came home without finishing his gymnasium course and then entered the monastery, He recognized the elder as his mentor and was ready to show absolute sincerity towards him and complete obedience in order to partake of his wisdom and spiritual maturity. He completely accepted the image of the teacher, and with him the mysterious legacy of his distant, but so spiritually close brother Markel, who at a young age knew the grace of peace.

However, Alyosha is not only the elder’s novice, even if we use this word in the most literal sense. He has one quality that his mentor does not have - scale. The elder combines depth, spiritual purity, insight, wisdom and extraordinary liveliness. We can say that he is characterized by a rare completeness - not the one whose stamp is left by fate (say, on Nastasya Filippovna), but the one acquired over the years, which ultimately comes to the fore, transferring the entire existence to a different, higher plane. For “completeness” is something more than just the last stage of a certain development. Thanks to it, a person reaches not only the highest, but also the final stage that is possible for him and assigned to him. Thus, the transition to completeness is not only the last step in a row, but also qualitatively, fundamentally new... The character of the elder in his completeness is something amazing; but as soon as Alyosha appears next to him, it becomes clear that the student obviously surpasses the teacher in scale. What we mean will be shown in the following discussion. This does not mean at all that Alyosha, in turn, is destined to achieve completeness. The scale reaches the stage of completion in such in rare cases that they are not typical even for the sphere of the unusual. But the one in whom it is present is always superior to others; for all its fragmentation, it bears its stamp.

Already on the first pages of the book, Alyosha is given a subtle and deep characterization.

He is not the kind of person who can be called gifted: he does not have enough stars from the sky. However, his “hot”, “unquenchable” heart is capable of great love. But, oddly enough, he does not become irrevocably, completely attached to anyone; in essence, his mentor, to whom he seems so devoted, is no exception...

He is quiet, doesn’t talk much, often thinks and retires. He “was rarely frisky, even rarely cheerful,” but “everyone, looking at him, immediately saw that this was not at all from any gloominess in him, that, on the contrary, he was even and clear.”

He radiates the light of pure joy, and his love is said to endure neither uncertainty nor inaction; it is not limited to one burning, but requires decisive and immediate action.

Some of his qualities are especially emphasized - and they are really very important.

This is, first of all, fearlessness: “He never wanted to show off among his peers. Maybe that’s why he was never afraid of anyone, and yet the boys immediately realized that he was not at all proud of his fearlessness, but looked as if he didn’t understand that he was brave and fearless.”

For Dostoevsky, fearlessness is a sign of being chosen. However, its forms are different. He endows, as it seems to me, with true fearlessness, besides Alyosha, only Stavrogin and - to a certain extent - the unfortunate Maria Lebyadkina; Prince Myshkin, on the contrary, reaches the heights of courage only by overcoming fear. True fearlessness means that the inner core of a person remains inaccessible to fearful things. The boundless cold that lives inside Stavrogin does not allow such emotions as fear (here we are involuntarily reminded that in “ Divine Comedy"Dante's ice acts as a symbol of complete abandonment). As for Alyosha, his inherent strength of character, clarity of spirit and full-blooded emotions reliably protect him from fear.

The second feature is connected with this: “He (he - R.G.) never remembered the insult. It happened that an hour after the offense he answered the offender or spoke to him himself with such a trusting and clear look, as if nothing had happened between them at all. And it’s not that he pretended that he accidentally forgot or deliberately forgave the offense, but simply did not consider it an offense, and this decisively captivated and conquered the children.”

Again something special: lack of self-esteem. But not as a result of overcoming oneself, like the old man, but from nature, like Prince Myshkin. Again we're talking about about the trait that determines the metaphysical, or more precisely, the religious purpose of a person: there is enough space in him so that another person - “you” - can freely sit there.

It’s not for nothing that Alyosha never judges anyone. He listens to others; he has a very sound judgment about what is right and what is wrong; he does not express consent if this requires going against his conscience, but for all that, he never takes on the role of a judge. If he doesn’t know what to do next, he silently walks away. That is why his father, an old rogue and libertine, became so attached to him: “After all, I feel that you are the only person on earth who did not condemn me, you are my dear boy, I feel it, I can’t don’t feel it!”

However, Aleshina herself “judges” the essence; in other words, by his very presence, by the clarity of his gaze, he brings to the consciousness of those around him the difference between good and evil. “You are my conscience,” Grushenka tells him. This is true, and she is no exception. This is so precisely because he does not judge or condemn, because there is not a trace of aplomb or moralizing in him. Truth itself speaks the language of its unintentionality.

His chastity is especially emphasized: “There was only one trait in him, which in all classes of the gymnasium, from the lowest and even to the highest, aroused in his comrades a constant desire to make fun of him, but not out of malicious ridicule, but because it was him funny. This trait in him was wild, frenzied modesty and chastity. He couldn't hear famous words and famous conversations about women... Seeing that “Alyoshka Karamazov”, when they start talking “about this”, quickly plugs his ears with his fingers, they sometimes formed a crowd next to him on purpose and, forcibly removing their hands from his ears, shouted bad things into both his ears, and he struggled, went down to the floor, lay down, covered himself up, and all this without saying a word to them, without swearing, silently enduring the insult. In the end, however, they left him alone and no longer teased him about being a “girl,” moreover, they looked at him in this sense with regret.”

Chastity comes from the spirit, or rather, from the spiritual. In its orientation towards the highest, holy values, his being cannot tolerate any dirt.

Perhaps he senses in his own sensuality the danger of a particularly deep fall. The fact that he is susceptible to this danger is evidenced by certain pathological phenomena. Internally, he is very deeply connected with his deceased mother, driven to the grave by the debauchery and meanness of her husband. It was from her that the son received his first, obviously decisive, religious impression, but from her he also inherited a special mental excitability. When one day his father, in a disgustingly boastful tone, tells how he brought his sick wife to a fit, Alyosha, empathizing with his mother, begins to experience the same neurotic state.

And finally, the last emphasized quality: “His characteristic, and even very characteristic, was that he never cared whose money he lived on... this strange trait in Alexei’s character, it seems, could not be condemned very strictly, because every who just barely recognized him, immediately, when a question arose on this score, became sure that Alexey was certainly one of those young men, sort of like holy fools, who suddenly got even a whole capital, he would not hesitate to give it away at the first demand, or for a good deed, or maybe even just a clever rascal, if he asked him. And generally speaking, he didn’t seem to know the value of money at all, of course not in the literal sense. When he was given pocket money, which he himself never asked for, he either didn’t know what to do with it for weeks, or he didn’t take care of it terribly; it disappeared from him in an instant. Pyotr Aleksandrovich Miusov, a very sensitive man when it comes to money and bourgeois honesty, once, subsequently, having taken a closer look at Alexei, uttered the following aphorism about him: “Here, perhaps, is the only person in the world whom you suddenly leave alone and without money in a stranger’s square in a million inhabitants of the city, and he will never perish or die of hunger and cold, because he will be fed in an instant, given a home in an instant, and if they don’t get a home, he will find a home in an instant, and it will not cost him any effort or any humiliation , but to the one who has added no burden, and perhaps, on the contrary, they will consider it a pleasure.”

Behind the words of the “chronicler” - that incomprehensible, but somewhat trivial personality, on whose behalf Dostoevsky the novelist loves to narrate, thus securing an average psychological “reference point” - it is not difficult to sense the presence of a second plan. Here again a purely metaphysical, and strictly speaking, Christian quality is presented: refusal to worry about tomorrow. Like others, it was not acquired over the years, but bestowed, placed in a cradle. This complete carelessness in relation to daily bread is not surprising in a person who has turned to other, spiritual values; but it is combined with such a convincing effect on those around him of his entire bright being that they cannot help but help him. A kind of solidarity immediately arises between a random stranger and Alyosha, because everyone sees that this person has devoted himself to higher values.

Alyosha Karamazov - main character novel. His role is quite openly defined in the preface: “this is perhaps a figure, but an uncertain, unclear figure”, “this is a strange person, even an eccentric”, but “not only an eccentric”, “not always” particularity and isolation, but on the contrary it happens that that he, perhaps, sometimes carries within himself the core of the whole, and the rest of the people of his era - all, for some reason, were torn away from him for some reason by some influx wind" (14; 18).

In the novel, Dostoevsky returned to the idea of ​​creating an image positively wonderful person. It is no coincidence that the hero of the novel is named Alexei. So he was named in honor of the saint beloved by the Russian people - Alexei, the man of God. The light of his name, according to V. Zakharov, is manifested in the character of the hero, in his relationships with other heroes of the novel. Through the mouth of one of the characters, the author gives Alexei Karamazov the following remarkable description: “Petr Aleksandrovich Miusov, a very sensitive person about money and bourgeois honesty, once, subsequently, looking closely at Alexei, uttered the following aphorism about him: “Here may be the only person in the world, whom you suddenly leave alone and without money in the square of a city unknown to a million inhabitants, and he will never perish or die of hunger and cold, because he will be fed in an instant, given a home in an instant, and if he is not given a home, then he himself will be settled in an instant and this will not cost him any effort and no humiliation, and for the one who has added no burden, and maybe even, on the contrary, will be considered a pleasure” (14; 35). It is surprising that “the religiously enlightened soul of Alyosha Karamazov did not develop into a healthy moral environment, but in the random setting of the Karamazov family.”

The role of Alexei Karamazov in the novel is, of course, independent, but ideologically he is a student of Elder Zosima; the life program of the “early lover of humanity” Alyosha fulfills his covenant of “active love.” One of the three chapters of the book “Russian Monk” belongs to the pen of Alexei Karamazov - the extract “From the conversations and teachings of Elder Zosima”, this is also his spiritual experience.

F. Tarasov writes that Alyosha Karamazov different characters in the novel they are called “quiet”, “pure”, “chaste”, “bashful”, “little man”, “cherub”, “angel”. Many people laugh at him as an “eccentric” and a “holy fool” and send him on their business and errands, which he carries out flawlessly. Unlike his brother Ivan, Alyosha does not remember the insults inflicted on him, does not suffer from pride, and is indifferent to his own and other people’s money. The absence of selfish pride and mercantile interest creates in him a psychological prerequisite for unfeigned attention to another person. He correctly grasps the peculiarities of the subjective character of those around him and perfectly senses what is happening in their souls.

The gift of an informal, intimate understanding of people is naturally combined in Alyosha, as in Prince Myshkin, with the gift of moral influence on them and with the ability to “arouse special love for oneself.” All this does not aggravate, but, on the contrary, softens their natural egocentrism and contributes to the manifestation of the good sides of the soul. The beneficial effect of a warm-hearted, understanding attitude towards people weakens the aggressiveness of Grusha, who was about to “eat” Alyosha. A clear confirmation of this can be the chapter “Onion”, which the writer considered very important for a holistic understanding of the novel and in which Alyosha gave Grusha “one very small onion, only, only!”, that is, he saw in her not just a woman, an object of lust and passion , but also personality, exhausted man in need of sincere compassion. “I don’t know, I don’t know that he said that to me,” Grusha explains to Rakitin the impact of the “onion,” “it affected my heart, he turned my heart upside down... He was the first to feel sorry for me, the only one, that’s what!” And then turning to Alyosha: “I’ve been waiting all my life for someone like you... I believed that someone would love me too, the disgusting one, not just for my shame!” (14; 323). It should be emphasized that from this moment on, Grusha finds the strength to stop selfish pretensions, break with the past and begin a new life together with Mitya in love and suffering.

Alyosha has a similar influence on his incorrigible father, in whose soul something good stirred when communicating with his good-natured, open and trusting son - the “cherub”. Ivan Karamazov also discerns the healing power in his brother, who seduced his brother with the hopeless logic of his rational theories, always smiling evilly, and one day suddenly revealing his “joyful”, “childish” side when meeting him. “My brother, it’s not you I want to corrupt and move from your foundation, I, perhaps, would like to heal myself with you,” Ivan suddenly smiled, just like a little meek boy. Alyosha had never seen such a smile from him before” (14; 215).

Mitya also experiences the healing power of Alyosha’s personality, comparing his “heart” with Ivan’s “mind”: “You are everything to me. Although I say that Ivan is superior to us, you are a cherub to me. Only your decision will decide. Maybe you are superior man, not Ivan" (15; 34). Paying tribute to the mind and knowledge of his middle brother, Mitya nevertheless prefers the heart and wisdom of the younger one and with immediate instinct understands where the saving outcome lies from the contradictory throwings of his broad nature, ready to simultaneously turn his gaze to the sky and fly “heels up” into the underworld.

Dostoevsky, according to Berdyaev, believes in the redeeming and regenerating power of suffering. Therefore, life is “redemption of guilt through suffering,” and freedom is associated with redemption. Freedom led man to the path of evil. Evil was a test of freedom. Evil must lead to redemption, which “restores human freedom.” Christ the Redeemer is freedom. Dostoevsky in all his novels takes man through this spiritual process, through freedom, evil and redemption.

Alexei Karamazov is going through this “spiritual process”. The “young lover of humanity” encounters an atheist, a “learned brother.” “I think that everyone should first of all love life in the world... Love before logic - and then only I will understand the meaning,” he says to Ivan (14; 126). Unlike Ivan, Alyosha accepts the world of God according to his faith, Ivan does not believe in God (or accepts it with murderous mockery, which is the same thing) and, before falling in love with the world, he wants to understand its meaning. Love is opposed to godless reason. “Pro and contra” enters Alyosha’s very soul, becomes his temptation and victory over temptation.

The old man dies; the student expected the glorification of the teacher, but instead is present at his dishonor - a “corruptive spirit” emanates from the tomb of the deceased, “temptation” covers both monks and pilgrims; “Alyosha, “firm in faith,” is tempted,” wrote K. Mochulsky.

Alexei Karamazov rebels against Providence, demands “justice” from him, his “rebellion” is an echo of Ivan’s rebellion. But “he didn’t need miracles,” the author explains, “but only “the highest justice,” which, according to his belief, was violated and why his heart was so harshly and suddenly struck... Well, let there be no miracles at all, let there be nothing the miraculous did not appear and the immediately expected did not come true - but why did dishonor appear, why was shame allowed to happen, why this hasty decay, “predetermined nature”? Where is Providence and its finger? Why did it hide its finger at the most necessary moment (thought Alyosha) and as if it itself wanted to subordinate itself to the blind, dumb, merciless laws of nature? (14; 225). In this, according to V. Ivanov, “short-lived, but terrible Luciferic rebellion,” lies Alyosha’s knowledge of evil. At the same time, the soul of the “young lover of humanity” strives for God and His goodness, believing in Him with all my heart. Therefore, Ivan Karamazov, who noticed that his brother “stands firm,” started a conversation with him about his “rebellion” against God, explaining to him that “perhaps I would like to heal myself with you.”

Elder Zosima and Alyosha are depicted by Dostoevsky as people “who knew evil and came to a higher state,” writes Berdyaev. The highest state lies in contact, proximity with the heavenly. Even among the imperfect present, Alyosha, the “Russian monk” is already clearly marked by a perfect future. Alexey Karamazov in his religious and mystical insight (in the chapter “Cana of Galilee”) comes to the feeling of the “other world”, which is the spiritually existing Kingdom of God.

Having experienced hitherto unknown delight, Alyosha “with every moment he clearly and as if tangibly felt, as if something solid and unshakable, like this vault of heaven was descending into his soul... He fell to the ground as a weak youth, and stood up as a strong fighter for the rest of his life... What a “It was as if an idea reigned in his mind - and already forever and ever” (14; 182) Preparation for service in the world is completed - faith, the “highest idea” was established in the “doer” “already forever and ever.” The mystical experience of the novice becomes the source of his spiritual energy and trust in God. She is ready, in Kotelnikov’s words, “to pour out on the world,” “to enlighten it from the inside.”

In the complex, deep, enthusiastic state of Alyosha’s spirit, Dostoevsky’s thought is expressed, running through the entire theme of monasticism in the novel - the idea that “through the monastic feat of active, complete and universal love, the unity of the cosmic and earthly, eternal and temporal, the unity of God and man is restored " The relationship between Elder Zosima and novice Alexei Karamazov is a kinship in spirit, a “spiritual community” - the result of overcoming worldly disunity and closeness. In Alyosha the elder sees a repetition of his brother, who was in the fate of Zosima “an indication and destiny from above.” “Many times,” the elder says about Alyosha, “I considered him to be just like that young man, my brother, who came to me at the end of my path mysteriously, for some kind of recollection and insight” (14; 29). “This blood-mystical rapprochement between Zosima and Alyosha gives their relationship the meaning of a symbol and prototype of the fraternal unity of people in the name of Christ,” writes Kotelnikov. Service, Alexey, lies in the creation of “brotherly unity”.

“If there were brothers,” Elder Zosima insists in his conversations, “there would be brotherhood, but before that, brotherhoods would never be divided. We preserve the image of Christ, and it will shine like a precious diamond to the whole world... Wake up, wake up” (14; 286).

The period of Alyosha’s life depicted in the novel ends with the founding of “a fraternal, lifelong union of boys who swear eternal fidelity to Ilyusha’s memory and all the good things that she teaches - and what does she not teach religiously, morally, and socially?” - according to Vyach. Ivanova. Alyosha begins his activity in the world by establishing unity between the people around him, which can be called conciliarity; a free association of friends of the late Ilyusha, “personal love for one becomes a common love for all.” It is important that for Dostoevsky children are a symbol of the future. "Brotherhood of Children" refers to the future.

“All of you, gentlemen, are dear to me from now on,” Alyosha says to the boys, “I will enclose all of you in my heart, and I ask you to enclose me in your heart! Well, who united us in this kind, good feeling?...Who else but Ilyushechka, good boy, dear boy, dear boy to us forever and ever” (15, 207). The new community, spiritual brotherhood, is built on personality and love. Ivanov writes: “The connection between friends can be called the unction of souls. And when friends comprehend in full the mystery of Christ, which can only be read in the features of their neighbor, they will also comprehend that this unction was truly the sacrament of the unction of Christ, that their union arose according to the prototype of the church itself as a society united really and holistically not by any abstract beginning, but the living person of Christ. They will comprehend that Christ himself united them through Ilyusha, his martyr, that their union is the conciliar glorification of the “saint” of their small community in the deceased.” “Brotherhood of Children” is the first foundation of the future all-human brotherhood, universal spiritual kinship - such is the fruit of active love, love that changes human nature. It is very typical that the children called the deceased Ilyusha “angel.”

“Without performing any high-profile feats, Alyosha, with the purity of his heart and his vision of good in someone else’s soul, educates people, supports them in goodness and brings a fresh stream into their lives,” wrote N. Lossky. Alexei's sermon is service to one's neighbor. Alyosha's effective love becomes the basis of spiritual brotherhood. Thus, brotherhood will appear when a person feels like a brother to his neighbor.

In the preface to The Brothers Karamazov (“From the Author”), Dostoevsky unequivocally states that he is embarking on a biography of the youngest of the Karamazov brothers, Alyosha (Alexei Fedorovich Karamazov). Hinting at his future, the writer calls him a “doer.” However, the narrative of the novel revolves around the murder of Fyodor Karamazov, it says a lot about Dmitry, Grushenka, Ivan, Smerdyakov, whose actions were not caused by Alyosha to lead a novel life. Dostoevsky had in his head the idea of ​​continuing the novel, in which central character Alyosha would have appeared, but after completing The Brothers Karamazov (December 1880), Dostoevsky, unfortunately, died in January of the following 1881.

There are people who argue that Fyodor Mikhailovich could not have written a sequel even if he had not died. There are also those who disagree with this opinion. Of course, the writer’s final plan is unknown to us, but in the preface he clearly indicates: the first part of the novel will be dedicated to Alyosha’s youth. Therefore, it is logical to assume that Dostoevsky wanted to write the second part. But we only have the text that we have, and in it Alyosha Karamazov, declared as the main character, is not at the center of events.

If we try to determine the function of Alyosha in the text at our disposal, then it will be the function of the listener, who listens most different heroes narratives. All of them (Dmitry, Grushenka, Ivan, Katerina, Liza Khokhlakova, Snegirev, Krasotkin, Rakitin) make him the object of their emotional outpourings. Even Fyodor Karamazov, who does not trust himself or people, cannot enjoy his drunkenness outside of his presence. Imprisoned on suspicion of murder, Dmitry asks Alyosha if he thinks Dmitry is really the killer. Thus, he calls out to him as if Alyosha were a real witness. Having received a negative answer, Dmitry feels relieved. Even the suspicious and educated Ivan talks about his love for younger brother. Even the boy Ilyusha, who suffers from the coldness of people and, as a result, remains in isolation inappropriate for his years, opens up to Alyosha. They all seem to be worried: if Alyosha is not there, then how will they live?

Considering the above, it is clear that Alexei Karamazov plays the role of “entertainer”, who brings the heroes onto the stage. One might say that he is an interviewer who dresses up as a confessor.

This is the role of Alyosha from the point of view of the construction of the novel. As for his relationships with other people, he acts as an object of trust, he helps them. Apparently, in this sense, Dostoevsky calls him a “activist.” For Dostoevsky it was new type character. Starting from the writer’s first works, his hero is a suffering person who wants, but cannot act. The desire for self-realization is strong in him, but he is not capable of this, mired in the swamp of his grievances, this is a character who is moving towards self-destruction. His faith is strong and beautiful, but he is, in essence, a pitiful and weak person - being immersed in his illusions, he is unbalanced and suffers from a kind of mental disorder. It is precisely these characters that Dostoevsky constantly describes in his works. Fyodor Mikhailovich is a “cruel talent” who is used to portraying twisted people without pity or a smile.

Dostoevsky himself calls his “patients” people from the underground, people with a “consciousness of the best,” but powerless, dreamers. They were assisted mainly by girls or young women who looked like girls. Lisa (“Notes from the Underground”), Sonya (“Crime and Punishment”), Marie (“The Idiot”), Matryona (“Demons”), Lisa again (“Eternal Husband”), wife-child (“Meek”) - all these girls or child-like women are trying to heal the sick heroes. They are not wise life experience, are sincere, they do not insist on their rightness, they do not fight - they do not have the strength for this. They help the “sick”, but they are always passive, being a manifestation of absolute good. These girls do not have sufficient strength to carry out their rescue mission. They themselves are also in some way offended by life, and therefore they often suffer collapse - even before they have managed to save another. This is the “ruthlessness” of Dostoevsky. A wounded child saving a sick adult - this relationship does not have many prospects.

However, in The Brothers Karamazov we do not feel this “ruthlessness” and “cruelty”. Yes, the novel contains conflicting relationships, scandals and outrages, but this world is in motion, there is room for real life. This work takes us out of painful isolation, it contains an affirmation of life and liberation from shackles - such is the life of Zosima, and after him Alyosha, who acts as a “doer” helping to restore peace to people and calm their suffering.

Having created the image of a “doer” at the end of his life, Dostoevsky contrasted it with the image of a “dreamer”, to whom he invariably turned in the past. For the first time in the gallery of his heroes - the unhealthy and mentally ill - a figure appears - the owner of “effective” love. This is not the kind of “activity” that is inherent in lawyer Fetyukovich, or fellow prosecutor Ippolit Kirillovich - people who want to become famous, who show their abilities in court and are knowledgeable in practical matters. Dostoevsky's Alyosha Karamazov is far from the philistine worldly wisdom, he has no desire to become famous. But he has the strength to love people and return their trust, he is able to empathize with the suffering of others. This is where its “effectiveness” lies. This is clearly visible in his relationship with the girl Liza Khokhlakova - he definitely takes the side of the “patient” and heals his emotional wounds. He continues the work of Elder Zosima.

In creating such an image, Dostoevsky probably endured a lot of torment. He was often accused of "tormenting". Indeed, his talent manifested itself mainly in describing the abnormal psychology of his “patients”, in merciless mockery - in which he achieved great success. Creating a healthy image young man It was apparently not an easy matter for Dostoevsky. When Alyosha Karamazov calls on young people to strive for a bright future, there is a sense of unnaturalness in him - for Dostoevsky was not a master of such scenes. And yet, without hesitation, he brings this “figure” onto the stage. And here we cannot limit ourselves to saying: Alyosha is simply Dostoevsky’s dream.

Alyosha Karamazov is not Myshkin - a “wonderful” and deeply sick person. In his affirmation of this world, in his admiration for nature, one can detect similarities with Makar from “The Teenager”. At the same time, he differs from Makar, who is the bearer of goodness and wisdom within a predetermined circle. Like Zosima, Alyosha is called “a strange man, even an eccentric,” without any hesitation he delves into the problems of his neighbors, he immediately extends a helping hand to them, he has that excessive simplicity that he, an immature man, cannot overcome without outside help, in He has a strong desire to plunge into life. His image is evidence that Dostoevsky was full of new impulses.

Dostoevsky could not calm down by depicting the familiar world of sick people expelled from “heavenly life.” In his last novel he created a new type of hero for himself, who dispels the darkness of this world. Thus, Dostoevsky was able to rebuild the edifice of his literature anew.

Alyosha Karamazov is the owner of effective love, he is a “healthy teenager” and is ready to help, but the novel does not clarify what kind of person he will become, what problems he will face. The difficulty for Dostoevsky was to climb to that peak that he had not yet been to. And if Fyodor Mikhailovich really did not want to limit himself to the image of a sympathetic interviewer, he had to climb to an as yet unconquered peak. In this new and difficult task, he was helped by the lives of Russian saints. Soviet researchers pointed out that Dostoevsky drew a lot from the life of Alexy, deeply revered by Russians ordinary people(his life is also recorded in the “Golden Legend”). In The Brothers Karamazov, Rakitin ironically likens Alyosha to this saint.

Dostoevsky involves the young "saint" Alyosha Karamazov - as son and brother - in Russian modern events related to murder. It connects holy name with the surname “Karamazov” - “painted black”. This indicates that black hot blood flows in Alyosha’s veins.

The older brother Ivan tells the story of how a certain general hounded a boy to death with dogs in front of his mother. He asks Alyosha what punishment he deserves. Alyosha replies: “Shoot!” Having heard these vengeful words from a man who dedicated himself to serving God, Ivan notes with irony and love: “Bravo! So this is the little devil you have in your heart, Alyoshka Karamazov!” Alyosha cannot achieve it right away angelic rank. After the death of Zosima, he realizes that he, too, is Karamazov... This theme is not further developed, but Dostoevsky, who was embarking on a new ascent, probably had a presentiment that many trials would still await the “activist” Alyosha.

“The Brothers Karamazov” was the first part of the planned novel “The Life of a Great Sinner.” However, the second part was never written. As can be understood from Dostoevsky’s letters, Alyosha Karamazov was destined to become a “great sinner”: to lose his purity, indulge in mental tossing, join the schismatics, and become a revolutionary. In The Brothers Karamazov, young Alyosha is being tested as a “doer” among his family. In the second part he had to go to wide open space, become the main character of the story, face various difficulties, transform, grow into a “doer” who will work for a revived Russia. From the history of the Karamazov family - a broken family Russian XIX century, Dostoevsky was going to move on to a story about modern Russian society generally.

If the rivalry between Fyodor and Dmitry, the murder committed by Ivan and Smerdyakov, can be regarded as evidence of Dostoevsky’s disbelief in Russia, aversion to it, then the comforter Zosima and the active sympathy of Alyosha should be considered a sign of the writer’s faith in the future of Russia, in the joy of its revival.

Alexey Fedorovich Karamazov- a character in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”. Son of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, younger brother of Dmitry and Ivan.

At the time the events of the novel begin, he is twenty years old. In the author's preface, Dostoevsky presents Alyosha Karamazov as the main actor. In the planned second novel, Alyosha was supposed to become the main character, as Dostoevsky spoke about more than once.

History of character creation[ | ]

The writer’s surviving notes for the first book of the novel begin with the fourth chapter, “The Third Son Alyosha,” and date back to the beginning of September 1878. In these rough sketches, Alyosha is often called the Idiot, which shows his similarity in the author’s plans with Prince Myshkin from the novel “The Idiot”. In “The Idiot,” the writer abandoned the idea of ​​​​showing that a person is “more real” precisely in the main character, who is unlike those around him, returning to this idea in the image of Alexei Karamazov. “...It’s not just the eccentric who is “not always” particular and isolated, but on the contrary, it happens that he, perhaps, sometimes carries within himself the core of the whole, and the rest of the people of his era are all, like some kind of floating wind, on For some reason they broke away from him for some time...” writes Dostoevsky about Alyosha. In the printed version, the writer decided not to evoke direct associations with Prince Myshkin.

The writer's drafts also define the character's character. Alyosha, according to Dostoevsky’s idea, was opposed to the “disorder-seeking” young men, therefore, although he belonged to the “new generation”, active and striving for truth, he was distinguished by the absence of “fanaticism”, which was replaced by love. Thus, in contrast to revolutionary-minded youth, who consciously go to an early death, Alyosha’s feat should have consisted of serving people: “Alyosha chose only the opposite path to everyone else, but with the same thirst for quick feat.” “Are you a mystic? Never! Fanatic? Not at all!” - writes Dostoevsky, insisting that the hero was prompted to go to the monastery by his love for humanity.

Appearance [ | ]

“Stately, red-cheeked, with bright eyes, bursting with health< …>teenager. At that time he was even very handsome, slender, of medium height, dark blond, with a regular, although somewhat elongated oval face, with shiny dark gray wide-set eyes, very thoughtful and apparently very calm.”

In the events of the novel[ | ]

In the novel, Alyosha acts as a listener. All the other characters: Dmitry, Ivan, Grushenka, Katerina, Lisa, Snegirev, Krasotkin, Rakitin, take turns pouring out their souls to him throughout the entire novel. Thus, Alyosha “brings the heroes onto the stage” one by one.

Characteristic [ | ]

Researcher of Russian literature Kennosuke Nakamura, who spent many years studying the work of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, described him as a new type of character for the writer - a “doer.” Alyosha acts as an object of trust in the novel and helps the other characters. Before Alyosha, Dostoevsky's main type of hero was a suffering person who wants, but cannot act.

Dostoevsky says about Alyosha: “One could get completely lost in this confusion, but Alyosha’s heart could not endure the unknown, because his character of love was always active. He could not love passively; Having fallen in love, he immediately began to help.”

The image of the “doer” is contrasted with all previous images of the “dreamer” in the writer’s work. Alyosha knows how to love people, return their trust, and feel the suffering of others. Nakamura notes that creating such a “healthy” image was probably painfully difficult for Dostoevsky, who was accustomed to the abnormal psychology of his heroes, so a certain unnaturalness is visible in Alyosha. However, this image is a writer's dream, so it appears in the novel.

Ivan's revolt [ | ]

In the chapter “Revolt” Alyosha is an ideological like-minded person of Dostoevsky. The younger Karamazov did not agree to “found a building” on “the tears of a child” and at the same time reminds the atheist Ivan about God, that there is a Being in the world who can and has the right to forgive everything.

Prototype [ | ]

Since Alexey is the main character of the novel, according to philologist Moisei Altman, the meaning of the surname “Karamazov” is hidden precisely in his image. One of the theoreticians of the Black Hundred movement, Konstantin Golovin, and later Soviet literary critic Leonid Grossman wrote about the character's supposed "not so peace-loving" role, hinting at

The main conflict in The Brothers Karamazov is philosophical, the conflict between faith and unbelief. Ivan Karamazov, outraged by God's world, in which there is so much unjustified suffering, becomes convinced of the absence of God. Since God would not allow so much lawlessness on earth. His beliefs are accompanied by inner despair and doubt. The opposite idea is put forward by Ivan’s opponents - bearers of goodness, humility, love of humanity, and most importantly - representatives of the true faith.

Alyosha Karamazov.

Alyosha Karamazov is the youngest of three brothers, twenty years old. His bright face and spiritual warmth have a beneficial effect on hardened and embittered people. Elder Zosima, realizing that Alyosha will act like a medicine on everyone, sends him into the world to protect his brothers. Mitya and Ivan love him endlessly and look forward to meeting him. The cruel and predatory Grushenka instantly humbles herself; Katerina Ivanovna, the Khokhlakov family and the Snegirev family need Alyosha, and the young socialist Kolya Krasotkin is also eager to meet him.

“... Alyosha was not a fanatic at all... and not a mystic at all,” Dostoevsky explains the reason for Alyosha’s departure to the monastery, “... He was simply an early lover of humanity, and if he hit the monastery road, it was only because at that time it alone struck him and presented to him, so to speak, the ideal outcome of the worldly malice rushing from the darkness to the light of the love of his soul. Everyone loved this young man, wherever he appeared, and this even from his very childhood years. He was rarely playful, even rarely cheerful, but still Having looked at him, they immediately saw that this was not at all due to any gloominess in him, that on the contrary, he was even and clear. But he loved people...<…>There was something in him that said and inspired (and throughout his life afterwards) that he did not want to be a judge of people, that he would not want to take judgment upon himself and would never condemn anyone. It even seemed that he allowed everything, without condemning in the least, although he was often very bitterly sad. Moreover, in this sense, he reached such a point that no one could surprise or frighten him, and this even in his earliest youth" (p. 27).

Alyosha Karamazov is the only character to whom Ivan opens his soul. As for Smerdyakov and the devil, they literally invaded Ivan’s soul, and at the same time mutilated him to the extreme.

Initially, Alyosha thought that brother Ivan was arrogant, arrogant and mocking him and his faith: “Alyosha also thought about whether there was some kind of contempt for him, for a stupid novice, from a learned atheist. He completely knew that brother his atheist. He could not be offended by this contempt, if there was any, but still, with some kind of incomprehensible and alarming embarrassment, he waited for his brother to want to come closer to him" (p. 43)

The first clash between the atheist and the novice occurred, maliciously instigated by Fyodor Pavlovich, almost immediately upon returning from the elders from the monastery. Shy and gentle Alyosha suddenly shows inflexibility in his beliefs. He speaks firmly and calmly about his faith without the slightest hint of doubt. Alyosha humbly does not notice the mocking tone of Ivan Fedorovich’s skeptical father and brother:

“…But still: is there a God or not?

No, there is no God.

Alyoshka, is there a God?

There is a God.

Ivan, is there immortality, is there some kind of immortality, at least small, tiny?

There is no immortality either.

Alyoshka, is there immortality?

What about God and immortality?

Both God and immortality. In God there is immortality" (p. 167).

The struggle between Alyosha and Ivan is based not only on unbelief and belief. The real struggle between faith and unbelief takes place between Elder Zosima and Ivan Karamazov, which will be discussed further. The struggle between Ivan and Alyosha is a struggle between pride and humility.

Suffice it to recall an episode from Ivan’s childhood, which directly speaks of his proud heart: “...from the age of ten, they realized that they were still growing up in someone else’s family and at the mercy of others, and that they had some kind of father about whom even and it's embarrassing to say.<…>He separated from Efim Petrovich’s family when he was almost thirteen years old, going to one of the Moscow gymnasiums and boarding school with some experienced and then famous teacher, Efim Petrovich’s childhood friend” (p. 23). Ivan never needed anyone else’s help ; one can even assume that having provided him with some financial assistance, then Ivan would immediately be offended and refuse the “alms.” And Pyotr Aleksandrovich Miusov, not without envy, noted Ivan’s pride: “He is proud,” he told us about him then, “he will always get himself a penny, he even now has money to go abroad...” (p. 26).

Alyosha is structured completely differently, despite his same uterine origin. Unlike his brother Ivan, Alyosha was not at all worried about whose money he lived on, but at the same time he easily gave away the money he came across. And, again, Miusov, “a very sensitive person about money and bourgeois honesty,” noted about Alyosha: “Here, perhaps, is the only person in the world whom you suddenly leave alone and without money in the square of a city unknown to a million inhabitants, and he will never perish or die of hunger and cold, because he will be fed in an instant, given a home in an instant, and if he is not given a home, then he himself will get a home in an instant, and it will not cost him any effort and no humiliation, and the one who has placed him will not hardship, or, perhaps, on the contrary, they will consider it pleasure” (p. 31).

Alyosha will not refuse alms, and will even consider it a favor to himself. After all, even at Fyodor Pavlovich’s he willingly drinks coffee, and at the tavern with Ivan he happily agrees to taste fish soup and jam.

In such a seemingly trifle, the disobedience and pride of one brother, Ivan, and the humility and obedience of the other, Alyosha, are manifested.

These manifestations of the brothers’ pride and humility in childhood, related to material things, grow into Ivan’s proud non-recognition of God and God’s world and into Alyosha’s humble submission before God.

Ivan, seeing in the humble and quiet Alyosha a strong core and inflexibility in his own worldview, is imbued with love and respect for his younger brother: “... But in the end I learned to respect you: the little man stands firmly, they say. Notice that even though I laugh now, I'm serious. You stand firm, right? I love such strong ones, no matter what they stand on, and even if they are little boys like you," that's why Alyosha is always "even and clear" (p. 281).

Alyosha finds the key to the heart of Ivan - a closed brother, fraught with a certain mystery. After all, despite the conflicting views on the life of his brothers, Ivan trusts the whole hell of his soul only to the quiet Alyosha, knowing about his brother’s fearlessness and spiritual strength.

Not only Grushenka and Dmitry Fedorovich look at Alyosha as their conscience, as they tell him so directly, but for Ivan Alyosha was his conscience. Ivan, having revealed the secret of his “rebellion” against God and telling the legend of the Grand Inquisitor Alyosha, hopes to “heal” himself with him. Alyosha tries to help his brother, but Ivan is not confident in his healing and closes himself off from Alyosha: “It’s enough for me that you are here somewhere, and I don’t want to live yet. Is this enough for you? If you want, take it at least as a declaration of love. And now, you go to the right, I go to the left - and that’s enough, you hear, that’s enough” (p. 323). It’s not easy for Ivan most of all because he allowed himself to turn his soul inside out in front of Alyosha, because he expressed to him his thoughts, so reverently stored in his head. Because for proud Ivan, such confessions were previously unacceptable and, embittered with himself for trusting his brother, Ivan decides not to fall into such “weakness” anymore.

The lawlessness committed by people with impunity outrages and embitters Ivan to the point of denying God and His world. And he, having explained the reason for his lack of faith to Alyosha, shocks his brother with terrible manifestations of the world's evil. Telling stories about childhood suffering, Ivan tests Alyosha’s humility, trying to win him over to his rebellious side. Leaving for last the case of a child being hunted by dogs, Ivan, without giving Alyosha time to think, asks: “Shoot? To satisfy moral sense shoot? Speak, Alyosha!” And Alyosha, pale and amazed, having imagined the whole bloody picture, quietly says: “Shoot!” (p. 297). Ivan rejoices: after all, he almost broke Alyosha’s meekness and humility. But why is Ivan testing Alyosha, he answers this directly: “Of course, I’ll say it, that’s what I was leading to say. You are dear to me, I don’t want to let you go and I won’t give in to your Zosima" (p. 298). Ivan does not want and is afraid to remain alone in the hell of his soul: he, with his trials, calls on Alyosha to help, but only out of his pride alone, not asks for this directly. And this plea for help, which takes place in Ivan’s soul, but is constantly muffled in his mind and turned into a rebellion against God’s world, fights against all Christian humility, and first of all against the humility of Alyosha and Elder Zosima.

Ivan just can’t understand: how can God, knowing about the existence of evil in the world, remain inactive and not punish them? In this, Ivan sees great injustice and, in Ivan’s opinion, mismanagement of the world. But even when he decides to accept God directly and simply, Ivan proudly criticizes the structure of the world and reproaches God for inaction against evil. He “most respectfully” returns the “ticket to God,” thereby making it clear to God that if he were in His place, everything would be different. This is “rebellion” against God. “The proud titanism of Ivan Karamazov is also revealed in his attitude towards the Church. In the poem “The Grand Inquisitor” he describes Jesus Christ and His teaching as truly absolute good, and the Church as an institution that degrades goodness and man. In the chapter on the Church it will be shown that these reproaches equally affect both the Catholic and Orthodox Church and essentially unfair."

Alyosha attracted Ivan to himself with the purity of his heart, but having touched his most sore spot in his soul and saying “it wasn’t you” who killed his father, fierce hatred flares up in Ivan for his younger brother: “I don’t tolerate prophets and epileptics; messengers of God especially, you are too much.” you know. From this moment I am breaking up with you and, it seems, forever."

Ivan looks with admiration at Alyosha’s humility and also wants to experience a feeling of meekness in order to free his soul from the proud “rebellion” against God. But Ivan lacks the stamina and firmness characteristic of the meek Alyosha in order to eradicate pride in himself and fall in love. God's peace the way Alyosha loves him - with humble, heartfelt, all-consuming and, at the same time, unyielding love.