The Brothers Karamazov

Main Characters and Their Development

• Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov - an immoral landowner, father of four sons, embodies a negative image, and his death becomes a central event in the plot.
• Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov - the eldest son of Fyodor Pavlovich from his first marriage, characterized by a passionate temperament and deep emotions, torn between love, jealousy, and a sense of justice.
• Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov - the second son, an intellectual and atheist, struggles with internal moral dilemmas related to apostasy and the idea of free will.
• Alexei Fyodorovich Karamazov - the youngest son, a monk and seeker of spiritual truth, becomes the moral center of the novel, symbolizing faith and compassion.
• Pavel Smerdyakov - the illegitimate son of Fyodor Pavlovich, a servant of his father, motivated by a desire to escape his lower social status, and his actions in the novel are crucial to the unfolding of the main conflict.