Ivan

In the Brothers Karamazov, one of the chapters that I found most intriguing was in Book eleven, dealing with Ivan. In this book, Ivan visits Smerdyakov. To me, it seemed like Smerdyakov tried to change Ivan's way of thinking, persuade him of things that might not have been true, and plant ideas in his head. Smerdyakov says his epileptic seizure on the night of the murder was real, and Ivan went to Moscow to be as far away from the murder that he suspected was to be committed. Ivan visits Smerdyakov a second time. This time, Smerdyakov tells Ivan that he actually wanted his fathers death so that he could attain some of the inheritance. So, he didn't say anything about his suspicions, in a way permitting his father's murder. This has a great effect on ivan because he feels responsibility and guilt for his father's murder. He goes to Katerina and she puts him somewhat at ease by persuading him that Dmitri is the murderer. Later on, when Smerdyakov sees Ivan, he admits to commiting the murder, but blames Ivan for also being responsible for talking him into it. Now, the part of the chapter I found most interesting to read was when Ivan goes home and finds a visitor in his room that appears to be a middle-aged man. The visitor turns out to be the devil, and he taunts and criticizes Ivan about all his weaknesses, flaws, and fears and this finally causes Ivan to go mad. When I first read this section, I was confused to if the visitor was real or a ghost. It was later I realized that the visitor represented the devil. This could have some interesting parallels with the issues of Ivans beliefs about God. Ivan couldn't fathom a God, and was ultimately driven mad by a devil and from guilt forced upon him. One could ponder if Ivan could have resisted going mad if he had been more like Alyosha, a man of faith. Then, he might have overcame his illness.