Rebellion\' From the Brothers Karamazov

¶ … Rebellion' from the Brothers Karamazov (pages 86-92)

Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov deals with the problem of evil. In the section entitled "Rebellion," Ivan Karamazov asks the question of how evil can exist in the world if God is good. How can the world, created by God, be good if evil things so frequently happen to the innocent? The obvious answer usually given to this question is one of justice, namely that apparently evil actions are the result of punishment for humanity's wrongfulness. God gave humanity free will, and humans are free to sin or to act in a saintly manner, depending upon the individual soul's inclination.

The problem with the idea of 'just desserts,' according to Ivan, is the suffering of children, specifically children under the age of seven who have committed no crimes to justify their punishment. They had no hand in bringing sin to the world, a sinning world that hurts them and often subjects them to savage types of cruelty. Why did God give free will to men when the result of that free will is the ravaging of an entire village and the murder of babies, as often occurs during wars?

The example of evil is often portrayed as instructive, as in the case of 'Richard' a man orphaned and beaten as a child and reared in complete ignorance. After being condemned to death for killing and robbing an elderly man, Richard was 'converted' in prison and used as a celebratory case, to demonstrate the power of Christianity. How was this good, suggests Ivan, to allow this man to dwell misery all of his life, teach him nothing, and create circumstances which virtually drove him to murder? Then, the society that abandoned him as a child used him as an example of salvation. Richard had no free will or choice, although society treated him as if he did.

Ivan says he cannot call the world 'good' when it demands we kill people like Richard because they have broken certain laws, or respect a moral creed like Christianity that demands we forgive people who commit real atrocities. To illustrate his point, Ivan uses the example of a child thrown to the dogs for committing a small infraction. Christianity demands that its adherents offer absolute forgiveness. But Ivan says "I don't want the mother to embrace the oppressor who threw her son to the dogs! She dare not forgive him! Let her forgive him for herself, if he will, let her forgive the torturer for the immeasurable suffering of her mother's heart. But the sufferings of her tortured child she has no right to forgive; she dare not forgive the torturer, even if the child were to forgive him!" Some crimes are so beyond the pale against the innocent, believes Ivan, they cannot be forgiven: a sentiment that Ivan's brother Alyosha calls 'rebellion.' Ivan states that the Christian belief that God, rather than the victim of the torturer, can bestow forgiveness is abominable. Furthermore, the soul of the child cannot bestow forgiveness for his suffering because the innocent boy does not really fully understand the horror of what was done to him.