Suffering and Salvation in Dostoevsky and Tolstoy

Introduction: Suffering and the Transformation of the Soul

Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich examine the role that suffering plays in the transformation of a soul for better or for worse. Being a much longer work, Dostoevsky's novel examines suffering from a number of different perspectives, yielding a number of different outcomes—each depending on the will of the individual character, that character's psychological situation, his faith, and so on. Tolstoy takes a narrower focus by looking at how the suffering of one character changes his mental state, and how the suffering of his caretaker gives him a window of grace to truly transform his soul and ready it for judgment on the other side of the grave.

This paper compares these two works and shows how suffering and the transformation of a person are linked by the extent to which the individual views that suffering as having a salvific purpose.

The Nature of Suffering in Dostoevsky's Novel

Suffering takes on distinct qualities in each of the two Russian works. Dostoevsky's novel shows how suffering weighs on the body and mind—how characters choose to run away from it or embrace it. Ivan views suffering as an unnecessary and inexplicable evil that no good God would allow, which is why he is an atheist. His view prevents him from seeing the evil in himself—evil that Smerdyakov, who delights in wickedness, identifies and confesses as a source of inspiration for the murder of Fyodor Karamazov.

Smerdyakov, the illegitimate son of Fyodor and half-brother of Ivan, Alyosha, and Dmitri—though unrecognized as kin by any of them—carries a grotesqueness that represents some abject form of perfidy. His suffering is both physical (epilepsy) and spiritual: he possesses a twisted, malformed soul, represented by the joy he takes in hanging cats as a child, which may be linked to his having no legitimate father and a half-wit for a mother. Dostoevsky likens Smerdyakov to a contemplator—one who routinely falls under the spell of some impression and "is most likely storing them up imperceptibly and even without realizing it—why and what for, of course, he does not know either; perhaps suddenly, having stored up his impressions over many years, he will drop everything and wander off to Jerusalem to save his soul, or perhaps he will suddenly burn down his native village, or perhaps he will do both" (Dostoevsky 127). Smerdyakov's impressions are of a foul sort, and they compel him ultimately to commit patricide. Following his confession of his crime to Ivan, he hangs himself.

Ivan, shocked and dismayed that Smerdyakov should recognize a kinship between them—both are atheists, and both appear to delight in rejecting the source of all that is good—refuses to believe Smerdyakov's confession, partly because he refuses to acknowledge his own complicity in the crime (which Smerdyakov insists upon). Ivan spends the novel resting on the laurels of logic: he is the Enlightened Man who has no need of salvation from a God who would allow an innocent child to suffer. Yet it is not this reasoning that truly moves Ivan to renounce God; it is his own anger, bitterness, pride, and resentment. Had he possessed even a trace of humility, he might have seen that God grants freedom of will to all, to exercise toward their betterment or their detriment, and ultimately offers grace to those who choose to seek improvement. Having rejected that giving hand, Ivan sets himself up for internal, psychological, and spiritual suffering, which drives him to madness.

Ivan Ilyich and the Redemptive Arc in Tolstoy

The situation is quite the opposite for Ivan Ilyich in Tolstoy's tale. Ivan Ilyich is the self-satisfied man of business who never spares a thought for his own salvation or the good of his soul. He is entirely consumed with bettering himself in materialistic and secular terms—constantly striving for a higher rank and position. When he is stricken with illness, he is suddenly thrust into ultimate reality: the reality of death.

Like Ivan Karamazov, Ivan Ilyich is initially bitter and angry that he should find himself in such a position after all he has attained in life. Yet he is transformed by the devotion of his caretaker Gerasim, who serves him with such grace and fidelity that Ivan is moved—converted—into recognizing his own oafish behavior all along. He suddenly feels a magnanimous and loving feeling toward one and all, even those who have scorned him. He feels great pity, great sorrow, great affection, and great forgiveness toward others, and he even asks for forgiveness: "He wanted also to say, 'Prosti—Forgive'" (Tolstoy 137). It is this transformation that readies him for coming into the light at the end of the story. In the story of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a man moving from darkness to light—from self-seeking to other-seeking, from thinking only of himself to thinking only of others.

Conclusion: Suffering as the Path to Eternal Life

Both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy approach the idea of salvific suffering in the same manner: each sees the way to God as one of accepting suffering, because such acceptance acknowledges one's fallen state and demonstrates a willingness to be open to God's grace. Alyosha suffers because he loves, and he understands that to love one must be willing to suffer for others—willing to bear their insults aimed at the one doing the loving. Ivan Ilyich comes to this awareness rather late in life, but he comes to it all the same. He finds that through suffering and through the rejection of his pride, he is able to overcome death: "Where is death? What is it?" he asks, and understands "there was no fear, because there was no death" (Tolstoy 137).

An honest acceptance of suffering and an honest willingness to love others, to be good to others, and to forget oneself is the pathway to overcoming death and finding life in eternity—that is what Tolstoy shows in his tale of Ivan Ilyich. The way to eternal life is through humble, patient suffering—the suffering of the straight and narrow path—as Gerasim demonstrates in his willingness to serve, and as Alyosha Karamazov demonstrates as well.

Works Cited

Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov, trans. by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990.

Tolstoy, Leo. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories, translation by Benjamin R. Tucker and Nathan Haskell Dole. Digireads Publishing, 2016.