Alyosha Karamazov was one with the ground, kissing the Earth as he wept. Alyosha represents an important moral compass for the Karamazov family, in relation to the rash, animalistic Dmitri and the atheistic Ivan. Mirroring the spiritual journey of his author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Alyosha creates a framework of Christian existentialism, guiding his brothers through the suggested process of atonement and forgiveness. Through the works of Dostoevsky, S.L. Frank and Soren Kierkegaard, the essay that follows will examine the lives and actions of the Karamazov family through a Christian existentialist lens. Alyosha experiences virtue as otherworldly grace as he transitions from a cloistered monastic to a life among the mortals spreading the Word of God. While man is said to have been created in the image of God, Konstantin Mochulsky suggests that Dostoevsky lent aspects of himself to each of the Karamazovs.
Enthymeme thesis: Dostoevsky carefully illuminates the traits of each character separately, therefore mirroring his own spiritual journey and sense of existentialism.
Sources
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Focus chapters: Book 3, Chapter 8 (Over the Brandy); Book 5, Chapter 5 (The Grand Inquisitor); Book 6, Chapter 2 (Notes on the Life of the Deceased Priest and Monk)
- Dostoevsky: His Life and Works by Konstantin Mochulsky
- The Meaning of Life by S.L. Frank
- The King James Bible
- “From Post-Apophatic Theology to Minimal Religion”, Mikhail Epstein
- “Kierkegaard and the Early Church on Christian Knowledge and its Existential Implications”, M.G. Piety