Boriana

In the novel Brothers Karamazov Dostoyevski concentrates his attention on human psychology. He builds sophisticated and multi-sided personages, and concerns abstract issues such as choice and chance, honor, guilt. The author develops the characters of the three brothers Karamazov: Mitya, Alyosha and Ivan in a parallel way, and through comparing and contrasting them he accentuates the complicity of human behavior.

Mitya happens to be one of the major players in a local drama caused by the murder of his father, which rapidly expands and becomes an issue number one in whole Russia. The news about the crime soon reach Moscow and St. Petersburg and grab the attention of the public. The reader of Brothers Karamazov feels favored by the fact that unlike the general public he had the advantage of knowing Mitya from before the crime had happened. A full background of the factual and emotional aspects of the murder help the reader penetrate the mind of the supposed killer and experience with him his hopes and fears.

There are two levels on which Mitya's character is developed: as a part of a trinity constituted by Alyosha - the spiritual element, Ivan - the intellectual, and Mitya himself - the emotional-material, and as an individual. Taken separately, neither of the levels exhausts entirely the topic of Mitya's personality and its role in the novel: his individual performance misses the point of group identity and contrast while the theory of the trinity is an oversimplified model of the relationship between the brothers. Together the two levels create the full image of Mitya.

The introduction of Dmitri into the novel happens as early as in the first chapter of the book. In his third year Mitya is abandoned by his mother Adelaida Ivanovna and forgotten by his father Fyodor, whose attitude towards his little son becomes apparent with the title of chapter two: "The First Son Sent Packing" [p. 10]. Mitya is taken care of by the faithful family servant Grigory and later on by Miusov. He does not pursue an educational career and as his brother Alyosha observes "Dmitri was an almost entirely uneducated man" [p. 31]. Here is the first indication of the trinity that Dostoyevski creates within the novel: "...the two [Ivan and Dmitri] placed side by side would seem to present so striking a contrast, in personality as well as in character, that it would perhaps be impossible to imagine two men more unlike each other" [p. 31]. The author underlines Dmitri's contradistinction from Ivan in terms of background as well as interests and behavior. Dmitri's lack of ambition in the field of education is apparent. So far, Dmitri's status as the opposite of an intellectual has been established.

The next task of the author is to contrast Mitya to Alyosha's spirituality. In the book "Sensualists" Dmitri discloses his inner self: "I always liked the back lanes, dark and remote little crannies... I loved depravity... I loved cruelty" [p. 109]. This puts him in the other end of the line of spirituality - the first end being the high moral standards and values of Alyosha.

Having determined what Dmitri is not, the next step is to find out what he is. In the book "Mitya" his personality is revealed through his actions. He is impulsive, acts irrationally, and responds naively to the circumstances. Every chapter in book eight is a step further in Mitya's recklessness - he visits Kuzma Samsonov with the ridiculous request for money and the reader is not surprised when he gets none. Instead he is sent to another person, Kopoev, in another village. Mitya does not even for a moment consider the option that Samsonov might have given him the wrong advice and might be mocking him. His naiveté hindrances him from realizing that Kuzma Kuzmich has no interest in helping Mitya and therefore the suggestion that he makes may be completely useless. Nevertheless, Mitya, lead by his impulse, manages to find Kopoev and since his reason missed to tell him that this is not the way to find money, the reality did so. In the same rush and with equal disorganization Dmitri visits the next potential source for finance and this is Khohlakova. His attempt reaches an identical success as his previous ones - none at all. Three impulsive, irrational and naive trials to find money failed. Mitya did not learn anything from them - he is not into education - and thus the reader is not surprised that when Mitya finds out that Grushenka is not at Samsonov's house he acts in an impulsive, irrational and naive way and ends up with blood, money and the accusation of being a murderer.

Here is where the expressions of Dmitri's personality surpass his role in the trinity. In book 9 Mitya proves that he is more than just an emotional entity. He has honor. All the attempts to find money have been done because of it "I wanted to repay a debt, a debt of honor..." [p. 468] says Mitya to the investigators. "...but to whom I won't say" [p. 468] - this stubbornness to reveal the whole secret reasserts his intentions to defend Katerina in front of the public and thus defend his own dignity in front of Katerina. Mitya also shows that he can appreciate: "That old man - he carried me in his arms, gentlemen, he washed me in a tube... he was my own father" [p. 459]. Mitya is not a cold egoistic debaucher but has respect and sentiments. "I was praying all night" [p. 459] - signs of spirituality have emerged from his dejected soul.

Throughout the novel Mitya appears at multiple occasions in various circumstances: being late for the meeting in father Zosima's room who, then, bows in front of Mitya; the pub conflict with the father of Ilyusha; at the trial. His character is fully elucidated by the means of author's description, Dmitri's actions, his words, his inner thoughts, the attitude of the rest of the characters towards him. The perfection of Dostoyevski's delivery of the character contrasts sharply with the imperfection of Mitya's personality. Human behavior is often irrational and it is hard to categorize it - there are always actions and thoughts that do not fit the general picture.