Reading The Brothers Karamazov: Part Seven – Ivan's Devil

A scan from my copy of the novel.

Also see: [Part One] [Part Two] [Part Three] [Part Four] [Part Five] [Part Six]

Ivan's transformation during The Brothers Karamazov is altogether different from the other two brothers.  Alyosha discovers the universal power of loving forgiveness.  Dimitry transforms his life by seeking the way through suffering.  Ivan becomes psychotic, ultimately bedridden through the sheer madness of the truth about his father's murder and its application to his “everything is permitted” philosophy.  

In the end, Ivan, semi-conscious, is the only one who knows what actually happened to his father.  Ivan tells the truth during his testimony at the trial.  Yet, against his will, his mental condition and erratic behavior discredit the truth, enabling Dimitry to be wrongly convicted.  This is a rather strange yet brilliant fact Dostoevsky weaves into the story.  Only the comatose brother now knows the details of the truth.  Dostoevsky has a wonderful, profound sense of irony.

As I have mentioned, Ivan's breakdown begins with the anxiety he felt immediately after telling the “poem” of the Grand Inquisitor.   Things gradually become worse for him while having three separate conversations with Smerdyakov.  Smerdyakov explains everything to Ivan, all about how (and why) the murder happened.  In the meantime, Smerdyakov nails down the existential fact that it was Ivan's rage against his father that murdered his father as much as anyone or anything.  Ivan must accept its “responsibility” for the murder not from a legal but a moral perspective.  

This triggers a devastating revelation about Ivan's nihilistic “everything is permitted” philosophy.  His father is murdered by the enabling qualities of that value system.  His internal hatred of his father has real-world consequences.  Though he did not actually murder his father, he sees how his wish for his father's death affected the unfolding of events in his Euclidean worldview.

The sudden intimacy of his responsibility shocks Ivan, blindsiding him.  He decides that the only thing he can do is tell the truth to everyone during his testimony at the murder trial.  But by the time he does that, his mental condition has broken down considerably.  Just before he testifies, immediately after his third conversation with Smerdyakov, Ivan hallucinates his personal devil.  

For me, Ivan's devil is one of the most humorous and entertaining characters in the novel.  I did not recall this episode from my readings four decades ago.  It was a wonderful surprise.  After his first two conversations with Smerdyakov, Ivan discovers that Katerina has also visited him and he becomes determined to find what what she told him.  What did they discuss?  Rather than ask Katerina, Ivan chooses to go to Smerdyakov a third time in order to find out about he said to her.  When he arrives, however, the conversation veers off course and Katerina does not come up at all.

After the final, shocking revelation from Smerdyakov, Ivan returns to his quarters, anxious, deeply conflicted, and near a state of delirium.  Dostoevsky tells us that as Ivan sits in his room, his attention becomes fully focused on the sofa opposite him.  Suddenly, he sees a figure there.  But this does not particularly disturb him, given all the other things going around inside his brain.  This is the beginning of his personal devil hallucination.

His devil is described as “a very respectable gentleman somewhat down on his luck...Who used to have the right connections...but who, after a gay and lavish youth and after the recent abolition of serfdom, had little by little become impoverished and had turned into a well-bred parasite, sponging off his old acquaintances.” (page 794)  On his hand is a “massive gold signet ring with a not very expensive opal.”

Dostoevsky simply refers to him as “the visitor.”  He is just sitting there quietly, not particularly bothered with Ivan, as if he were waiting for something, when his face takes on “an expression of considerable worry.”  Thereupon, the visitor asks Ivan's forgiveness but reminds Ivan that he went to visit Smerdyakov to find out about Katerina.  “You left without finding anything at all about her.  You probably forgot...”

Indeed, this serves not to just remind Ivan but the reader also, who could easily have forgotten Ivan's original intent given the gravity of Smerdyakov's conversation had nothing to do with Katerina.  Ivan is annoyed with the visitor and declares that he would have remembered it anyway and does not “believe” he needed the gentleman to remind him.  

The devil is unmoved by anything Ivan says or does and proceeds over the next 18 pages to navigate the conversation however he desires.  He is comical and flippant.  “Well don't believe it,” he replies.  Then he goes metaphysical.  “There's no point in trying to believe something against one's will.  Besides, in matters of faith, proof, especially material proof, is pretty useless.”  Still a highly applicable quote today.  

The devil expands on this, taking it much further than Ivan intended.  “The 'world beyond' and material proof – a particular combination that only men would think up!  And then, when you come to think of it, even if they have proved the existence of the devil, why should it follow that God exists too?  I'd like to join one of their progressive philosophical discussion groups and take a stand as an anti-materialist realist.” (page 765) The devil chuckles at himself.

Ivan proceeds to tell his devil that he (Ivan) is delirious and it is only out of that this “visitor” seems to appear.  He declares the devil is not real and he is a lie born of sickness.  He talks to his devil about “when I saw you last” which usefully indicates this is not their first encounter, though it is the first in the novel.  Apparently, he has a history with his devil, indicating, by Ivan's own logic, that he has been in deteriorating mental health for some time outside the scope of the novel.

There is some rather humorous back and forth as to whether the visiting devil actually exists at all.  It turns out that the devil has caught a cold which, he explains, was due to not being properly attired as he was in a hurry to mingle at “a diplomatic reception for a prominent Petersburg lady.”  He claims to have caught his cold while traversing through space on a “ray of light” from the sun to the earth.  “I had to cross space in tails, which means an open waistcoat.”  Hence, he caught a cold while in the deep chill of space.  Hilarious!

Ivan keeps calling his devil “Idiot!” and reasons that the devil is trying to make Ivan believe in him with his ridiculous story, to which the devil replies: “But I wasn't inventing anything; what I was telling you was the truth.  It's simply unfortunate that the truth is hardly ever exciting.  I can see clearly now that you're expecting something great, perhaps even something beautiful, of me.  It's an awful shame, because I can't deliver more than there is in me.” (page 771)

Through the exchange the devil remains rather nonchalant in his demeanor, even put-upon, inconvenienced.  Ivan, as is his personality, keeps attempting to use reason and intelligence to make him go away.  It does not work.  The devil sates: “My dear fellow, let me tell you – intelligence isn't everything.  By nature I'm a very kindly, cheerful, person, you know, who can also enjoy all sorts of amusing social farces.  You seem to have definitely taken me for a gray-haired version of Gogol's Khlestakov, but my function is a much more serious one.  By some predestination that goes back to primeval times, by a decree I could never make any sense of, I have been designated to be the Negator, despite my kindly nature and the fact that I'm really very poorly fitted for 'negation.'” (page 772)

“I, for instance, demand annihilation for myself.  'No,' they tell me, 'you just have to live, because without you there be nothing.  For if everything on earth was reasonable, nothing would ever happen;  there would be no happenings without you and we must have happenings.' And so here I am, serving under protest so as to make it possible for things to happen, and acting against reason on superior orders.” (page 773)

Ivan decides to call the devil on his metaphysical air.  He demands to know whether or not God exists.  The devil replies that “I don't really know.”  Ivan protests that surely the devil has seen God.  To which the devil replies that he and Ivan have the same philosophy (atheism).  “That would be a fairer statement.” The devil is unsure whether “all those worlds, God and even Satan himself” actually exist.  They could all be simply a “subjective emanation of myself.”  This is, of course, close to what Ivan declared in “The Grand Inquisitor” story.  He, supposedly, believed in God but not that the world was created by God.  It is interesting that this devil makes a distinction between himself and Satan.  Ivan seems to be dealing with his personal demon.

In addition to having a cold, the devil admits that he and the others “over there” are confused about humanity.  “We're all rather confused over there, and all because of your sciences.  As long as there were still atoms, the five senses, the four elements, well, it all fitted together somehow.  For there were atoms in the ancient world too.  But when we heard in our world beyond that you had discovered the 'chemical molecule,' 'protoplasm,' and God-knows what, we all had our tails between our legs.  There was terrible confusion among us and, above all, an upsurge in superstition and gossip (for there is as much gossip in our nether world as there is in yours, in fact a bit more) and also denunciations, because we, too, have an institution where denunciations of one's neighbors can be handed in.” (page 774)

This is both funny and philosophic.  Ivan's devil comes from a metauniverse where humanity confuses them.  Ivan is infuriated with his devil, argues with his devil, claims he doesn't exist, but, finally, he finds his devil boring.  “You bore me.  You bore me mercilessly and unbearably!”  The devil is unmoved.

“'I repeat: all you have to do is to moderate your demands, stop expecting great and sublime things of me, and you'll see how nicely we'll get along,' the visitor said admonishingly.  'In reality, you resent my not having come to you surrounded by a red glow, in thunder and lightning and with scorched wings, but appearing, instead, in such modest attire.  First, your aesthetic feelings are offended and secondly, your pride is hurt.  You feel that a great and brilliant fellow like your was entitled to something better than such a trite, vulgar devil.” (page 779)

Gradually, Ivan becomes somewhat subdued and the devil just rambles on in his grand metaphysical way.  This is Dostoevsky brilliantly philosophizing a position he does not personally agree with.  It is anti-Christian and it is strong.  The devil has spent all this time establishing that he is a rather mundane ill-chosen devil, but in the end he becomes grandiose and the power of evil is elevated.  He takes on the anti-aura of the Christian perspective.

“I was there when the Word who died on the cross ascended into heaven bearing on His bosom the soul of the penitent thief.  I heard the joyful cries of the cherubim singing and shouting hosannah and the thunderous, rapturous shouts of the seraphim that shook heaven and all creation.  And I swear to you by all that is holy that I longed to join the choir and shout 'hosannah' with the rest!  The word was forming in my throat and almost escaped from my lips for, as you may well know, I'm very sensitive and artistically receptive.  But my then common sense, which is my most unhappy feature, kept me within my assigned limits and I missed the opportune moment.” (page 779 – 780)

When the devil brings up “The Grand Inquisitor,” Ivan stops him and forbids him from mentioning Ivan's “poem.”  He tells the devil: “Shut up or I'll kill you.”  This line has a double meaning.  Of course, Ivan is wrestling with his personal desire for his father's murder in the context of Smerdyakov's remarks.  So a death threat takes on new meaning in the narrative.  It is not just an off-handed remark.  It is actual intent and the consequence of intent.  The other meaning is more basic and the devil objects.

“You - kill me?  Oh no, you'll just have to excuse me and hear me out.  This is a treat for me and that's why I came.” This is a rather surprising thing to say.  The devil admits his desire to appear before Ivan.  So, he can torture Ivan's psyche with the truth of “The Grand Inquisitor” where “everything is permitted,” the very idea that is causing Ivan's breakdown in the context of his father's death.

Interestingly, there is an extended section where the devil quotes what he takes to be Ivan's Inquisitor's perspective.  The devil is using “The Grand Inquisitor” to torture Ivan. “Ah, the stupid fools, they ought to consult me first, for I don't think they have to destroy anything [human life and culture], except man's idea of God – that would be the way to start.  The blind fools [would-be destroyers] would achieve their goal!  Once every member of the human race discards the idea of God (and I believe that such an era will come, like some new geologic age), the old world-view will collapse by itself without recourse to cannibalism.  And the first thing to disintegrate will be the old morality, for everything will be new and different.  Men will unite their efforts to get everything out of life that it can offer them, but only for joy and happiness in this world.  Man will be exalted spiritually with a divine, titanic pride and the man-god will come into being.  Extending his conquest over nature beyond all bounds through his will and his science, man will constantly experience such great joy that it will replace for him the former anticipation of the pleasures that await him in heaven.” (page 781)

This all sounds somewhat prophetic to me.  Isn't this basically what is happening whether or not you believe in heaven or God?  The “constant experience of great joy” is experienced through our massive consumption and the human-made convenience of life.  It is fascinating to consider the mention of a “new geological age” and to relate that phrase to the Anthropocene.  Just saying.

Ivan is speechless, “downcast.”  The devil continues with what “my thinking, thought” - meaning from Ivan's mind.  “If [such a time] did come...because human stupidity is so deeply ingrained, it could not come to pass for a thousand years, every thinking man who already recognized the truth could arrange his life as he pleased in accordance with the new principles, without waiting.  In that sense, 'everything is permitted' to him.  Furthermore, even if such a time never did come, since God and immortality still would not exist, the new man might become the man-god, even if he were the only one in the whole world, and, of course, in the new capacity, he might, if the need arose, jump without scruple over every barrier of the old moral code devised for the man-slave.”  (Page 782)

This strikes me as astonishingly visionary.  Dostoevsky nails the central malady of our present situation.  It did not take 1,000 years for this to happen.  Human stupidity is more of an asset than he believed.  Here, 150 years later, this section of The Brothers Karamazov offers more insight than many decades of postmodernist philosophy.

Ivan, "in a state of frenzy," tries to mount a final intellectual assault on the devil. He throws a glass at the devil.  There is a knocking on the window.  The devil tells him it is Alyosha knocking.  More knocking.  Ivan tells the devil to shut-up, he already knew it was Alyosha.  Ivan tries to get up to open the window but discovers his hands and feet are “fettered.”  He cannot free himself.

“Finally, the fetters broke and Ivan leaped up.  He looked wildly around him.  The two candles were almost burnt out.  The glass he had just tossed at his visitor was standing before him and there was no one sitting opposite him on the sofa.  The knocking at the window continued, but it was not at all as loud as it had seemed to him through his dream; in fact it was rather subdued, although insistent, knocking.” (Page 783)

Ivan swears what he has just experienced was not a dream.  “It all really happened!”  But, obviously that is not true.  Ivan no longer can tell truth from fiction as he opens the window for Alyosha, who arrives with astonishing news.  What Dostoevsky gives us here is the psychological implications of Ivan's “The Grand Inquisitor.”  It is one of many powerful moments in the novel.  Though a Christian, the author thoroughly plumbs the depths of atheism and the consequences of changing morality.  This section anticipates Nietzsche's “God is dead” by only a couple of years.  He and Nietzsche both saw clearly what was coming, though each in his own taste.

As weighty as this section ends, it is made all the more unsettling, perhaps, because the visitor is a rather mundane devil.  He is not extraordinary in any way except for his immortality and he witnessed Christ's ascension.  He seems rather “down on his luck” by having to be a devil at all.  His interaction with Ivan is initially mysterious and comical, though it takes a sinister turn toward the end of the section.  It is another highlight in this novel filled with highlights.  Next to Alyosha, Ivan's devil is the most entertaining character in the story for me.