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4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Significance in Raskolnikov's name in Crime and Punishment?

The protagonist/antihero of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov. As it says on Wikipedia: The name Raskolnikov derives from the Russian raskolnik meaning "schismatic"...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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8 votes
0 answers
378 views

What is the significance of the Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov?

In The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan tells a long story to Alyosha about the Grand Inquisitor. I have been trying to grasp its meaning for some time, but what is the significance of that story?
Soumil's user avatar
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13 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the significance of the "suffocation scene" at Tchermashnya in Brothers Karamazov?

I'm re-reading The Brothers Karamazov and was struck again by a strange scene whose meaning isn't immediately clear to me. In "Lyagavy", Part 3, Book 8, Chapter 2 of The Brothers Karamazov, ...
brianpck's user avatar
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