Person
Ivan Karamazov
Also known as Ivan, Ivan Fyodorovitch, Ivan Fyodorovitch Karamazov, brother Ivan, Eye-Witness.
Ivan is one of Fyodor Pavlovitch's two sons by his second wife, named at first only within the family structure. He stands between the elder half-brother, Dmitri, and the youngest, Alexey. At the opening, his significance is still only genealogical: he belongs to the second branch of the Karamazov sons.
I-III. The Second Marriage And The Second Family
Ivan is described as a brilliant, reserved student who supports himself by writing and becomes known for an article on ecclesiastical courts. He comes home to Fyodor's house with motives that puzzle the narrator.
II-VI. Why Is Such A Man Alive?
At the monastery meeting, Ivan's ideas about immortality, morality, and the phrase that everything would be lawful are drawn into open discussion before Zossima and the family.
IV-V. A Laceration In The Drawing-Room
Ivan confesses his love for Katerina Ivanovna and leaves her house after a bitter, liberating rupture.
V-III. The Brothers Make Friends
In the tavern, Ivan opens himself to Alyosha, speaking of his thirst for life, his inability to accept God's world, and his need to settle the eternal questions.
V-V. The Grand Inquisitor
Ivan recites the poem of the Grand Inquisitor to Alyosha, testing faith, freedom, authority, and the terrible uses of compassion.
V-VII. “It’s Always Worth While Speaking To A Clever Man”
After Smerdyakov's insinuations, Ivan leaves town, first naming Tchermashnya and then taking the train to Moscow.
VIII-IV. In The Dark
On the night of the catastrophe Ivan is far away, having taken the Moscow train after a last uneasy night spent listening to his father stirring below, an act he inwardly calls the basest of his life. His departure leaves only the servants in the house with Fyodor.
XI-II. The Injured Foot
Back from Moscow after his father's death, Ivan moves restlessly among the people of the case. Madame Hohlakov reports that he has called on her and on Katerina Ivanovna and has even slipped in unannounced to see her daughter Lise.
XI-V. Not You, Not You!
On the eve of the trial Katerina Ivanovna turns on Ivan, crying that it was he who first convinced her that Smerdyakov is the murderer. Their bitter, intimate quarrel shows how tormented Ivan has grown over his brother's guilt and his own share in it.
XI-VIII. The Third And Last Interview With Smerdyakov
Smerdyakov confesses the murder to Ivan, gives him the three thousand roubles, and insists that Ivan's ideas and departure made him morally responsible.
XI-IX. The Devil. Ivan’s Nightmare
On the eve of brain fever, Ivan argues with a shabby, gentlemanly devil whom he both recognizes as hallucination and cannot shake off.
XII-V. A Sudden Catastrophe
Ivan appears in court ill and feverish, produces the money, names Smerdyakov as the murderer, and collapses into delirious talk of the devil before being removed.
Epilogue II. For A Moment The Lie Becomes Truth
After the trial, Ivan's illness and his arranged plan for Dmitri's escape remain active burdens for Alyosha, Katerina, and Dmitri.
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