Pavel Smerdyakov

In the early stages of work on the novel, notes philologist Kiyko, in preliminary notes Ivan Karamazov is called “killer”, while Pavel Smerdyakov is not mentioned at all ^[1] . Later, Dostoevsky, working on an episode in the cell of the elder Zosima , wrote a fragment of the characterization of Javert from Hugo ’s novel “ Les Miserables ”: “He was stoically firm, serious and severe, sad and thoughtful, humble and arrogant, like all fanatics” ^[2] . The writer once noted that "I did not read anything deeper in this" negative "kind." The next time this image returned in his notes after visiting the Orphanage for illegitimate children, when Dostoevsky thought about distinguishing these children because of dishonorable parents: “Why dishonorable? The senses. Middle and mediocrity - mean. The top is villainy or nobility, or both. This is where the hero of the novel is to take ” ^[3] . Having decided to add the image of Smerdyakov to the novel, the writer chose “a foundling”, belonging to “middle and mediocrity” and therefore potentially a “scoundrel”. ” The prototype of Smerdyakov’s mother, Lizaveta Smerdnaya, was the “fool Agrafen” from the village of Father Dostoevsky. The name of Lizaveta Smerdy with a brief description is also found in the materials for the novel "Teenager". On the margins of this fragment for the first time appears the inscription "Smerdyakov" ^[4] . In general, Kiyko notes that the image of Smerdyakov was created “under the influence of literary and everyday associations,” and his introduction to the novel “had internal reasons due to the logic of development of the original plan” ^[5] .

The beggar and the holy fool Lizaveta Smerdaya gets into the bathhouse in the house of Fyodor Karamazov and gives birth to a son there ^{[6] [7]} . Moreover, according to rumors that the whole city believes, it’s Karamazov who is the father of the child. The boy is taken and raised by the servant of Karamazov Gregory, as a result of which he eventually becomes a lackey in the house of Karamazov ^[7] .

The literary scholar George Friedlander noted not the first manifestation of the theme of the death of an infant in a novel related to this case. Gregory and his wife Martha that day when they discovered Smerdyakov, died their own child, who lived only two weeks due to the fact that he was born six-fingered. However, Gregory does not grieve, but refers to the "divine." Thus, Ivan’s abstract reasoning about infants sentenced to death is quite specific for Gregory ^[8] .

As a child, Gregory notices that Smerdyakov does not know how to love and enjoy. Instead of playing games, the boy hung cats and arranged a funeral for them, posing as a priest. Having punished Pavel, Gregory tells his wife: “he doesn’t love us, this monster, and he loves no one,” and he says to Smerdyakov himself: “you aren’t a man <...> you aren’t a man, you’re wound up from bath sputum, here you are ... " ^{[7] [6]} . Later, Smerdyakov showed cooking skills, and he goes to study in Moscow. After training, he becomes a cook in the house of Karamazov ^[7] .

Smerdyakov "painfully committed to cleanliness." This is especially noticeable during meals, when he carefully examines everything before eating. His frock coat is always neat, his shirt is white, his shoes are polished, which is uncharacteristic for a simple domestic servant. In addition, he even uses lipstick and perfume ^[9] . At the same time, Nakamura notes that he uses lipstick and perfume only in imitation of others, having adopted some external details of the inhabitants of Moscow, but such things as, for example, the theater “do not fit into his head” ^[10] .

Smerdyakov despises and hates people, hates all of Russia. After visiting Moscow, he grows old and wrinkles, despite the fact that he is only twenty-four years old ^[10] . The lackey's contempt appears in the chapter “Smerdyakov with a Guitar,” where he discusses, “Can a Russian peasant have a feeling against an educated person? Due to his ignorance, he cannot have any feeling <...> In the twelfth generation, there was a great invasion of the first emperor of France by the French emperor Napoleon, the current father, and it’s good that these Frenchmen would conquer us then: a smart nation would conquer very stupid, and join to myself. There would even be other orders, sir. <...> The Russian people must be flogged, sir ... ” ^[11]

Nakamura characterizes him as a slippery, tasteless and cold person who does not know how to think. According to the researcher, for Dostoevsky, such a character is one of those who always “dwells in mental darkness” ^[10] .

Smerdyakov receives all his “knowledge” on the basis of a superficial understanding of the conversations of Ivan Karamazov with his father. He suddenly begins to like to reason on “mental” topics, however, even Fedor Karamazov for his reasoning about torment in the name of Christ compares him with a “ Valaam donkey ” with something incomprehensible in his head ^[12] . “... This sort of Valaam donkey thinks, thinks, and the devil knows to himself where he’ll think of <...> he can’t stand me either, just like everyone else, and you are exactly the same, although it seems to you that he’s you decided to respect “” - says Fedor to Ivan ^[13] . Ivan speaks of him: “He decided to respect me; it's a footman and a boor ... There will be others better, but there will be others. At first there will be such, and after them better. ” Thus, Dostoevsky tried to portray the unthinkable logic of the dark people, who “had just begun to 'accumulate impressions', getting out of the 'Orthodox' picture of the world” ^[12] .

Ivan Karamazov later remarks that as soon as he approached Smerdyakov a little, he immediately “began to speak out and expose self-esteem, and, moreover, self-esteem offended <...> Smerdyakov apparently began to consider himself God knows why, in some way, with Ivan Fedorovich it seems solidarity "he always said in such a tone as if between the two of them there was already something agreed upon and as if secret, something once uttered on both sides, only known to both of them, and the mortal mortal who was crawling about with the other around them" . Smerdyakov has a feeling of his own exclusiveness, based on nothing ^[11] .

Song of Smerdyakov

In the chapter “Smerdyakov with a Guitar” of the fifth book, Alyosha accidentally overhears how Smerdyakov sings a song. Regarding this song, on May 10, 1879, in one of his letters, Dostoevsky wrote: “The footman Smerdyakov sings a footman’s song <...> I didn’t composed the song, but it was recorded in Moscow. I heard it 40 years ago. She composed with merchants of the 3rd category and passed on to footmen, she’s never been a collector and is my first time. ” Philologist Vetlovskaya noted that the song most likely has a literary source and represents its "philistine processing" ^[14] .

In planning and committing the murder, Smerdyakov, on the contrary, turns out to be extremely prudent and cunning, Nakamura notes. Initially, Smerdyakov feels that Ivan secretly wishes the death of his father, and later from their conversations one can notice the tacit agreement on the crime committed ^[15] .

Smerdyakov considers Ivan an outstanding person and tries to attract attention, however, Ivan perceives him only as a lackey. Smerdyakov picks up all the ideas of Ivan, as he knows how, and tries to “please” him and connect himself with him “stronger bonds of brotherly ones” ^[16] .

First, Smerdyakov chooses the right moment to kill. He needs to be in time before Fedor’s possible marriage to Grushenka , so that Ivan would probably inherit. At the same time, if Dmitry is considered a criminal, his share will be divided between other brothers, which is also beneficial for Ivan. After the murder, according to Smerdyakov’s calculations, Ivan will be grateful to him, recognizes his brother and reward. Ivan, at the request of his father, must leave, but he is slow, so when after talking with Smerdyakov he leaves, the servant takes this as a signal for action ^[15] .

Later, in a conversation with Ivan Smerdyakov, he explained: “I also thought then, just for a moment, that you are counting on me too, so that more then they exposed yourself to me, because if you had a presentiment about me and left at the same time, it means , thereby exactly saying to me: you can kill the parent, but I do not interfere. ” However, it turns out that Ivan did not think about the murder, which becomes a blow to Smerdyakov ^[17] .

There was no secret meaning in their conversation before leaving, he thought it all up himself, which means he remained a miserable footman, not Karamazov ^[17] . Dostoevsky does not show the appearance of a god in front of Smerdyakov, as opposed to the dialogue between Ivan and the devil, since for such a person as Smerdyakov, any kind of “restoration” is already impossible. Everything collapsed for him: the idea of ​​permissiveness, the exclusivity of Ivan Karamazov, the idea of ​​his own greatness ^[16] . After realizing this fact, Smerdyakov gives away the stolen money and hangs himself when Ivan leaves. Nakamura notes that this gives the impression that Smerdyakov not only did not like people, but also hated himself ^[17] .

Emil Verharn , a Belgian poet and one of the founders of symbolism, noted that “The Brothers Karamazov , thanks to the characters of Ivan and Smerdyakov, are adjacent, it seems to me, to the great tribe of characters of Shakespeare and Balzac. This is a trembling and bloodied humanity; this is an ultra-sharp pathetics; it is clairvoyance that sees everything through the darkness and night ” ^[18] .

The philologist Moses Altman, studying the image of Smerdyakov, drew several parallels between him and other characters, both Dostoevsky himself and other writers ^[19] . So, Pavel Smerdyakov and Ivan Karamazov remind Philip and his master Arkady Svidrigailov from the novel “ Crime and Punishment ” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The social position, character, relationship, and the tragic death of the character-servants coincide. Ivan Karamazov is guilty of Smerdyakov’s suicide as well as Svidrigailov of Philip’s death ^[19] . Altman also cites the example of Pushkin's “History of the Goryukhin Village”. The researcher notes the coincidence of the story of a crazy cowgirl from Pushkin’s work with the story of Lizaveta Smerdaya from the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” with “exceptional attention” by Dostoevsky to Pushkin’s work ^[20] .

At the same time, researchers of Dostoevsky’s creativity note that Lizaveta Smerdy, the holy fool and mother of Pavel Smerdyakov, had a real prototype in the person of the holy fool Agrafena from the village of Dostoevsky “Darovoy” ^{[4] [21]} . According to Kiyko, the image of Lizaveta is also found in the preparatory materials for the novel “Teenager”, where the word “Smerdyakov” appears for the first time in the fields next to her brief description ^[4] . The real prototype of Paul in childhood, according to Altman, was a child from the neighboring village of Monogarova, who loved to "dress up as a priest" and "serve something" ^[21] . Adult Smerdyakov was created on the basis of stories among noblemen about the murders of “dangerously smart servants” of their masters. In particular, Altman cites as an example the story of the historian and publicist Nikolai Ivanovich Kostomarov about how serf servants killed his father, who “made philosophical conversations with them” ^[22] . In The Brothers Karamazov, Smerdyakov learns from Ivan that everything is allowed, after which he kills Fedor Karamazov ^[23] .

Dostoevsky was always interested in creativity and admired the psychological depth of the images of the French classic Victor Hugo , who, in the Les Miserables , called for the restoration of “a dead man crushed unjustly by oppression of circumstances, stagnation of centuries and public prejudice.” Based on this, philologist Evgenia Kiyko believes that the image of the “foundling” of Smerdyakov was created “in parallel” with Javert from the novel Les Miserables , who was also born on the street ^[24] .

Among the literary prototypes Smerdyakov, the literary critic Georgy Fridlander also noted the footman Vidoplyasov from the novel “The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants ” and the “footman, courtyard” from the Introduction to the “Series of Articles on Russian Literature” of 1861, which despised ordinary people on the basis that he wore a footman coat ^[25] .

• Smerdyakovschina

• Altman, M.S. Dostoevsky. By milestones of names. - Saratov: Publishing house of the Saratov University, 1975. - 280 p.
• Altman, M. S. Colorful notes // Dostoevsky. Materials and research / resp. ed. G. M. Friedlander ; USSR Academy of Sciences . Inst. Rus. lit. ( Pushkinsk. House ). - L .: Nauka , 1978. - T. 3. - S. 184-195. - 294 p. - 27,200 copies.
• Vetlovskaya, V. Ye. “The Brothers Karamazov”. Additions to the comment // Dostoevsky. Materials and research / resp. ed. G. M. Friedlander ; USSR Academy of Sciences . Inst. Rus. lit. ( Pushkinsk. House ). - L .: Nauka , 1980 .-- V. 4. - S. 190—191. - 288 p. - 25,050 copies.
• Kiyko, E. I. From the history of the creation of the “Brothers Karamazov” (Ivan and Smerdyakov) // Dostoevsky. Materials and research / resp. ed. G. M. Friedlander ; USSR Academy of Sciences . Inst. Rus. lit. ( Pushkinsk. House ). - L .: Nauka , 1976. - T. 2. - S. 125-129. - 332 p. - 15,000 copies.
• Kiyko, E. I. Dostoevsky and Hugo (From the history of the creation of the “Brothers Karamazov”) // Dostoevsky. Materials and research / resp. ed. G. M. Friedlander ; USSR Academy of Sciences . Inst. Rus. lit. ( Pushkinsk. House ). - L .: Nauka , 1978. - T. 3. - S. 166-172. - 294 p. - 27,200 copies.
• Lansky, L. R. Belgian writers about Dostoevsky // Dostoevsky. Materials and research / resp. ed. G. M. Friedlander ; USSR Academy of Sciences . Inst. Rus. lit. ( Pushkinsk. House ). - L .: Nauka , 1976. - T. 2. - S. 244—252. - 332 p. - 15,000 copies.
• Nakamura, K. Dictionary of characters by F. M. Dostoevsky. - St. Petersburg: Hyperion, 2011 .-- 400 p. - ISBN 978-5-89332-178-4 .
• Staroselskaya, N. D. “Learning from Russian literature” // Dostoevsky. Materials and research / resp. ed. G. M. Friedlander ; USSR Academy of Sciences . Inst. Rus. lit. ( Pushkinsk. House ). - L .: Nauka , 1988.- T. 8. - S. 228-242. - 320 p. - 5450 copies.
• Friedlander G. M. Dostoevsky's Way to the Epic Novel // Dostoevsky. Materials and research / resp. ed. G. M. Friedlander ; USSR Academy of Sciences . Inst. Rus. lit. ( Pushkinsk. House ). - L .: Nauka , 1988.- T. 8. - S. 159-177. - 320 p. - 5450 copies.
• Friedlander, G.M. Notes. §2 // F.M. Dostoevsky. Complete Works in thirty volumes / ed. G. M. Friedlander. - Leningrad: Nauka, 1976. - T. 15. - S. 401-410. - 624 p. - 200,000 copies.