The Last Temptations of Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov

In The Brother’s Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov is repeatedly tempted to abandon the path of salvation by the devil. This devil tempting Ivan is not a celestial entity apart from him, but rather represents the internal temptation of man to stray away from God in the pursuit of worldly knowledge and desires. Ivan’s temptations parallel the story of Jesus’s temptations in the wilderness, and the story of the Grand Inquisitor that Ivan wrote. Unlike Jesus, Ivan and the Grand Inquisitor are unable to overcome these temptations, so rather than ascending with Jesus to heaven, the two descend into hell, a place devoid of God or any peace. Like the devil, hell is a self-constructed entity not apart from Ivan, but is represented by his brain fever, and created as the result of his sowing blasphemy on earth, and failure to overcome temptation. While Ivan is tempted many times, and fails many times, three temptations stand out most clearly as leading to Ivan’s final descent into his own personal hell. The first temptation is with Smerdyakov, who convinces Ivan to leave town and allow his father to be killed. Ivan’s failure to overcome this temptation is the beginning of his descent into hell, and with it comes the brain fever that plagues him throughout the rest of the novel. Ivan’s second temptation comes from his failure to go directly to the authorities after he learns of Smerdyakov’s guilt. From his failure to overcome this second temptation Ivan’s brain fever worsens, and he is immediately faced with his third and last temptation, which comes from a physically hallucinated manifestation of the devil. The devil tempts Ivan to completely give into his brain fever, or hell, and give up any ideas he has on the existence of God, and therefore not tell the truth in court. Ivan attempts to overcome this temptation but cannot completely do so, due to the weakened state of his mind and soul. At the failure of his last temptation Ivan gives into his brain fever and falls into a coma, trapped in the personal hell he created from binding nothing but sacrilege here on Earth.

Hell and the devil are not separate entities apart from Ivan, but rather are created by him through blasphemous teachings and turning away from God. In order to understand how Ivan’s temptations come about and how they effectively cause the brain fever that destroys him, the nature of both hell and the devil within the context of the novel must be made clear. First, hell, in this context, is not a place that one goes to after death but rather refers to the state of a person’s soul. This is first exposed in Father Zosima’s talk with Ivan about the nature of being able to know affirmatively whether an afterlife exists or not. Father Zosima tells Ivan that he should thank God for such “a lofty heart, capable of such suffering… for our dwelling is in the heavens. God grant that your heart will attain the answer on earth” (Dostoevsky 66). Zosima is definitely making the argument that there is an afterlife, and if Ivan can come to that conclusion he will be able to dwell there after he dies, but Zosima’s statement also exposes another idea, the duality of heaven. The dualistic nature of heaven, one that Ivan can go to after death, and one that exists here on earth in Ivan’s soul, is expressed through the fact that Ivan is currently suffering due to his inability to dwell in this heaven. This interpretation of Zosima’s statement might seem like a new-age explanation, taking the words of a 19^th century Russian Elder completely out of context, but it is actually reinforced by a biblical passage. Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is within you”, showing that heaven is not a separate entity from Ivan, but dwells within him, because the kingdom of God in this case is heaven (NKJV Luke 17.21). Ivan’s inability to dwell in this heaven stems from the fact, that like the Grand Inquisitor, Ivan has turned away from God “and joined the ranks of those who have corrected thy work” (Dostoevsky 224), having done so with such teachings as “everything was permitted” (Dostoevsky 525). The correcting of God’s works alludes to the biblical passage, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven”, showing that the actions Ivan takes in life, will represent themselves as truths in heaven (Matthew 18.18). If Ivan had been binding positive actions and thoughts in his life, then the inner manifestation of this would have come in the form of heaven, or peace in his soul, but since he is incapable of this, he creates a hell for himself. In turning away from God and correcting his works Ivan not only creates hell for himself, physically represented by his brain fever, but also unleashes a devil, in the person of Smerdyakov, his own thoughts, and a hallucination, tempting him to descend further into his own personal hell.

Ivan’s failure to overcome Smerdyakov’s temptation brings about the beginning of his final descent into his own personal hell. Before Ivan is tempted by Smerdyakov to leave town and allow for a situation to arise in which his father could be killed, he experiences a great deal of distress in his soul, but nothing compared to after he gives in to this temptation. Ivan’s distress is shown when Father Zosima says, “that answer is not solved in you, and it is your great grief, for it demands an answer” (Dostoevsky 66). This spiritual crisis however, is elevated from simply a matter of unbelief, to a physical ailment, in the form of a brain fever, once Ivan learns that through the failure of his temptation, his father was murdered. The devil doing the tempting in this case takes on the form of Smerdyakov, and since Smerdyakov is physically a separate entity from Ivan, it might seem to suggest that Ivan is merely an innocent victim of the devil’s games. This would be true if it were not for the fact that Ivan helped create Smerdyakov’s mindset. Ivan himself says in disgust, that Smerdyakov had begun to speak as if the “two had some kind of compact, some secret between them, that had at some time been expressed on both sides” (Dostoevsky 232). This of course refers to Ivan’s statement of “everything is permitted”, which Smerdyakov has taken on as a sort of mantra, whereby unleashing in him the devil that tempts Ivan. So operating under this mantra, Smerdyakov tempts Ivan to leave for Moscow and allow the events to unfold that will lead to Fyodor Pavlovich’s murder. When Ivan gives in to this temptation he begins his descent into his own personal hell and immediately begins to act as if he was in “a nervous frenzy” (Dostoevsky 237). This nervous frenzy is the beginning of his brain fever, which gets worse when Ivan realizes the complete implications of his failure to overcome Smerdyakov’s temptation.

After returning from Moscow and realizing that he is somehow implicated in his father’s murder, if only doing nothing to stop it, Ivan’s “nervous frenzy” worsens and his physical and mental health begins to deteriorate. Katerina Ivanovna tells Alyosha that Ivan is “mad… He is in a fever, nervous fever” showing that Ivan’s brain fever is the direct result of his failure to overcome Smerdyakov’s temptation, and the increasing acuteness of his brain fever represents his final descent into hell. So having bound on earth the idea that “everything is permitted”, effectively binds Ivan to his newly created hell, and allows for further temptations and further descent to occur.

Ivan’s failure to go to the authorities after he learns of Smerdyakov’s guilt represents his second failed temptation and furthers his descent into his own personal hell. Although Ivan’s health began to deteriorate once he failed his first temptation with Smerdyakov, for a time he was able to offer “a stubborn resistance to the fever which in the end gained complete mastery over” him (Dostoevsky 533). Ivan’s ability to resist this brain fever shows two things. First, that after his failed temptation with Smerdyakov he had not completely descended into the hell of his own making, and second, that his being able to place blame elsewhere for the murder, allows him, for a time to stop any further descent. This ability to resist his brain fever does not last long and after his final meeting with Smerdyakov, he is all but completely unable to resist it. Smerdyakov tells Ivan, “I killed him, and Dmitri Fydorovich is quite innocent” (Dostoevsky 525). Now completely understanding his own part in the murder Ivan decides that he will go tomorrow to court and confess that Smerdyakov killed his father, and in doing so implicate himself in the murder. This action would represent Ivan’s salvation and free him from hell, but as Smerdyakov points out, Ivan “won’t go to give evidence” (Dostoevsky 531). When Ivan leaves Smerdyakov he suddenly “stopped short, asking himself whether he hadn’t better go at once now to the prosecutor and tell him everything” (Dostoevsky 532). This statement represent Ivan’s temptation and here the devil takes on the form of his own thoughts. Having an almost psychic premonition, Ivan knew that Smerdyakov was going to kill himself, and he in fact tells this to Alyosha later on. Knowing that Smerdyakov would be dead by the morning and there would be no way to corroborate his confession, Ivan knew that waiting till tomorrow to confess would not save his brother. The temptation presented to Ivan here is more than just confessing or not confessing. It is a matter of choosing between saving his brother, or saving his reputation, inheriting more of his father’s money, and finally having Katerina Ivanovna all to himself. Ivan contemplates all of this and decides that he will go and give “everything together tomorrow” (Dostoevsky 533). As soon as he makes the decision to go tomorrow rather than tonight Ivan fails his temptation and immediately “felt that he was ill and helpless” (Dostoevsky 533). Having failed this second temptation Ivan falls further into his own personal hell, and lapses into a fit of hallucination that brings about his third and final temptation.

Ivan’s third and final temptation is brought about by a hallucinated devil, and his failure to overcome this temptation represents his final descent into hell. After failing his temptation to not immediately go to the prosecutor Ivan returns home very unwell and has a hallucinated meeting with the devil. The devil says to Ivan, “you are ever so much more polite than your were last time and I know why: that great resolution of yours” (Dostoevsky 536). This shows that Ivan’s resolution to wait until tomorrow to go and give evidence is what brings about this last and final temptation. The devil tempts Ivan’s to believe that he “exists apart” from Ivan and is a separate entity from him (Dostoevsky 537). The nature of this temptation is somewhat complex and has different levels of meaning. First, if the devil were a separate entity to Ivan, than Ivan’s belief in him would be equivalent to Ivan believing in God, and could represent his salvation. This unfortunately is not the case, and the devil is really tempting Ivan to believe in the hallucination of the devil, which is the equivalent of his completely giving into his brain fever and representing his final descent into hell. The fact that the devil references Ivan’s resolution also shows that besides it bringing about this last temptation, it is also one of the main reasons for this temptation. If Ivan completely gives into his brain fever than he will be unable to go to court tomorrow and give evidence in an attempt to exonerate his brother. Ivan attempts to resist the devil’s temptations and tells him, “no, you are not someone apart, you are myself” but is unable to completely do this (Dostoevsky 546). One of the last things the devil says to Ivan is “I suspected you were only pretending to stop up your ears” showing that the devil is getting through to Ivan, and he has in apart already given into this last temptation (Dostoevsky 547). The temptation is halted when Alyosha, representing Providence in this case, comes to see Ivan and gives him a temporary reprieve from his hell. The fact that this temptation is not done with yet is made evident when Ivan says that the devil has “been here twice, almost three times” (Dostoevsky 549). This “almost” shows that this temptation is not done yet and depending on what Ivan does the next day at the trial will determine whether or not “he will rise up in the light of truth, or… perish” (Dostoevsky 551). The next day at the trial Ivan falters and tells the President, “I have noting particular to tell the court” and then “turned to walk out of the court” (Dostoevsky 576). He turns around and decides to attempt to tell the truth, but it is so erratic, and littered with talk of the devil and contempt for his fellow man, that it does not even come close to resembling anything like a true confession. Here Ivan fails his last temptation, and his descent into his own personal hell is complete. After this failure Ivan “lay unconscious in a high fever”, from which he does not recover in the course of the novel, and appears to stay in this hell because he was unable to overcome the temptations put in his path (Dostoevsky 631).

Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov’s brain fever is the physical representation of his final descent into hell. The hell that Ivan is descending into is not an entity that is apart from him, but rather dwells within him, and was created through his inability to overcome the devil’s temptations. Like hell, the devil is not a separate entity apart from Ivan, but was created through his propagation of blasphemy here on earth. While Ivan is tempted many times throughout the novel, three temptations and failures, lead to Ivan’s final journey into his own personal hell. The first of these temptations occurs when Smerdyakov tempts Ivan to leave town and allow his father to be killed. Failing to overcome this temptation brings about Ivan’s brain fever, and the beginning of his descent into hell. The failure of his second temptation, to go and give evidence against Smerdyakov, worsens Ivan’s brain fever, and gives rise to his third and final temptation with a physically hallucinated devil. At the failure of his third and final temptation, to testify against himself in court and save his brother, Ivan’s descent into hell is complete. The brain fever that represents this hell finally engulfs Ivan, and leaves him in a coma from which he does not recover.