The Brothers Karamazov - Part I - The History of a Family - Chapter 1 - Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov

Aug 25, 2026

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A family chronicle introduces Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov as a landowner marked by gloom, tragedy, and baffling senselessness despite worldly success. His two marriages and three sons—Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexey—set the stage for conflicts rooted in temperament, class tensions, and unconventional relationships. The narrative recounts Adelaida Ivanovna Miusov’s elopement, the rapid collapse of the marriage into disorder, and the decisive rupture that leaves their child behind while Fyodor spirals into drunken and exploitative behavior.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages1313

Reading Time33 h 42 min

AccessFree to download

PART I

Book I

The History of a Family

Chapter 1

Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov By Fyodor Dostoevsky PART I Book I The History of a Family 􀀕 The Brothers Karamazov Chapter 1 Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov ALEXEFyodoYrFPyavoldoovritocvhitchKarKaamraazmoav,zaolv wandaos thewnerthiwerldlksonnowofnin our district in his own day, and still remembered among us owing to his gloomy and tragic death, which happened thirteen years ago, and which I shall describe in its proper place. For the present I will only say that this ‘landowner’ —for so we used to call him, although he hardly spent a day of his life on his own estate —was a strange type, yet one pretty frequently to be met with, a type abject and vicious and at the same time senseless. But he was one of those senseless persons who are very well capable of looking after their worldly affairs, and, apparently, after nothing else. Fyodor Pavlovitch, for instance, began with next to nothing; his estate was of the smallest; he ran to dine at other men’stables, and fastened on them as a toady, yet at his death it appeared that he had a hundred thousand roubles in hard cash. At the same time, he was all his life one of the most senseless, fantastical fellows in the whole district. I repeat, it [Free eBooks at](Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com)[ Planet eBook.com](Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com) 􀀔 was not stupidity—the majority of these fantastical fellows are shrewd and intelligent enough—but just senselessness, and a peculiar national form of it. He was married twice, and had three sons, the eldest, Dmitri, by his first wife, and two, Ivan and Alexey, by his second. Fyodor Pavlovitch’s first wife, Adelaida Ivanovna, belonged to a fairly rich and distinguished noble family, also landowners in our district, the Miusovs. How it came to pass that an heiress, who was also a beauty, and moreover one of those vigorous intelligent girls, so common in this generation, but sometimes also to be found in the last, could have married such a worthless, puny weakling, as we all called him, I won’t attempt to explain. I knew a young lady of the last ‘romantic’ generation who after some years of an enigmatic passion for a gentleman, whom she might quite easily have married at any moment, invented insuperable obstacles to their union, and ended by throwing herself one stormy night into a rather deep and rapid river from a high bank, almost a precipice, and so perished, entirely to satisfy her own caprice, and to be like Shakespeare’s Ophelia. Indeed, if this precipice, a chosen and favourite spot of hers, had been less picturesque, if there had been a prosaic flat bank in its place, most likely the suicide would never have taken place. This is a fact, and probably there have been not a few similar instances in the last two or three generations. Adelaida Ivanovna Miusov’s action was similarly, no doubt, an echo of other people’s ideas, and was due to the irritation caused by lack of mental freedom. She wanted, perhaps, to show her feminine independence, to 􀀍 The Brothers Karamazov override class distinctions and the despotism of her family. And a pliable imagination persuaded her, we must suppose, for a brief moment, that Fyodor Pavlovitch, in spite of his parasitic position, was one of the bold and ironical spirits of that progressive epoch, though he was, in fact, an ill-natured buffoon and nothing more. What gave the marriage piquancy was that it was preceded by an elopement, and this greatly captivated Adelaida Ivanovna’s fancy. Fyodor Pavlovitch’s position at the time made him specially eager for any such enterprise, for he was passionately anxious to make a career in one way or another. To attach himself to a good family and obtain a dowry was an alluring prospect. As for mutual love it did not exist apparently, either in the bride or in him, in spite of Adelaida Ivanovna’s beauty. This was, perhaps, a unique case of the kind in the life of Fyodor Pavlovitch, who was always of a voluptuous temper, and ready to run after any pettic

FAQs

Who is Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov in Part I, Book I?

Fyodor Pavlovitch is presented as a gloomy, tragic landowner whose character is defined as senseless yet capable of handling affairs. His death and reputation are treated as central background for the family history.

How many times did Fyodor Pavlovitch marry, and who are his sons?

He married twice and had three sons: Dmitri from his first wife, and Ivan and Alexey from his second. The family structure frames later tensions and conflicts.

What role does Adelaida Ivanovna Miusov’s elopement play in the story?

Her elopement precedes the marriage and initially heightens the story’s “piquancy.” The relationship quickly turns into contempt and disorder, culminating in her leaving the household.

Why does the marriage deteriorate so quickly?

The narrative emphasizes the lack of mutual love and the contempt Adelaida feels almost immediately after the elopement. Their temperaments and repeated scenes of conflict drive the breakdown.

Aug 25, 2026

Uploaded by Riley