Crime and Punishment & Other Great Novels of Dostoevsky
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Contents
Chapter 7 A Young Man Bent on a Career
Overview
Alyosha receives Zossima’s startling directive to leave the monastery after the elder’s imminent death and to serve in the world, aiding both brothers through coming sorrows. On the path, Rakitin cynically forecasts violent Karamazov conflict around Grushenka and Katerina. Returning, they witness the Father Superior’s dinner collapsing into scandal.
Summary
Alyosha ushers the exhausted Zossima to his simple cell. The elder blesses him and, to Alyosha’s shock, foretells his own near death and instructs Alyosha to leave the monastery afterward, marry, labor in the world, and remain close to both brothers. He bids Alyosha go serve at the Father Superior’s dinner.
Torn by anguish yet obedient, Alyosha hurries through the copse and meets Rakitin, who immediately probes the meaning of Zossima’s bow to Dmitri. Rakitin claims it was a preemptive “prophecy” of a family crime and goads Alyosha to admit he, too, has feared violence between Dmitri and Fyodor Pavlovich.
Rakitin paints the Karamazovs as sensualists on a collision course: Dmitri, driven by passion for Grushenka, ready to discard his fiancée Katerina; Fyodor Pavlovich, newly obsessed with the same woman; and Ivan, whom Rakitin accuses of atheism, calculation, and coveting Katerina and her fortune. Alyosha defends Ivan as a soul seeking answers, while Rakitin preaches virtue without immortality and vents jealousy and resentment.
The talk turns personal: Rakitin reports overhearing Dmitri repeat Ivan’s cynical “career plan” for him, bristles when Alyosha mistakenly calls Grushenka his relation, and angrily disavows any such tie while admitting private reasons for visiting her.
Approaching the monastery, they see the Father Superior’s dinner has erupted: Fyodor Pavlovich and Ivan storm out amid shouting, Miusov departs in his carriage, and Maximov scurries after them, with Father Isidor calling from the steps. Rakitin crows that a scandal has occurred, implying the feast has ended in uproar.
Who Appears
- Alyosha (Alexey Fyodorovich) KaramazovObeys Zossima, is told to leave the monastery and aid both brothers; debates Rakitin; witnesses the post-dinner scandal.
- Elder ZossimaExhausted, blesses Alyosha, foretells his death, and sends Alyosha into the world to serve through coming sorrows.
- RakitinCynical seminarian; predicts Karamazov crime, attacks Ivan’s motives, discusses Grushenka and Katerina, and bristles at slights.
- Dmitri (Mitya) KaramazovOffstage focus of predictions; portrayed as a passionate sensualist entangled with Grushenka and at odds with his father.
- Fyodor Pavlovich KaramazovFather, newly obsessed with Grushenka; storms from the Superior’s dinner amid the scandal.
- Ivan KaramazovAccused by Rakitin of atheism and designs on Katerina; leaves the Superior’s dinner with Fyodor.
- GrushenkaCentral to the brewing conflict; courted by both Fyodor and Dmitri; subject of rumor and Rakitin’s visits.
- Katerina IvanovnaDmitri’s fiancée; said by Rakitin to waver toward Ivan, making her a stake in the family tensions.
- Father SuperiorHost of the aborted dinner that ends in an unprecedented, scandalous scene.
- Father IsidorSeen shouting after the departing guests as the dinner breaks up in disorder.
- Pyotr MiusovLeaves in his carriage from the disrupted dinner, signaling the scandal’s severity.
- MaximovRuns after the departing party from the Father Superior’s steps during the uproar.