The grand inquisitor is a poem that is narrated by Ivan, who portrays a situation where Christ has descended to earth and particularly to Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Upon Christ appearing, he is seen welcomed by people, he walks the streets amidst people’s joy and heals the sick and puts blessings upon their hearts. However, he is arrested, and the grand inquisitor considers him one of the heretics who were going against the Catholic Church ("The Brothers Karamazov). The inquisitors has some problems with how Jesus did things and says that it is the free will that Jesus allowed man to have that has made man do evil. The grand inquisitors challenge Jesus on various things he did which the Inquisitor thinks should have been done differently so that man could be made to believe somethings and not be left to make a choice between them. The inquisitor’ main point is that human beings are so weak to have free will and therefore if Christ did certain things differently, then human beings could have been better than they are today.
The grand inquisitor talks to Jesus when he is in prison and has even threatened that the next day, he would kill Jesus, but before that, he explains a lot of things that he believes Jesus did wrong. First of all the grand inquisitor stands at a position that supports Satan. The first point of challenge that the Inquisitor presents to Christ is when he was tempted by Satan after fasting for some time in the wilderness and was feeling hungry("The Brothers Karamazov). The Inquisitor is against the fact that Jesus had the choice and the ability to turn stones into bread, but he chose not to do so. The Inquisitor says that if Jesus had done the miracle, then he wouldn’t have given man an option of not following him or not. He asserts that human beings are weak and it is only through material things that they get convinced. The actions of Christ by choosing not to turn stones into bread gave man free will since there were no miracles performed at that time, but had Jesus opted to perform the miracle, he would have denied man free will since they wouldn’t have had a choice but to follow Christ after seeing the miracle. The inquisitor asserts that the burden that free will, which he believes was pioneered by Christ, has been a cost to the human race and therefore in its place, the church was coming in to correct this mistake.
The second miracle that the inquisitor uses to criticize Christ of his choice which shaped the destiny of mankind was at the incident when he was tempted by Satan to jump from a raised place to the ground; and that angels sent by God would have saved him ("The Brothers Karamazov). Through this, the grand inquisitor believes that if Christ had done the other option which was to jump, then people could have seen the miracle of angels saving him and could have been forced to believe in Christ. However, the fact that Christ decided not to take up the challenge answering that God could not be tempted fostered man’s free will. The grand inquisitor criticizes this decision. He argues that if Christ could have taken this opportunity and proved to people that in deed God existed by sending angels to save him, then that miracle world have made people have no other option but to follow Christ.
Lastly, the inquisitor also uses the third incidence where Jesus Satan presented Jesus with an opportunity to preside over the whole earth after taking him to the top of a mountain and showing all there was and that if he, Jesus, would kneel down and worship him, then that would have been the right decision ("The Brothers Karamazov). Using these three instances, the Inquisitor believes that Christ had set a precedence where man was to choose between following Christ or not. To him, only miracles make man, who is naturally weak, to follow Christ, and since Jesus had opted to do other things when he had the chance to perform miracles, he had granted man free will and therefore the Church was coming in to correct the problem. Amidst all these talks by the Inquisitor, Christ has kept quiet, keenly listening to the inquisitor while maintaining a straight look at his face.
Just as Ivan continues with his poem, Alyosha feels sad about Ivan, although, throughout Ivan’s narration he had been feeling like interrupting him, Alyosha kept his cool. He, however, interrupts Ivan after he narrates the third miracle and says that van’s poem actually praises Christ, not mocking him. Alyosha also tells Ivan that his idea of freedom isn’t as he portrayed it in his poem. He believes that the acts of the church are not at any cost meant to save humanity, rather they are just acting in mere lust of power and that the inquisitor was suffering for no apparent reason, “Your suffering Inquisitor is mere fantasy,” says Alyosha ("The brothers Karamazov by Fyodor”). As Ivan continues with his narration, Jesus is given time to respond to the inquisitor who believes he has exhausted all he had to say to Jesus, however amazingly, Jesus, without a word, just rises up and kisses the Inquisitor on his lips (SparkNotes Editors). This leaves the inquisitor with a lot of thoughts in his mind. He simply lets Jesus free but urges him to leave and never look back. At this point, Ivan ends his narration and turns to Alyosha. However, Alyosha has seen the resistance in him and also believes that Ivan could possibly join the ranks of those represented by the inquisitor in Ivan’s narration. At some point, Ivan has a feeling that Alyosha would disown him, he starts to make such insinuations in his speech, “And now you go to the right and me to the left” ("The brothers Karamazov by Fyodor”) However, Alyosha does something different and contrary to the expectations of Ivan, just like Jesus did to the inquisitor, Alyosha gets up and kisses Ivan on the lips. At this point, the similarity that exists between Jesus and Alyosha comes out in the poem (SparkNotes Editors). The two, Alyosha and Ivan represent two different sides to the emerging argument about belief in God and the power of Satan. The Catholic Church though representing an institution that advances the teachings of Jesus, seem to be against some of the things he did while he was on the earth. At the same time, they seem to be standing in the same point of view as Satan. The inquisitor even believes that his position is well represented by the some of the ideas of Satan (SparkNotes Editors).
Works Cited
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Brothers Karamazov.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 6 May 2016.
"The Brothers Karamazov: Novel Summary: Part II Book V - Pro and Contra (Chapter 5)." Novelguide. 1999. Web. 6 May 2016.
"THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky." Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Web. 6 May 2016
