The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov

by

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev Character Analysis

An old colonel’s second daughter with his second wife. She is the younger sister of Agafya Ivanovna. Katerina falls in love with Dmitri Fyodorovich soon after offering herself to him in exchange for the money she needed to protect her father from dishonor due to his misappropriation of government funds. It is Dmitri who suggests through Agafya Ivanovna that Katerina offer her body in exchange for the money, though Katerina kindly conceals this fact during Dmitri’s trial, making it look as though she came up with the idea to prostitute herself for the money. She is described as “a beautiful, proud, and imperious girl,” who is quite tall and makes “strong, cheerful strides.” Alexei initially perceives her as arrogant, but he comes to regard her as a noble, courageous woman with a “clear, strong faith in herself.” She was welcomed into the family of a general’s widow and given a dowry of eighty thousand roubles. She sends Dmitri forty-five hundred roubles in the mail and, three days later, sends a letter declaring her love and offering herself to him as his fiancée. Dmitri believes that she doesn’t love him, but “her own virtue.” Meanwhile, Ivan Fyodorovich is passionately in love with her. When Ivan succumbs to “brain fever,” Katerina moves him into her home so that she can care for him. She tells Dmitri that, if Ivan is unable, she will do the work of ensuring Dmitri’s escape from prison.

Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev Quotes in The Brothers Karamazov

The The Brothers Karamazov quotes below are all either spoken by Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev or refer to Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Faith vs. Reason Theme Icon
).
Part 1: Book 3, Chapter 3 Quotes

“‘To insects—sensuality!’ I am that very insect, brother, and those words are precisely about me. And all of us Karamazovs are like that, and in you, angel, the same insect lives and stirs up storms in your blood. Storms, because sensuality is a storm, more than a storm! […] Too many riddles oppress man on earth. Solve them if you can without getting your feet wet.”

Related Characters: Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov (speaker), Alexei “Alyosha” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Agrafena “Grushenka” Alexandrovna Svetlov, Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev
Page Number: 108
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4: Book 12, Chapter 5 Quotes

“‘The thing is that I am precisely in my right mind...my vile mind, the same as you, and all these m-mugs!’ he suddenly turned to the public. ‘A murdered father, and they pretend to be frightened,’ he growled with fierce contempt. ‘They pull faces to each other. Liars! Everyone wants his father dead. Viper devours viper…If there were no parricide, they’d all get angry and go home in a foul temper…Circuses! ‘Bread and circuses!’ […] Calm yourselves, I’m not mad, I’m simply a murderer! […] I have no witnesses. That dog Smerdyakov won’t send you evidence from the other world…in an envelope. You keep asking for envelopes, as if one wasn’t enough. I have no witnesses…except one, perhaps [….] He’s got a tail, Your Honor, you’d find him inadmissible! Le diable n’existe point!

Related Characters: Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov (speaker), Alexei “Alyosha” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov, Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev, Fetyukovich, The Presiding Judge
Related Symbols: The Envelope and the Three Thousand Roubles
Page Number: 686-687
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue, Chapter 2 Quotes

“Love is gone, Mitya!” Katya began again, “but what is gone is painfully dear to me. Know that, for all eternity. But now, for one minute, let it be as it might have been,” she prattled with a twisted smile, again looking joyfully into his eyes. “You now love another, I love another, but still I shall love you eternally, and you me, did you know that? Love me, do you hear, love me all your life!” she exclaimed with some sort of almost threatening tremor in her voice.

Related Characters: Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev (speaker), Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov, Agrafena “Grushenka” Alexandrovna Svetlov
Page Number: 766
Explanation and Analysis:

Thus they prattled to each other, and their talk was frantic, almost senseless, and perhaps also not even truthful, but at that moment everything was truth, and they both utterly believed what they were saying. “Katya,” Mitya suddenly exclaimed, “do you believe I killed him? I know you don’t believe it now, but then…when you were testifying…Did you, did you really believe it!” “I did not believe it then either! I never believed it! I hated you, and suddenly persuaded myself, for that moment…While I was testifying…I persuaded myself and believed it…and as soon as I finished testifying, I stopped believing it again. You must know all that. I forgot that I came here to punish myself!” she said with some suddenly quite new expression, quite like her prattling of love just a moment before.

Related Characters: Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov (speaker), Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev (speaker), Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Agrafena “Grushenka” Alexandrovna Svetlov
Page Number: 766
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Brothers Karamazov LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Brothers Karamazov PDF

Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev Quotes in The Brothers Karamazov

The The Brothers Karamazov quotes below are all either spoken by Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev or refer to Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Faith vs. Reason Theme Icon
).
Part 1: Book 3, Chapter 3 Quotes

“‘To insects—sensuality!’ I am that very insect, brother, and those words are precisely about me. And all of us Karamazovs are like that, and in you, angel, the same insect lives and stirs up storms in your blood. Storms, because sensuality is a storm, more than a storm! […] Too many riddles oppress man on earth. Solve them if you can without getting your feet wet.”

Related Characters: Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov (speaker), Alexei “Alyosha” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Agrafena “Grushenka” Alexandrovna Svetlov, Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev
Page Number: 108
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4: Book 12, Chapter 5 Quotes

“‘The thing is that I am precisely in my right mind...my vile mind, the same as you, and all these m-mugs!’ he suddenly turned to the public. ‘A murdered father, and they pretend to be frightened,’ he growled with fierce contempt. ‘They pull faces to each other. Liars! Everyone wants his father dead. Viper devours viper…If there were no parricide, they’d all get angry and go home in a foul temper…Circuses! ‘Bread and circuses!’ […] Calm yourselves, I’m not mad, I’m simply a murderer! […] I have no witnesses. That dog Smerdyakov won’t send you evidence from the other world…in an envelope. You keep asking for envelopes, as if one wasn’t enough. I have no witnesses…except one, perhaps [….] He’s got a tail, Your Honor, you’d find him inadmissible! Le diable n’existe point!

Related Characters: Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov (speaker), Alexei “Alyosha” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov, Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev, Fetyukovich, The Presiding Judge
Related Symbols: The Envelope and the Three Thousand Roubles
Page Number: 686-687
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue, Chapter 2 Quotes

“Love is gone, Mitya!” Katya began again, “but what is gone is painfully dear to me. Know that, for all eternity. But now, for one minute, let it be as it might have been,” she prattled with a twisted smile, again looking joyfully into his eyes. “You now love another, I love another, but still I shall love you eternally, and you me, did you know that? Love me, do you hear, love me all your life!” she exclaimed with some sort of almost threatening tremor in her voice.

Related Characters: Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev (speaker), Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov, Agrafena “Grushenka” Alexandrovna Svetlov
Page Number: 766
Explanation and Analysis:

Thus they prattled to each other, and their talk was frantic, almost senseless, and perhaps also not even truthful, but at that moment everything was truth, and they both utterly believed what they were saying. “Katya,” Mitya suddenly exclaimed, “do you believe I killed him? I know you don’t believe it now, but then…when you were testifying…Did you, did you really believe it!” “I did not believe it then either! I never believed it! I hated you, and suddenly persuaded myself, for that moment…While I was testifying…I persuaded myself and believed it…and as soon as I finished testifying, I stopped believing it again. You must know all that. I forgot that I came here to punish myself!” she said with some suddenly quite new expression, quite like her prattling of love just a moment before.

Related Characters: Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov (speaker), Katerina “Katya” Ivanovna Verkhovtsev (speaker), Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Agrafena “Grushenka” Alexandrovna Svetlov
Page Number: 766
Explanation and Analysis: