The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov

by

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov Character Analysis

The probable son of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and the local “holy fool,” Lizaveta Smerdyashchaya, nicknamed “Stinking Lizaveta.” He is the probable half-brother of Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexei. His name, which means “son of the stinking one,” refers both to his mother, who was an unwashed itinerant, and to his father, who has a dishonorable reputation. He is attentive to his appearance, in what may partly be an effort to distance himself from his mother’s unsavory reputation. He suffers from epilepsy (like Dostoevsky himself) and works as Fyodor Pavlovich’s cook. Despite Smerdyakov’s lowly position, Fyodor is attentive to the boy, mainly due to his illness. He also trusts Smerdyakov and allows him access to a library that Fyodor has never used. After Fyodor’s death and Smerdyakov’s struggle with illness after a particularly bad epileptic fit, he moves in with Maria Kondratievna. Smerdyakov is misanthropic, devious, and spiteful, probably due to the rumors surrounding his birth and never having been acknowledged as Fyodor’s son. He is methodical and far more intelligent and perceptive than anyone, particularly Ivan, gives him credit for being. He confesses to Ivan that he was the one who murdered Fyodor after Dmitri had already run out of his father’s house. He bludgeoned Fyodor over the head with the cast-iron paperweight on Fyodor’s desk. Smerdyakov later hangs himself in Maria Kondratievna’s home.

Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov Quotes in The Brothers Karamazov

The The Brothers Karamazov quotes below are all either spoken by Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov or refer to Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov. 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 4: Book 11, Chapter 8 Quotes

“He ran there, went up to the window […] ‘Grushenka,’ he called, ‘Grushenka, are you here?’ He called her, but he didn’t want to lean out the window, he didn’t want to move away from me […] because he was very afraid of me [….] ‘But there she is,’ I said (I went up to the window and leaned all the way out), ‘there she is in the bushes, smiling to you, see?’ He suddenly believed it, he just started shaking, because he really was very much in love with her, sir, and he leaned all the way out the window. Then I grabbed that same cast-iron paperweight, the one on his desk […] and I swung and hit him from behind on the top of the head with the corner of it.”

Related Characters: Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov (speaker), Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov
Related Symbols: The Envelope and the Three Thousand Roubles
Page Number: 629
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:
Part 4: Book 12, Chapter 12 Quotes

“I visited Smerdyakov [….] His health was weak […] but his character, his heart—oh, no, he was not at all such a weak man as the prosecution has made him out to be. I especially did not find any timidity in him [….] As for guilelessness, there was nothing of the sort […] I found a terrible mistrustfulness in him, behind a mask of naivety, and a mind capable of contemplating quite a lot.”

Related Characters: Fetyukovich (speaker), Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov
Page Number: 738
Explanation and Analysis:

“I gathered some information: he hated his origin, was ashamed of it, and gnashed his teeth when he recalled that he was ‘descended from Stinking Lizaveta.’ He was irreverent towards the servant Grigory and his wife, who had been his childhood benefactors. He cursed Russia and laughed at her. He dreamed of going to France and remaking himself as a Frenchman. He used to talk about it often and said that he only lacked the means to do so. It seems to me that he loved no one but himself, and his respect for himself was peculiarly high [….] Considering himself (and there are facts to support it) the illegitimate son of Fyodor Pavlovich, he might very well detest his position as compared with that of his master’s legitimate children: everything goes to them […] to them all the rights, to them the inheritance, while he is just a cook.”

Related Characters: Fetyukovich (speaker), Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov, Lizaveta Smerdyashchaya (“Stinking Lizaveta”), Grigory Vasilievich Kutuzov, Marfa Ignatievna
Page Number: 738
Explanation and Analysis:
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Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov Quotes in The Brothers Karamazov

The The Brothers Karamazov quotes below are all either spoken by Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov or refer to Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov. 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 4: Book 11, Chapter 8 Quotes

“He ran there, went up to the window […] ‘Grushenka,’ he called, ‘Grushenka, are you here?’ He called her, but he didn’t want to lean out the window, he didn’t want to move away from me […] because he was very afraid of me [….] ‘But there she is,’ I said (I went up to the window and leaned all the way out), ‘there she is in the bushes, smiling to you, see?’ He suddenly believed it, he just started shaking, because he really was very much in love with her, sir, and he leaned all the way out the window. Then I grabbed that same cast-iron paperweight, the one on his desk […] and I swung and hit him from behind on the top of the head with the corner of it.”

Related Characters: Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov (speaker), Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov
Related Symbols: The Envelope and the Three Thousand Roubles
Page Number: 629
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:
Part 4: Book 12, Chapter 12 Quotes

“I visited Smerdyakov [….] His health was weak […] but his character, his heart—oh, no, he was not at all such a weak man as the prosecution has made him out to be. I especially did not find any timidity in him [….] As for guilelessness, there was nothing of the sort […] I found a terrible mistrustfulness in him, behind a mask of naivety, and a mind capable of contemplating quite a lot.”

Related Characters: Fetyukovich (speaker), Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Lieutenant Dmitri “Mitya” Fyodorovich Karamazov, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov
Page Number: 738
Explanation and Analysis:

“I gathered some information: he hated his origin, was ashamed of it, and gnashed his teeth when he recalled that he was ‘descended from Stinking Lizaveta.’ He was irreverent towards the servant Grigory and his wife, who had been his childhood benefactors. He cursed Russia and laughed at her. He dreamed of going to France and remaking himself as a Frenchman. He used to talk about it often and said that he only lacked the means to do so. It seems to me that he loved no one but himself, and his respect for himself was peculiarly high [….] Considering himself (and there are facts to support it) the illegitimate son of Fyodor Pavlovich, he might very well detest his position as compared with that of his master’s legitimate children: everything goes to them […] to them all the rights, to them the inheritance, while he is just a cook.”

Related Characters: Fetyukovich (speaker), Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov, Lizaveta Smerdyashchaya (“Stinking Lizaveta”), Grigory Vasilievich Kutuzov, Marfa Ignatievna
Page Number: 738
Explanation and Analysis: