The Brothers Karamazov: Part 2: Book 6, Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

The elder Zosima starts his narrative by saying that he was born in a northern province. His father was noble, but not high-ranking. He died when Zosima, then named Zinovy, was two, and left his mother with “a small wooden house” and a bit of money. Zinovy’s older brother’s name was Markel, who was eight years older, “hot-tempered and irritable by nature.” Otherwise, he was kind, silent, and a good student. Markel had no friends among his schoolmates but visited “a certain solitary man” in town known for being a freethinker. He was also “a great scholar and distinguished philosopher at the university.” Markel spent his evenings with him until the man was called back to government service in Petersburg.

When Lent came around, Markel refused to fast and then announced that there was no God. This horrified the family and the servants. In the sixth week of Lent, Markel became ill. They found out that he had consumption so bad that he wouldn’t live through spring. Their mother became fearful for the fate of his soul and begged Markel to observe Lent. Markel had known for a year that he was sick. To please his mother, he agreed to keep the fast and go to church for a little while before taking to his bed.

Though he was very ill, Zinovy (Zosima) saw that his older brother still got out of bed, dressed, and tried to sit in his armchair. Markel seemed glad and discouraged his mother from weeping. He said that, if he were to live, he would serve his mother, for everyone must serve everyone. His mother insisted that it was his illness talking because, in her view, it’s impossible not to have masters and servants. He went on to say that everyone is guilty of something before everyone. Therefore, it’s unnecessary to quarrel or to remember offenses.

One day, Zinovy (Zosima) went into Markel’s room alone. The evening was bright, and the sun was setting. Markel told his younger brother to go out and play for him—to live! Zinovy obeyed. Markel died in the third week after Easter.

Acquaintances advised his mother to send Zinovy (Zosima)  to Petersburg to the Cadet Corps. The purpose was for him to later enter the Imperial Guard. Zinovy was in the Cadet Corps for nearly eight years. While there, he suppressed many of his childhood memories and took up new habits, which turned him “into an almost wild, cruel, and absurd creature.” He acquired some polish, due to learning manners and the French language, but he also learned to engage in “drunkenness, debauchery, and bravado.” Soon, he came into some money and used it to engage in “a life of pleasure.” Zinovy read books then, but never the Bible, though he always carried it with him.

After serving for four years, Zinovy (Zosima) ended up in a nameless town starting with the letter “K.” His regiment was stationed there for a while. Zinovy was well-received in the community and soon met an attractive young woman with “reputable parents.” He became infatuated with her and assumed that she felt the same way. He was not in love with her, however, and was too selfish to propose marriage. Zinovy then went away and returned two months later to discover that the girl was married to a wealthy older man who was a local landowner. Zinovy realized that this man had been the girl’s fiancé for some time and that he had met the other man “many times in [her] house” but was too “blinded by [his] own merits” to realize that they were involved.

Zinovy (Zosima) was embarrassed by his obliviousness, and then became him angry. He decided that the girl must have been laughing at him. She had not really been, but usually broke off his amorous conversations in jest and changed the subject. Zinovy didn’t realize this at the time and continued to burn with revenge, thinking that he had been made to look like a fool.

At a gathering, Zinovy (Zosima) confronted the girl’s fiancé and insulted him, “wittily and cleverly,” according to other guests. He challenged his “rival” to a duel and the other man accepted, having felt some jealousy toward his fiancée’s relationship with Zinovy. It was the end of June and the men were scheduled to meet the next day, “outside town, at seven o’clock in the morning.”

Zinovy (Zosima) returned home that evening and got angry with his orderly, Afanasy. He struck the servant twice in the face, causing blood to pour. Forty years later, the elder recalls the assault with “shame and anguish.” That night, Zinovy went to bed, “slept for about three hours,” and woke up at daybreak. He went to the window, opened it, and watched the sun rise over his garden. He felt something “mean and shameful” in his soul. It wasn’t because of the impending duel, but because he hurt Afanasy.

Zinovy (Zosima) then remembered his brother Markel’s last words to the servants before he died. He asked them why they were serving him and if he was worthy of being served. He also remembered how his older brother said that everyone is guilty “before everyone and for everyone.” Suddenly, Zinovy understood what he was about to do: he was going to kill another man. Just then, his comrade, the lieutenant, came in with the pistols to take him to the site of the duel. They walked out to the carriage, then Zinovy went back in, pretending to have forgotten his purse. He went to Afanasy’s room and asked for forgiveness. Afanasy looked afraid, so Zinovy threw himself on the floor at his feet and, again, begged for forgiveness. Afanasy was astounded and also wept.

Zinovy (Zosima) went back outside and jumped into the carriage, commanding it to drive. Suddenly, he was excited. When they got to the site of the duel, his rival was already waiting. The men were set “twelve paces apart” and the rival took the first shot, which only grazed Zinovy’s cheek. When it was his turn, he threw his pistol up into the trees. He then asked his adversary for forgiveness, apologizing for his foolishness and for causing offense. His adversary and the seconds got angry. The lieutenant, who served as Zinovy’s second, accused him of dishonoring the regiment. Zinovy knew that he’d be regarded as a coward, but he was too enraptured by “the divine gifts” all around them to care. His opponent was convinced by his sincerity and shook his hand. Zinovy returned home with the lieutenant, who scolded him, while Zinovy kissed him.

When his comrades heard the news, they accused Zinovy (Zosima) of dishonoring the regiment and demanded that he “resign his commission.” Some defended him, noting that Zinovy couldn’t be a coward because he stood up against a shot from his adversary. Zinovy announced that he had already resigned and intended to join the monastery. They all laughed, saying that he should have told them that straight away; for, they never would have passed judgment on a monk. Even his detractors were soon won over. The same happened in local society, which had received him cordially before, but now vied for his attention.

Most of those who sought his attention were ladies. One evening, Zinovy (Zosima)  saw the woman over whom he had started the duel. She stood up, went over to him, and offered her hand. She thanked him and expressed her respect for what he did. Then, her husband—Zinovy’s former rival—also came over and “all but kissed [him].” Their love filled Zinovy with joy. Then, an older gentleman came up to him. He knew the man by name, though they had never officially met nor “exchanged a word” until that party.

The man was an official with a prominent position. He was a wealthy, fifty-year-old philanthropist, married to a young wife with whom he had three small children. The next evening, the man visited Zinovy (Zosima) at his home. By then, Zinovy had moved to a place that he rented from “the old widow of an official.” The man said that he had been going to various houses, listening to him talk, and had wanted to make his acquaintance for some time. He told Zinovy that he was impressed by his “great strength of character,” which led him to risk “suffering general contempt” in favor of the truth. The man tactfully asked if Zinovy could describe to him what he felt at the moment when he asked for forgiveness at the duel.

Zinovy (Zosima) started from the beginning, which involved the story of what happened between him and Afanasy. The man was interested and soon paid Zinovy regular visits nearly every evening. He said “hardly a word about himself,” but kept asking about Zinovy. Zinovy developed love for the man and confided in him. He was impressed that someone so much older wouldn’t “disdain [his] youth.” As a result of these visits, Zinovy stopped going out. He had become less popular anyway.

Zinovy (Zosima) soon noticed that his new friend wanted to tell him something important. He then revealed that he once killed someone. Over the course of three days, the man told Zinovy the story of how he had committed the crime fourteen years earlier over the “young and beautiful” widow of a landowner. He tried to persuade her to marry him, but she was already engaged to “an officer of noble birth and high rank, who was then away on campaign.” She then asked the man to stop visiting her. He obliged but, one night, broke into her apartments and “plunged a knife straight into her heart.” He arranged things so that the servants would be blamed: he took money and large baubles, neglecting the smaller ones that were worth more.

The lady’s serf, Pyotr, became the main suspect. The lady had intended to send him into the army and he had already been overheard, during a drunken night in a tavern, threatening to kill her. Two days before her death, he left her home and was living somewhere in town. The day after her murder, someone found him on a road outside of town, drunk, “with a knife in his pocket,” and his hand stained with blood. He said that his nose had been bleeding, but no one believed that. He was arrested, but a week later, he succumbed to fever and died in the hospital. Still, everyone was convinced that the serf had committed murder.

Zinovy’s (Zosima) “mysterious visitor” admitted that he felt no remorse for the lady’s murder. He only regretted that “he had killed the woman he loved,” not a fellow human being. The stolen articles and money “troubled him little” because he had only taken them to divert attention away from himself. Moreover, the value of what he had taken was small. He donated “the entire sum and even much more for the almshouse that was being established in [their] town.”

Zinovy’s (Zosima) visitor then told him how he got married to “a wonderful and sensible girl” shortly thereafter. He figured that marriage and, eventually, children would help him to forget about his past crimes. He then began to worry about his wife finding out that he committed murder. He began to have dreams about his victim, in which he saw her blood. He endured this torment and continued with his philanthropic activities, for which he became well-known. The visitor tells Zinovy that he thought about committing suicide. Then, he decided that he would confess his crime to the public. For three years, he fantasized about doing so. Then, inspired by Zinovy’s courage at the duel, he decided to do it.

Zinovy (Zosima) mentioned that no one would believe the visitor. He had no proof of his crime. The visitor worried about the fate of his wife and children, but Zinovy assured him that his children would later praise the “magnanimity” of his decision. Though the man claimed to have made up his mind, he continued to go to Zinovy for two weeks thereafter, as though he were still unable to make up his mind.

On his birthday, the visitor gave a big party. The whole town was there. After dinner, he walked into the middle of the room with a paper in his hand, which was to be “a formal statement to the authorities.” He read it—a complete account of his crime. He then placed on the table the gold objects that he had taken from his victim, along with a letter from the woman’s fiancé and her unfinished reply to him. Everyone was “astonished and horrified.” The authorities were unsure of how to proceed because the objects could have been gifts from the woman, since they were acquainted.

Five days later, the visitor succumbed to madness. The man’s wife accused Zinovy (Zosima)  of upsetting him and bringing on his anguish. Zinovy went to see the man, who told him that he felt “joy and peace for the first time after so many years.” The man then whispered to Zinovy that he visited him once at midnight with the intention of killing him—hating Zinovy for expecting the man to turn himself in, while he was ambivalent about doing so. A week later, the man died. The whole town attended his funeral and “the archpriest made a heartfelt speech.” Once he was buried, the whole town turned against Zinovy. Then, people began to believe the truth of the man’s confession and agreed to receive Zinovy again.