The Great Inquisitor Analysis

Improved Essays
• “Freedom, free thought, and science will lead them into such straits…” The expository essay by Rival Habibulin.
The Great Inquisitor is a novel written by Russian writer, philosopher and just a smart human – Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky.
Dostoevsky shows us the beginning of two worlds. First world is a world of freedom and free thought, where humans have their own rights and freedom of choice. Second world is a world of compulsion (or the world without free thought) where people must be under strict control of a dictator. (for example a human in history – Adolf Hitler)
The people have their choice, they can choose freedom or happiness, but freedom from suffering or happiness without freedom. And the most people go through a second. The first way is the way of the chosen ones. They refuse the great ideas of God, freedom and immortality, they possessed a false ungodly love for people, false compassion, and universal thirst for dispensation on earth without God. The Grand Inquisitor rebelled against God in the name of the person in the name
…show more content…
Few are able to bear the burden of freedom and go after those who "desired to free love of man." The Grand Inquisitor takes care of the many, countless as the sand of the sea, which cannot stand the test of freedom.
The Grand Inquisitor says that "man seeks not so much God as miracles." That’s clearly true. After so many centuries, people man can imagine and create the other “God” and religion, or how the Great Inquisitor said “miracle”. Because all will think that the miracle is only can be appear from the God’s hand. These words affected the Grand Inquisitor low opinion of human nature, lack of faith in man.
And so the Grand Inquisitor takes the protection of weak humanity, in the name of love for the people deprives them of the gift of freedom, burdening

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Strachey later published another work known as For the Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, Etc. In this work he included the orders from the governor of Jamestown, which acted as a code of conduct and was enforced to that of laws in the colony for all parts of life for the colonists. The code was in part based off of how the king ruled back in England over religion and authority: “Whereas his Majesty like himselfe a most zealous Prince hath in his owne Realmes a principall care of true Religion, and reverence to God, and hath alwaies strictly commaunded his Generals and Governours, with all his forces wheresoever, to let their waies be like his ends, for the glorie of God.” There were many different stipulations…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ironically, even the insane and evil are doing what they innately believe is just. And in Passage A, the lieutenant plans just that. The lieutenant can be easily described as hard working, diligent, persevering, and thoughtful through many experiences and interaction he has in the novel. Even though he demonstrates all these practical qualities, he does not use them for a rational cause. “ ‘And I shall shoot as often as it’s necessary.’”…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Appearance v. Reality The two documents, The Declaration of Independence and “Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco, highlight the theme of appearance versus reality to reveal the idea that being free is more important than conforming. Both texts complement each other in their central ideas, the central idea of the declaration being an obvious one: the framers wanted to cut ties with Britain and become their own nation. There were multiple central ideas in “Identity”, each one being able to support the overlying theme and connect to an idea from the Declaration. One central idea found in Identity was that of freedom of expression and the need to be free from corruption.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nevertheless, Beauvoir asserts that individuals may fail to recognize this oppressive treatment and thus, accept it as usual treatment. As a result, Beauvoir argues that individuals have a duty to assert their freedom, especially if others impede it. Beauvoir states, “…the oppressed can fulfill his freedom as a man only in revolt, since the essential characteristic of the situation against which he is rebelling is precisely its prohibiting him from any development…” It is morally acceptable for oppressed individuals to rebel against their oppressor to assert their freedom and advance in life. According to Beauvoir, “…he [the oppressor] is more apt to present himself as the defender of certain values.” As part of the oppressors character,…

    • 1018 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “In every human beast, God has implanted a principle, which we call love of freedom, it is impatient of oppression, and pant for deliverance” (“ Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753‑ 84)”). God put us on this earth for a reason you might be impatient trying to figure out why you are here Phillis Wheatley was a poet who wrote about her life. She was kidnapped by her slave owners she was taught french. She had no kids and no siblings. Black American, phillis wheatley compose poetry throughout her life to express her thoughts and feelings on slavery,religion,and childhood.…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In between the tales of two important historical stories, there is one common relation, which is the demand for power without the cognizance of the importance of their consequences. In multiple scenarios, nefarious actions are taking place with malicious consequences. Throughout the past, history has a tendency to repeat itself in multitudinous ways. Actions threatening oodles of people and others promoting “Greater Good.” The circumstances of the incidents that occurred, don’t get acknowledged by the higher power and therefore the information is delineated to their supporters, which in return can cause hardship and misery.…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have received your concerns in regard to the circumstances of our budding nation and hastened to abate your confusion. It is entirely understandable, of course, that one may feel unmoored; we are in a situation that heretofore has never been witnessed. Thankfully, your queries are ones easily addressed. You have asked what I speak of in the preamble of our Declaration of Independence—what are these truths we call self-evident?—as well as why we have set ourselves against England’s King, and I am glad to answer.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There have been numerous quintessential examples of wicked downfalls throughout the world. A famous example would be when Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt and because of that it caused the emperor to go mad and because of his madness, that is what killed him and his empire. But the French Revolution is one of the most devastating attacks against the Roman Catholic Church. It cost the lives of some many great people at the time. “God writes straight with crooked lines” is a perfect quote that exemplifies the Reign of Terror.…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prompt Commentary “He was an intelligent man and an able servant of his firm, but he was one of those Englishmen—common, unfortunately—who should never be allowed to set foot in the East” (Orwell 855). (This was an entry from Burmese Days) Much of the dialogue involved blistering criticism on Burmese people. Among those countless insults, the narrator’s input nabbed my attention. Orwell had expressed his political beliefs covertly through dialogue.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The overarching theme is the importance of books in society—it is through them that people gain the ability to think for themselves. One factor to blame is technology: the author shows that its use is detrimental to the very cultivation of individual thought. In the novel, Faber explains, “The televisor is ‘real.’ It is immediate, it has dimension. It tells you what to think and blasts it in.…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gabriel Roche Professor Paul Calkins English 1-B 4/21/2016 An Analysis of Dostoevsky, by Charles Bukowski The poem Dostoevsky, by Charles Bukowski, is an inspirational poem that tells the story of how Fyodor Dostoevsky, a famous Russian author of the 19th century, was given sudden reprieve from death by firing squad, and because of this turn of events, was allowed to write and create, and thus was able to inspire the author as well as countless other writers. For me this immediately reminded me of Stephen King, and specifically his Dark Tower series.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the article titled, “Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought,” Jonathan Rauch concludes that hate speech should not be censored on campus. Rauch believes that students have a right to academic freedom. He believes that students will not feel free to explore or question topics that may be taboo, if they are fearful of reprimand, limiting their ability to learn about the world during a crucial time in their education. First Rauch argues that gaining knowledge is painful and Knowledge cannot be separated from pain, even the most “scientific” criticism can be painful. For example, Physicist Ludwig Boltzmann committed suicide following criticism of his ideas.…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Culture, the beliefs and custom of a group of people, begins to shape a person from the second that they are born on to the rest of their life. Customs can affect how a child is raised, which in turn affects their thoughts and actions. In the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky the main character, Raskolnikov, is pushed to commit a murder due to his beliefs on power and class. The strict class and power based Russian society directly affected Raskolnikov’s psychological and moral traits.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Raskolnikov: A Freudian Psychoanalysis of the “Extraordinary Man” Raskolnikov is the type of character that Freud would have obsessed over: a man with a perceived sense of mental stability but with a realm of repressed desires — all the more reason to explore the unconscious, the uncharted realms of the human psyche. Contrary to Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious, the dreams in Dostoevsky’s novel function as something beyond the characterization of archetypes common to multiple individuals. Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and Punishment, proves to be more concerned with Raskolnikov’s perceptions regarding his crime, and the effects of self-instituted punishment, rather than the punishments inflicted by the institutions or the nature…

    • 1601 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky invites the reader to explore the results of fully embracing utilitarianism as a moral philosophy. The novel does this through Rodya, a character who adopts utilitarianism and acts in unsettling ways. I will argue Dostoevsky does not challenge the core premises of utilitarianism, but instead asks the reader to think about the consequences of this ideology. Rodya is both nonreligious as well as utilitarian to the extreme. Rodya is (at least in part) persuaded to kill Alyona by the conversation he overhears, which evidences his commitment to utilitarianism.…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays