What is the significance of the Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov?

Question

In the *The Brothers Karamazov*, Ivan tells a long story to Alyosha about the *Grand Inquisitor*. I have been trying to grasp its meaning for sometime, but what is the significance of that story?

Answer 1

This parable was inserted in the novel as a concentrated combination of the writer's view on Christianity and freedom of will and conscience. For the author, who was an Orthodox Christian that time, it was an important figure to write about because of Dostoevsky's desire to express his feelings about a few subjects. The first one was his negative feelings toward Catholic Church and Papal Rome. However, it is only the upper "layer", and the literary critics consider this mentioning Catholicism a hidden series of the writer's arguments against popular during his times Socialist ideas. The second target was the contemporary Atheism and Materialism Dostoevsky observed among the young generation carried away with the ideas of Socialism, namely, their goal containing the right distribution of material wealth. It can be put as "if we feed everyone, all will be happy and obedient' , or like A. Lunacharsky said: "Socialists are similar to the Grand Inquisitor: they are bringing satiety and chains". Certainly, this chapter is also important because it is a concentrated "alloy" of Ivan's views.