`The Grand Inquisitor` by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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The Grand Inquisitor : A Socio-Political Point of View

Since it was written , Fyodor Dostoevsky 's Brothers Karamazov has provoked different interpretations particularly relating to its Chapter 5 titled , The Grand Inquisitor . This chapter narrates the parable told by Ivan , about the Second Coming ' of Christ

The parable narrates that when Christ returns to the world , he is arrested and imprisoned for interrogation by the Inquisitor . The story is in Spain , during the Inquisition when witches and heretics were put to death

by fire after investigation by the Church . From the setting itself , we can view Ivan 's revulsion of the Church for the apathy it expressed to the people

At the beginning , Ivan stresses that the parable must have a literary preface ' This means that although the narrator boldly expresses his repugnance of the practices of the Church , he at the same time feels a bit bashful to express skeptical views about it and Christ possibly due to fear of criticism by the loyal followers of the Church , or his own religious loyalty to it

To express this indecisiveness , he made clear that the parable needs a literary introduction , that is , to emphasize its fictional nature . He follows it up with the statement that he is a poor hand at making one ' which could mean that he basically intends to make his storytelling straight in to express clearly his message . Also this could also present the allusion of washing his hands of the matter as what Pilate did during the public judgment if Christ . The same scenario relates to the story of Ivan in that the Inquisitor serves as Pilate , trying to make Christ confess of anything wrong he has done Only , in the newer context , the Inquisitor finds Christ guilty of some social mistakes

The inquisitor tells Christ of the mistakes he committed during the Temptation , which all sum up to the mistake of giving people too much free will . In the mind of the inquisitor which similarly presents the view of Ivan , Christ made a big mistake in not beating the devil by proving that He is God . First , he points out that Christ must have made the stones bread for doing so would make people realize that he is God and he could perform outright miracles . The other issues the inquisitor raises with Christ all lead to telling Him that he should have performed miracles to make people content of believing in God . The inquisitor also tells that the people will not resort to finding miracles on their own if Christ gave them enough miracles

As such , the problem of the Church about the heretics would not come out , as people will not resort to witchcraft . In this regard , the Inquisition would not even take place in history . From this , we can clearly see Dostoevsky 's renounce of the Inquisition . This historical tragedy , the overwhelming poverty , and general social unrest in Russia may have prompted the author to write...