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The Gentleman
The title character in Ivan's poem, "The Grand Inquisitor," which he narrates to Alexei in the tavern. The Inquisitor is a nearly ninety-year-old man and the head clergyman in Seville, Spain, during the sixteenth century. He is described as "tall and straight, with a gaunt face and sunken eyes." He is a surly man who usually "scowls with his thick, gray eyebrows." Despite his age, his eyes are fiery. He usually wears "magnificent cardinal's robes," but, when he encounters Christ in the town square, he is wearing an "old, coarse monastic cassock."
The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor Quotes in The Brothers Karamazov
The The Brothers Karamazov quotes below are all either spoken by The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor or refer to The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor. 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:
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Part 2: Book 5, Chapter 5 Quotes
“My action is set in Spain, in Seville, in the most horrible time of the Inquisition, when fires blazed every day to the glory of God, and ‘In the splendid auto-da-fé / Evil heretics were burnt.’ Oh, of course, this was not that coming in which he will appear, according to his promise, at the end of time, in all his heavenly glory, and which will be sudden ‘as the lightening that shineth out of the east unto the west.’ No, he desired to visit his children if only for a moment, and precisely where the fires of the heretics had begun to crackle. In his infinite mercy, he walked once again among men, in the same human image in which he had walked for three years among men fifteen centuries earlier.”
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Ivan is narrating a poem that he has written, “The Grand Inquisitor.” In the poem, Christ reappears in the form that he that he took when he first walked the earth. His arrival is mundane and uneventful and occurs during one of the most infamous moments of human suffering—a time in which devout Christian people were most in need of Christ’s love and forgiveness. Ivan narrates his poem to Alexei to prove his point that Christ’s love for people is impossible on earth. He sets his poem during the Spanish Inquisition to show how humans are more likely to kill Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Exp
“In the deep darkness, the iron door of the prison suddenly opens, and the Grand Inquisitor himself slowly enters carrying a lamp. He is alone, the door is immediately locked behind him. He stands in the entrance and for a long time, for a minute or two, gazes into his face. At last he quietly approaches […] ‘Is it you? You?’ […] ‘Why, then, have you come to interfere with us? […] I do not know who you are, and I do not want to know whether it is you, or only his likeness; but tomorrow I shall condemn you and burn you at the stake as the most evil of heretics, and the very people who today kissed your feet, tomorrow, at a nod from me, will rush to heap the coals up around your stake […]’”
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At this point in Ivan’s poem, “The Grand Inquisitor,” the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor confronts Christ, who has come to Earth as a man. Since appearing in Seville, Christ has entranced the entire town with his warmth and generosity of spirit. Christ’s infinite goodness and comfort are threats to the cardinal’s power, however, which is determined by his ability to control the populace through fear and prejudice, so the cardinal has Christ arrested. Whereas Christ reorients the community to the best aspects of their nature, the cardinal reinforces the worst. In this scene, the darkness is representative of the ignorance that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis c
“Freedom, free reason, and science will lead them into such a maze, and confront them with such miracles and insoluble mysteries, that some of them, unruly and ferocious, will exterminate themselves; others, unruly but feeble, will exterminate each other; and the remaining third, feeble and wretched, will crawl to our feet and cry out to us: ‘Yes, you were right, you alone possess his mystery, and we are coming back to you—save us from ourselves’ [….] But the flock will gather again, and again submit, and this time once and for all.”
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The cardinal tells Christ, who has returned to Earth as a mortal, why Christians throughout the West will ultimately submit to the Church and abandon its pursuits of knowledge and truth. His references to “freedom, free reason, and science” allude to the burgeoning Scientific Revolution, which started in the mid-sixteenth century when the Inquisition was powerful and threatened to stifle scientific progress. The cardinal argues that reason will only confuse people (“lead them into such a maze”) by showing them things that may be too wondrous for most to understand (“such miracles and insoluble mysteries”). The cardinal is a cynic Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nis
Oh, we will allow them to sin, too; they are weak and powerless, and they will love us like children for allowing them to sin. We will tell them that every sin will be redeemed if it is committed with our permission; and that we allow them to sin because we love them, and as for the punishment for these sins, very well, we take it upon ourselves [….] And they will have no secrets from us. We will allow them or forbid them to live with their wives and mistresses, to have or not to have children—all depending on their obedience—and they will submit to us gladly and joyfully. The most tormenting secrets of their conscience—all, they will bring to us, and we will decide all things, and they will joyfully believe our decision […] Peacefully they will die, peacefully they will expire in your name, and beyond the grave they will find only death.”
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Ivan is continuing to narrate his poem, “The Grand Inquisitor,” to Alexei. The cardinal is telling God, who has returned to Earth disguised as a mortal, how the Catholic Church will maintain its power over the people by preying on the worst instincts in human nature. Believing people to be “weak and powerless,” the cardinal imagines that his followers will be grateful for the opportunity to sin within the Church’s parameters. They willbe even more grateful to have the Church as a moral guide, believing that obedience will help them to reach heaven after death. However, at the end of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corpo
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The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor Character Timeline in The Brothers Karamazov
The timeline below shows where the character The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor appears in The Brothers Karamazov. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 2: Book 5, Chapter 5: The Grand Inquisitor
...which he had walked for three years among men fifteen centuries earlier.” The day before, the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor had burned nearly “a hundred heretics at once.”
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...He even raised a dead seven-year-old girl from the coffin. This causes a great commotion. The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor arrives, crossing the square in front of the cathedral, where the girl’s little, white coffin...
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...taken to a “small, gloomy, vaulted prison in the old building of the holy court.” The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor enters his cell, carrying a lamp. He is alone. He asks the prisoner, “Is it...
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Alexei asks if the prisoner just sits silently. Ivan says that the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor tells him to be silent because “he has no right to add anything to what...
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The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor tells the prisoner that people will submit to enslavement in exchange for being fed. Christ...
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The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor tells the prisoner that he didn’t realize that, “as soon as man rejects miracles, he...
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The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor says that the flock will become timid and “tremble limply before [their] wrath.” The Church...
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...Christ but “praises” him. He denies that there could be “such a fantastic person” as the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor and asks who the “bearers of the mystery” could be who have taken responsibility for...
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Alexei asks Ivan how the poem ends. Ivan says that Christ approaches the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor and kisses him gently “on his bloodless, ninety-year-old lips.” The cardinal walks to the door,...
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