The Brothers Karamazov Literary Devices

Definition of Pathos

Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition

Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is... read full definition

Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition

Key Examples in The Brothers Karamazov

Explanation and Analysis—Prayer and Suicide:

Zosima the elder uses pathos in his argument to the other monks and theologians that it is spiritually acceptable to pray for the souls of those who have committed suicide:

I regret, my brothers and friends, that I cannot express it clearly. But woe to those who have destroyed themselves on earth, woe to the suicides! I think there can be no one unhappier than they. We are told that it is a sin to pray to God for them, and outwardly the Church rejects them, as it were, but in the secret of my soul I think that one may pray for them as well. Christ will not be angered by love. Within myself, all my life, I have prayed for them [...]

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Explanation and Analysis—Dmitri's Defense:

Dmitri uses pathos and ethos while attempting to refute the accusation that he killed his father to the investigators:

Can you possibly think I’d conceal it from you if I really killed my father? That I’d hedge, and lie, and hide? No, Dmitri Karamazov is not like that, he couldn’t bear it, and if I were guilty, I swear [...] I’d have destroyed myself even before, without waiting for dawn! I feel that in myself now. I’ve found out more in this one cursed night than I’d have learned in twenty years of living … ! [...] Would I look at you and at the world like this, if I really were a parricide, when even the inadvertent killing of Grigory gave me no rest all night—

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The Brothers Karamazov: Pathos 2 key examples

Definition of Pathos

Key Examples in The Brothers Karamazov