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Paradox
Explanation and Analysis—Humility and Pride:
When Alexei arrives at the home of Katerina Ivanovna, he finds that Ivan is already there. Listening to them talk, he suddenly announces that Katerina loves Ivan, a claim that both of them deny. Responding to Katerina, Ivan uses a paradox to describe the tempestuous relationship between her and his brother, Dmitri:
And the more he insults you, the more you love him. That is your strain. You precisely love him as he is, you love him insulting you. If he reformed, you would drop him at once and stop loving him altogether. But you need him in order to continually contemplate your high deed of faithfulness, and to reproach him for his unfaithfulness. And it all comes from your pride. Oh, there is much humility and humiliation in it, but all of it comes from pride …
He claims, paradoxically, that the “more” Dmitri insults Katerina, the “more” she loves him in return. Further, he adds that Katerina does not love Dmitri despite his insults, but rather, that she loves him “precisely” because he insults her. Here, Ivan argues that Katerina’s love for Dmitri is driven by her own desire to suffer and the pride she takes in her feelings of martyrdom. If Dmitri “reformed” and started treating her with kindness, Ivan reasons, she “would drop him at once and stop loving him altogether.” In a final paradox, he suggests that her “humility” is based upon the opposite feeling: pride.
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