Free English Language Essays - The Grand Inquisitor and God
The Inquisitor is presented as being an indifferent, formidable, critical presence; even the word "sinister" is used. "He is an old man, almost ninety, tall and straight, with a gaunt face and sunken eyes, from which a glitter still shines like a fiery spark. Oh, he is not wearing his magnificent cardinal's robes in which he had displayed himself to the people the day before, when the enemies of the Roman faith were burned-no, at this moment he is wearing only his old, coarse monastic cassock. He is followed at a certain distance by his grim assistances and slaves, and by the 'holy' guard. At the sight of the crowd he stops and watches from afar. He had seen everything, seen the coffin set down at his feet, seen the girl rise, and his face darkens. He scowls with his thick, gray, eyebrows and his eyes shine with a sinister fire." (Pg. 417)
A description of God is also depicted in the story wherein his charisma draws the people to his side, "People are drawn to him by an invincible force, they flock to him, surround him, follow him. He passes silently among them with a quiet smile of infinite compassion. The sun of love shines in his heart, rays of Light, Enlightenment, and Power stream from his eyes and, pouring over the people, shake their hearts with responding love." (Pg. 416)
In “The Grand Inquisitor”, the fundamental conflict exists between God and Religion wherein God is symbolized by Jesus Christ and Religion is embodied by the Roman Catholic Church. As stated by the Grand Inquisitor, in the world’s present condition, God and religion cannot exist side by side anymore. There must only be one as they have different conditions and requirements from their followers. With Jesus as the leader, things are not easy and are often difficult. An example for this was when Jesus, time and again, took the difficult way such as allowing his followers to become hungry while they were in the desert. He could have made things easier by performing a miracle and as such, satisfying their physical needs as well. Instead, he demanded great faith from his followers even without any proof on his side.
The Grand Inquisitor delivered a long and lengthy speech wherein he addressed God and reproaches him for the freedom he has given to all of humankind. It must be understood that during the time of Dostoyevsky, these type of freedom were practically non-existent although these are considered as the most fundamental freedom of man. This includes the freedom of loving, the freedom to choose one’s own belief and even the freedom to hate someone. These can be considered as freedoms that are already inherent in mankind which stems from the free will that God gave at the very beginning of creation, and for the Inquisitor, this is what he is against. Initially, a sense of shock and atrocity can be felt regarding the Inquisitor’s statement however, during his argument, his reasons can be quite compelling and convincing. According to the Inquisitor, freedom has in turn, become the reason for mankind’s slavery and it is this freedom which has brought about chaos and destruction to our world. He confronts God regarding this issue and states that in the end, mankind himself will reject the notion of God.
"For the mystery of man's being is not only in living, but in what one lives for. Without a firm idea of what he lives for, man will not consent to live and will sooner destroy himself than remain on earth, even if there is bread all around him. That is so, but what came of it? Instead of taking over men's freedom, you increased it still more for them! Did you forget that peace and even death are dearer to man than free choice in the knowledge of good and evil? There is nothing more seductive for man than the freedom of his conscience, but there is nothing more tormenting, either.
And so, instead of a firm foundation for appeasing human conscience once and for all, you chose everything that was unusual, enigmatic, and indefinite, you chose everything that was beyond men's strength, and thereby acted as if you did not love them at all-and who did this? He who came to give his life for them! Instead of taking over men's freedom, you increased it and forever burdened the kingdom of the human soul with its torments. You desired the free love of man, that he should follow you freely, seduced and captivated by you. Instead of the firm ancient law, man had henceforth to decide for himself, with a free heart, what is good and what is evil, having only your image before him as a guide-but did it not occur to you that he would eventually reject and dispute even your image and your truth if he was oppressed by so terrible a burden as freedom of choice? They will finally cry out that truth is not in you, for it was impossible to leave them in greater confusion and torment than you did, abandoning them to so many cares and insoluble problems." (Pg. 422-423)
Just like the time when Christ was in the desert and endured the temptation of Satan, the Grand Inquisitor also makes a promise to mankind. He is willing to exchange everything in exchange for freedom: a concept that makes mankind a man. For the grand Inquisitor, freedom is a complete and terrible thing to behold as man is equipped with the will to either choose or reject at his own capacity. Wearied by this continual, uninterrupted, and inescapable act of choice which alone makes possible both the act of "free love" and the anti-social act of injustice, the Grand Inquisitor has set out to establish "universal happiness"-in the name of Christ, as he tells his followers, for the sake of "positive Christianity," as the Nazis proclaimed in their program.
In a discussion with a messenger that was sent by Christ himself, the Inquisitor sought to explain the three themes namely: miracle, bread and authority, and the roles that have in mankind’s society. Bread, as used by the grand inquisitor is for maintaining his power and rule over the whole population of man by controlling the bread, which is the food source of man and consequently, producing and redistributing it for mankind. In essence, people are more likely to follow and serve a leader who can provide for his followers regardless of the source of the provisions he gives them. According to the Inquisitor, people hold in highest esteem not their right to make choices or their free will but rather, the satisfaction of their material wants and material desires so that the Inquisitor says "there is no crime, and therefore no sin; there is only hunger…" for in order to commit crimes and sins, people must have free choice. These same people hold onto a faith in Christ that stems from the ancient miracles. However, they are quick to follow and serve a human leader who, in the name of Christ, provides bread for all followers.
It is the symbolism of the bread, the first temptation, which is raised and brought up by most of the modern philosophies. "Feed men, and then ask of them virtue! That's what they'll write on the banner which they will raise against Thee," says the Grand Inquisitor. However, the grand inquisitor depicts the opinion that "freedom and bread enough for all are, inconceivable together." Therefore, a social order that can be said as stable and perfect, one that can be considered for society’s best welfare can be attained is not out of reach as long as men or mankind do not have the freedom to choose or to say what is best for society or not. Christ, who refused to establish social justice by sacrificing freedom for bread was accused by the grand inquisitor when he said "Thou didst reject, the one infallible banner which was offered Thee to make all men bow down to Thee alone- the banner of earthly bread; and Thou has rejected it for the sake of freedom and the bread of heaven."
In the second temptation, Christ was offered by the devil to do magic, to work miracles, to offer man a search for the miraculous instead of for the holy, one of the perennial dangers to which Christians are always subject. The Grand inquisitor, has the vision that man will become lost and will be falsely blinded by God once man is of the opinion that he has the capacity to lift himself up to God and by having any sort of power over God either through asceticism or through the use of prayers. As such, the grand inquisitor makes a suggestion to Christ that man could only take or get what he waited for to be given, which is an antichrist sentiment due to the fact that Christ is God who became man and not the other way around. Christ is not a man who allowed himself to be lifted up by God. Rather, it is God who continuously lifts man up which is evident throughout the history of humankind. For Dostoevsky, history is just that, the lifting up by Christ on the cross of the whole man.
The third temptation, which resulted in Christ's refusal to accept from Satan the kingdom of the world, is used by Dostoevsky to analyze man's "craving for universal unity," which is "the third and last anguish of men." It is through Christ’s refusal of carrying Caesar’s sword and taking it from Satan’s hand himself, that his preference of the freedom of choice rather than a stable and perfect society is made evident. As such, men such as the Grand Inquisitor himself, think that it is time that they "plan the universal happiness of man." The will to unity, the conviction that what is believed by many, or by all, is true, is a terrifying prefiguration of modern democracy, embodies the third temptation
"Thou hast only Thine elect," taunts the Grand Inquisitor, "while we give rest to all." "We promise that only when they renounce their freedom and submit to us will they be free," says the Grand Inquisitor, as he silently defies Christ to contradict him. And when the end shall come, and Christ will call the Grand Inquisitor to account, the grand inquisitor warns Christ that he will be not a whit abashed. "I will stand up and point out to Thee the thousand millions of happy children who have known no sin." But on earth, since the fall of man, man cannot safely be unaware of what he does; the only safely ignorant people are children. The artificially protracted childishness, by which the masses have no idea that in abandoning their freedom of choice they are abandoning their capacity to know or choose good from evil, is total guilt. True that those who abandon their freedom of choice to the Grand Inquisitor can no longer sin, since the Grand Inquisitor sins for them, but they have, in giving up their freedom, placed themselves outside of God's providence.
Those who exemplify this perfectly are the Gestapo officers who are only concerned with following the instructions given to them and as such, they exemplified the truthfulness behind Dostoevsky’s prophecies. According to Dostoevsky, as long as the sinner is fully aware of his sins and acknowledges that he committed the sin in his rightful place during the creation, and the person who has "most respectfully returned Him the ticket" is considered as insignificant and powerless afterwards to turn away from God or to turn God away from him. Knowing and acknowledging that we are sinners and that we commit sin is considered as the first and foremost step towards faith in God and attaining his forgiveness for these transgressions.
On the other hand, the argument that was presented by the Grand Inquisitor is equally difficult to dispute and challenged. This is due to the fact the mankind’s capacity for discernment between what is good and what is evil is still largely uncertain and questionable. As each individual is bestowed with free will, it follows that each person has a different moral system from another person, and there is also a possibility that a person may not have a moral system at all. When we take a minute to examine the events that are going on around us, such as the violence brought about by different wars waged on some countries and the suffering of other people from different parts of the world such as poverty and oppression, we can synthesize that man is unable to manage the free will that was given him.
Everyday, mankind is presented with various choices and several possibilities and he has the capacity to choose his own decision. Mankind, everyday, encounters several moral decisions that he must make and to some people, the wide possibilities can be overwhelming. We can now understand what Milton is referring to when he says that the mind has the ability and the capacity to construct his very own environment and as such, to make "a hell of heaven." This is also what the Inquisitor claims when he says that the freedom of choice or free will has destroyed humanity. The troubles and horrors that people are experiencing everyday are brought about by the same people who make their own choices in the course of their lives. It is therefore said that perhaps it is not free will itself but the massive responsibility that accompanies it that overpowers mankind.
Frequently in The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky emphasizes that in free will, God has given mankind a great responsibility, even a burden. Each person has the free will whether to believe in God or to abolish their faith as well to choose between doing good and doing something evil. Every moment that man is faced with these decisions, there is a possibility of him choosing what is evil as opposed to choosing what is right and good. Even God himself do not have the authority or the capacity to make man follow his command and act according to his wishes or to force people to believe in him and even how to respond to certain situations that life throws our way. It can be said that with mankind’s freedom of choice and free will, the path of mankind is much more difficult and dangerous. However, this is necessary for the evolution of man to progress beyond his childhood and become a fully grown and mature human being.
The Grand Inquisitor argues that when Christ rejected Satan's three temptations to perform miracles, he robbed man of the certainties of life such as having food for everyone, a rigid and unbending structure, and a God who provides miracles in order to force people to believe. Instead, God gave man his freedom and free will which proved to be as much a curse as a blessing. This is because most people do not have a strong character and a strong will to reject temptation or earthly desires as compared to achieving heavenly glories and spiritual rewards. The Grand Inquisitor allies himself with Satan out of compassion for the weakness of mankind, to give man back the certainties of an all-powerful church that provides miracles on demand and a rigid social structure that enslaves man but ensures that he has enough food and shelter. In the Inquisitor's world, man's free will has been sacrificed in favor of social order and contentment. Through his character of the Inquisitor, Ivan suggests that man would be better off being enslaved and secure rather than free and making the appalling mistakes that lead to the suffering of innocents.
Man will continue to desire for his own security and unity. Even if the concept of freedom and free will remain questionable for some people, they are still considered relevant in the present times. Nowadays, we are constantly experiencing varied threats to life and humanity such as threats of war, crime, terrorism, oppression and poverty. We cannot blame, therefore, why mankind’s free will is questioned and a lot of people are actually pondering if man being given free reign to decide and make his own choices is but a mistake. On the other hand, life could not be considered as a life of quality if free will is taken out of the big picture. As human beings, we are separated from other species with our abilities of reasoning, thinking and most importantly, we are the only ones who are granted the freedom to choose and decide on our own. To remove that freedom would equate to losing the very essence of humanity.
It is evident that the argument postulated by the grand inquisitor is logical and at times, convincing. However, it just goes to show that the grand inquisitor himself is only an empty shell of man as his soul is empty due to his lack of faith both in God and in mankind. In the story, Christ responded to the accusations of the grand inquisitor by bestowing a kiss on his lips which can be described as a way to show his love in spite of the grand inquisitor’s character. Zoshima and Alyosha, the other characters in the novel, shows that their decision to choose love and faith are the answer to all the sufferings that stem from man’s inappropriate use of free will. Although not an easy option, this decision is a humane choice that will bring about positive implications.
The Grand Inquisitor and Christ both value freedom and comfort. However, they have different attitudes regarding the value they place on these. Christ, when he desisted the temptations offered to him by the devil gives importance to man’s capacity to choose and decide his own path, whether he will take the path that will lead to rightness or the path that will cause his downfall and destruction. The grand inquisitor, on the other hand, place greater importance towards achieving a comfortable life even if someone makes the decisions apart from him
The fundamental basis of the Inquisitor’s case against Christ is merely to symbolize how Christ resisted the temptations of Satan and that the rest of humankind should do well to follow suit. For the Inquisitor, Christ’s rejection of the temptations put forth by the Devil means that Christ is also rejecting material comfort and security, power and the belief in superstition which are represented namely by bread, kingdom and miracles. The inquisitor believes that Christ provides an example which mankind will find difficult to adhere to as man is also weak. The only option, therefore, would be man leading a sinful life and consequently, ending up in Hell, forever damned. The Inquisitor, attempts to give the people stability and security even if it means that they will al suffer at the end. He seems to be going against the will of God yet he asserts that he is only thinking of what is the best for mankind.
The Grand Inquisitor, evidently, loses all his hope for mankind. He dwells too much on the suffering inflicted by man’s free will instead of focusing on humanity’s goodness. On the other hand, Zossima, is a man of strong faith and is an inspiration to many. He remains faithful to God and his love for humanity can be seen through his actions. The goodness that results from his faith and action is evidence that curtailing free will is not necessary and happiness can be achieved.
