The Grand Inquisitor

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The Grand Inquisitor
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Grand Inquisitor shows many examples of evil throughout the story. These include Gnosticism, political orders built on violence, and the issue of free will. All of these occur during the Spanish Inquisition, a time where religious intolerance ran rampant, and people were abusing power left and right, especially within the church. This story shows that a good organization can be corrupted by evil, as well as power. It also paints a great metaphor for the hypocrisy of some religious people, as it shows Jesus Christ himself in the hands of the in- quisition.
Gnosticism is the evil of arrogance and self-satisfaction regarding someone's social stand- ing and knowledge. The Grand Inquisitor character himself displays this on a personal level. As a Cardinal of the Church, the Grand Inquisitor thinks of himself as all powerful and knowledgable, as he has the power to condemn people to be burned at the stake. He shows his arrogance by ar- resting the Lord and Savior of his religion for committing miracles. He tells Christ, who he has imprisoned in a jail cell, that his work cannot be done because it undermines the Church. Is this how Christ would be expected to be treated by a Cardinal, and ordained member of his church …show more content…
The inquisition used terror tactics like intimidation and burning people at the stake in order to get their goal across. In the story it says "for the greater glory of God, stakes were flaming all over the country." Even when Jesus returns, there are bones of heretics crackling in the flames. It is clear that when there is such a group or event like the Inquisition which puts fear into people and uses violence, that the moral character of that community is reduced. People are more willing to turn on each other and turn away from God. That is seen with the Cardinal, who rejects Christ for the Devil because of his loyalty to the

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The Grand Inquisitor JACKIE BARRIERE stc The Grand Inquisitor The Grand Inquisitor is a chapter in Dostoyevsky’s classic novel “The Brothers Karamazov.” The Greater novel itself is a philosophical debate on God, free will, human nature and morality written by Dostoevsky over 2 years and published in 1880. As with all of Dostoyevsky’s novels it is set in a modernizing Russia and it is a deep psychological study of faith and reason as well as the doubt, psychology, moral decisions and thought…

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