Dmitri and Fyodor’s relationship is becoming more and more violent and livid. The two men are doubles in their love for the same woman. They are involved in a bitter rivalry of mimetic desire and the object cannot be shared. As Dmitri wants to marry this woman, Grushenka, the relationship between the two enters a whole new level. In Chapter 10 especially, Dmitri treats his father like a scoundrel. He almost kills his father and he vows to return and finish the job.
The issue of Grushenka is wrapped in a web of jealousy, competition, and lustful desire. Both Dmitri and Fyodor are sensualist in nature, and unfortunately, their desires have fallen upon the same woman. In Chapter 10, Dmitri is spying on Fyodor’s house while Ivan and Alyosha are inside eating with Fyodor. Dmitri breaks into the house claiming that Grushenka is in the house. Chaos breaks out as Fyodor yells for Dmitri to be caught. Passions rage, and it comes to the point that Dmitri, “raised both hands and suddenly seized the old man by the two surviving wisps of hair on his temples, pulled, and smashed him against the floor. He even had time to kick the fallen man in the face two or three times with his heel” (139).
The tempers of Dmitri and Fyodor are similar in that they easily oscillate from composure to rage. Dmitri’s temper leads him to treat his father as a deadly enemy. Not only does Dmitri attack his father, he also vows to return and finish killing his father if he’s not already dead. “And if I haven’t killed him this time, I’ll come back and kill him. You can’t save him!” (139). Dmitri has lost all rationale in reasoning with and respecting his father.
Dmitry is clearly a scoundrel in his physical attack on his father and his verbal promise to kill him, although the father is by no means sinless in the Grushenka rivalry. Both men are involved in this mimetic rivalry that has spun into enraged violence.
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Blog due 01-16-08
Dmitri and Fyodor’s relationship is becoming more and more violent and livid. The two men are doubles in their love for the same woman. They are involved in a bitter rivalry of mimetic desire and the object cannot be shared. As Dmitri wants to marry this woman, Grushenka, the relationship between the two enters a whole new level. In Chapter 10 especially, Dmitri treats his father like a scoundrel. He almost kills his father and he vows to return and finish the job.
The issue of Grushenka is wrapped in a web of jealousy, competition, and lustful desire. Both Dmitri and Fyodor are sensualist in nature, and unfortunately, their desires have fallen upon the same woman. In Chapter 10, Dmitri is spying on Fyodor’s house while Ivan and Alyosha are inside eating with Fyodor. Dmitri breaks into the house claiming that Grushenka is in the house. Chaos breaks out as Fyodor yells for Dmitri to be caught. Passions rage, and it comes to the point that Dmitri, “raised both hands and suddenly seized the old man by the two surviving wisps of hair on his temples, pulled, and smashed him against the floor. He even had time to kick the fallen man in the face two or three times with his heel” (139).
The tempers of Dmitri and Fyodor are similar in that they easily oscillate from composure to rage. Dmitri’s temper leads him to treat his father as a deadly enemy. Not only does Dmitri attack his father, he also vows to return and finish killing his father if he’s not already dead. “And if I haven’t killed him this time, I’ll come back and kill him. You can’t save him!” (139). Dmitri has lost all rationale in reasoning with and respecting his father.
Dmitry is clearly a scoundrel in his physical attack on his father and his verbal promise to kill him, although the father is by no means sinless in the Grushenka rivalry. Both men are involved in this mimetic rivalry that has spun into enraged violence.
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