feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/shmoop/The Brothers Karamazov/section_92_part_0.txt
feat_book_id: The Brothers Karamazov.book 12.chapter 14
feat_summary_id: book 12, chapter 14
feat_summary: {"name": "Book 12, Chapter 14", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20201023112808/https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/brothers-karamazov/summary/book-12-chapter-14", "summary": "The end of Fetyukovich's speech is greeted with loud applause from the courtroom. But Kirillovich is indignant and in his hurried response takes Fetyukovich to task for invoking the Gospel, for insulting Kirillovich's use of psychology, and for inventing fantastic and unbelievable explanations for Dmitri's and Smerdyakov's behavior. Fetyukovich responds to these accusations in a calm and reasonable way. The judge then asks Dmitri if he has anything to say. Dmitri again stresses his innocence and asks for the mercy of the court. The judge then briefly lectures the jury, the jury retires, and the audience in the courtroom discusses the speeches. After exactly an hour, the jury returns with a verdict: guilty of all charges, with no extenuating circumstances. Dmitri cries out and Grushenka screams. Dmitri is taken away. The sentencing is to take place the next day.", "analysis": ""}
text: Chapter XIV. The Peasants Stand Firm
  
  
  This was how Fetyukovitch concluded his speech, and the enthusiasm of the
  audience burst like an irresistible storm. It was out of the question to
  stop it: the women wept, many of the men wept too, even two important
  personages shed tears. The President submitted, and even postponed ringing
  his bell. The suppression of such an enthusiasm would be the suppression
  of something sacred, as the ladies cried afterwards. The orator himself
  was genuinely touched.
  
  And it was at this moment that Ippolit Kirillovitch got up to make certain
  objections. People looked at him with hatred. "What? What's the meaning of
  it? He positively dares to make objections," the ladies babbled. But if
  the whole world of ladies, including his wife, had protested he could not
  have been stopped at that moment. He was pale, he was shaking with
  emotion, his first phrases were even unintelligible, he gasped for breath,
  could hardly speak clearly, lost the thread. But he soon recovered
  himself. Of this new speech of his I will quote only a few sentences.
  
  "... I am reproached with having woven a romance. But what is this defense
  if not one romance on the top of another? All that was lacking was poetry.
  Fyodor Pavlovitch, while waiting for his mistress, tears open the envelope
  and throws it on the floor. We are even told what he said while engaged in
  this strange act. Is not this a flight of fancy? And what proof have we
  that he had taken out the money? Who heard what he said? The weak-minded
  idiot, Smerdyakov, transformed into a Byronic hero, avenging society for
  his illegitimate birth--isn't this a romance in the Byronic style? And the
  son who breaks into his father's house and murders him without murdering
  him is not even a romance--this is a sphinx setting us a riddle which he
  cannot solve himself. If he murdered him, he murdered him, and what's the
  meaning of his murdering him without having murdered him--who can make head
  or tail of this?
  
  "Then we are admonished that our tribune is a tribune of true and sound
  ideas and from this tribune of 'sound ideas' is heard a solemn declaration
  that to call the murder of a father 'parricide' is nothing but a
  prejudice! But if parricide is a prejudice, and if every child is to ask
  his father why he is to love him, what will become of us? What will become
  of the foundations of society? What will become of the family? Parricide,
  it appears, is only a bogy of Moscow merchants' wives. The most precious,
  the most sacred guarantees for the destiny and future of Russian justice
  are presented to us in a perverted and frivolous form, simply to attain an
  object--to obtain the justification of something which cannot be justified.
  'Oh, crush him by mercy,' cries the counsel for the defense; but that's
  all the criminal wants, and to-morrow it will be seen how much he is
  crushed. And is not the counsel for the defense too modest in asking only
  for the acquittal of the prisoner? Why not found a charity in the honor of
  the parricide to commemorate his exploit among future generations?
  Religion and the Gospel are corrected--that's all mysticism, we are told,
  and ours is the only true Christianity which has been subjected to the
  analysis of reason and common sense. And so they set up before us a false
  semblance of Christ! 'What measure ye mete so it shall be meted unto you
  again,' cried the counsel for the defense, and instantly deduces that
  Christ teaches us to measure as it is measured to us--and this from the
  tribune of truth and sound sense! We peep into the Gospel only on the eve
  of making speeches, in order to dazzle the audience by our acquaintance
  with what is, anyway, a rather original composition, which may be of use
  to produce a certain effect--all to serve the purpose! But what Christ
  commands us is something very different: He bids us beware of doing this,
  because the wicked world does this, but we ought to forgive and to turn
  the other cheek, and not to measure to our persecutors as they measure to
  us. This is what our God has taught us and not that to forbid children to
  murder their fathers is a prejudice. And we will not from the tribune of
  truth and good sense correct the Gospel of our Lord, Whom the counsel for
  the defense deigns to call only 'the crucified lover of humanity,' in
  opposition to all orthodox Russia, which calls to Him, 'For Thou art our
  God!' "
  
  At this the President intervened and checked the over-zealous speaker,
  begging him not to exaggerate, not to overstep the bounds, and so on, as
  presidents always do in such cases. The audience, too, was uneasy. The
  public was restless: there were even exclamations of indignation.
  Fetyukovitch did not so much as reply; he only mounted the tribune to lay
  his hand on his heart and, with an offended voice, utter a few words full
  of dignity. He only touched again, lightly and ironically, on "romancing"
  and "psychology," and in an appropriate place quoted, "Jupiter, you are
  angry, therefore you are wrong," which provoked a burst of approving
  laughter in the audience, for Ippolit Kirillovitch was by no means like
  Jupiter. Then, _a propos_ of the accusation that he was teaching the young
  generation to murder their fathers, Fetyukovitch observed, with great
  dignity, that he would not even answer. As for the prosecutor's charge of
  uttering unorthodox opinions, Fetyukovitch hinted that it was a personal
  insinuation and that he had expected in this court to be secure from
  accusations "damaging to my reputation as a citizen and a loyal subject."
  But at these words the President pulled him up, too, and Fetyukovitch
  concluded his speech with a bow, amid a hum of approbation in the court.
  And Ippolit Kirillovitch was, in the opinion of our ladies, "crushed for
  good."
  
  Then the prisoner was allowed to speak. Mitya stood up, but said very
  little. He was fearfully exhausted, physically and mentally. The look of
  strength and independence with which he had entered in the morning had
  almost disappeared. He seemed as though he had passed through an
  experience that day, which had taught him for the rest of his life
  something very important he had not understood till then. His voice was
  weak, he did not shout as before. In his words there was a new note of
  humility, defeat and submission.
  
  "What am I to say, gentlemen of the jury? The hour of judgment has come
  for me, I feel the hand of God upon me! The end has come to an erring man!
  But, before God, I repeat to you, I am innocent of my father's blood! For
  the last time I repeat, it wasn't I killed him! I was erring, but I loved
  what is good. Every instant I strove to reform, but I lived like a wild
  beast. I thank the prosecutor, he told me many things about myself that I
  did not know; but it's not true that I killed my father, the prosecutor is
  mistaken. I thank my counsel, too. I cried listening to him; but it's not
  true that I killed my father, and he needn't have supposed it. And don't
  believe the doctors. I am perfectly sane, only my heart is heavy. If you
  spare me, if you let me go, I will pray for you. I will be a better man. I
  give you my word before God I will! And if you will condemn me, I'll break
  my sword over my head myself and kiss the pieces. But spare me, do not rob
  me of my God! I know myself, I shall rebel! My heart is heavy, gentlemen
  ... spare me!"
  
  He almost fell back in his place: his voice broke: he could hardly
  articulate the last phrase. Then the judges proceeded to put the questions
  and began to ask both sides to formulate their conclusions.
  
  But I will not describe the details. At last the jury rose to retire for
  consultation. The President was very tired, and so his last charge to the
  jury was rather feeble. "Be impartial, don't be influenced by the
  eloquence of the defense, but yet weigh the arguments. Remember that there
  is a great responsibility laid upon you," and so on and so on.
  
  The jury withdrew and the court adjourned. People could get up, move
  about, exchange their accumulated impressions, refresh themselves at the
  buffet. It was very late, almost one o'clock in the night, but nobody went
  away: the strain was so great that no one could think of repose. All
  waited with sinking hearts; though that is, perhaps, too much to say, for
  the ladies were only in a state of hysterical impatience and their hearts
  were untroubled. An acquittal, they thought, was inevitable. They all
  prepared themselves for a dramatic moment of general enthusiasm. I must
  own there were many among the men, too, who were convinced that an
  acquittal was inevitable. Some were pleased, others frowned, while some
  were simply dejected, not wanting him to be acquitted. Fetyukovitch
  himself was confident of his success. He was surrounded by people
  congratulating him and fawning upon him.
  
  "There are," he said to one group, as I was told afterwards, "there are
  invisible threads binding the counsel for the defense with the jury. One
  feels during one's speech if they are being formed. I was aware of them.
  They exist. Our cause is won. Set your mind at rest."
  
  "What will our peasants say now?" said one stout, cross-looking, pock-
  marked gentleman, a landowner of the neighborhood, approaching a group of
  gentlemen engaged in conversation.
  
  "But they are not all peasants. There are four government clerks among
  them."
  
  "Yes, there are clerks," said a member of the district council, joining
  the group.
  
  "And do you know that Nazaryev, the merchant with the medal, a juryman?"
  
  "What of him?"
  
  "He is a man with brains."
  
  "But he never speaks."
  
  "He is no great talker, but so much the better. There's no need for the
  Petersburg man to teach him: he could teach all Petersburg himself. He's
  the father of twelve children. Think of that!"
  
  "Upon my word, you don't suppose they won't acquit him?" one of our young
  officials exclaimed in another group.
  
  "They'll acquit him for certain," said a resolute voice.
  
  "It would be shameful, disgraceful, not to acquit him!" cried the
  official. "Suppose he did murder him--there are fathers and fathers! And,
  besides, he was in such a frenzy.... He really may have done nothing but
  swing the pestle in the air, and so knocked the old man down. But it was a
  pity they dragged the valet in. That was simply an absurd theory! If I'd
  been in Fetyukovitch's place, I should simply have said straight out: 'He
  murdered him; but he is not guilty, hang it all!' "
  
  "That's what he did, only without saying, 'Hang it all!' "
  
  "No, Mihail Semyonovitch, he almost said that, too," put in a third voice.
  
  "Why, gentlemen, in Lent an actress was acquitted in our town who had cut
  the throat of her lover's lawful wife."
  
  "Oh, but she did not finish cutting it."
  
  "That makes no difference. She began cutting it."
  
  "What did you think of what he said about children? Splendid, wasn't it?"
  
  "Splendid!"
  
  "And about mysticism, too!"
  
  "Oh, drop mysticism, do!" cried some one else; "think of Ippolit and his
  fate from this day forth. His wife will scratch his eyes out to-morrow for
  Mitya's sake."
  
  "Is she here?"
  
  "What an idea! If she'd been here she'd have scratched them out in court.
  She is at home with toothache. He he he!"
  
  "He he he!"
  
  In a third group:
  
  "I dare say they will acquit Mitenka, after all."
  
  "I should not be surprised if he turns the 'Metropolis' upside down to-
  morrow. He will be drinking for ten days!"
  
  "Oh, the devil!"
  
  "The devil's bound to have a hand in it. Where should he be if not here?"
  
  "Well, gentlemen, I admit it was eloquent. But still it's not the thing to
  break your father's head with a pestle! Or what are we coming to?"
  
  "The chariot! Do you remember the chariot?"
  
  "Yes; he turned a cart into a chariot!"
  
  "And to-morrow he will turn a chariot into a cart, just to suit his
  purpose."
  
  "What cunning chaps there are nowadays! Is there any justice to be had in
  Russia?"
  
  But the bell rang. The jury deliberated for exactly an hour, neither more
  nor less. A profound silence reigned in the court as soon as the public
  had taken their seats. I remember how the jurymen walked into the court.
  At last! I won't repeat the questions in order, and, indeed, I have
  forgotten them. I remember only the answer to the President's first and
  chief question: "Did the prisoner commit the murder for the sake of
  robbery and with premeditation?" (I don't remember the exact words.) There
  was a complete hush. The foreman of the jury, the youngest of the clerks,
  pronounced, in a clear, loud voice, amidst the deathlike stillness of the
  court:
  
  "Yes, guilty!"
  
  And the same answer was repeated to every question: "Yes, guilty!" and
  without the slightest extenuating comment. This no one had expected;
  almost every one had reckoned upon a recommendation to mercy, at least.
  The deathlike silence in the court was not broken--all seemed petrified:
  those who desired his conviction as well as those who had been eager for
  his acquittal. But that was only for the first instant, and it was
  followed by a fearful hubbub. Many of the men in the audience were
  pleased. Some were rubbing their hands with no attempt to conceal their
  joy. Those who disagreed with the verdict seemed crushed, shrugged their
  shoulders, whispered, but still seemed unable to realize this. But how
  shall I describe the state the ladies were in? I thought they would create
  a riot. At first they could scarcely believe their ears. Then suddenly the
  whole court rang with exclamations: "What's the meaning of it? What next?"
  They leapt up from their places. They seemed to fancy that it might be at
  once reconsidered and reversed. At that instant Mitya suddenly stood up
  and cried in a heartrending voice, stretching his hands out before him:
  
  "I swear by God and the dreadful Day of Judgment I am not guilty of my
  father's blood! Katya, I forgive you! Brothers, friends, have pity on the
  other woman!"
  
  He could not go on, and broke into a terrible sobbing wail that was heard
  all over the court in a strange, unnatural voice unlike his own. From the
  farthest corner at the back of the gallery came a piercing shriek--it was
  Grushenka. She had succeeded in begging admittance to the court again
  before the beginning of the lawyers' speeches. Mitya was taken away. The
  passing of the sentence was deferred till next day. The whole court was in
  a hubbub but I did not wait to hear. I only remember a few exclamations I
  heard on the steps as I went out.
  
  "He'll have a twenty years' trip to the mines!"
  
  "Not less."
  
  "Well, our peasants have stood firm."
  
  "And have done for our Mitya."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Book 12, Chapter 14
target: The end of Fetyukovich's speech is greeted with loud applause from the courtroom. But Kirillovich is indignant and in his hurried response takes Fetyukovich to task for invoking the Gospel, for insulting Kirillovich's use of psychology, and for inventing fantastic and unbelievable explanations for Dmitri's and Smerdyakov's behavior. Fetyukovich responds to these accusations in a calm and reasonable way. The judge then asks Dmitri if he has anything to say. Dmitri again stresses his innocence and asks for the mercy of the court. The judge then briefly lectures the jury, the jury retires, and the audience in the courtroom discusses the speeches. After exactly an hour, the jury returns with a verdict: guilty of all charges, with no extenuating circumstances. Dmitri cries out and Grushenka screams. Dmitri is taken away. The sentencing is to take place the next day.