Vocabulary in The Brothers Karamazov

Sunk to the lowest possible condition; completely without dignity or self-respect, in a way that inspires contempt rather than sympathy.

Here used in its older sense of deeply corrupted by vice and immoral habits, not merely cruel or violent.

Lacking any rational purpose or guiding principle; behaving in a way that shows no awareness of consequences or meaning.

A person who deliberately acts like a ridiculous clown or fool, often to entertain or to hide genuine feelings behind mockery.

An almost pleasurable frenzy of humiliating oneself before others, going far beyond ordinary humility into a kind of theatrical self-degradation.

A person who behaves dishonestly and without moral principle; a rogue whose conduct is shameful but not necessarily criminal.

Fully understood or measured the depth of something mysterious; here, to have grasped the complete meaning or nature of a thing.

A large, imposing structure; used here figuratively to mean a grand system or framework — in this case, the entire structure of human civilization and happiness.

The final outcome or end point of a long process; here, the ultimate conclusion of all human history and suffering.

Drained of blood and therefore pale or lifeless; used here to describe the lips of a very old man, suggesting extreme age and frailty.

An outward likeness or reflection of something; here, a visible earthly image or echo of divine love, not the thing itself.

A feeling of intense spiritual joy and delight so overwhelming it seems to lift a person out of ordinary experience.

So deep it cannot be measured or fully taken in; boundless and immeasurable, used here to describe the vast night sky.

The sky as seen from below, imagined as a great curved ceiling or dome arching overhead like the roof of a cathedral.

The basic unit of Russian currency; the money used throughout this novel for debts, bribes, and transactions.

A heavy club-shaped tool used for crushing or grinding substances in a bowl; here it is the object found in Mitya's hand and treated as a possible murder weapon.

The formal legal questioning and evidence-gathering that takes place immediately after a crime, before any trial begins.

A person who forms opinions about religion and morality through reason alone, rejecting the authority of the Church or tradition.

Someone who believes that life has no inherent meaning, moral truths do not exist, and established social institutions deserve to be torn down.

A living embodiment of something abstract; here, the Devil claims to be a physical, visible form taken by one part of Ivan's own mind and personality.

Boldly disrespectful and cheeky toward people in authority, without any shame or embarrassment about it.

The Siberian penal labor camps where convicted criminals were sent to do brutal forced work in mines, effectively a living death sentence.

Based on indirect evidence that points toward a conclusion without proving it directly; a circumstantial case relies on inference rather than eyewitness proof.

Genuinely good for a person's inner health and moral well-being, nourishing the soul rather than just the body.