Know that I fear Thee not. Know that I too have been in the wilderness, I too have lived on roots and locusts, I too prized the freedom with which Thou hast blessed men, and I too was striving to stand among Thy elect, among the strong and powerful, thirsting "to make up the number." But I awakened and would not serve madness. (The Brothers Karamozov, Part II, Book V, p. 308)
The legend of the Grand Inquisitor within The Brothers Karamozov is the philosophical root of Dostoevsky's novel. To understand the Grand Inquisitor and, indeed, Dostoevsky is to see the ambivalence inherent within the personality of man. Man is good, yet he is drawn to evil. The Grand Inquisitor legend is about an archetype that has come to earth and condemned man for being vile and rebellious. A type of Christ, and yet an antithesis. While Christ came to bring justice through mercy and love, the Grand Inquisitor brings justice through deceit and violence.
The Grand Inquisitor imprisons Christ and tortures him by querying him on his motives and sentiments. He maintains that while we are born with freedom, we are quick to give it up to anyone who is willing to take it from us. That we look at slavery as a kind of freedom. In this, he mocks Christ, sarcastically noting how great sacrifice was made for man's freedom, and how ungrateful the bastard race was.
To the Grand Inquisitor, man's freedom of choice of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is the sum total of all his problems. He considered that nothing was more seductive, nor was anything more explicitly the cause of man's suffering. So utilizing his best arguments, the Grand Inquisitor wields words in an effort to win Christ over to his side of thinking, noting that they can both enslave man together in the name of freedom, founding the work of Christ on mystery, miracle and authority.
It is in this knowledge, that the Grand Inquisitor equates himself with Christ as an equal, as having suff...