# VIII: The Third and Last Interview with Smerdyakov explained — The Brothers Karamazov

> Chapter companion for The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

## What happens

Ivan confronts Smerdyakov, who confesses to murdering Fyodor Pavlovitch and stealing the three thousand rubles, but insists Ivan is the true murderer because his consent and departure to Tchermashnya signaled approval. Smerdyakov details his premeditated plan, including hiding the money behind icons and manipulating evidence to frame Dmitri. Ivan, horrified, vows to confess at the trial and demands Smerdyakov confess as well.

## Themes in this chapter

### Free Will and Responsibility

Smerdyakov argues that Ivan's consent and departure made him the true murderer, challenging notions of direct versus moral responsibility.

### Justice and Injustice

The planned framing of Dmitri and Ivan's vow to confess highlight the tension between legal justice and moral truth.

### Fathers and Sons

Ivan's secret desire for his father's death and Smerdyakov's manipulation of that desire underscore the destructive dynamics between generations.

## Character check-ins

### Ivan Karamazov

Confronts Smerdyakov, learns of his father's murder, and resolves to confess at the trial.

### Smerdyakov

Confesses to the murder and theft, but argues Ivan is morally responsible due to his tacit consent.

### Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov

The victim; Smerdyakov describes his murder in detail.

### Dmitri Karamazov

Mentioned as the intended scapegoat; Smerdyakov framed him for the murder.

### Grigory

Attacked by Dmitri and left senseless; Smerdyakov used his incapacitation to commit the murder.

### Grushenka

Used by Smerdyakov as a pretext to lure Fyodor Pavlovitch to open the door.

## Key lines

> Assured of your consent, I should have known that you wouldn’t have made an outcry over those three thousand being lost, even if I’d been suspected, instead of Dmitri Fyodorovitch, or as his accomplice; on the contrary, you would have protected me from others.

Smerdyakov claims that Ivan's agreement to go to Tchermashnya signaled that Ivan would not protest the theft and would shield Smerdyakov from suspicion.

_Smerdyakov interprets Ivan's consent as tacit approval of the murder._

> I did that for a good reason. For if a man had known all about it, as I did for instance, if he’d seen those notes before, and perhaps had put them in that envelope himself, and had seen the envelope sealed up and addressed, with his own eyes, if such a man had done the murder, what should have made him tear open the envelope afterwards, especially in such desperate haste, since he’d know for certain the notes must be in the envelope?

Smerdyakov explains that he left the torn envelope on the floor to make the crime look like Dmitri's work, since Dmitri would not have known the money was inside.

_Smerdyakov's cunning plan to frame Dmitri by staging the evidence._

> You are the rightful murderer.

Smerdyakov tells Ivan that he, not Smerdyakov, is the true murderer because Ivan's desire and consent enabled the crime.

_Smerdyakov shifts moral culpability onto Ivan._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-iv-viii-the-third-and-last-interview-with-smerdyakov
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters