Katerina Ivanovna Verkhovtsev
October 25, 2009
(Katya, Katka, Katenka)
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Considering Karamazov 
In Chpater 4 (A Lady of Little Faith p54) Katerina send Alexei a note stating that she wishes to see him. Alexei has only met her once, and he blushes and grins at the note. Lise’s mama tells Alexei that Katerina wishes to speak to him about her decision concerning Dmitri and “all these recent events.” Later, in Chapter 7 (A Seminarist-Careerist p81), it is revealed that Katerina is Dmitri’s fiancee, but Ivan also likes her and wants to snatch her away from his brother. Katerina is said to be a beauty, a colonel’s daughter, an aristocrat, and have a dowry of 6,000 roubles.
Based on Alexei’s reaction to Katerina’s note and the love triangle between Katerina, Dmitri, and Ivan, I think that Alexei, too, has feelings for Katerina or that she has feelings for him.
In Chapter 4 of book 3 we learn that Katerina is the daughter of Dmitri’s colonel and that she agreed to marry Dmitri in order to save her father.
In Chapter 5 she tries to send money to her sister through Dmitri. We learn that she respects Ivan, is madly in love with Dmitri, and asked if she could be his fiancee.
In Chapter 10 we learn that Katerina lives on Main Street with her 2 aunts and that she is exceptionally tall. When Alexei visits her and tells her that Dmitri wishes to break their engagement, she convinces herself that she can still save Dmitri. She wants to be his friend, and she does not want him to feel ashamed in front of her. She asks Grushenka to vist her, and Grushenka tricks her into believing that she will not marry Dmitri. This trickery results in Katerina kissing Grushenka’s hand and Grushenka not kissing Katerina’s. Before Grushenka leaves, she places Katerina on her level by alluding to Katerina’s coming to Dmitri “to get money” and “offering [her] beauty for sale” (152). Katerina shows no restraint of emotion in front of Alexei.
What do you think it says about Dmitri that he is attracted to both of these women? And that both are attracted to him? For that matter, what do you think each of them means by “love”?
I think that Dmitri wants to have his cake and eat it to in a sense. I think he selfishly wants both women because she enjoys seeing the turmoil that his fickleness creates, blaming this enjoyment on being a Karamazov of course.
I don’t think either of the women understands true love. They throw it around, but neither of them really love Dmitri. For these women, I feel love is more of an attachment that they have formed with Dmitri.
Chapter 5 of book 4 begins with Katerina and Ivan discussing their relationship. Katerina clearly likes (maybe even loves) Ivan, but she convinces herself that she is in love with Dmitri and will not leave him. This is a sign of her stubbornness. Alexei sees that a woman like Katerina must always be in control of the things around her, which may be why she continues to push Ivan away. He is not the kind of man who would let her control him. Dmitri, on the other hand, would be more willing to bend to Katerina in Alexei’s opinion. When she finds out that Ivan will be leaving, she tries to turn her emotions around and be happy, but her feelings are clearly forced. As Alexei states she “acted as if [she] were in a comedy, in a theater” (191).
I think Katerina loves Ivan, but she feels bound to Dmitri because of the way in which he helped her father, even though she has already paid him back. Katerina’s pride will not let her give up on the debt she owes Dmitri. I think Katerina wishes to stay true to him, even if he were to marry Grushenka, because she wants him to feel that pain that he causes her. I think she believes that if she continues to “love” Dmitri he will continue to feel bad about what he did to her. She will enjoy seeing him in this pain because it will be a sort of revenge for her.
I also think that Katerina has a motivation in her (much like the one Karamazov’s are supposed to have) that forces her to cause inner pain to herself by pushing Ivan away and prevents her from being happy. Despite all her shortcomings, Katerina does have some good in her because she asks Alexei to offer the man Dmitri offended some money. However, I think that Katerina may have motives behind this action as well, knowing that Dmitri will probably find out about her “generosity.”
Over all, I think Mme Khokhlakov describes Katerina the best saying, “she’s proud, fighting against herself, but kind, lovely, magnanimous” because this is the Katerina that is on display for everyone to see. This description is the role she plays as an actress in her own life (194).
A nice phrase: “an actress in her own life!”
In Book 11 the reader learns that Katerina invites the best doctor and lawyer to the trial to help save Mitya. I think that this shows that Katerina still has friendly feelings toward Mitya because she is willing to put up her own money to help him. However, in this book Mitya says that Katerina is a woman of great wrath, which I think adds to her fickleness and self-lacerating nature. The reader also learns that Katerina holds a piece of key evidence, the letter from Dmitri, that could potentially make or break Mitya’s case.
In Book 12 Katerina “betrays” Mitya at his trial by pulling out the letter he wrote to her stating that he would kill his father. Katerina does this only as a way to save Ivan’s good name.
My final conclusion and thoughts on Katerina are that she is a very conflicted woman, even more so than Grushenka. At the trial Katerina is torn between her former love and her current love, and in the end she choose Ivan, her current love, to save. Katerina allows her emotions to get the best of her constantly. However, I think part of the conflict within Katerina is that she wants to do good to the people around her. The problem lies, in the case of Mitya and Ivan, that doing good for one would mean betraying the other. the reader knows that Katerina has a good heart because of her actions toward Ilyushechka and his family. For her sake, I hope Ivan lives, because I sense that without someone to love Katerina could take her own life. Katerina is not without her flaws, though. She is selfish and often there are secret motives behind her actions. I think this adds to her conflict, too. She is proud and must take care of herself; this creates a conflict when she tries to love others, like Mitya and Ivan. However, once Katerina learns to balance her emotions and reign in her pride, I think she is capable of loving and being a good person.