King Philip II of Spain as the prototype of the Grand Inquisitor in F.M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”

INTRODUCTION. The Spanish plot forms an important symbolic, semantic and artistic layer of the Grand Inquisitor Legend by F.M. Dostoevsky. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze the typological similarity of the Spanish King Philip II (1527–1598) and the Grand Inquisitor Dostoevsky in the context of the author’s idea of the “Legend”.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The object of the study is the insertion parable of Ivan Karamazov in F.M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, as well as handwritten editions and rough sketches for the “Legend”. The methodological basis of the research includes the comparative historical method, cultural-historical and system-typological analysis.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The study revealed the presence of a complex typological correlation between the image of King Philip II, attested by historical literature, and the artistic image of the Grand Inquisitor of the Legend. The characteristics of both characters, such as despotism, pride, amoralism, fanaticism, asceticism and recluse, go back to two basic categories that build the life and behavior model of the characters – godliness and the will to power. In the context of Dostoevsky’s anti-Catholic polemic, such similarity of portraits (spiritual constitution and psychological type) of the Inquisitor king and the Grand Inquisitor acquires special significance.

CONCLUSION. The revealed typological correlation between historical and artistic images suggests that the Inquisitor King Philip II, as an iconic character in Spanish history, served as one of the prototypes of the main character of Dostoevsky’s “Legend”.

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