The Brothers Karamazov MCQs

Author's Photo
Have a specific topic you'd like me to cover? Feel free to contact me with your suggestions.
Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

The Brothers Karamazov MCQs
Updated on: November 2, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 16 min

The Brothers Karamazov MCQs

1. Who is the third son mentioned initially?

A. Ivan Fyodorovich
B. Dmitri Fyodorovich
C. Alexei Fyodorovich
D. Pyotr Alexandrovich

C. Alexei Fyodorovich.
Alexei Fyodorovich is introduced as the third son of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, a strange landowner.

2. How much money did Fyodor Pavlovich amass?

A. Five thousand roubles
B. Ten thousand roubles
C. One hundred thousand
D. Seventy-five thousand

C. One hundred thousand.
Fyodor Pavlovich started with little but accumulated one hundred thousand roubles in hard cash.

3. What kind of person was Fyodor Pavlovich?

A. Generous and quiet
B. Worthless and depraved
C. Scholarly and honest
D. Stúpid but shrewd

B. Worthless and depraved.
Fyodor Pavlovich was characterised as a type of man who is both worthless and depraved.

4. How long ago did Fyodor Pavlovich die?

A. Exactly ten years ago
B. Exactly thirteen years ago
C. About fifty years ago
D. Only six months ago

B. Exactly thirteen years ago.
The narrator mentions that Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov’s tragic death happened exactly thirteen years ago.
5. How did Alyosha’s father initially view him?

A. With open love
B. With immediate trust
C. With sullen suspicion
D. With great contempt

C. With sullen suspicion.
Fyodor Pavlovich initially met Alyosha with sullen suspicion, believing he reasoned too much.

6. What gift did Alyosha possess in his nature?

A. Skill in mathematics
B. The gift of cunning
C. The gift of awakening love
D. Great physical strength

C. The gift of awakening love.
Alyosha possessed the natural gift of awakening a special love for himself wherever he appeared.

7. What trait made Alyosha’s schoolmates tease him?

A. His love of reading
B. His physical weakness
C. His wild modesty
D. His quiet temperament

C. His wild modesty.
Alyosha was constantly teased by schoolmates for his wild, frantic modesty and chastity.

8. Who was Alyosha’s benefactor and guardian?

A. Fyodor Pavlovich
B. Yefim Petrovich Polenov
C. Elder Zosima
D. Pyotr Miusov

B. Yefim Petrovich Polenov.
In his earliest childhood, Alyosha lived with his benefactor and guardian, Yefim Petrovich Polenov.

9. Who impressed Alyosha and inspired him to join the monastery?

A. Pyotr Miusov
B. Fyodor Pavlovich
C. Elder Zosima
D. Father Ferapont

C. Elder Zosima.
The elder Zosima made a particular impression on Alyosha, leading him to enter the monastery.
10. What monetary gift does Fyodor Pavlovich mention Alyosha possesses?

A. A great inheritance
B. Two thousand roubles
C. A small yearly stipend
D. Fifty thousand roubles

B. Two thousand roubles.
Fyodor Pavlovich mentions Alyosha’s “little two thousand” roubles when discussing the possibility of him becoming a novice.

11. What specific question did Fyodor Pavlovich ask Alyosha about hell?

A. If it contained fire
B. If it lacked hooks
C. If the devil’s fast
D. If monks pray there

B. If it lacked hooks.
Fyodor Pavlovich was troubled by whether hell had a ceiling, which implied the absence of hooks.

12. What time was the meeting with the elder appointed for?

A. Early morning mass
B. After the late liturgy
C. Just after dinner
D. Immediately at dawn

B. After late liturgy.
The gathering at the monastery to meet the elder was scheduled for immediately after the late liturgy.

13. What is Pyotr Fomich Kalganov preparing to enter?

A. The monastery
B. The military academy
C. University
D. The civil service

C. University.
Kalganov, a young man accompanying Miusov, was preparing to enter university.

14. What distinguished the landowner Maximov upon arrival?

A. His elegant clothes
B. His serious demeanour
C. His pop-eyed curiosity
D. His stick and book

C. His pop-eyed curiosity.
Maximov, a man of about sixty, stared with contorted, almost impossible, pop-eyed curiosity.
15. What did Miusov warn Fyodor Pavlovich about before the meeting?

A. Discussing money
B. Insulting Ivan
C. Behaving properly
D. Being half drunk

C. Behaving properly.
Miusov warned Fyodor Pavlovich to behave himself, or he would “pay back for it”.

16. What was the state of the furniture in the elder’s cell?

A. Rich and new
B. Crude and poor
C. Ornate and carved
D. Modern and simple

B. Crude and poor.
The objects and furniture in the elder’s cell were described as crude and poor, being only what was necessary.

17. Who was Alyosha most surprised by during the buffoonery?

A. Miusov’s fury
B. The hieromonks
C. His brother Ivan
D. Fyodor Pavlovich

C. His brother Ivan.
Alyosha was shocked that Ivan sat motionless, waiting curiously, as if he were a complete stranger.

18. What did the elder advise Fyodor Pavlovich was the cause of his behavior?

A. His terrible drinking
B. His innate malice
C. Being ashamed of himself
D. His lust for money

C. Being ashamed of himself.
The elder told Fyodor Pavlovich not to be ashamed of himself, for that was the ultimate cause of his actions.

19. Fyodor Pavlovich confessed to being a buffoon out of what emotion?

A. Pride
B. Shame
C. Joy
D. Vanity

B. Shame.
Fyodor Pavlovich asserted that he was a buffoon out of shame and insecurity.
20. What did Fyodor Pavlovich claim he experienced pleasure and beauty in?

A. Lying daily
B. Getting offended
C. Drinking cognac
D. Loving women

B. Getting offended.
Fyodor Pavlovich claimed he was offended by the pleasure and aesthetics of it, finding it beautiful.

21. What claim did Fyodor Pavlovich make as he rushed out of the cell?

A. He was gravely ill
B. He was only testing the elder
C. He was completely sober
D. He despised the church

B. He was only testing the elder.
Fyodor Pavlovich announced on leaving that he had acted on purpose in order to test the elder.

22. What specific question troubled the lady visitor and caused her suffering?

A. Her children’s future
B. Lack of faith in the afterlife
C. Her wealth
D. Her husband’s death

B. Lack of faith in the afterlife.
The lady confessed that the “riddle” of life after death troubled her to the point of suffering and terror.

23. What would immediately cool the lady’s “active love”?

A. Physical wounds
B. Ingrained sin
C. Lack of payment
D. Ingratitude

D. Ingratitude.
She realised that ingratitude from the suffering would immediately cool her ‘active’ love for mànkind.

24. What did the elder tell the lady to avoid most of all?

A. Her vivid dreams
B. All lies
C. Worldly pleasures
D. Self-contempt

B. All lies.
The elder strongly advised the lady to avoid lies, especially the lie that she told to herself.
25. What did Miusov exclaim in frustration during the theological debate?

A. Sheer materialism
B. Sheer Ultramontanism
C. Pagan wisdom
D. Atheistic nonsense

B. Sheer Ultramontanism.
Miusov, reacting to Father Paissy’s statement, impatiently exclaimed, “Sheer Ultramontanism!”.

26. What, according to Ivan’s article, must every earthly state eventually become?

A. A free democracy
B. Nothing but the Church
C. A pagan state
D. A European society

B. Nothing but the Church.
Ivan’s article proposed that every earthly state must eventually be wholly transformed into nothing else but the Church.

27. Ivan suggested European liberalism confused socialism with what?

A. Paganism
B. Nihilism
C. Christianity
D. Utilitarianism

C. Christianity.
Ivan remarked that European liberalism confused the final results of socialism with those of Christianity.

28. What idea is summarised as: “If there is no immortality of the soul, then there is no virtue, and therefore everything is permitted?”

A. Fyodor Pavlovich’s view
B. Father Paissy’s view
C. Ivan Fyodorovich’s theory
D. The Elder’s warning

C. Ivan Fyodorovich’s theory.
Rakitin quotes Ivan’s theory, summarising the philosophical consequence of lacking belief in immortality.

29. What specific line must honest but passionate people (like Dmitri) not cross?

A. The line of honour
B. The line of poverty
C. The line of sensuality
D. The line of holding back

D. The line of holding back.
Rakitin believed that Dmitri might stab his father if he was unable to hold back his passions.
30. What did Rakitin identify as the defining trait of Dmitri?

A. Ambition
B. Sensualist
C. Money-grubber
D. Holy fool

B. Sensualist.
Rakitin defined Dmitri as a sensualist, stating that it was his “whole inner essence”.

31. What did Alyosha suggest Ivan was seeking instead of money or ease?

A. Power
B. Suffering
C. Fame
D. A good marriage

B. Suffering.
Alyosha argued that Ivan aimed higher than wealth or ease, believing he might be seeking suffering.

32. Who were the three servants living in the cottage?

A. Ivan, Marfa, Grigory
B. Grigory, Marfa, Smerdyakov
C. Fenya, Grigory, Smerdyakov
D. Yulia, Marfa, Ivan

B. Grigory, Marfa, Smerdyakov.
The three auxiliary persons living in the cottage were Grigory, his wife Marfa, and Smerdyakov.

33. What was the name of the holy fool who was Smerdyakov’s mother?

A. Fenya Ivanovna
B. Nastasia Pavlovna
C. Stinking Lizaveta
D. Marfa Ignatievna

C. Stinking Lizaveta.
The local girl and holy fool who gave birth in the bathhouse was known as Stinking Lizaveta.

34. Where does Dmitri state the devil struggles with God?

A. In the monastery
B. On the battlefield
C. On Earth
D. The human heart

D. The human heart.
Dmitri tells Alyosha that the devil is struggling with God, and the human heart is the battlefield.
35. Dmitri claimed that for the vast majority of people, beauty lies in what city/concept?

A. Sodom
B. Jerusalem
C. The Kingdom of Heaven
D. The Madonna

A. Sodom.
Dmitri states that for the vast majority of people, beauty lies in the ideal of Sodom.

36. What was Dmitri’s initial thought (spider bite) when Katerina Ivanovna asked for money?

A. To take advantage
B. To marry her quickly
C. To confess his sins
D. To flee immediately

A. To take advantage.
Dmitri’s first “Karamazov thought” was a base, sensual reaction, likening it to a spider bite.

37. Who did Dmitri send to Katya in Moscow to help communicate with her?

A. Alyosha
B. Rakitin
C. Kuzma Samsonov
D. Ivan

D. Ivan.
Dmitri wrote to Ivan, who was in Moscow, explaining everything and sending him to Katerina Ivanovna.

38. Smerdyakov was characterised as a what type of person who stores up impressions?

A. A great reader
B. A sensualist
C. A contemplator
D. A nihilist

C. A contemplator.
Smerdyakov frequently fell into thought, standing still for ten minutes, like a person “contemplating”.

39. What did Ivan finally assert when asked about God and immortality?

A. There is both God and immortality
B. There is immortality only
C. Complete zero
D. Only shadows exist

C. Complete zero.
Fyodor Pavlovich asked Ivan about immortality, and Ivan responded definitively, “Complete zero”.
40. What physical humiliation did Dmitri inflict upon Captain Snegiryov?

A. Tearing his coat
B. Seizing his beard
C. Slapping his face
D. Stealing his money

B. Seizing his beard.
Dmitri seized Captain Snegiryov by the beard and led him down the street, humiliating him publicly.

41. What did the General order his servants to do to the eight-year-old serf boy in Ivan’s story?

A. Lock him up forever
B. Torture him slowly
C. Whip him severely
D. Loose wolfhounds on him

D. Loose wolfhounds on him.
The general ordered the boy stripped naked, and the whole pack of wolfhounds was loosed on him.

42. What was the core idea of the First Temptation (Stones to bread) in “The Grand Inquisitor”?

A. Appealing to man’s pride
B. Buying obedience with bread
C. Rejecting false miracles
D. Seeking heavenly love

B. Buying obedience with bread.
The Inquisitor explained that the rejection of turning stones into bread meant rejecting universal obedience bought by earthly sustenance.

43. What is the great secret confessed by the Grand Inquisitor?

A. They follow the Pope
B. They love freedom
C. They are with the devil
D. They hate mànkind

C. They are with the devil.
The Grand Inquisitor told Christ, “We are not with you, but with him, that is our secret!”.

44. How did Christ respond to the Grand Inquisitor’s long accusation?

A. With loud anger
B. By kissing the old man
C. With fiery debate
D. By weeping silently

B. By kissing the old man.
When the Inquisitor finished speaking, the prisoner silently approached and gently kissed him.
45. What did Fyodor Pavlovich want Ivan to go to Chermashnya to do?

A. Collect timber revenue
B. Sell land quickly
C. Meet a relative
D. Deliver a message

B. Sell land quickly.
Fyodor Pavlovich was trying to convince Ivan to go to Chermashnya to settle a deal concerning land sale.

46. What did Elder Zosima say was the most powerful force?

A. Fasting and prayer
B. Humble love
C. Absolute obedience
D. Knowledge of truth

B. Humble love.
Zosima advised Alyosha that loving humility is a terrible power, the most powerful of all.

47. Who did Dmitri first attempt to borrow 3000 roubles from before Madame Khokhlakov?

A. Katerina Ivanovna
B. Kuzma Samsonov
C. Father Zosima
D. Fyodor Pavlovich

B. Kuzma Samsonov.
Dmitri went to the merchant Samsonov with a commercial plan to obtain the necessary three thousand roubles.

48. What exact amount of cash was found on Dmitri when he was searched?

A. One hundred roubles
B. Three thousand roubles
C. Fifteen hundred roubles
D. Two hundred roubles

C. Fifteen hundred roubles.
When the investigators searched Dmitri, he laid out exactly 1,500 roubles that he possessed.

49. What central phrase did Dmitri repeat while accepting his fate as a prisoner?

A. I am a monster
B. I accept the torment
C. I am a philosopher
D. I am innocent now

B. I accept the torment.
Dmitri repeatedly emphasised that he accepted the torment of accusation and would be purified by suffering.
50. What profession did Rakitin tell Dmitri he would pursue in Petersburg?

A. Legal defence
B. The department of criticism
C. Medicine
D. Theology

B. The department of criticism.
Dmitri reports that Rakitin intends to go to Petersburg to get into the department of criticism.

Brief Overview

The Brothers Karamazov is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was published from 1879 to 1880 and is widely considered his masterpiece. The novel is a deep examination of philosophical questions concerning God, free will, and morality.

The plot centers on the turbulent conflicts between the wealthy, wicked father, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, and his three legitimate sons. Each son represents a different intellectual or spiritual stance.

The eldest son, Dmitri (Mitya), is passionate and deeply in debt. He constantly fights his father over money and their shared desire for the sensual woman, Grushenka.

The second son, Ivan, is an educated atheist. His core philosophy states that “without God, everything is permitted.” The youngest son, Alexei (Alyosha), is a kind novice monk who tries to bring peace to the volatile family.

The tension tragically results in the murder of Fyodor Pavlovich. Dmitri is immediately arrested due to his need for money, past threats, and being found covered in blood. The actual killer is the servant Smerdyakov.

Smerdyakov confesses to Ivan that he committed the act based on Ivan’s own atheist philosophy. Smerdyakov then hangs himself. Dmitri ultimately accepts his sentence to go to Siberia, finding a new spiritual purpose through his suffering.

Related Posts

Leave a comment