The Brothers Karamazov, Part 3, no. 49, Chapter 4 summary

What happens

1. Convinced that Grushenka visits his father, Mitya avoids Marya Kondratyevna and climbs into Fyodor Pavlovitch’s garden.
2. He watches his father through the bedroom window, uncertain whether Grushenka hides behind a screen.
3. Mitya taps the secret signal; his father’s eager response convinces him that Grushenka is absent, but hatred makes him draw his pestle.
4. Grigory wakes, enters the garden, and catches Mitya climbing the fence; Mitya strikes him and returns to inspect his bleeding head.
5. Mitya drops the pestle, tries wiping Grigory’s blood with a handkerchief, and escapes without knowing whether he has killed him.
6. At the widow Morozov’s house, Prohor admits Mitya and reports Grushenka’s departure for Mokroe; Mitya rushes toward Fenya.

In this chapter

What to notice

Mitya gives this account of the moment when he draws the pestle near his father. It contrasts his interpretation of restraint with the violence against Grigory that follows.

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