Having spent four years in a Siberian penal settlement during which time he underwent a religious conversion, Dostoevsky developed a keen ability for deep character analysis.

In The Brothers Karamazov , he explores human nature at its most loathsome and cruel but never flinches at what he finds. The Brothers Karamazov tells the stirring tale of four brothers: the pleasure-seeking, impatient Dmitri; the brilliant and morose Ivan; the gentle, loving, and honest Alyosha; and the illegitimate Smerdyakov, shy, silent, and cruel. They are behind the murder of one of literature's most despicable characters: their father. This was Dostoyevsky's final and perhaps his finest work.