The motif of returning the ticket to God in the novel “The brothers Karamazov” by F. M. Dostoevsky

In F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel, the emotional monologue of Ivan Karamazov, who metaphorically explains his refusal of harmony obtained at the cost of a child’s tear and compares it with returning to God a ticket granting admission to the world, has determined the sense and tradition of the functioning motif in Russian literature. In scientific literature the character’s statement about the ticket returned to God is investigated as a quotation from three possible sources: the poem “Resignation” by F. Schiller, the letter of V. G. Belinsky to V. P. Botkin, and “St. Petersburg Evenings” by J. de Maistre. In the article these works are viewed as the texts that determined the formation of the motif of returning the ticket to God for both “The Brothers Karamazov” by F. M. Dostoevsky and the entire Russian culture. These texts clarify, update, identify, and designate this motif. The influence of the texts by Schiller, Belinsky, and J. de Maistre determines the artistic logic of the choice of the word “ticket.” The poem “Resignation” by F. Schiller, a letter by V. G. Belinsky, the novel “St. Petersburg Evenings” by J. de Maistre are diverse options that determine the formation by the writer of the ideological and emotional fullness of the motif of the ticket returned to God. The texts of Schiller and Belinsky focused on the idea of a rejection of the world and a rebellion against it. The theodicy of J. de Maistre is opposite: the world created by God is accepted no matter what. The influence of works with such a contradictory potential is the reason for F. M. Dostoevsky’s choice of the phrase “the most respectful” rebellion. The motif of returning the ticket to God, based on the deistic concept, determined F. M. Dostoevsky’s brilliant premonition about the future path of Russia and filled it with a deep philosophical and universal resonance.