The Onion Parable: Dostoyevsky’s Hell in The Brothers Karamazov
Introduction
Hell is a concept that is familiar to anyone even amidst the secular, modern society of today. Throughout history, morals were often paired with theological constructs such as an afterlife, which acted as a deterrent for malicious behavior deemed a danger to the commonwealth. Even with the emergence of Kant that categorized religious codes along with ones of tyrannical monarchs, it was the fear of hell that discouraged criminal activities. Through a short analysis of a parable in Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, this paper will explore Dostoyevsky’s unique portrayal of hell and the message that transcends his time to apply to the chaotic world today.
The Onion Parable
A wicked woman who was infamous in her town passes away from old age. God condemns her to eternal damnation in the afterlife since she has not done a single act of good during her life. The guardian angel pleads for mercy and desperately searches for even a small act of good the woman could have done. It finds that she once gave an onion from her farm to the wandering beggar and presents it to God as evidence. God declares that the guardian angel can try to lift the woman from the lake of fire with the onion. If she is carried up to heaven with it, she would be allowed to stay. However, if the onion were to snap, the woman would remain in hell forever. The angel shared the verdict of God to the wicked woman and stretched out the onion for her to grab. The woman was slowly rising from the pit of fire as she held onto the onion. Meanwhile, nearby sinners saw what was happening and began to cling to the woman. She responded by furiously kicking at them while yelling, “This is my onion! It is not yours to have!” As the last words left her mouth, the onion snapped, and the angel wept as the woman plummeted back into hell.
Dostoyevsky’s Hell
“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”
Dostoyevsky’s hell is much more terrifying than the likes of Dante’s due to one simple fact: lack of a good deed is also considered a grave sin. Despite her infamous reputation, the reasoning behind her damnation is not based on her evil deeds but the absence of good deeds. Despite all this, the guardian angel fervently attempts to save the undeserving soul under its care. Such an act is unexplainable without the presence of compassion in its mind, who took pity in the woman’s inability to love and hence connect with others through acts of good. This concept of spiritual connection is something that is continually explored throughout the rest of the parable. In the mind of Dostoyevsky, love for others allows a subliminal connection to form that transcends the sinful stains of the earthly world. This idea provides more context to the significance of the onion. At that small moment of charity, the woman was forming a slight connection with the beggar in need. As such, the onion acts as a symbol of hope for the woman and her innate, no matter how dim, potential to do good and achieve the connection required to enter heaven. Through God’s verdict, Dostoyevsky shows his unwavering belief in love. Much like the sinner who repented moments before his death besides Jesus Christ, he believed that salvation was for everyone that embraced the power of compassion and love.
The Three Mistakes
“This is my onion! It is not yours to have!”
Such belief by Dostoyevsky paradoxically coexisted with his skepticism of human nature.
There are three mistakes that the wicked woman makes that condemn her to eternal damnation. The first one is one familiar to the Christian parable of the Prodigal Son. Upon first glance, the anger of the eldest son is understandable. Despite being upright and loyal to the family, the father welcomes and treats the prodigal son better than he ever was. The woman’s mistake is identical to what the eldest son makes: love does not follow the rational laws of transaction and equivalent exchange. In the face of the infinite, the difference between one good deed and a thousand is negligible. By no means did the wicked woman purchase her entry into heaven through her nigh-intangible act of charity. Love cannot be bought. It is innately a metaphysical entity that cannot be quantified.
The woman shows that she cannot grasp the subliminal nature of love through her second mistake. Her kicking at the clinging people implies her fear that the weight of multiple people will cause the onion to snap. However, the point remains that the onion is, in essence, a symbol. The physical attributes of the symbol should never be used to define the concept that it is representing. It is merely a projection that allows for easier comprehension. Of course, a typical onion would snap with countless people’s weight pulling it down. However, as it is essentially a physical projection of love, it does not adhere to any worldly bounds. The fear instilled in the woman’s mind only proves that her transactional thought process, which caused her to mistakenly think that love can be bought, is also preventing her from seeing past the literal traits of the onion.
Her last and most fatal mistake is directly connected to Dostoyevsky’s emphasis on connection through love. The woman yells, “This is my onion! It is not yours to have!” She implies a clear divide between her and the rest of the sinners, cutting herself away from the others. Again, love is not a commodity. The moment that the woman thought of it being only possessed by her, she has consequently severed her connection with others. The woman’s hopeless interpretation of love resulted in her eternal condemnation, and this short parable acts as a vivid representation of Dostoyevsky’s hell.
