Page 1258 - the-brothers-karamazov

‘Oh, gentlemen of the jury, why need we look more close-
ly at this misfortune, why repeat what we all know already?
What did my client meet with when he arrived here, at his
father’s house, and why depict my client as a heartless ego-
ist and monster? He is uncontrolled, he is wild and unruly
— we are trying him now for that- but who is responsible for
his life? Who is responsible for his having received such an
unseemly bringing up, in spite of his excellent disposition
and his grateful and sensitive heart? Did anyone train him
to be reasonable? Was he enlightened by study? Did anyone
love him ever so little in his childhood? My client was left
to the care of Providence like a beast of the field. He thirst-
ed perhaps to see his father after long years of separation.
A thousand times perhaps he may, recalling his childhood,
have driven away the loathsome phantoms that haunted his
childish dreams and with all his heart he may have longed
to embrace and to forgive his father! And what awaited
him? He was met by cynical taunts, suspicions and wran-
gling about money. He heard nothing but revolting talk and
vicious precepts uttered daily over the brandy, and at last
he saw his father seducing his mistress from him with his
own money. Oh, gentlemen of the jury, that was cruel and
revolting! And that old man was always complaining of the
disrespect and cruelty of his son. He slandered him in so-
ciety, injured him, calumniated him, bought up his unpaid
debts to get him thrown into prison.
‘Gentlemen of the jury, people like my client, who are
fierce, unruly, and uncontrolled on the surface, are some-
times, most frequently indeed, exceedingly tender-hearted,

1