THE SMELL OF THE SHADOW: ALYOSHA KARAMAZOV AND THE INDIVIDUATION PROCESS IN DOSTOEVSKY A JUNGIAN INTERPRETATION OF THE SYMBOLIC JOURNEY BETWEEN FAITH, DOUBT, AND WHOLENESS

Abstract

This article presents a Jungian reading of Alyosha Karamazov’s journey, the central character in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov, focusing on the integration of the shadow as a core axis of his symbolic individuation. The episode of the foul odor of Starets Zosima’s corpse is examined as a rupture of an idealized projection, initiating in Alyosha a necessary descent into the ambivalence of human experience. Drawing on Carl Gustav Jung’s analytical psychology, the analysis explores Alyosha’s path through the archetypes of the Self, the shadow, and the wise old man, highlighting his ethical decision to remain in the world as an act of spiritual maturity. Far from being a naive ideal, Alyosha emerges as a figure of possible wholeness: one who recognizes pain, welcomes the real, and transforms compassion into active presence.