In Russian, шут (shut), "buffoon" (our translation), is the jester who amuses by pretending to be a fool. Fyodor Pavlovich applies it to himself before Zosima, a buffoon in earnest and then a buffoon out of shame; Captain Snegiryov makes buffoonery a shield against contempt, and Alyosha tells Kolya that this buffoonery is sometimes extremely tragic, the rancorous irony of someone who did not dare to tell the truth to the one who humiliated him.
Where It Appears
Quotes
That is why I am a buffoon, a buffoon of shame, great elder, of shame. It is only out of touchiness that I make a scene.
Book II: An untimely meeting, Fyodor Pavlovich to Elder Zosima, in the cell