Character guide

Lisa Mihalovna

major

Also known as Lisa, Sweet angel Betsy, Lisaveta Mihalovna

A devout, gentle young woman whose quiet faith and moral seriousness make her the still center of every romantic hope and spiritual conflict in the novel.

Fedor Ivanitch Lavretsky

major

Also known as Lavretsky, Fedor, Fedor Ivanitch, Young Lavretsky, Poor Lavretsky

A weary nobleman returning from abroad to his estates, carrying a failed marriage and a cold, searching gaze that unsettles the drawing rooms he enters.

Varvara Pavlovna Lavretsky

major

Also known as Varvara Pavlovna, Pavlovna, Varvara

Lavretsky's beautiful, calculating wife, whose graceful humility conceals a cold intelligence and whose reappearance threatens to undo any hope of happiness.

Vladimir Nikolaitch Panshin

supporting

Also known as Panshin, Vladimir, Nikolaitch, Mr. Panshin

A polished young official and favorite of Petersburg society, charming everyone effortlessly while his sharp brown eye never stops calculating advantage.

Marya Dmitrievna Kalitin

supporting

Also known as Kalitin, Marya Dmitrievna, Dmitrievna, Madame Kalitin

Lisa's widowed mother, a provincial lady of restless vanity and maternal anxiety, forever arranging marriages and fretting over the governess she has just hired.

Marfa Timofyevna Pestov

supporting

Also known as Marfa Timofyevna, Pestov

Marya Dmitrievna's sharp-tongued aunt, who collects stray creatures and speaks uncomfortable truths with a bluntness that masks real tenderness.

Christopher Theodor Gottlieb Lemm

supporting

Also known as Lemm, C. T. G. Lemm, Monsier Lemm, the poor German

Lemm is a proud, impoverished composer and piano teacher who has spent decades in Russia, his cantata unfinished and his life narrowed to the Kalitins' drawing room. He adores Lisa with a chaste, almost paternal passion, yet he is sharp-tongued about the mediocrity around him and quick to defend her taste against Panshin's shallow brilliance. His judgments cut through the social pleasantries of the household, and his blunt honesty about Lisa's soul becomes a quiet catalyst for Lavretsky's growing intimacy with her.

Glafira Petrovna

supporting

Also known as Glafira, Petrovna

Glafira Petrovna rules the Lavretsky household with absolute, unbending will, having reduced her gentle sister-in-law Malanya to a silent shadow and claimed the boy Fedya as her own project. Her pride is matched only by her contempt for weakness, and she treats affection as a currency she alone may dispense. Though she shapes Lavretsky's character and his early sense of duty, her domineering legacy lingers as a quiet reproach to the freer life he later seeks.

Mihalevitch

minor

An old university friend of Lavretsky, a passionate and idealistic man.

Ivan Petrovitch

minor

Also known as Ivan

Lavretsky's father, a man of Westernized tastes and a difficult temper.

Gedeonovsky

minor

Also known as Sergei Petrovitch Gedeonovsky

A local gossip and frequent visitor to the Kalitin house.

Agafya Vlasyevna

minor

Also known as Agafya

A pious peasant woman who influenced Lisa's religious upbringing.

Anton

minor

Also known as old Anton, Old Anton

An old servant at Lavretsky's estate, loyal and garrulous.

Piotr Andreitch

minor

Also known as Piotr

Lavretsky's grandfather, a harsh landowner of the old school.

Malanya Sergyevna

minor

Also known as Malanya

Lavretsky's mother, a gentle serf woman married by his father.

Anna Pavlovna

minor

A relative of the Kalitins, a society lady in St. Petersburg.

Shurotchka

minor

A young girl in the Kalitin household, possibly a ward or relative.

Lenotchka

minor

A young girl, possibly a servant or child in the Kalitin circle.

Pavel Petrovitch Korobyin

minor

Also known as old Korobyin, General Korobyin

Varvara's father, a retired general of modest means.

Ada

minor

Also known as Mademoiselle Ada

Lavretsky and Varvara's young daughter.

M. Jules

minor

Also known as this M. Jules

A French companion and possible lover of Varvara Pavlovna.

Apraxya

minor

A servant in the Kalitin household.

Nastasya Karpovna Ogarkov

minor

Also known as Nastasya Karpovna

A poor widow and companion to Marfa Timofyevna.

Mademoiselle Moreau

minor

A French governess in the Kalitin household.

Justine

minor

A French maid in Varvara Pavlovna's service.

Madame Byelenitsin

minor

A society acquaintance of Varvara Pavlovna in St. Petersburg.

Andrei

minor

A servant or minor figure in the Lavretsky household.

Roska

minor

Also known as the fat Roska

A dog belonging to the Kalitin household.

Kalliopa Karlovna

minor

A German woman, possibly a music teacher or companion.

Dmitri Pestov

minor

Also known as Pestov

Marfa Timofyevna's deceased brother and Marya's father.

Matross

minor

A dog belonging to the Lavretsky estate.

Palashka

minor

A servant girl in the Kalitin household.