Character guide

Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhludoff

major

Also known as Nekhludoff, Dmitri Ivanovich, Prince Nekhludoff

Nekhludoff moves easily through drawing rooms, courts, and prisons alike, a nobleman whose charm and rank open every door. Yet the trial of a woman he once seduced and abandoned splits him in two: the man who wants to do good and the voice whispering that she will only be a stone around his neck. His wavering resolve—whether to give her money and walk away or follow her into suffering—is the hinge on which the whole novel turns.

Katerina Maslova

major

Also known as Maslova, Katyusha, Katerina

Maslova survives prison by vodka, wit, and the hard bargains of a woman who has learned to make use of men before they use her. When Nekhludoff reappears, she feels the old world of feeling stir and immediately buries it in mist, half-luring him, half-hating him. Her refusal to simply be his redemption—her suspicion, her tears, her silence—keeps the story honest and makes her awakening the book's true center.

Voldemar Simonson

supporting

Also known as Simonson

Simonson belongs to the world of prisoners who have traded comfort for principle, a man whose ascetic certainty sets him apart even among exiles. His devotion to Maslova is neither pity nor passion in the ordinary sense but a steady, undemanding commitment that asks nothing back. His presence forces Nekhludoff—and the reader—to ask whether atonement means possessing the person you wronged, or setting her free.

Missy

supporting

Also known as the smiling Missy

Missy moves through her mother's brilliant at-homes with the ease of a woman raised to be admired and matched well. She blushes when Nekhludoff appears, frowns when he is distant, and cannot understand why he is busying himself with prisoners instead of with her. Her wounded vanity measures the distance between the life Nekhludoff is leaving behind and the one he is choosing.

Mary Ivanovna (Mariette)

supporting

Also known as Mary Ivanovna, Mary

Mariette glides through the social world with the assurance of a woman who knows exactly what her smiles are worth. Her flirtation with Nekhludoff is casual, mutual, and dangerous precisely because it feels so natural—a reminder of the appetites he is trying to renounce. She embodies the pull of the old life, the one that made Katyusha possible and then discarded her.

Selenin

supporting

Selenin and Nekhludoff once shared youthful ideals; now one wears a uniform and prosecutes, while the other sits on juries and begins to see what the law conceals. Their friendship is warm, easy, and quietly damning—proof of how a decent man can serve an indecent system without noticing. He matters as the mirror Nekhludoff might have become had he never looked at Maslova's face.

Anatole Kryltzoff

supporting

Also known as Kryltzoff

Kryltzoff is a political prisoner marching in the same convoy as Maslova, a former mathematics prodigy and landowner's son who gave money to a student cause out of comradeship and vanity, then found himself arrested. Nekhludoff, drawn to him above the other exiles, spends a day at a halting station listening as Kryltzoff recounts his path to revolution with sunken chest and glistening eyes. His blend of high moral seriousness and dying body gives Nekhludoff a living image of conviction that costs everything.

Mary Pavlovna Schetinina

supporting

Also known as Mary Pavlovna

Mary Pavlovna moves among the political prisoners with a quiet authority, coaxing a screaming child from a soldier's arms and standing up to a convoy officer without flinching. Maslova, newly arrived from years of degradation, is struck by her beauty and selflessness and loves her with a peculiar, rapturous reverence. Through Mary Pavlovna, Maslova glimpses a world of people who sacrificed privilege for the common good, and begins to measure her own life against theirs.

Nathalie Ivanovna Rogozhinsky

supporting

Also known as Nathalie, Rogozhinsky

Nathalie arrives in Moscow with her husband, settles into the best hotel rooms, and visits her brother's shabby lodging, where she recognizes his old paperweight and tidy habits with a pang. She admires the resoluteness behind his plan to marry Katusha, yet the thought of such a dreadful woman as a sister-in-law horrifies her more, and she resolves to use all her influence against it. Her divided loyalty, and her husband's loud contempt for Nekhludoff's land reforms, make her the family voice pressing him back toward respectability.

Fanarin

supporting

Also known as M. Fanarin

Fanarin is the advocate Nekhludoff turns to when he decides to fight Maslova's conviction, and his name alone draws a grimace from officials who know his methods. He belongs to the world of Petersburg legal celebrity, where a case is won by performance and connections as much as by truth, and Nekhludoff must navigate that world to help a woman he once wronged. His involvement marks Nekhludoff's first practical step from private remorse into the machinery of official justice.

Toporoff

supporting

Toporoff belongs to the clerical establishment that presides over oaths, sentences, and executions with the same unruffled assurance that it is doing something useful and important. His presence in the novel's world of courts and prisons embodies the alliance between official faith and official power that Nekhludoff gradually comes to see as hollow. He matters less as an individual than as the face of a system that sanctifies what Nekhludoff is learning to distrust.

Maslennikoff

supporting

Maslennikoff was once the regiment's good-hearted treasurer; now, married to a rich, energetic wife who remade him, he heads a government administration and cannot hide his satisfaction at the title. When Nekhludoff asks for a prison visit, Maslennikoff's face grows stern at the word 'prison,' then softens into French endearments and a lecture on jury justice lifted from a reactionary paper. His transformation from genial officer to self-important bureaucrat shows Nekhludoff how the system rewards those who stop asking questions.

The General

supporting

He governs the prison where Maslova is held, and his courteous refusals to bend procedure make him the human face of a system Nekhludoff cannot argue his way past. His glittering, squinting eyes miss nothing, least of all the note passed from hand to hand under his nose. He matters because every reform Nekhludoff imagines must first survive this man's calm, watchful no.

Vera Doukhova

supporting

Also known as Doukhova, Vera

She belongs to the political prisoners' world, a woman who wrote proclamations in factories and now counts herself perfectly happy behind bars. Her mind is a tangle of causes and half-explained loyalties, yet her guilt over an arrested friend is painfully concrete. She matters because she hands Nekhludoff his first practical tasks in Petersburg and quietly steers him toward Maslova's transfer, showing how the prison's networks work.

Countess Katerina Ivanovna Tcharsky

supporting

Also known as Countess Tcharsky, Katerina Ivanovna

She and her sister raised Nekhludoff on their country estate, and their warm, pious welcome when he returns from the war feels like an embrace from his own innocent past. She fusses over his wet clothes and sends Katusha to him with soap and towels, unaware of what that reunion will cost. Her kindness matters because it makes the old world he must judge feel tender rather than merely corrupt.

Princess Sophia Vasilievna

supporting

Also known as Sophia Vasilievna, Sophia

She meets Nekhludoff in the anteroom fresh from communion, scolding him for dripping on the floor and calling for coffee in the same breath. Her practical piety and easy authority define the aunts' household, a place of order and small kindnesses. She matters because her world is the one Nekhludoff remembers as good, and the one his later guilt must measure itself against.

Korableva

minor

A fellow prisoner and friend of Maslova.

Theodosia Birukoff

minor

Also known as Theodosia

A young prisoner traveling with her husband.

Lydia Shoustova

minor

Also known as Shoustova, Lydia

A young political prisoner helped by Nekhludoff.

Euphemia Botchkova

minor

Also known as Botchkova, Euphemia

A prisoner involved in the murder case.

Simeon Kartinkin

minor

Also known as Kartinkin, Simeon

A prisoner accused in the same murder as Maslova.

Theropont Smelkoff

minor

Also known as Smelkoff

The merchant whose murder leads to Maslova's trial.

Vladimir Vasilievitch Wolff

minor

Also known as Wolff, little Wolff

A prison official who assists Nekhludoff.

Matrona Pavlovna

minor

The prison matron overseeing the women's ward.

Taras

minor

A peasant and husband of Theodosia.

Markel Kondratiev

minor

Also known as Markel, Kondratiev

A servant in Nekhludoff's household.

The Priest

minor

A prison priest who conducts services.

The Doctor

minor

A prison doctor who examines the convicts.

The Officer

minor

A convoy officer escorting prisoners.

Novodvoroff

minor

A political exile and revolutionary leader.

Nabatoff

minor

A political exile and friend of Simonson.

Skovorodnikoff

minor

A political prisoner known for his strength.

Bogotyref

minor

A prison official who accompanies Nekhludoff.

The Englishman

minor

A foreign visitor touring the prison system.

Schonbock

minor

A friend of Nekhludoff from his military days.

Peter Gerasimovitch

minor

Also known as Peter

A fellow juror at Maslova's trial.

Prince Korchagin

minor

Also known as old Korchagin

Missy's father and a wealthy aristocrat.

Clara Vasilievna

minor

Also known as Clara

A young woman with whom Nekhludoff had a romance.

The Judges

minor

The panel presiding over Maslova's trial.

Carolina Albertovna Kitaeva

minor

Also known as Kitaeva

The madam of the brothel where Maslova worked.

The Colonel

minor

A military officer involved in the prisoner convoy.

Breve

minor

A prison official who assists Nekhludoff.

Baron Vorobioff

minor

Also known as The Baron

A prison official who is dismissive of Nekhludoff.

Menshoff

minor

A peasant accused of arson, whom Nekhludoff defends.

Khoroshavka

minor

A village where Nekhludoff visits his estate.

Katerina Alexeevna

minor

Nekhludoff's mother, mentioned in his memories.

Bay

minor

Nekhludoff's horse.

Makar Devkin

minor

Also known as Makar

A prisoner who attacks a guard.

Rantzeff

minor

A political exile and friend of Nabatoff.

Anna Ignatievna

minor

Also known as Anna

A woman who visits Nekhludoff seeking help.

Matrona Kharina

minor

Also known as Matrona

A peasant woman on Nekhludoff's estate.

Fedka

minor

Also known as little Fedka, Blind Fedka

A blind beggar boy encountered by Nekhludoff.

Maria Ivanovna

minor

A woman who helps Nekhludoff with his legal work.

Nikolenka Irtenieff

minor

Also known as Nikolenka

A childhood friend of Nekhludoff, briefly mentioned.

Kousminski

minor

Nekhludoff's estate manager.

Agraphena Petrovna

minor

The housekeeper at Nekhludoff's estate.

Henry George

minor

An economist whose ideas influence Nekhludoff.

Kiesewetter

minor

A Protestant preacher whose teachings affect Nekhludoff.

Ivan Ivanovitch Kolosoff

minor

Also known as Kolosoff

A friend of Nekhludoff's family.

Rozovsky

minor

A young political prisoner executed during the march.

The Convoy Officer

minor

An officer in charge of the prisoner transport.

Polkan

minor

A dog belonging to the prison convoy.

Petia

minor

A young boy traveling with the prisoners.

Bousovkin

minor

A prisoner who is ill during the march.

Neveroff

minor

A political prisoner who dies on the march.

Corney

minor

A servant in Nekhludoff's household.

Anisia

minor

A peasant woman on Nekhludoff's estate.

Mitin

minor

A political exile traveling with the prisoners.

Tikhon

minor

A servant at Nekhludoff's estate.

Martha

minor

A prisoner and friend of Maslova.

Herbert Spencer

minor

Also known as Spencer

A philosopher whose works Nekhludoff reads.

Aline

minor

A friend of Nekhludoff's sister Nathalie.

Michael Sergeivitch Telegin

minor

Also known as Micky, Michael

Nathalie's husband, Nekhludoff's brother-in-law.

Kamenski

minor

A friend of Nekhludoff who died in a duel.

Baron Kriegsmuth

minor

Also known as Kriegsmuth

A prison official who is strict with the convicts.

Princess Elena Ivanovna

minor

Also known as Elena Ivanovna

A relative of Nekhludoff's aunts.

Lozinsky

minor

A political prisoner who is a Polish nationalist.

Lubov

minor

A political exile traveling with the prisoners.

Lubka

minor

A young woman in the brothel where Maslova worked.

Victor Apraksine

minor

Also known as Victor

A friend of Nekhludoff from high society.

Aksutka

minor

A young girl on Nekhludoff's estate.