# Lise Hohlakov — The Brothers Karamazov character guide

> Lise Hohlakov in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Lise, Alexey Fyodorovitch, Lise

**First appearance:** 0033-part-ii-iv-at-the-hohlakovs

## Snapshot

Madame Hohlakov's impulsive, excitable daughter, who loves Alyosha with a fervor that frightens and fascinates her.

## Who they are

Lise Hohlakov is the young invalid daughter of the wealthy, meddlesome Madame Hohlakov, and she has fixed her affections on Alyosha with an intensity that is both childlike and unsettling. She writes him a letter, laughs at her own cruelty, and swings between adoration and a strange desire to torment. Her engagement to Alyosha is proposed and then complicated by her own volatility, and her fate becomes one of the novel's sharpest illustrations of how love can curdle when it is not grounded in humility.

## Relationships

### [Alyosha Karamazov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/characters/alysha_karamazov)

_romantic_

Lise is a capricious young woman who flirts with Alyosha and proposes marriage, though her feelings are unstable and childish.

### [Alyosha Karamazov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/characters/alysha_karamazov)

_romantic_

Lise is a capricious young woman who flirts with Alyosha and proposes marriage, though her feelings are unstable and childish.

### [Alyosha Karamazov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/characters/alysha_karamazov)

_romantic_

Lise is a capricious young woman who flirts with Alyosha and proposes marriage, though her feelings are unstable and childish.

## In the story

### [III: Peasant Women Who Have Faith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-i-iii-peasant-women-who-have-faith)

Madame Hohlakov's fourteen-year-old daughter, partially paralyzed and unable to walk for six months, brought in a reclining chair to see the elder.

### [IV: A Lady of Little Faith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-i-iv-a-lady-of-little-faith)

Appears healed from her illness; laughs and interacts playfully with Alyosha, showing affection and teasing him.

### [Another Reputation Ruined](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-i-xi-another-reputation-ruined)

Writes a love letter to Alyosha, confessing her feelings and asking him to leave the monastery.

### [IV: At the Hohlakovs’](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-ii-iv-at-the-hohlakovs)

Hysterical and demanding, she insists on the return of her letter and questions Alyosha about the schoolboys.

### [I: The Engagement](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-ii-i-the-engagement)

Expresses her love for Alyosha, declares they will be together always, and listens intently to his story about Snegiryov.

### [II: The Injured Foot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-iv-ii-the-injured-foot)

Has been having hysterical fits, slapped a servant, and expressed hatred for Ivan.

### [III: A Little Demon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-iv-iii-a-little-demon)

In a feverish state, expresses a longing for disorder and crime, gives Alyosha a letter for Ivan, and later pinches her finger.

### [V: Not You, Not You!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-iv-v-not-you-not-you)

Her letter to Ivan is torn up by him; Alyosha defends her as a sick child.

### [X: “It Was He Who Said That”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/chapters/part-iv-x-it-was-he-who-said-that)

Ivan mentions Lise, saying he likes her and retracting a previous nasty comment, but fears she too will begin to despise him.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/characters/lise_hohlakov
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_brothers_karamazov_se/characters