# The Duel — Character guide

> Key figures in The Duel by Aleksandr Kuprin.

- [Sublieutenant Romashov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/sublieutenant_romashov.md): Romashov drifts through garrison life half-dreaming, mocked as 'little Romashov' and nagged by his own sensitivity in a world of drinking, cards, and casual cruelty. His affair with Shurochka, his superior's wife, gives 
- [Shurochka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/shurochka.md): Shurochka reigns over the regiment's social world with charm, wit, and an appetite for admiration she never quite satisfies. Her marriage to Nikoläiev is a career arrangement as much as a bond, and she plays Romashov's d
- [Lieutenant Nikoläiev](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/lieutenant_nikolaiev.md): Nikoläiev is the regiment's rising man, absorbed in examinations and advancement, and he wears his marriage to Shurochka like a decoration. When Romashov's attentions to her become visible, his jealousy curdles into a co
- [Nasanski](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/nasanski.md): Nasanski has read everything, lost everything, and now drinks to keep his hallucinations at bay, drifting through the regiment as a cautionary tale. He sees through the code of honor with painful clarity and urges Romash
- [Colonel Shulgovich](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/shulgovich.md): Shulgovich rules his officers through rage, inspection, and the threat of disgrace, and Romashov overhears him reducing a drunken captain to a trembling wreck. Yet the same scene ends with the Colonel pressing three hund
- [Captain Osadchi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/captain_osadchi.md): Osadchi usually keeps to himself, but at the officers' picnic he erupts into a vision of war as blood, fire, and hanged men, toasting the 'joyful, bloody cruelty of old times.' His coldness toward Romashov is personal an
- [Lieutenant Viätkin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/lieutenant_viatkin.md): Viätkin is the regiment's boisterous good-time officer, forever pressing drinks, kisses, and dubious presents on Romashov, whom he treats as a beloved younger brother. His generosity is genuine but reckless: he wins a re
- [Lieutenant Biek-Agamalov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/biek_agamalov.md): Biek-Agamalov moves through the regiment with a volatile pride that flares at the slightest insult, and his mixed blood sets him slightly apart from his brother officers. Yet when Romashov needs seconds for his duel, Bie
- [Raisa Alexandrovna Peterson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/raisa_peterson.md): Raisa Alexandrovna presides over the drawing-room intrigues of the regiment, her coquetry and sharp tongue turning private weaknesses into public scandal. She takes a particular interest in Romashov, whose awkwardness an
- [Captain Sliva](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/captain_sliva.md): Captain Sliva has reduced his life to registers, accounts, and the mechanics of drill, despising books, society, and any sound—even a nightingale—that interrupts his work. He is merciless to his soldiers and to junior of
- [Colonel Rafalski](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/colonel_rafalski.md): Colonel Rafalski has withdrawn from regimental society into a world of animals, spending every spare rouble on his menagerie and wearing uniforms that date from another era. The officers' wives mock his dirt and his smel
- [Hainán](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/hainan.md): A Tartar soldier in the regiment, often serving as an orderly.
- [Sub-Ensign Lbov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/sub_ensign_lbov.md): A young, ambitious junior officer eager to prove himself.
- [Khliabnikov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/khliabnikov.md): Khliabnikov is the regiment's most pitiable figure, a soldier whose spirit has been crushed so thoroughly that he can barely speak when ordered to recite his rank. Officers like Shapovalenko grind their teeth at his stup
- [Lieutenant Bobetinski](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/lieutenant_bobetinski.md): A dandyish officer known for his affectations and social climbing.
- [Lieutenant-Colonel Liech](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/lieutenant_colonel_liech.md): An eccentric, reclusive senior officer with a mysterious past.
- [Alexandra Petrovna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/alexandra_petrovna.md): A kind-hearted woman who shows sympathy toward Romashov.
- [Lieutenant Artschakovski](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/artschakovski.md): A junior officer involved in regimental social life.
- [Captain Stelikovski](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/stelikovski.md): A company commander with a minor appearance.
- [Volodya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/volodya.md): A young boy or servant, possibly a relative of an officer.
- [Staff-Captain Ditz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/staff_captain_ditz.md): A staff officer with a minor role in regimental affairs.
- [Colonel Brehm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/colonel_brehm.md): A colonel with a brief appearance in the narrative.
- [Staff-Captain Lieschtschenko](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/lieschtschenko.md): A melancholy, older staff officer who appears in social scenes.
- [Staff-Captain Doroshenko](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/doroshenko.md): A staff officer with a minor role.
- [Solotuchin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/solotuchin.md): A soldier or officer mentioned in passing.
- [Stepan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/stepan.md): A servant or soldier mentioned briefly.
- [Captain Plavski](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/captain_plavski.md): A captain with a minor mention in the story.
- [Ensign Michin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/ensign_michin.md): A young ensign with a minor role.
- [General Aragonski](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters/general_aragonski.md): A general who makes a brief appearance in the narrative.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_duel_2_se/characters