# The Gambler — Character guide

> Key figures in The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

- [Alexei Ivanovitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/alexei_ivanovitch.md): A young tutor with no money and no prospects, narrating his own feverish slide from servant to gambler and back again.
- [Polina Alexandrovna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/polina_alexandrovna.md): The General's proud stepdaughter, who keeps Alexei as a useful slave while letting him love her in vain.
- [The General](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/the_general.md): A ruined Russian aristocrat mortgaged to his creditors, waiting on his dying aunt's fortune with a French fiancée at his elbow.
- [Mlle. Blanche](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/blanche.md): A calculating French adventuress in a riding-habit, courting the General's inheritance while his debts pile up around him.
- [Mr. Astley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/mr_astley.md): A reserved, wealthy Englishman who watches Alexei's decline with unnerving calm and knows more than he admits.
- [De Griers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/de_griers.md): A polished French marquis and moneylender who holds the General's debts and Polina's past in his manicured hands.
- [Grandmother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/grandmother.md): Antonida Vassilievna is the family's wealthy matriarch, wheeled into the resort expecting to be obeyed and entertained, with Polina and Mlle. Blanche flanking her chair and the General trailing nervously behind. Her fort
- [Potapitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/potapitch.md): The Grandmother's loyal old servant who accompanies her to the casino.
- [Martha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/martha.md): A servant in the General's household, often delivering messages.
- [Baroness Burmergelm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/baroness_burmergelm.md): A German aristocrat whom Alexei publicly insults at the casino.
- [Zelma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/zelma.md): A mysterious woman briefly mentioned in the casino crowd.
- [The Frenchman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gambler_se/characters/the_frenchman.md): A generic Frenchman at the casino, possibly De Griers in disguise.

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