Character guide

Peter Ignátitch

major

Also known as Peter, Peter One

Peter owns the roomy hut where the play begins, and his illness has left him barking orders from the bench while Anísya and Akoulína do the spinning. He suspects his labourer Nikíta of laziness and threatens to sack him, but the advance wages and his own weakness keep the arrangement tangled. His suspicion and tight-fisted worry over money set the household's nerves on edge and make him the obstacle everyone else must work around.

Anísya

major

Also known as Anísya Daddy Akím, Anísya Sighs, Anísya Quite pale

Anísya runs Peter's household under a barrage of chores and her husband's scolding, and she has given herself to Nikíta with a passion that has already crossed moral lines. When word comes that Nikíta's parents want him home to marry, she swings between fury, threats of self-harm, and desperate pleas, refusing to let him go. Her jealousy and dependence drive the household toward the choices that will define the play's central crime.

Nikíta

major

Also known as Nikíta Laughs, Nikíta Mother, Nikíta Crossing, Nikíta Laughing, Nikíta Snivels

Nikíta works in Peter's yard, juggling Anísya's passion with his parents' plans to marry him off to Marína. When the wedding blessing is demanded, he hides in the barn with a rope, unable to face the icon or the girl he has wronged. His weakness before his mother's coaxing and his own conscience makes him the pivot on which the household's hidden sins turn.

Akím

supporting

Also known as Enter Akím, Daddy Akím, Akím Excitedly

Akím arrives at Peter's hut to reclaim his son and see him properly married, speaking in the blunt, repetitive idiom of a man who takes God and village custom seriously. He is baffled by Matryóna's maneuvering and by Nikíta's evasions, and his presence forces the family's buried business into the open. His moral plainness shadows the play's descent, reminding everyone what a conscience sounds like.

Matryóna

supporting

Also known as Matryóna Hush, Matryóna Have, Mother Matryóna, Matryóna Sitting, Matryóna Whispers, old Granny Matryóna, Granny Matryóna, Matryóna Laughs

Matryóna moves through the village swapping gossip and quiet arrangements, pressing Anísya toward a fatal solution to Peter's grip on the household money. She offers tea, powders, and reassurance in the same breath, then vows she never gave anything and never heard of such things. Her cheerful ruthlessness gives the play its most chilling voice, turning private desperation into shared guilt.

Akoulína

supporting

Also known as Akoulína Iván, Enter Akoulína, Akoulína Nan, Akoulína Goes, Akoulína He

Akoulína spins and sings in her father's hut, trading insults with Anísya and running errands without much enthusiasm. She is young, sharp-tongued, and largely unaware of the currents moving around her, though her proximity to Nikíta will draw her into the household's darkest consequences. Her ordinary girlishness makes what happens to her feel like a betrayal of the everyday.

Nan

supporting

Also known as Nan Daddy, Nan What bogey, Nan Sees Nikíta, Nan Mother, Nan Blest, Nan Germans

Nan moves through the feast as a small, insistent messenger, sent to fetch her father when the guests grow impatient and the blessings are overdue. She is too young to read the terror in his silence, and her innocent persistence—threatening to fetch her mother when he refuses—only tightens the trap closing around him. Her presence turns an ordinary wedding custom into a quiet ordeal, showing how the smallest witness can make a guilty man's hiding place unbearable.

Marína

supporting

Also known as little Marína, Marína Alone

Marína once loved Nikíta during their nights at the railway, and now she is a settled wife who has confessed her past and been forgiven by a kind, quiet husband. When Nikíta pours out his misery, she answers with hard-won calm, refusing to reopen old wounds even as he calls her the only person he ever truly lived with. Her steadiness throws his unraveling into relief, and her refusal to be drawn back makes his isolation complete.

Martha

minor

Also known as Aunt Martha

An aunt or older woman in the community.

Sister

minor

A generic sister character, possibly a nun or relative.

The Master

minor

A landowner or authority figure mentioned in the play.

Mítritch

minor

An old servant or worker in the household, offering commentary.

Police Officer

minor

A law enforcement figure who appears to investigate events.

Iván Moséitch

minor

A minor character, possibly a neighbor or relative.

Simon Matvéyitch

minor

Also known as Simon

A man who marries Marína after her affair with Nikíta.

Anna Petróvna

minor

A minor female character, possibly a neighbor.

Neighbour

minor

Also known as Neighbour Starting

A neighbor who interacts with the main characters.

Mammie

minor

A maternal figure, possibly a nurse or grandmother.

The Foundlings

minor

Orphaned children referenced in the story.