# What Is to Be Done? — Character guide

> Key figures in What Is to Be Done? by Nikolay Chernyshevsky.

- [Viéra Pavlovna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/vera_pavlovna.md): Viéra Pavlovna builds a life on her own terms: a sewing cooperative, pupils, evenings of music with her husband Dmitri and his friend Kirsánof. The passages show her days filling with walks to the shop, stories told to t
- [Dmitri Sergéitch Lopukhóf](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/dmitri_lopukhov.md): Lopukhóf rescues Viéra from her mother's plans by marrying her, then lives with her in a strange, scrupulous arrangement that puzzles their landlady. When Kirsánof's visits grow frequent and charged, Lopukhóf sees what i
- [Aleksandr Matvéitch Kirsánof](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/aleksandr_kirsanov.md): Kirsánof is the new man in miniature: a doctor who observes rather than cures, respected by students, beloved by hospital servants, and welcomed nightly into the Lopukhófs' home. The passages catch him in the moment he g
- [Marya Alekséyevna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/marya_aleksyevna.md): Marya Alekséyevna runs a pawn shop, a household, and a campaign to marry Viéra to the highest bidder, and the passage catches her mid-calculation when Julie and Serge arrive at her shabby stairs. She is delighted by the 
- [Rakhmétof](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/rakhmetov.md): Rakhmétof appears at the edges of the Lopukhófs' orderly life, the man whose name Marya Alekséyevna invokes with dread and whose discipline makes ordinary virtue look soft. The passages place him near the rescue of Viéra
- [Katerina Vasílyevna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/katerina_polozova.md): Katerina Vasílyevna moves through her father's frivolous house surrounded by flatterers and fortune hunters, her imagination fixed on Geneviève and Miss Nightingale rather than on the marriage market. The Sólovtsof episo
- [Mademoiselle Julie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/mademoiselle_julie.md): Julie arrives at the Lopukhovs' as a woman of the world, but within hours she is wrestling Vera on the sofa, weeping over virtue, and ordering breakfast offhand. Her worldly talk of dissipated lives both embarrasses and 
- [Charles Beaumont](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/charles_beaumont.md): Beaumont appears in the industrial world as the London firm's conscientious purchaser, inspecting books and enduring endless Russian negotiations with the patience of a man who has survived the siege of Troy. His refusal
- [Pavel Konstantinuitch Rozalsky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/pavel_rozalsky.md): Vera's father, a weak-willed clerk dominated by his wife.
- [Mikhaïl Ivanuitch Storeshnikof](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/mikhail_storeshnikov.md): A wealthy but dull suitor pursued by Vera's mother.
- [Anna Petrovna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/anna_petrovna.md): A minor character, possibly a servant or neighbor in the Rozalsky household.
- [Masha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/masha.md): Vera's loyal maid and assistant in her sewing cooperative.
- [Nástenka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/nastenka.md): A young woman whose story of love and sacrifice is told within the narrative.
- [Serge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/serge.md): A minor character, possibly a friend or acquaintance of the main circle.
- [Pólozof](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/polozof.md): Katerina's father, a wealthy retired businessman.
- [Matrióna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/matriona.md): A servant in the Rozalsky household.
- [Feódor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/feodor.md): A servant or minor functionary in the story.
- [Jean Sólovtsof](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/jean_solovtsov.md): A minor character, possibly a suitor or acquaintance.
- [Alekséi Petróvitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/aleksei_petrovich.md): A minor character, possibly a doctor or official.
- [Mrs. Mertsálova](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/mertsalova.md): A friend of Vera's, part of the progressive circle.
- [Mertsálof](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/mertsalov.md): Husband of Mrs. Mertsalova, a fellow progressive.
- [Rachel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/rachel.md): A famous actress mentioned in the narrative.
- [Claude Bernard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/claude_bernard.md): French physiologist referenced in theoretical discussions.
- [B](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/b.md): An initial used as a placeholder for a character.
- [D](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/d.md): An initial used as a placeholder for a character.

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