# Rakhmétof — What Is to Be Done? character guide

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

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the terrible Rakhmétof, Mr. Rakhmétof

**First appearance:** 0070-xxix-an-extraordinary-man

## Snapshot

The 'terrible' Rakhmétof, an ascetic who has burned comfort out of himself and now moves through the novel as a quiet, unnerving standard of what a person can become.

## Who they are

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 and in the orbit of the household whose strange, brother-sister marriage the landlady cannot decipher. He matters less as a plot agent than as a measuring rod: when the novel asks what a human being might be, Rakhmétof is the answer it refuses to soften.

## In the story

### [XIX: Viéra Pavlovna’s Third Dream](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/xix-vi-ra-pavlovna-s-third-dream)

Briefly mentioned in the diary as a student who spoke with Lopukhóf during a picnic.

### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/xxvi)

Appears among the guests invited by Lopukhóf to help Vera through the evening.

### [XXIX: An Extraordinary Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/xxix-an-extraordinary-man)

Arrives uninvited to offer help, demonstrates extreme asceticism, refuses romantic love, and is revealed as an extraordinary man dedicated to principle.

### [Rakhmétov's Visit and the Letter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/xxx)

Delivers the letter with theatrical caution, lectures Vera on her faults, and reveals a more human side.

### [XXXI: A Colloquy with the Sapient Reader, and His Banishment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/xxxi-a-colloquy-with-the-sapient-reader-and-his-banishment)

Revealed not to be a plot device but a character whose personality is illuminated through his conversation with Vera; he is not a gloomy monster but can joke and talk gaily, though rarely.

### [Part IV: Second Marriage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/part-iv-second-marriage)

The extraordinary man who appears to guide and influence the characters' revolutionary ideals.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/ii)

The formidable but kind man who spoke with Vera about Lopukhov and advised her to leave Petersburg.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/vii)

Mentioned as an 'eagle' who can dedicate himself entirely to common affairs, unlike ordinary people.

### [Part V: New People, and the Finale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters/part-v-new-people-and-the-finale)

The extraordinary man who represents the highest level of revolutionary dedication and asceticism, serving as a moral exemplar.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters/rakhmetov
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/characters