The Brothers Karamazov Characters

Worthless. Depraved. Muddleheaded.This is how Dostoevsky introduces us to Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the father of the Karamazov brothers. How could he possibly live down such an introduction? And...

If the Karamazov brothers were a band, Dmitri would be the front man, the lead vocalist, the face of the group. The one who writes all the songs and gets all the girls. The one who could break out...

Ivan is the brainiac of the three Karamazov brothers. Intellectual and bookish, he can argue circles around everyone in town. No one, it seems, can outwit him in an argument, whether the topic be l...

Alyosha is so good, so pure, that next to the other characters in the novel, he seems to have no personality at all. All the other characters – from Fyodor and the other Karamazov brothers, down...

Smerdyakov has to be up there with the great villains of world literature. But like Ivan's devil, Smerdyakov isn't all that intimidating a figure. He does, however, seem to have a Mt.-Everest-sized...

The elder Zosima looms over the novel as its wise man, guru, and moral center.Well, maybe not exactly "looms." Just like Yoda in Star Wars or Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid, Zosima is a modest figu...

The daughter of a high-ranking general, Katerina is proud, wealthy, intelligent, and beautiful – but terrible with men. She is engaged to Dmitri, who lent her the money to redeem her father's goo...

Unlike Katerina, Grushenka is adept at manipulating men. After suffering heartbreak as a teenager, she falls under the patronage of Samsonov, a wealthy businessman who helps her set up her own lend...

The impoverished Captain Snegiryov has the misfortune of getting into a fight with Dmitri at the town pub. Dmitri pulls him out of the pub and into the street by his beard. Even worse, Snegiryov's...

Ilyusha is the proud but frail young son of Captain Snegiryov. Despite his frailty, he gets into frequent fights with his schoolmates, who mock his father. Ilyusha's life changes when he throws a s...

Kolya is the ringleader of the schoolboys. He's brave and clever but a little arrogant, and he thinks he's much more worldly than he really is. He sprinkles his conversation with philosophical-soun...

Madame Khokhlakov is a somewhat silly, meddlesome, wealthy widow who is also Katerina's confidante. Like Katerina, Khokhlakov often has hysterical fits when she becomes frustrated or confused, whic...

Lise, the young daughter of Madame Khokhlakov, is confined to a wheelchair for much of the novel. Headstrong and mischievous, she and Alyosha form a close bond and eventually become engaged. But th...

Grigory is Fyodor Karamazov's morose, long-suffering servant, as morally strict and austere as Fyodor is corrupt. Grigory becomes a foster father to the Karamazov brothers when their mothers die, b...

Rakitin is a young seminarian and general gossip with a nose for scandal. Ambitious and cynical, he's eager to make his mark on the world as a critic and espouses numerous fashionable modern ideas...

Father Paissy is a hieromonk (senior monk) who defends Zosima and believes in his teachings. After Zosima dies, Father Paissy serves as a kind of alternative father figure for Alyosha.

The aged Father Ferapont is the resident "holy fool" at the monastery. Respected for his austere lifestyle, Ferapont speaks through cryptic phrases and hallucinatory images, usually involving devil...

Kirillovich is the prosecutor who makes the case against Dmitri. He's not stupid; he just overestimates his talents. The narrator mocks his "artistic pretensions – for example, to psychologism, t...

Fetyukovich is a famous lawyer from Moscow who takes up Dmitri's defense. In contrast to the prosecutor, Fetyukovich doesn't use any fancy phrases or inflammatory language, nor does he appeal to "m...

Herzenstube is a mild-mannered, well-loved doctor who has been a fixture in the town for many years. At the trial he tells the story of how he took pity on Dmitri when he was a young, starving chil...

Maximov is a "sponger": a former landowner, now impoverished, who relies on the kindness of others to get by. He's a silly old man who loves to drink, party, and tell stories, usually about his own...

Perkhotin is a young town official and a friend of Dmitri's. He lends Dmitri some money in exchange for Dmitri's pistols as collateral. A few days later Dmitri returns, seemingly swimming in cash,...

A cousin of Dmitri's mother, the wealthy Pyotr Miusov takes joint guardianship over Dmitri when his mother dies. Miusov spends most of his time in Europe and is consequently the most Europeanized o...

Trifon Borisich is the innkeeper at Mokroye. On the two occasions Dmitri parties at his inn, Borisich does his utmost to bilk as much money as he can out of him. As a witness at Dmitri's trial, Bor...

Samsonov is a wily old businessman who becomes Grushenka's "patron" when she is dumped by her Polish boyfriend. By the time the novel begins, Grushenka is relatively independent of Samsonov, althou...

Stinking Lizaveta is the village idiot. Mentally ill and homeless, she is cared for by the villagers, who pity her. Despite their efforts to clothe, feed, and shelter her, Stinking Lizaveta always...

A former Polish officer, Mussyalovich is Grushenka's former lover, who abandoned her when she was 17. He attempts to reconnect with her in Mokroye, but Dmitri interrupts their meeting. Short, stout...