Crime and Punishment

Character Guide

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Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov (Rodya)

An impoverished, proud former law student living in a cramped St. Petersburg garret, tormented by debt and a chilling theory about 'extraordinary' men who are permitted to transgress moral law. He murders an old pawnbroker early in the novel and spends the rest of the story in feverish inner turmoil.

Sonia Marmeladov (Sofya Semyonovna)

The gentle, devout daughter of a drunken former official, forced by her family's poverty into prostitution. She becomes an unlikely source of moral and spiritual reflection for Raskolnikov.

Dmitri Prokofitch Razumihin

Raskolnikov's cheerful, energetic, and fiercely loyal former fellow-student, who nurses him through illness and looks after his family when they arrive in Petersburg.

Porfiry Petrovitch

The shrewd, chatty examining magistrate assigned to the pawnbroker's murder case, known for his psychologically probing conversational style.

Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikov (Dounia)

Raskolnikov's intelligent, proud, and self-sacrificing sister, who has come to Petersburg amid a planned marriage to the wealthy Luzhin.

Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov's devoted, anxious mother, who travels to Petersburg full of hope for her son's future.

Semyon Zaharovitch Marmeladov

A ruined former civil servant and hopeless drunkard, Sonia's father, whom Raskolnikov meets in a tavern early in the novel.

Katerina Ivanovna

Marmeladov's proud, consumptive second wife, struggling to keep her children fed amid dire poverty.

Pyotr Petrovitch Luzhin

A pompous, self-important lawyer engaged to marry Dounia, whose motives seem more calculating than romantic.

Arkady Ivanovitch Svidrigailov

A wealthy, unsettling man from Dounia's past who arrives in Petersburg and takes a disturbing interest in her affairs.

Alyona Ivanovna (the old pawnbroker)

A miserly, disliked moneylender whose flat and habits Raskolnikov studies closely before the murder.

Lizaveta

Alyona Ivanovna's simple, gentle half-sister, who does odd work around the building.

Zossimov

A young doctor and friend of Razumihin who attends to Raskolnikov during his illness.

Nastasya

The landlady's servant who brings Raskolnikov tea and looks in on him, often chattering about neighborhood news.

Glossary

Rouble / kopeck

Units of Russian currency; small sums of roubles and kopecks are constantly at stake given the characters' extreme poverty.

Examining magistrate

A judicial official (like Porfiry Petrovitch) responsible for investigating a crime and questioning suspects before trial, combining detective and legal roles.

Consumption

The 19th-century term for pulmonary tuberculosis, the wasting disease afflicting Katerina Ivanovna.

Penal servitude

A sentence of forced labor in a prison camp, typically in Siberia, imposed on convicted criminals in Tsarist Russia.

Dram-shop

A cheap tavern or drinking house serving spirits, frequented by characters like Marmeladov.

Yellow ticket

The identity card issued to registered prostitutes in Tsarist Russia, referenced in connection with Sonia's forced trade.

Hay Market (Sennaya)

A crowded, poor marketplace square in St. Petersburg that serves as a recurring symbolic setting for Raskolnikov's wanderings and moments of crisis.

Hypochondria

Used in the 19th-century sense to mean a state of morbid melancholy, anxiety, or nervous illness rather than modern health-anxiety.

Extraordinary man theory

Raskolnikov's article/idea that certain great individuals have the right to transgress moral and legal law for the sake of humanity's progress, which underlies his rationale for murder.

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