Crime & Punishment characters

Appears from the start

An impoverished former student living in isolation in St Petersburg. Proud, feverish, and increasingly trapped by his own ideas, he has stopped attending university and is avoiding his landlady while considering an act he has not fully admitted even to himself.

Appears from the start

An elderly pawnbroker from whom Raskolnikov has borrowed money. She conducts business from a carefully secured flat and treats desperate customers harshly.

Appears from the start

A dismissed civil servant whom Raskolnikov meets in a tavern. Talkative and painfully self-aware, he has repeatedly spent his family's scarce money on drink and describes their suffering without being able to stop causing it.

Appears from the start

Marmeladov's proud, consumptive wife, responsible for several hungry children. Her insistence on dignity and order persists despite illness, poverty, and her husband's drinking.

Also known as Sonia, Sofya Semyonovna

Appears from the start

Marmeladov's quiet daughter, who has been driven into sex work to support her stepmother and the younger children. She remains deeply religious and compassionate despite the contempt attached to her circumstances.

Appears from the start

Raskolnikov's devoted mother. She has limited means, great confidence in her son's promise, and a tendency to interpret family sacrifices in the most hopeful light.

Also known as Dunya, Avdotya Romanovna

Appears from the start

Raskolnikov's intelligent and resolute sister. Formerly a governess in the Svidrigailov household, she is prepared to marry the prosperous Luzhin partly to improve her family's position.

Appears from the start

Dunya's self-satisfied fiancé, a lawyer who values respectability and believes a poor wife will remain grateful and dependent. He expects Raskolnikov's family to accept his terms.

First appears in chapter 2

Raskolnikov's warm, energetic former university friend. Practical and loyal, he finds work where he can and readily assumes responsibility when Raskolnikov becomes dangerously ill.

First appears in chapter 3

The examining magistrate responsible for investigating the pawnbroker's murder. Informal and conversational in manner, he is attentive to psychology and takes a particular interest in Raskolnikov's published argument about exceptional people.

First appears in chapter 4

Dunya's former employer, whose pursuit of her caused a scandal while she worked as his children's governess. Recently widowed, he arrives in St Petersburg claiming to have business with her.

Also known as Nikolai

First appears in chapter 4

A young house painter who was working in the pawnbroker's building around the time of the killings. His frightened conduct draws the police investigation toward him.