Despair characters

Also known as Hermann Karlovich

Appears from the start

A Russian-born chocolate manufacturer living in Berlin and the novel's first-person narrator. Intelligent, vain, and committed to seeing himself as an artist of deception, Hermann freely admits that he lies while insisting that his special perceptions are superior to ordinary judgment. On a business trip he encounters a sleeping stranger whom he considers his exact double and immediately treats the discovery as a private marvel.

Appears from the start

An impoverished wanderer Hermann finds sleeping near a country road outside Prague. Hermann is overwhelmed by what he believes to be a perfect likeness between them, while Felix responds with uncertainty and practical interest in the money and work the prosperous stranger might offer. His social vulnerability makes him dependent on Hermann's account of their resemblance and intentions.

First appears in chapter 2

Hermann's wife in Berlin. She is affectionate in manner, limited as a reader of Hermann's elaborate self-presentation, and closely attached to her cousin Ardalion. Hermann describes her with a mixture of possession, mockery, and claimed confidence, making it difficult to separate Lydia from the version of her that serves his narrative.

First appears in chapter 2

Lydia's cousin, a painter who spends much of his time around Hermann's household. Bohemian, untidy, and skeptical of Hermann's pretensions, Ardalion has an intimacy with Lydia that the narrator minimizes or redirects. His judgments provide one of the few persistent challenges to Hermann's preferred view of people and art.