Doctor Zhivago characters

Appears from the start

A sensitive boy left orphaned after the deaths of his parents. Passed among relatives and family friends, he is observant, compassionate, and already drawn to questions about nature, faith, and human experience.

Appears from the start

Yury's maternal uncle, a former priest who has left the clergy. He takes charge of the newly orphaned boy and encourages the intellectual and spiritual independence that will shape him.

Appears from the start

One of Yury's childhood friends, a thoughtful Jewish boy who is troubled by the prejudice and restrictions directed at his family and community.

Also known as Tonya

Appears from the start

The daughter of Alexander and Anna Gromeko, in whose Moscow home Yury is raised. Intelligent, affectionate, and familiar to him since childhood, she treats him as part of the family.

Appears from the start

Tonya's father and the head of the Gromeko household. A cultivated Moscow professor, he gives the orphaned Yury a stable home and includes him in a family life centered on learning and music.

Also known as Lara

First appears in chapter 2

The teenage daughter of a widowed dressmaker in Moscow. Capable, proud, and eager to free her family from dependence, she works as a tutor while struggling against Komarovsky's coercive hold over her.

First appears in chapter 2

A wealthy lawyer and political operator who advises Lara's mother and had professional dealings with Yury's father. Urbane and influential, he exploits the Guishar family's financial dependence and exercises a damaging power over Lara.

First appears in chapter 2

Lara's widowed mother, the proprietor of a small dressmaking establishment. Financially insecure and emotionally vulnerable, she relies on Komarovsky for business advice and personal attention.

Also known as Pasha

First appears in chapter 2

The idealistic son of a railway worker and a childhood companion of Lara. Serious, principled, and politically engaged, he loves Lara and imagines that disciplined work and social change can create a better life.

First appears in chapter 6

Yury's younger half-brother, born on their father's side and raised apart from him. He appears as a self-possessed young man with unusual access to money and influence, taking a discreet interest in Yury's welfare.

First appears in chapter 8

The solitary caretaker of the former Krueger estate at Varykino and the daughter of an old associate of Alexander Gromeko. Practical and wary, she helps the arriving Zhivagos establish themselves in an abandoned outbuilding.

First appears in chapter 11

A forceful Bolshevik commander among the forest partisans who compel Yury to serve as their doctor. Educated and convinced of his cause, he nevertheless keeps Yury from returning to his family.

First appears in chapter 15

The daughter of the former caretaker at the Moscow home where Yury eventually lodges. She becomes his companion during his diminished postwar life and shares a modest household with him.