Grasshopper characters

Appears from the start

A socially ambitious young woman who surrounds herself with painters, musicians, actors, and writers. She values brilliance that can be displayed in a salon and regards her quiet physician husband as worthy but ordinary. Her search for artistic excitement draws her attention toward the painter Ryabovsky and away from the life she has built with Dymov.

Appears from the start

Olga's husband, a modest hospital doctor who works long hours and also performs post-mortem examinations to support their household. He is patient with Olga's artistic circle even though he has little place in it. His reserved manner and lack of self-promotion conceal both professional promise and a deep capacity for devotion.

Appears from the start

A fashionable landscape painter admired by Olga and her guests. He encourages her own painting and spends part of the summer with the same group of artists on the Volga. Temperamental and absorbed in his work, he becomes the focus of Olga's romantic idealism.

Appears from the start

A fellow doctor and close colleague of Dymov. Gruff in manner but loyal, he recognizes the seriousness of Dymov's medical work and remains with him during his final illness. His judgment of Dymov is grounded in professional knowledge that Olga's salon friends lack.